Agreed. the 12 bolt is a good choice and about as stout as a 60... BUT the proper width.

a quick searh @ central foreign garnered a ~$650-750 rate for a 98+ axle.. the 94-97 were out of stock. However, I did look @ car-part.com and found several of that iteration as cheap as $350-400 and local!!!

Lincoln locker option works out decently enough. fairly cheap and you are golden.

So I would go with an Isuzu axle.

Either D44, exact replacement, just need to swap over the gears to 5.38 and lock it up, weld or lunchbox.
OR
12 bolt. slightly more $, and the gearing locker options are about the same, only no lunchbox for the 12 bolt.

You can still make it Trav, dont give up. A direct replacement will shave some time off, otherwise the control arm (upper/lower links) brackets will need to be welded to the 12bolt. doubt the trooper links match up.
Dude, get on the horn and make some arrangements... This CAN happen within the timeframe needed. Disaster can be avoided... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />