It sounds like you moved in the right direction with the caster shims. You may want to call around and see if any local shops would be willing to throw it on the alignment rack and get you some measurments on the caster for cheap, then you'll for sure know if that's where it needs to be.
Something closer to the ride quality of coil springs while retaining the simple and durable nature of leaf springs sounds like an absolute win. If people end up liking this, I'll be keeping my eyes out for a MWB kit with little to no lift.
Edit: thanks to Georg for the call, turns out I had a vacuum shift lever thing in my non-vacuum case. I didn't know they had different parts, or how my used case ended up with that one, but things are making sense now.
Thanks for the reply. From what I've seen in this thread, it seems like the...
From what Ive seen, the HNL lever orients this way, however, the flat part of the shaft is on the opposite side of what it needs to be for the set screw. What's up with that, has anyone else seen this? Should I just rig it up with the stock lever pictured?
The 43 has the longer leafs of a 45, at least in the rear, but there's no reason they couldn't be made in the correct spring rate for your application. Plus you have the advantage of a longer wheelbase, and the better weight distribution that comes with that. Idk how it will ride factory, but...
I've thought about doing tube or no doors with a hardtop. Seems like it would bring at least some freedom without as much work (using quick hinges).
I miss my jeeps soft top for a summer evening around town or a day in the mountains, but everything else favors the hardtop imo.