I think that is a great body style to start out with. I think you are right to handle the front end. Most of them are fairly straight forward if you don't go too low. Because you are going to dip your toe in the dually river I would highly suggest you go buy a starter welder for $500-$600 bucks and learn to MIG weld. It is much easier than you think. Most of the Votech schools have great programs if you want to take some classes, or just pick up some scrap steel and start to run beads. YouTube is amazing as you know to pick up on the how to's. I wish I had it when I started to learn. All I did was buy a 240 volt MIG Lincoln from Home Depot and just started to learn and ask lots of questions of friends who welded. Most folks who are passionate about welding will help teach you when you run into issues, and yes you will run into them along the way. So go buy a welder and don't be afraid to do the rear of your truck (it's much cheaper that way!).
As far as the rear end you can get a 3/4 ton suburban rear end and it will fit under the stock fenders with no major mods. That is what I have. I also got my rear rims milled 3/8" on the face of the rim so that I had a bit more clearance. Plus this again is a huge cost savings over cutting a rear end down and having new axles made and all that fun stuff.
Chose the truck year that you like the best. This is a big investment and all the Chevy's since 73 are great and have loads of parts available.
If you have additional questions just let us know!
Post was last edited on May 01, 2016 01:22. Edited 1
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