I am in the process of adding a new winch bumper and winch to my '09 2 door Rubi. My estimate is that I will be adding about 150# to the front and maybe 90# to the rear of my jeep. I LIKE the ride and handling now and have gone to extremes not to lift my jeep, but I have to face the fact that that much weight out front is gonna make the jeep sag. I have maxed out the wheel wells by putting 33" toyo's under the jeep which rubbed exactly once in my recent trip out to Ouray (and that was on the stupid plastic airdam).

I climbed onto the front bumper adding 190# to it and had a friend measure the sag and he felt it was only a good 1".

So here's my question: I would not mind 1" to 1.5" in lift (better overal articulation room) but I don't want to lose ride and handling characteristics and I sure don't want to replace the entire drive train. Would the 2.5" OME light weight lift kit compress down giving me 1" to 1.5" increase in lift or is there an even better solution?

I need help as my 4wd shop is full of mechanics not engineers.

 

I understand what you are saying, You can get a leveling kit to bring it back to where it is now. If you want to lift it just do 2.5 OME or TF.
Here is a link to a leveling kits and ecno/BB lifts
http://alphaexpedition.com/index.php...0&limitstart=0

 

I have a simular set up and am running the daystar spacers 1 3/4 up front and 3/4 in the rear, when wheelin I stuff my flares really bad I suggest going at least 2 inches, I think teraflex makes a 2inch up from 1 inch in the rear leveling kit
for like 130$

 

btw With everything my ride quality is still as
good if not more solid then stock

 

After I added a mid-width Shrockworks front bumper with Warn 9500XP winch and a full-width Shrockworks rear bumper with tire carrier, gas can mounts and cargo rack to a two door automatic Rubicon I installed the springs from my brothers 4 door Rubi with tow package and got back most of the suspension sag caused by the added weight. These are my measurements both before and after.

Jeep suspension height measured from level ground to lower edge of fender flair with no driver or passenger and ¾ tank of fuel.
LF 32” RF 32.5”
LR 28.5” RR 28.5”

Jeep suspension height measured from level ground to lower edge of fender flair with no driver or passenger and ¾ tank of fuel after installing Shrockworks mid-width front bumper with winch and Shrockworks full-width rear bumper with tire carrier, cargo rack and two jerry gas can mounts.
LF 31.5” RF 31.25”
LR 27.75 RR 27.25

Jeep suspension height measured from level ground to lower edge of fender flair with no driver or passenger and ¾ tank of fuel after installing Shrockworks mid-width front bumper with winch and Shrockworks full-width rear bumper with tire carrier, cargo rack and two jerry gas can mounts after installing the springs from a 2009 Rubicon Limited with tow package.
LF 33- RF 32.5+
LR 28 RR 28

As you can see I actually got a little lift in the front and came within half an inch in the rear.