I just noticed the rest of the text in your post
I'd rather not spend money if I don't have to. This will not be a rock crawler (no rocks here in FL). This is also a weekend warrior/mall crawler. If anything... a little mud and some basic off roading trails. The Dana 60 itself is way overkill for what I need it for. Are those tie-rod ends a real weak link considering that? Of course safety is an obvious issue here too. So even if I don't go rock crawling, I also don't want to go out of control
As far as the crossmember goes. I'm all for upgrading it. I've checked out the stock crossmember and I don't see any cracking or distortion anywhere. If I go ahead and put some poly stlye mounts I've heard I need to upgrade the transmission mount (and transfer case?) as well so that they are all poly. What is involved in swapping the crossmember? Is it a fairly easy job?
If you don't need highsteer, put the tierod in stock location and sell those arms and buy a good passenger side arm like ORDs. The stock d60 tie rod is a goofy $70 item, but I think you could cut down a 1/2 ton tie rod. The latter would be more ideal because you could use common ends. Or you could make a DOM rod, but it doesn't sound like you need it or want to spend the extra money.
Big thing is that non-highsteer will give you more leverage on your drivers side steering and make your TREs last longer. It will also be easier to put a stabilizer back on if you want. Like I said it looks OK for temporary. It doesn't sound like this truck sees a lot of action. Those tires are nowhere near the stress of what you see on a lot of rigs. If I were you I'd start looking for a stock blazer tie rod in junkyards, craigslist, etc. You shouldn't need to pay more than say $30 as an absolute max for a stock GM tie rod. Hell, just look for someone upgrading to an aftermaket one. I'd have given you mine if I hadn't left it on my 44 to make it easier to move.
Crossmember is easy depending on the conditions your POs kept the motor mounts in. It may require you to do a lot of finagling with the towers to line everything up, but if you're already doing motor mounts there's no reason not to do the crossmember. The hardest part for me was supporting the engine evenly, which you have to do for the mounts anyways. If you have a 3/8" ujoint and the corresponding 8" ratchet, sockets, and maybe a boxhead wrench, you'll be fine. There aren't any tools I needed that any decent garage mechanic wouldn't already have. You may want to replace all the hardware with new nylocks or the ones with the toothed-washer-head-things (name escapes me, it's what Kert includes with all his suspension stuff). All my nuts were loose due to engine vibration when I bought the truck.
The crossmember usually has to be cut in half to get it out of the frame once you unbolt it. A Milwaukee Torch blade will cut right through it just be careful you don't cut anything else while you're at it. With fuel lines, rubber hoses, and wires around, I'd say a sawzall is easier to do the job with than abrasives, but you could do it either way just fine. It's just mild steel.
You could extend your bumpstops an infinite number of ways. Buy longer ones, move them lower with tube, buy adjustable ones, make adjustable ones...but really if this isn't much of a wheeler, you aren't going to notice unless you have clearance issues (I can't see any immediately in the picture, other than the ubolts that you need to cut down
).
