Sas conversion questions

[thomasb_04]

I have a 99 for explorer eb 2wd, ive been littereally trying to drive it in the ground, i cant kill it, the reason im doing this is because once it dies i want to rebuild the motor, swap the transmission and throw a set of axles up under it and make it a purely offroas toy... I plan on cutting pretty much everything out from the ifs to the interior, now ive never done this ive owned many lifted trucks, but ive never done a sas swap.... I want to do this relatively inexpensive and i will be doing this on my own, im not taking it to a shop to pay someone to do my project, the rear end is pretty cut an dry for me leaf over axle isnt difficult, but the front end is where i need help and have questions, i want to run leafs all the way around and keep ot simple so its easy to repair what breaks, so is a rease hitch the best way to go for a front cross member and im keeping the rear leaf springs, so if i go to the junkyard what should i look for in leaf springs, would a jeep be around the same, im wanting about six-10 inches of lift, And run 35's this isnt some rediculous truck im building just something i can play with, ill also be swapping the transmission so i can run a transfer case for 4wd...also what would i do for the steering... Ive read alot in the sas registry but they dont cover all of my questions... Thanks in advance for your help