Everyone's opinion for rear end to go with?
If you are starting from scratch, go Dana, I just bought a 60 floater pretty cheap.
I also picked up a 85 short box Dodge truck, 440, 727 it has a 8.75 that somebody put under it.
Either rear will hold up under the truck, its going to be real hard to get it to hook up, its most likely just going to want to spin the tires.