if you arent spending the coin on deavers, nationals, alcans, or anything fancy the next step down before getting into the real cheap stuff would be clayton. custom made in canada for clayton, military wrapped eyes, 7 leafs in the pack, quality pressed in sleeved bushings. they ride just fine.
i have run re 4.5's, re 3.5's, and rockkrawler 4.5's and they all sucked. none of them could keep thier height for more than a few months and they all had some pretty intense axle wrap and i broke some u-joints and yokes because of it.