First thing is getthe truck ready. Some stuff you need to concider is this. Too often people put big tires on before gearing and smoke the tranny about 100 miles later. Get a BIG cooler on that truck first. Truning 38's is rough on a tranny. it's a lot of drive line and rotations mass. 700R4's dont' like it one bit and if you got a 700 don't expect it to last long. It being a 3/4 ton it may have a TH400 and that would be a far better tranny. A tranny temp gage is never a bad idea. I have one on both trucks and I love them. Really lets you know if your getting into a danger zone with the tranny before you find out the hard way by having it blow.
Next thing is get the brace on Then do the lift. That brace is one of the best things I ever did to my truck. It made such an improvment in the steering it should have been factory. I'll be buying one soon for my wifes K5 that is on 31's and not trailed anymore.
The lift is not a bad weekend job as long as you have all the parts lined up and you don't run into any major rusted bolt problems. To do the flip, if using the ORD kit, you have to drop the tank so be sure to run that thing dry before starting. A cutting torch is by far the fastest way to get the rivits out but it can be done with a drill and a punch. It takes a while and make sure you keep your bits lubed or you will go through a bunch of them.
Now 6 inches and 38's your going to have to trim fenders. How stiff the springs are will determin how much. For the street you can proably get away with minimal timming back the the inner fender. Once you start getting into flex a more drastic cut may be needed. (see Steve truck in the tech section with 37's). Lowered bump stops will help but it does limit articulation.
BEFORE tires get on the truck, you need to regear. You need at least 4.56 gears to turn meats that big. If you got a TH 400 that would be a good gear with no over drive. Be reasonable on the street and hwy but low enough not to really torture the tranny off road. If you have a 700R4 you probably want to be in the 5.'s since the OD will take care of the hwy RPM issue. Even so if the tranny has some miles on it you may end up rebuilding before long. The cooler will help a lot but like I said there is a lot of mass your truning and it gives the tranny a good work out If your tranny is borderline it will be done soon.
After you regear then you can put the tires on it. Yeah it will look funny driving around one the tires you have now with 6 inches of lift but this will save you from burning up the tranny or t-case.
I'm searions. people throw the lift on and then the tires and end up costing themselves a ton of cash fixing trannys and even transfer cases. It ahppens all the time. We get people in here asking why their tranny just blew and find up they had the wrong gears and just threw a big set of tires on it.
It's not my damn planet monkey boy!
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Grim-Reaper
