JD, I too like the forward rake and that is what I did to my C10 like we did in the late 60's/early 70's, except instead of heating the coils I used 2" drop springs. What a difference in then and now, it rides I think better than normal springs, I think I have pretty much full travel in my suspension. I changed to disc brakes also at this time and used the cheaper springs as opposed to drop spindles, and yes I had it aligned at this time. Brakes do make a huge difference in stopping. I used P215/70R17 in the front and P275/60R15 in the rear. Hope this helps.
Taclem
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/192/dsc5866p.jpg/http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/15/dsc5855v.jpg/
