I hope you follow thru, I think the idea has been kicked around before....and I have thought about it before. The furthest I got is some paper notes, so I'll share my chicken scratches to add some more thoughts to the pool.
My general idea was to adapt a common shock body to a strut mount like you have somewhat already showed. I thought an airshock would be cool, because then you get rid of the leverage action on the coil, or even maybe a coilover type shock might work. Then ditch the trackers coil. So pretty much take a shock and clamp it with a custom bracket. Some pics/thoughts to clear my long winded explanation.
I think the crux is keeping overall fab and cost down...... Ultimately a double a-arm type setup is probably the best setup as done by a couple on this board, but that requires a whole lot of fab and will never be a "bolt-on" type mod.
I like your initial thoughts about running taco shafts, used parts are a plus for me because I like going to junkyards. I do agree the the CV930 shafts would work better, but that will require more work/fab to get them adapted to a sidekick cv shaft. Also I think 12" may be a little aggressive, 10" would work too (it's how you use your 10"
). I noticed a nice improvement with OME struts and they are only ~1" longer then factory. I think the stroke is still less then 8" if I recall.
Just some thoughts, sorry for the novel. I have acquired some 10" airshocks over the summer and thought about this idea over a year now, with no real progress, who knows if/when I will. If there is a way for me to help further this type idea, let me know.
