i beam swap

[Dav]

front end on the 88 2wd squats. nothing visibly wrong and it rides fairly good. springs seem to be at 10 1/2 inches which is the right height according to oreilly's parts specs. will tired shocks make it squat? you can only notice it when looking at the front of the truck from 20 feet away
since i have a 96 that is headed for the scrapyard, i figured i would cannibalize the i beams to do a brake upgrade while sorting out the cause of the squat. i am just starting the disassembly process on the 96
sway bar came off rather easy. can't believe ford used plastic links to hold it together. one link is split lengthwise. minor problem
the nut holding the shock to the radius arm doesn't want to move. think if i try any harder, i will break the bolt. it is welded on the back. is there a replacement kit for these? i know there are kits for rear shock bolts.
can the beam/spring/radius arm be removed as an assembly? and installed that way?
lastly, which radius arms do i want to use? both napa and oreilly's list no radius arm for the 88 but do carry them for the 96 so i guess they are different

 

[Denisefwd93]

You probably just don't like the way it looks, you already answered your question, when you measured the spring height. I've never seen a picture of Ranger or bronco squatting it would be interesting to see!
There's lots of information on the tech pages also
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/dana_28_35.shtml