If I were basically building an entire new a/c system from scratch, vintage air would be the way to go. I just got my stock a/c system working correctly, and it took a lot more work than if I had gone with a vintage air system. I however already had parts of the stock system to work off of.
I talked to Vintage air directly a couple of weeks ago, and they said they were about to release the Gen-IV system for the 73-87 trucks which is fully electronic, and therefore doesn't need cables run under the dash, or require vacuum to work.
As far as install.....I would think if you were considering putting back the stock system that this wouldn't be too much harder to do. There's a writeup
(here) that should give you an idea of the work. It's for the 67-72 trucks, but there won't be too much difference.