Yeah Thanks Dave. Typical me..Overthinking the issue. Gonna head to the Depot tomorrow and pick up some all -thread. I was leery using the bolts too, just wanted to test it out.
Even with the 1" spacer, the linkage hit the EFE so I yanked it and used the suggestion from another member on plugging the hole where the EFE was. Got a 1" freeze plug from the parts store. It was really tight, so I froze it overnight and it popped right in this morning. Great suggestions and advice from this forum.