Budzilla,
my opinion is to go with the dropped front axle. its a bolt in swap. i put one of Sids, (Drapal) 3 inch dropped fronts in my 57, and love the way it rides.
http://droppedaxles.com/he is the expert when it comes to dropped axles.
along with the 3 inch dropped axle i removed one of the front leafs, the shortest, and got another 1/2 inch or so of a drop. and it actually softened up the ride.
out back i took 4 of the stock 7 leafs out, and installed lowering shackles to get the drop i wanted. removing those leafs also softened up the ride in the rear.
you can check out the before and after pics and installation in my photobucket album.
hope this helps.
leonard
