My 2 cents: Given the investment in the truck so far, and then buying a lift, it seems to me a few hundred extra bucks for the correct extensions is well worth the expense. There are way too many stories with sad endings to take a chance with a back yard engineered work around.
Back yard engineered work around? You just described the very essence of hot rodding. That's what we do - V8's in vehicles that were intended to have 4-bangers, different suspensions, modified parts, etc etc. Back yard engineering is why our old cars are still running, any many of them running much better and faster than they were ever designed to run. Home builders addressing deficiencies in parts and products is how new parts and products are discovered and developed. Sorry, but I think any car nut worth his welder can make a part more perfectly suited for a particular purpose than some distant manufacturer who never actually uses his own product ever could. And probably do it much cheaper as well.
