While I had the bed off the truck, I got to looking at the cab and realized it wouldn't take too much more work to incorporate a 1" body drop as well. This would give me a net 5" built in drop. For the rear, this is the 4" frame raise and 1" body drop. For the front it is the 1.5" sectioned crossmember, 2.5" spindles, and 1" body drop. At that point, I have 100% retained the stock suspension geometry and can achieve the remainder of my drop with mild drop springs.
For the body drop, all that needs to be done is lower the body mount brackets. Under the cab this just means lowering the brackets one inch. It also requires a little trimming to the cab in certain areas to fit around the frame. I will update later with those details. For now, I just started with the cutout required to fit around the crossmember.
Up front it's a little more tricky because you also have the core support that will drop down with the body drop. I have seen body drop kits that require notching the core support, but I thought I could achieve the dropped body mounts, core support clearance, and bumper mounts in one modification. I decided to cut the frame vertically behind the front body mount. Then, like the rear frame raise (but much less extreme), I slid the frame horn down 1". After a few more filler pieces, the modification blends right in.
At this point, the truck was back on the ground for the first time since the heavy frame mods. The great thing is the rear is just as low as it was when I pulled the rear springs for mockup, but now I have retained plenty of suspension travel by using 4" drop HD rear springs. Combined with the frame mods and body drop, this gives me a total static rear drop of 9". Of course, I had to throw up a bed side to get an idea of the ride height. Note that the body line is not lined up because in these photos the cab has not been lowered 1" yet. This gets me right where I wanted to be which was tucking tire on the 15" wheels. I'm through the heavy modifications so the truck will start to go back together. Then I need to quit avoiding the inevitable decision: what am I going to put under the hood?!
Happy New Year everyone!