more pics. I ended up drilling and tapping the emergency brake cable bracket, not too terrible unless you break a tap...
I had OUO adjustable bolt on traction bars. they ended up being about 3" too long so I unbolted them and re-drilled them to length, quick and mostly painless.
For the U-bolts, the OUO ones were now way to long because of removing a bolt so I had a local place make me new ones. 3/4 inch diameter just like OUO with same thread pitch and bend to match the OUO top plate so that meant disassembling the new spring pack to remove the top plate, assemble them and cut the bolt down to clearance the top place and then they were ready to go on. the pin also needed ground down on the bottom of the pack to be able to sit flush on the axle as well. Finally, I purposely go U-bolts a little longer just incase it sat way low in the back that I needed to get a block but its gonna be close enough for now so I think I cut the U-bolts to about 10" long so for anyone trying to do this and has no idea how long of U-bolts they need... its about 10" if you're not using a block and the 2 spring pack with overload.
For the rest of the truck, I had fox 2.0 IPFs all around and was able to use those still although they are a little too long. I put new Advance auto special shock mounts on since I found the old one was rusted completely through and busted. they came with all new bolts and nut so that was nice. sway bar links are probably a little long but I suspect they were lengthened ones that came with whatever lift the truck had on it.
final thoughts, I really don't know if it rides much better than before with the arched springs and over-top shackle design... I still have to put the bumper and bed back on to really get an idea of the ride quality. also I have a 5 inch exhaust which is just temporarily axle dumped. since the springs sit so much lower given no block they sit right in the path of the exhaust and the 38 gallon tank sits low too so an axle dump will have to do for now till I feel like F****** with it. Overall the SKY KIT is well built, there was one little blemish in the powder coat on the drivers rear bracket but it was packaged nicely and all the hardware is grade 8 yellow zinc plated stuff. it would be nice if they just had holes already drilled and tapped for the Ebrake bracket because nobody is going to buy a powder coated kit only to grind it off to weld it on... stupid
this is A LOT A LOT of work coating the Frame and doing this swap but worth it in my opinion if you plan to make the truck last an possibly show the truck down the road.
Oh and for removing the old brackets, I bought the Chief air hammer and chisels from harbor freight (100$ish) and it made quick work of all the rivets (36ish). highly recommend.