Dave,
It's not the shock location that will cause the bottoming out, it's the fact that there is not enough spring to hold the truck up and take out road bumps. The spring pack is under the frame rails, so when you hit a deep pot hole the axle and spring clamps are going to slam into the bottom of the frame rails. Look to see if there are marks from where it has already hit. The shock location will be better out towards the tires to lesson the amount of leverage the axle has. The closer to center the shocks are, the less force they apply to the axle out on the ends. Simply leverage!
When I pulled leaves out my truck, I left the two top longest then pulled every other out leaving four out of the original seven. The rears had five out the original nine. Your truck also started out with weaker springs then my '37, so with only two left, I am surprised it rides as good as it does. I since have changed to four new spring packs made with a softer spring rate, I didn't trust the old springs with leaves removed.
The steering issue is something to think about, I know I had to add 2* of caster when I lowered my truck just a 1" or so. Even if you lower just the front, the caster changes. Bump steer is nothing you want to deal with, so study on the dragline issue and see if you can possibly level it out with cutting & welding on arms.
Joe
