First time chevy owner with a '91 burb v2500

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Just got a '91 forest-service-seafoam-green 4x4 2500 burb with 175k and I'm stoked. First time owning a full size rig. Coming from a 96 yota t100 with a wimpy 3.4 V6. The burb has a few "quirks" as is to be expected and I'm hoping for some knowledge from this community.

1. Tranny shifts rough from 1 to 2, slips in 2nd about 5% of the time, but shifts well between other gears. I know a new tranny/rebuild is in my future, but how long can I keep it rolling as is? I know I risk getting stranded but honestly, it's a risk i'm willing to take if I can realistically make it many months if not years as is.

2. Coolant temp indicator on my dash isn't working properly. It moves around when driving, but is not accurate. After driving around long enough to get the engine hot, the needle only goes up a few degrees, basically sitting on cold. When climbing a long pass, the needle moved up a few more degrees but not even to the middle. I know it's working to an extent, but far from fully. What needs fixing? The gauge? The coolant temp sensor? Something else?

3. I've got one of the rolly window tailgate models. I would have preferred the barn doors out of simplicity but here we are. The motor is garbage. I can get the window up and down, but only with great struggle and a good soaking in wd40. I'm tempted to gerry-rig an old truck canopy window on this so I don't have to deal with the motor. After taking the gate apart as much as I could, I see replacing the widow mechanism is going to be a royal pain in the ass. I can get a whole gate from a yard for $125 but the status of that window mech. is unknown. I've heard talk on the forums of a barn door swap but I think that's going to require a bit more fab-ing than I'm comfortable with. Any suggestions?

4. Front driver door is slightly misaligned. rattles on bumpy roads. whats my fix so I don't go insane on washboards and anything remotely close to offroad?

5. Lifting this bad *****; solid front axel means easy and cheap install. I want to keep it cheap but i don't want to **** up the truck. a 4" is all I need so I can eventually put 35s underneath. I have the v2500 model but can I throw a kit for a v1500 on there to get a smoother ride? i dont do any heavy towing and would appreciate a more supple ride to towing rigidity. blocks vs new leafs in the rear. any one better than the other?

6. Anything i need to be aware of? common problems with these models? anything besides fluids change right off the bat? is my timing chain good forever or do i need to do something about it?

Happy to be part of this community. Coming from yota forums I was wondering if you chevy guys were going to be as thorough but I see i can put my worries to rest. ]

Cheers,
Evan