Thanks Folks.
Im lookin forward to blasting around on some of the country roads around here, but first im gonna have to give a little attention to the tie rod inner and outer links and the axles before i play too hard with her.
i spose im gonna keep those fender flares on. i took them off to repaint them so they didnt look like such an eyesore for now at least. when i took them off i got a full good look at how
much the prev owner had chewed up the wheel wells...buddy of mine said it would be about 600 bucks in an autobody shop to clean up. Think ill find some smaller flares for the rear wells, and buy new quaterpanels for the fronts for now.