Tank, you have the first couple of steps out of the way…you have the truck and you have an idea on what you want to do with it. Good!
Now you need to take another step back and really figure out how much pavement the truck is going to see and how much rock vs. mud you are going to be in.
another thing to consider, is for the most part the general concensous around here is Mud if evil! Mud tears equipment up fast. So if you are going to be in a lot of the muck, try and safe guard against it getting to parts such as your alternator (quick death in mud) and you intake stuff. ect.
The typical first step would be trail armor such as heavier bumpers and sliders.Then lockers. After that maybe lift and tires, then gears. or if you are a rockerfeller, do the lift, tires and gears at the same time.(also consider putting off the lockers until you do the gears. no sense in having to pay a shop to tear into your diffs twice…have the lockers installed with the gears and save some labor fees)
also remember this is an expensive hobby. By that I mean if you are serious into going off road, keep a budget for spare parts! Also don't "out build your experience level"
No I don't mean don't try to fab something if you don't have the experience. What I mean is build your truck up to your wheeling experience, when you feel like you are wanting to get into tougher terrian than what you truck can handle, then is the time to upgrade your trucks equipment.
Hopes this helps! I wish someone would have put these "instructions" up when I first got into this game! I learned the hard way. But I also enjoyed every step of the way (excluding the frustration when my wallet deflated and I still needed more parts)
