rear suspension help please.

[slugish]

the rear of my 84 c 10 is lowered approx. 6-6.5 ins. Ichose not to c notch , but instead removed the bumper stops ,bracket & all which gives me roughly 2.5 - 3 ins of spring travel . Iused the holes in the frame where the bracket was & attached some sections of rubber hose in case the frame ever hit the top of axle. All was ok foe a while but the other day it did bottom out , geeting on it a little & ran thru a dip. Question is this . Have any of you ever used the little air bags that attach to the frame & leaf spring ? .Have any of you tried the bushings that go around your shock cylinder, that lets your shock go down just so far . ? Have pretty cheap drop shocks now, would stiffer better quality shocs help ?. Any suggestions appreciated