seth, this is long, but its answers your questions.
how much lift are you planning on using? this will make a difference in the C-bushings you use. i used 7 degree and personally i think the pinion angle is a little extreme. if you're doing the same lift i have i'd use 5 degree, if less lift, use 3 or 4 degree bushings. basically the way they work is that with factory bushings they are the same size top and bottom, front and back. degreed C-bushings are narrower on the front bottom and the back top...which makes them thicker on the front top and back bottom. this rotates up the ears that are cast into the tube which in essence rotates the tube itself up to increase pinion angle to accomodate for more lift. if thats not clear i can draw you a picture. energy suspension makes just about every degree of bushing from 0-7* in polyurethane, some people prefer rubber b.c. it flexes better, but you cant get degreed bushings in rubber that i'm aware of.
I'm using an adjustable track bar from Superlift. the adjustment here makes it a lot easier to not have to get measurements exact when fabbing a track bar mount. this is superlift p/n 1080.
you will have to fab your own track bar mount. when doing so i cannot stress enough that you understand the purpose of the track bar (and mount) and the side to side directional stress it must withstand. i've learned that each fram is different and you will have to work with what you've got on yours. mine uses the 3 bolts that hold the p/s gearbox on and is dropped b.c. of my lack of drop pitman arm. when fabbing this mount you will also have to take into consideration steering geometry. for the best possible flex you will the the track bar itself and the drag link (pitman arm to centerlink) to be as close to parallel as possible. this will keep each from trying to bind the other when flexing.
steering: i like mine A LOT. but realized this weekend how much of a PITA it would be if i were to ever bend my centerlink. it was made exactly how it needed to be though to keep the steering and track bar geometry correct, sacrifices always have to be made somewhere. I would highly suggest the QA1 heims from JEGS. VERY good price on them and they are some of the beefiest heims i've seen. They have everything you need: chromoly, teflon inserts, and are 3/4", not to mention the huge outer wall and lifetime warranty. i've seen smaller chromoly heims (like scotts) which he said he paid $45 each for. Nutz got my inserts and tubing. talk to him about pricing and such, he might even have some tubing left he'd be willing to part with. depending on how you do it, you'll need some misalignment washers, i think i have 2 on my setup.
front suspension: the amount of lift you get will not only depend on the coils you use, but the coil buckets you use. if you keep factory buckets you will gain 1.5"-2" over using the `78-79 buckets, but you might want to lose those 2" also like tate does. If you're building this for mostly street i would suggest stiffer coils (such as the skyjacker 6" coils i have) but if you want the flexy performance off-road i would look into 5.5" wild horses or james duff EB coils. they make them with A LOT of different options for EBs to compensate for engine size, with or w/o winch, etc. get the stiffest versions of these and you will get wonderful flex b.c. they are "progressive rate" coils, which means they give you 5.5" lift, but that is from ~15 coil wraps as opposed to my ~10, which gives you a sh!tload of down travel. if you're wanting to go even more extreme you can look into wristing one of your radius arms. the two SASed big bronco guys in CS made their own w/ 1/4" plate and a hitch pin, not very hard but still beefy.
my factory front driveshaft bolted right up. mike had to have his shortened b.c. the pinion on the 60 is longer than that on the 44. just make sure you measure everything a lot so that it will bolt up right.
what are you going to do about radius arm mounts?
i've heard a lot of good things about bilstein shocks, also consider whether or not you think you'd really use the adjustments on the 9000s, b.c. thats all you're really paying for over 5000s and i hardly ever used mine, which is why i'm running 5000s now.
http://www.4x4wire.com/jeep/tech/susp/shockspecs/
that page has all rancho's p/n's and extended and compressed lengths, very useful. procomp actually offers a shock that has more travel than the 9012s, but unless you're custom fabbing shock mounts you wont need them that long. my front ones arent even the longest ranchos made with the pin style upper mount.
rear shackles i believe ended up getting drilled out to accomodate 1/2" bolts.
if you're looking for cheap i'd go with 4WP gears. good price and lifetime warranty. i still dont recommend J&P for anything though per the fact that they didnt put my transmission back together right. i'd check with bryan drivetrain, or somewhere else out of town.
oh, and jimmy
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