I did not move the frame forward , my arms move them 1" forward but I have GV axles so I am 5"s wider total , 2 1/2" wider a side

how would this work with a 2nd gen?

how would this work with a 2nd gen?

any xtra lift is a plus and longer arms help with the stability , but you would have have custom axles to be any wider than 1" a side

I did not move the frame forward , my arms move them 1" forward but I have GV axles so I am 5"s wider total , 2 1/2" wider a side

Just so the numbers make sense.
2nd gen frame is 4" wider than 1st gen.  So to use 2nd gen CV's you need 2" longer per side.
As you move the ball joint forward 1" it requires moving it outward 50% or 1/2" (because it is making the CV straighter, not angling backward).
So are you running a 2nd gen rear axle?

You also make a 1st gen kit for the coilover strut replacement.  Does it move the ball joint forward?  Would it work in the 2nd gen?

I would also be interested in hearing more about the possibility of a front frame drop and/or the coilover kit for the front of a 2nd gen. Seems like it would be alot more durable than the stock strut setup.

So doing the frame drop helps when you do almost anything over 2" the rear has to be all reworked as well with new longer arms 4 link and do away withe the stock rear arms.

I stumbled across this build thread on the Zuwharrie IFS forum: http://www.zukikrawlers.com/showthread.php?t=54699 This guy did a 4" drop and 4.5" stretch to the frame and didn't do anything else to the front end other than raising the motor mounts and front body mounts. I think if I was going that route I wouldn't stretch it as much, and I'd probably only drop it about 2" and then do a 2.5" suspension lift to get the front crossmember a little higher off the ground. For the rear I think he put TJ coils on and lengthened the control arms. It almost looks easy:







He also mentioned that he put on some REAR struts from a 1995 Pontiac Grand Prix which is 4" larger. This required some modification to the upper strut mount but gave a nice amount of extra down-travel. I'd be interested what the advantage of your coilover setup compared to the longer struts would be? This seems like a good compromise between cost and performance.

if you read the whole thread there is a lot more to do than just chop and motor mounts  (brake lines, steering, frt ds , rad supports..etc.) it looks easy but if you are not fabricator and can not weld I wouldn't attempt. yes its a very cool concept but cutting my DD in half is not in the cards on my behalf. my 2c

Looking at those photo's, I would at the least fish plate that welded area with some plug welds for good measure.
The real advantage to a frame chop & drop is no changes to the suspension.  You have the lift you need and the suspension remains unchanged.  The wheels are moved forward for better approach angles and you have more room for larger tires.
When you do a suspension lift you limit down travel.  Even with a diff drop and longer struts, down travel is limited, because the CV joints can only take so much angle.  This would keep you struts running in the center with up and down travel.
Of course as Beagle..t has mentioned there is still a raised body mount, lengthening the steering rod, brake lines, etc.
It always looks easy, and sounds pretty easy, but doing & finishing takes more time and effort to accomplish.
Here is Mike Hagan's project http://www2.zukiworld.com/feature_project-zr3-the-way-a-tracker-should-have-been-built/, it looks pretty simple also.

I would avoid the Pontiac struts, they don't hold up to daily driving.  We have even found that the 2" longer struts that you can get from Low Range and Trail Tough tend to die after about a year of general abuse.

The only struts we have found that hold up to abuse and large tires are the Bilstein struts.  They are expensive and don't have any additional travel but are heavy duty enough to keep up.  You can melt the seals if you try hard enough, if your going to be doing a lot of high speed desert runs I would go with a secondary shock as well.

I have heard the OME struts work well as long as you have a limiting strap to stop them from over-extending.  Make sure whatever you do that you bump stops are also modified so your not hitting your strut mounts when you bottom out.