What would YOU do, 1" spacer on 4.5" RE Lift?

Ok, so I currenly have this jacked up pieced together lift that just plain sucks, consisting of skycrapper and crap country and various other stuff sitting between 4-5 inches. The front is too stiff, the rear is too soft, just doesnt work...

So, what I have done is purchase 4.5" RE coils and leafs, ordering an adjustable RE trackbar today, gotta rock some skycrapper shocks for right now, but am gonna get the RE shocks within the next month or two,,,,I do have an SYE...Oh and I have some Rusty's "bent" or "ergonomic"(ha) lower control arms designed for their 4.5" lift.....

here is my question, I told you the setup I will be running. Right now i am rolling with a stock front bumper, I am finishing up the new front bumper that will house a 8000 winch. With the control arms listed, should I go ahead an throw in a 1" spacer up front to compensate for that bumper and winch that will be on there sometime next month? My ONLY concern is that adding that 1" spacer will reduce my angle of the control arm, effectively loosing some articulation under full droop.

What do you think? do it or not. It will be easier doing it now, than later...when the rear springs settle, I would like to get some Boomerang shackle. Please let me know what you think, and also address my concern about loosing articulation.

Thanks, Derek

Adding the 1" spacer after installing a heavier bumper and winch may not completely correct for the affect of the weight--especially if the springs are new. New springs will settle after use. I found a 1.5 spacer was required with my new bumper and winch (Warn 9000).
As far as articulation is concerned, lower arms that are off-set at the axle helps with the inevitable binding that occurs as the axle droops--whether from increasing spring length or from droop while off-road. The short, lower arms result in lots of road shock being transmitted into the cab. The higher the lift, the more the shock, and the less articulation. Two ways to solve both problems is either use LCA drop brackets or a long-arm link set up. I'm currently using home-brew drop brackets. The improved "ride" and articulation were dramatic. I do, however, intend to do a long arm arrangement to reduce "wheel base" variations resulting from increased droop and short arms. I believe large variations between drivers side versus passenger side--experienced while off-roading--results in significant suspension binding, and, therefor, reduced articulation.

yeah, the drop brackets are definitely in my game plan sometime hopefully before the end of the summer, really, Im hoping this will cut it for right now. At this point, with all that lift, im running Rubi wheels and Rubi MTR's, it might look goofy, but hopefully the rubi wheels will compensate for it.

Your Rubi lift didnt come with new arms?

Maybe I wasn't clear in my earlier response--adding 1" spacers without adding additional weight to the front or modifying the LCAs or mounts will reduce downward droop: The LCA arms will contact the tops of the LCA axle mounts sooner than without the spacer, resulting in bind. Your Rusty's LCAs will help, but you can only reduce binding so much with "bent" arms. In my opinion, the short arms result in too radical of an angle to expect decent articulation without modifying the LCA frame mounts (dropped!). Jack up one front wheel until the other front wheel comes off the ground and see what hits. Could be your track bar or shocks stop axle droop before your Rusty's arms make contact, so adding the 1" spacer would be moot.