Rear axle assembly - reccomendation?

Don't be quick to dismiss the 8.8 explorer. It's really not that bad. A couple minutes with a cut-off wheel and the old perches are off. A couple more minutes with a flap wheel and it's ready for the new mounts. Put an ad out on craigslist and I'm sure you could find a decent welder to weld the new perches on for you. I just got my cousin to do it since he does it for a living and bought him dinner and a beer. The whole process barely took a day. I'm leaving mine at the stock length, that's really only a problem for models that don't have the Duster rear. You probably won't be able to run 10 inch rims but 8's shouldn't be an issue. My plan is to run P275/60s in the back with 5.5' backspacing