Make it handle

[hairlesshobo]

OK now that I have decided what steering components I am going to put on the truck, now time to look into suspension upgrades. One annoying problem that I have right now is the front likes to "bounce" for a number of seconds when I hit any bump or apply the brakes quickly. I assume this "bouncing" is actually spring oscillation. On this point, I have a few questions.

1. From what I understand, adding a sway bar (either front or rear) increases the effective spring rate. Or in other words, if I add a sway bar, it will make the truck feel as if the springs are a higher rate than they actually are, right?

2. Assuming that I am correct about #1, will increasing the spring rate make things better or worse in relation to the annoying bouncing.

3. Regardless of the answer to number 2, I assume that investing in high quality shocks would help tremendously with the "bounch" or "repeated dive" in the front end, is this correct? Currently I have sensa-trac shocks on the front and rear that are about a year old. While not the cheapest on the market, by no means the most expensive.

And finally, 4. I've read that cutting a coil off the front spring lowers it AND stiffens the spring. Would cutting a coil off be beneficial. First, the springs have close to 200k miles on them and I assume this makes them very bouncy and wore out. Is it even worth trying to keep the factory springs or do I need to just look into getting new springs as well?