Since Chili Man took the mechanical aspect I'll follow up with the suspension portion of your question...In order to fit 33x12.50's without rubbing you're gonna need about 4" of lift at minimum...My friend has 33's on his truck with 3" of lift and he rubs a little bit, but we did alot of trimming and hammering so you can make it work with less lift its just a little more work...You could go with 33x10.50's or 11.50's and then I dont think you would rub...Since you're buying a 96-97 I'm assuming it will be 4 wheel drive which means with whatever lift you choose you cant go over 2.5" without doing the diff drop...As for lifts, tons of people make them for our trucks which is nice because it gives you a nice selection...The only one that I would say stay away from is Fabtech...They make a 3.5" coilover and 6" drop down bracket system and I know people that have both and are really unsatisfied with them...Fabtech seems to try and find ways not to honor their warrenties too...If you plan on playing in the dirt at all I would recommend staying away from them...This site has a lot of good info on Taco suspension and the truck they use is 96 too...My truck is setup like theirs with the 2.5'x8" sway aways and upper arms with 32x11.50's and it runs amazingly...I've taken it to Pismo, Glamis, Octillo and places around my house and it takes the abuse, but I never jump or it anything so I dont beat on it that hard...Here are some sites that do lifts, check them out and hopefully all of this will help you in your decision <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

www.swayaway.com
www.kingshocks.com
www.donahoeracing.com
www.allprooffroad.com
www.chaosfab.com
www.camburg.com
www.revtek.com
www.cornfedsuspension.com