Hey FSM, I've been outta town for the better part of 2 weeks so I was away from the truck, but I'm back now and back in my beloved drivers seat.
On road, I've noticed that the rebound feeling seems more stiff when going over speedbumps.
I took the truck off-road a bit yesterday in an area that is actually pretty lush considering I'm in the desert. It's not as sandy or rocky as what I'm typically wheeling on, there were some trees, a lil' mud from recent rains, and even some grass. In the area a little makeshift track has been created by people who ride quads out there regularly. There weren't many whoops in this particular area, but I will be getting to those again soon.... hopefully this upcoming weekend. If my perspective changes more after that, I'll add to this thread.
My initial impressions offroad were that I still like the feel of the stance better from inside the truck. Everything else still felt pretty similar other than much like the aforementioned speedbump stiffness, going over the bumps offroad they also seem a little more stiff.... not jarring or anything, but definitely a bit more stiff. There were some jumps out there, but they were made for dirt bikes and perhaps even quads, so they weren't quite wide enough to hit and the angles were too steep to even consider trying (unless I had a sudden desire to be the next guy with a broken-nose-Raptor-video!).
I did find a nice roller that felt like I was getting some minor air when I hit it at speed, but we're only talking a few inches at most.... nothing like my avatar picture for example. The front end seemed to handle the little baby jump just fine though, I didn't experience anything that made me worry about harming the suspension components.
I've also had my sway bar removed for some time, and as I've mentioned before, in addition to some body-roll I've experienced an on-road feel since removing it that I can only describe as "squishier" when correcting my line in a higher speed turn or when moving the wheel back and forth from side to side while driving in a straight line..... maybe it's just me, but I feel like perhaps the lift to my front end via the top perch shock mod has pronounced this "squishy" feeling slightly more. ((Like I said, maybe it's just me because I've been out of the truck for 2 weeks and I got to do some serious open-road sports car driving on curvy roads at high speed when on the trip.... basically the polar opposite to my truck in on-road suspension tightness, grip, and response.... and we all know how your feel for a vehicle's habits can change or take some re-adjusting to after you've been driving other vehicle's and switching.)) Since coming back from that I feel like the squishiness from the removed swaybar is more noticeable, but due to the factors above its hard for me to say whether or not any of that feeling has been amplified by the suspension mod or if I'm just noticing it more due to jumping back into sports cars for a brief while since the mod.
Something else I've noticed on and off-road since performing the shock mod is that the truck seems to nosedive less when doing any hard-braking. I like this. It feels like I'm held slightly more firmly in my driving position and that the trucks front end (and the front of my seat) do not dip quite as much when I mash the STOPPPPP!!! pedal.
Also, to answer your alignment question, a "toe" adjustment is a good idea after doing the shock mod. It's not like a totally mandatory requirement (your truck will still drive without it) but my understanding is that you would experience improper long-term tire wear (something I'm no stranger to in this truck) if you were to do the shock mod and not re-adjust the toe in your alignment afterwards.
I hope this helps FSM, I'm by no means the most mechanically-inclined guy around here (I'll leave that expertise to guys like you), but I'm a fairly seasoned driver and have had training in high performance driving and racing, so I base most of my information just by what I FEEL behind the wheel.
If you want me to further clarify or elaborate more on any of the stuff I've mentioned, just say so and I will do my best to convey my experiences.
