The empty thimble is a concern. I can find right thread bolts in the 3/4 16 thread, but cant seem to find left hand. The driver side of the truck is left hand threads like a regular class 8, so the passenger side would need left hand bolts in the thimbles. So I may have to just grind some tread off of the right hand bolts and press them into the left hand thimbles. Dunno. Should do something though.

 On the tall nut idea, I did that on a smaller set many years ago on a 3/4 ton pickup. It did work, but the rods had to be lined up just perfect or cross thread. And the nuts had to be installed just so on the lug stud and wheel hole as the nut would pull the stud off of perfectly straight just a bit and make starting the rod a real pita. But that was just my experience and that dont mean much. So I thought I would try a floating, self aligning type thing. The 1/4" tube is a bit over kill, but the nuts sure fit inside just right.