thats weird i helped put a 8" full leaf lift in a friends 93 and the shaft was too short but no problems with hitting the cross memeber?? wonder whats different?? pinion angle??

I put in the shims and everything on the front, it's all leafs in the front and blocks on the rear. Not sure if the 8" has more pinion angle or something. Is the one you did an auto or 5 speed? Mine is an auto, so the cradle may be different for that.

Mine is the same, leafs in the front and blocks in the rear. Mine is also an auto tranny! Another question i had was if you had done any mods to the steering?

my friends truck is a 5 speed that might be the difference!!
he definitly needed the drop pitman arm aswell!!!

haha dam well that doesn't help me out!!!! Also, have you done the crossover steering upgrade yet? Ive heard it makes a world of difference.

I haven't done any steering mods besides adding the drop pitman arm to it, but the steering box and steering shaft are worn slap out on mine. So I'll be replacing all that soon too. It's all the original stuff with likely over 300k on it, so it's all due to be replaced. But I think they auto tranny/crossmember issue seems to be the problem. I know the 5 speed is a lot shorter tranny than the A518.