As usual, I had high expectations of cheaping out, but I couldn't get past the reviews of the cheap white shocks in comparison to the shiny silver ones (it didn't help that 4WP was running a deal on shocks).
In my researching process, I did drum up some information that may be interesting/useful to others:
***
Caveat - this information was provided directly from Bilstein and may only be pertinent to their 5100/5125 shock series***
'79-85 stock pickup shock valving = Front - 196/66, Rear - 223/124
For Bilstein Part #24-185752 which is specified for '86-'95 pickups rear shocks with 3" lift, valving = 155/95
Given that my shock geometry differed from that of the "vehicle specific" shock categories, I ended up going with the following shock choice:
Front- Bilstein 33-185569, 12" shock, ext length = 29.7", comp length = 17.91", valving = 255/70
Rear- Bilstein 33-214672, 10" shock, ext length = 25.0", comp length = 15.41", valving = 201/87
After saying all of this, I have no feedback on performance. Me and some buddies are going to sweat our ballz off on Satuday at DT and test them out though.