[Russell Ashley]

You don't need to remove the axle as there is no bushing in it and there is nothing to be done to it. These trucks have what is known as a Reverse Elliot style axle. The bushings are in the spindles and the king pin does not rotate in the axle. There is a locking pin in the axle that secures the king pin from moving at all so the axle doesn't wear. You take the spindles, kingpins, and bushings to the machine shop and they put the bushings into the spindles and align bore them to fit the kingpins.

If you are not adding power steering and your drag link and tie rod ends are tight you probably don't need to change those now. With the truck sitting on the ground, have someone sit in the truck and turn the steering wheel back and forth just enought to turn the wheels slightly while you observe the drag link and tierod ends. If you see any slop, that part needs to be replaced. The drag link is not repairable but you can get a kit to rebuild the original style tierod ends. CPP advises that you do change your tierod and ends when you install one of their p/s kits.

Your $850 estimat is is very close to 50% of that Fat Man Fab MII that Ogre mentioned. You can retain your column and shifter when you upgrade. Not trying to talk you into anything, just saying what I wish I had done.