A thief ruined my night

The other night I was driving home when I discovered that some needy citizen decided he needed my wheels more than I did. I didn’t notice until I was slowing for a speed hump and the back end suddenly went all wonky. I thought it was a flat and started to pull over, when BAM- the driver’s side rear brake drum hit the pavement, and my rear tire passed me by. I guess the thief didn’t know how to deal with the wheel lock, and decided just to leave things as they were. So there I was at the side of the road with the rear of my truck on the ground. It was a pain in the moment, but I managed to get home after an hour of moving lug nuts around.
So now I’m in for some body work (stock flares seem impossible to find!) I’m thinking about giving it some lift while it’s down, and I bought this lift kit cheap from a guy on Craigslist. Since it didn’t come with any instructions, my question is what should I take into account to add this (2”) to my truck? I need to buy shocks anyway, since the one on the rear driver’s side is leaking. Do I need longer ones, and if so, how do I figure out which ones? Any tips or information in general about this are greatly appreciated.

 

I was just going to replace the rear shocks, but I'm intrigued. What shocks would work for this on my '97, and is that a better solution than the levelers?

 

The drivers side wheel is the one most likely to loosten on it's own do to rotation. Some of the 70' model Fords use to use reverse thread lugs on the drivers rear to prevent that. I have had that wheel pass me before, a fun time it was. Ever since then I always check those lugs more often.

Recently after mudding and spinning doughnuts I rechecked and my Tacoma had loose drivers rear lugs. Torqued them back and good to go. Saved me so I did not lose another.

 

This links to a

$105 Bilstein 33-185606 Bilstein 33185606 Shock Absorber

Bilstein 33-185606, which turns out not to be the ones I need
Investigating further, it looks like the 2 rear shocks are different; I found a

$112 33-247724 Bilstein Qc55T 1" X 1" Male Coupling

33-247724 and a

$105 33-247717 Bilstein 5100 Series 96-04 Toyota Tacoma Rear Right 46mm Monotube Shock Absorber (33-247717)

33-247717 for the driver's side and passenger's side. I never would have guessed that they were different.

 

This is strange, last week I dreamt my truck was up on blocks w/ no wheels. And front differential. Lol... wtf is wrong with people? Geeeezus