Christian -- welcome the the funnest part of the SAS, IMHO -- researching and planning! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Start by pulling together the folks who've been there and done that: Corbin did a coil-sprung Dana 44 on his Amigo, Michael did a coil-sprung Dana 60 on his Amigo, and Travis did a Dana 44 on his Rodeo.

You can do an SAS for well under $6K, but it all depends on your fabrication skills, tools, and knowledge, as well as your scrounging skills. If you can do most of it on your own, sure... if you need much help, that will spend fast, especially with regearing the diffs and the t-case.

I like the FJ80 axle for width and strength, but you also can put the high-pinion FJ80 in a Toyota mini-truck housing, if a full 80 axle is hard to find. You can also run a high-pinion Dana 44, though this is a good bit more custom to make with a passenger-side drop.

Steering is a big challenge -- you've got two pieces to think of: steering pump and steering box. Your stock steering pump can be modified to work with a different steering box, though I don't recall whether that worked out well or not. The bigger challenge is removing the rack and pinion and putting a steering box on the frame rail in such a way that it doesn't interfere with the motor oil pan and accessory dress, but still allows steering links to actuate the steering throughout the full range of travel. FWIW, there are MANY ways to skin this cat -- among them are Isuzu first-gen IFS, Toyota IFS, Scout, or Jeep boxes and GM, Isuzu, or stock car pumps. LOTS of solutions, and Toy IFS box with Saginaw pump is just the most common.

I haven't seen a leaf-sprung second-gen yet, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. IIRC the challenge is that the frame rails have very little arch in them. Running the shackles up front may be the best way to work around this. Shackle reversal generally means shackles toward the back -- which were you planning?

I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're proposing for the rear suspension -- I'd suggest that you do one end at a time and see if you can just work with the stock rear suspension. The stock Isuzu 4-link with track bar works pretty well and distribute the load nicely... consider that going with a 3-link setup REALLY concentrates the upper link loads.

Randii