[mr48chev]

That sway bar looks like it is putting a lot of pressure on the the lower control arm pushing it back.

Is the bracket that holds the the sway bar bent? as smashed on a curb or rock or something? when the truck is raised up on a floor jack like that the sway bar link should be leaning towards the front at the at the top as the control arm drops and pulls it away from the sway bar. My guess is that that the mount for the sway bar is either pushed back along ways or has always been mounted wrong from the get go. I don't think anyone would have put it on that way as it is too far off. If it was mounted with the control arms hanging down originally it would push back on the control arm when weight was put on the suspension.

Is the rubber bushing on the back end of the strut rod in decent shape" the rock auto photo is what MII strut rod bushings look like when you take them out of the box.

It doesn't look like they heated and bent the strut rods unless they did it right at the control arm. You should be able to check to see if the center of the bushing where the rod goes through it is pretty well centered on the bolt that goes though the control arm pretty easisly .

In that one shot I can see what I think is the strut rod but can't tell anything about what is happening there.