I have been pondering the idea of ripping out my IFS and replacing it with a solid front axle. Offroad Unlimited sells a bracket kit for this reason. My passion is offroading and need to get more articulation from my frontend. Has anyone ever done this? Looking for some pointers, recommendations, or things to stay away from.

3500 HD had straight front axle with leaf springs and cross-over steering as oem equipment.
Was built for the small Caterpillar 6-cylinder Diesel option.

Check it out at your local boneyard(s) for factory engineered brackets, springs, steering gear, and methods.

Don't tell 'em I sentcha, and you'll get a better price..... ;)

For the cost of adding a lift truss on a chevy IFS you can buy a dana60 F and install it.
It's not the smooth ride you're used to but it will have the suspension you add to it.(leafs)

I picked up a Dana 60 front axle from a '79 Ford F350 because I'm going to a solid axle on my '99. This particular axle is sweet because there are kingpins instead of ball joints, and the pumpkin in on the driver's side like it needs to be so you can reuse your stock T-case. GM Dana 60's all came with passenger side pumpkins...

24VChevy over at turbo diesel register threw a Dana 60 under his '94 and stuffed a 24V Cummins into the engine bay. He has a Powerstroke intercooler mounted behind the grill and pics showing you how he made room for it. Good stuff... I picked up an intercooler from a '98 Ram, plan on mounting it in the same place. Now that I'll be getting some cash from my tax return... gonna finally get some of my big plans underway.

Off road unlimited's kit is a very easy install.
You need to add the steering, driveshaft, leaf springs, shocks, brake lines, sway bar kit and the axle. It is easy to install and set up. Some drilling required but it could be done as quick as an IFS lift install. Go with the 79 Ford style high pinion. Tom Woods is a great source for a driveshaft.
The 3500HD used a differnt frame so the brackets and axle being a non drive axle do you no good.
I did price out a new high pinion dana 60 from dynatrac with gears, locker, spring pads, ABS sensors and toner wheels, rotors, calipers, and pads. It was ready to bolt in but it was $5200. It would be the best way to go as a bone yard 60 will need a full rebuild and the track width is off a little bit as it's narrower.

PavementSucks.com has quite a few Chevy members that have done the SFA swap. There are plenty of posts on it and pictures if you want to watch peoples build-ups.

if you want to retin the ABS i think you can use a later model ford dana 60 as it has toner wheels for the ABS system.