If your going to do a body lift, I would go for 2". 1 inch is not enough for the work entailed-although its not a ton of work. If you are doing bumpers and sliders a body lift is easy to hide with a little thought to it. Plus it keeps the cog low where as suspension lift raises cog more. I love my body lift, its wayyy easier to pull the tranny, and it helps keep the body away from the rocks. With that low of gearing your planning, if you bind stuff up something is going to break no matter what axles you have. Just be careful and put a good traction bar on and the axles should hold up within reason I would think. If you put aftermarket u-joints in the rear shaft it should make a good fuse in case you get bound up. Factory u-joint are bomb proof and will cause something more serious to break. Also keep in mind that pinion and axle shafts wear after a while and get brittle, they need to be replaced every so often if your wheeling them hard.WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT (And how I plan to make it happen)
Overdrive - I've wanted this for awhile and the NV4500 should be a good fix.
Lower Low range. The 203 (which should get here sometime this week) plus the NV4500's lower first than my H41 will do this for sure.
Tire rub - it's bad. Cutting to commence soon as I don't want to raise it up any more then it is. Possible 1" body lift?
Underbelly protection - I have none. Usually I can get by with good spotting but it worries me.
When I build the cross members for the NV4500/203 I will definitely incorporate some under armor.
More departure angle - cutting rear quarters soon as both sides are now bashed after this weekend. I want to remove the trailer hitch and incorporate it into a wraparound tube bumper.
Selectable front locker/hydro assist - I have a front Lockright now, since I never use 4WD on the street anyways thinking about putting a mini-spool in the front with hydro-assist OR a front selectable locker. Just want to make it easier to steer with the front locked or make front locks or unlocks quicker. Going to a Saginaw pump regardless. not sure if it's worth it to invest in Cruiser axles.
And bigger tires of course, but that's always a given. Thinking about skipping 37's and going straight to 40's, though it seems 37 is about the limit of cruiser axles. My 35's are brand new though and for what they cost I'm going to get my money out of them for sure.