If the truck has any real miles on it you can go ahead and factor in a full front suspension rebuild, because worn parts aren't going to do you any favors.
Replace bushings with polyurethane, use only top quality hard parts.
If you're feeling froggy you might consider replacing the upper control arms with available forged pieces from a 2500 or 3500. You'll need to redrill 2 holes on each arm to install 1500 ball joints. Are forged uppers necessary? Nah. Any real benefit? Hard to say, but GM engineers must have figured the stamped ones weren't strong enough for the load capacity a 2500/3500 needs, so the stamped units must have some give to them under extreme conditions.
Adding a rear anti-sway bar is a good idea as well. Several choices here; I kinda dig Hellwig. Had an AddCo and it was meh; hardware was cheesier and the install on a dropped truck left the end links at a severe angle, stressing the bushings and likely interfering with its proper operation.
Your drop parts need to be top notch, too. BellTech probably offers the best drop coils and flip kit. Cheaper coils may not have good or uniform spring rate. I don't know if DJM is still doing that adjustable pinion angle B.S. on their flip kit, but if they are, skip it and get the BellTech; that adjustable DJM stuff slips out of place.
Consider a quick ratio steering box. AGR is probably who you'd want to go with. Redhead makes them too but I've seen more than a few mentions of them lately that have me wondering about their quality and consistency.
Steering shaft has room for slop too; the joint at the top wears out, and the rag joint at the bottom sucks too. Borgeson makes a shaft with a needle bearing U-joint up top but unfortunately still has a rag joint at the bottom. Some like to use the Jeep Cherokee shaft because it has a solid rubber dampener up top and needle bearing U-joint at the bottom, but I had one of these and my headers destroyed the rubber causing the shaft to have nearly 1/2" of rotational slop, not cool. I replaced it with the Borgeson.
And maybe, just maybe, before spending all this money and doing all this work...you'll spend a few bucks on a suspension theory book or two, and soak it all in. A lot of the stuff we do (myself included) is based on what we THINK might be an improvement, but once you really start pushing it, you may find out you made some poor choices. Go too crazy with the sway bars and you'll lift the tire at the opposite side in hard cornering. Dick around with the track width front/rear (including your wheel width and offset choices) and you affect oversteer/understeer. Etc.
For what it's worth, I've done all the above stuff to my truck except the forged arms and quick ratio box - and the box is on my short list of stuff I plan to do eventually. I do enjoy driving my truck like a po boy's Corvette.
Richard
