99 Taco rear leaf options

After 300K miles, I decided it was time to change out some parts, including shocks and (OE!) struts (and the timing belt!). After some looking around, I settled on Rancho QuickLift struts and XL9000 shocks (Rancho's "leveling" kit), which I recently installed. The struts add 1.75" lift, which makes my slightly oversized (31" 265/70/17) tires no longer rub the wheel well, which is nice (at last!), but leaves my tail end about 1" lower than the front ("negative rake?"), so now looking at leaf options.

It seems there are any number of lift springs out there, generally in the 2" range. The trouble with this is that it leaves my shocks more extended than possibly designed for (the Rancho shocks are about 2-3" shorter than OME shocks intended to go with the OME 2" kit when fully extended). If necessary, I could always get longer shocks and sell the new Ranchos (less than 500 miles on them) for close to what I paid, chalking the rest up to experience.

My local off-road shop thinks that adding 2" to the rear will give it too much rake and look like I'm burrowing into the ground, and that adding a leaf at the local spring shop should add an inch or so to the rear lift. My argument with that solution is that the rest of the leaves have 300K+ miles on them, and supposedly tend to wear out long before now (tho' OE struts - and timing belt! - tend to belie that theory). Alternately, if I want to spend the extra money, I could go with stock-height springs which aren't as easily found.

First, do you agree with this assessment? Should I stick with stock lift and new spring packs vs. adding a new leaf to the old set?

Then, if I stick with stock springs, where to get them? General Spring has them, as does SD Truck Springs, but some people have suggested that SD's springs don't tend to last long before sagging. Since whatever I decide to do is going to be more or less permanent (no returning them 30 days later!), one war story is too many for me. Alcan seems like overkill, as do other fabricators that seem to specialize in "extreme" off-road springs built to particular specifications: for the most part, this is a street truck with only occasional forays into the wild (which isn't TOO "wild" in mostly-flat Texas!). I could also go with Dorman and other "OE-replacement" springs, which all of the "traditional" (JC Whitney, O'Reilly, etc.) sources seem carry. None of the prices are outrageous (other than the "extreme" springs), say $100 for standard and $150 for HD springs.

Does anyone have any bad or particularly good experiences with any of the manufacturers listed, or recommend any others? I'm really only looking for 100K more miles from the truck (or maybe even selling it before that). All of this is really only cosmetic, not necessary or even practical, but who knows for the next owner?

Thanks for your help!