</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by ldivinag:
<strong>best mod?

join a club or a group of people who's been doing this for years.

if you and a buddy who just bought their first 4wd vehicle decide to get dirty for the very time, be careful... be very careful...</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Ding, ding, ding!!!

Don't be the schmuck I have to pull out cause he was wheeling alone. Get some time wheeling with other people. Find out what your truck can and cannot do. You may get bit by the wheeling bug, and decide to go for it. You will then be glad you did not run out all at once and buy new 32's and limited slips. You may find that for the wheeling you want to do, it will take 35's and real lockers, and low tcase gears. It will save lots of money if you do it right the first time.

Oh yeah, above all, have fun!

1. lockers
2. bfh and/or sawsall
3. big tires

- Tires!!!!!!
- Locker
- Sucide wheel (my favorite mod... can't live without it! Makes turning that steering wheel EASY!

1. a come-along and some rope
it's cheap insurance
2. a shovel
many uses. you'd be surprised
3. tools and spares

I think you should make a plan of what you want the truck to eventually be. Then figure what it will cost to get there. Then figure who long it will take and at what pace you want to add things.

Locker is good but if you get one that needs gear setup, down the road when you lift and get bigger tires you will want lower gears and you will have to redo your locker/gears.

If it will be several years before its done then stock size mud tires is a good start. By the time those tires are worn out you will have had time to do things like lift and gears. Then buying biger tires will be a natural progression. Look through the for sale section at all the smallish AT and MT tires. Free is a good price and a good place to start.

Browsing the For Sale section will give you a good idea of what mistakes people have made. Lots of that stuff seemed like a good idea at the time but turned out to be a waste of money. Those people are taking a loss on expensive tires because they didn't plan their build up very well.

I think a winch and bumper is not a bad start but if you decide on a bodylift later the bumper will have to be re-done. Rock sliders are the same way. If there is no possibility of a bodylift in the future then go for bumper(s) winch and/ or sliders.

Whatever you decide on for a first mod, make sure its something that won't have to be re-done later as your truck evolves.

I know many say to get the locker first, but it's really up to you and what you want to do, and how much you wheel.

I still don't have a locker on my rig, and may not put one on, as I want to build up another rig someday.

What I did was I did go for the ARB bumper and a Warn XD9000 winch, and I don't regret it one bit.
First time out last year with my new setup I rescued a stuck 2nd gen from some deep white stuff.

Reading up on a webpage by Bill Burke a famous off road guy, he has this quote on his site.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans"> A lot of people ask me about aftermarket accessories and what should be the first few items to make their rig unstoppable. I mention the things I wrote about in Part 1 and a winch. I get the normally asked questions about "lockers," big tires, suspensions, big engines, etc. I would rather see a winch go on first than lockers et al. THE WINCH WILL ALWAYS GET YOU OUT, the other things will always get you stuck! If you don't have a way to get unstuck, then what good are all those fancy traction devices and all the power in the world? Stuck is stuck is stuck!
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">There you have it, that is one reason I went with the bumper & winch first.
Many ways to go about it, this is the way I choose, and in the words of "Fat Bastard", I think it looks damn sexy <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

Nothing makes a 4x4 look like it means business than having a winch on it.
But then that is my opinion.

tires, then lockers, gettin some detroits on this weekend

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans"> I know many say to get the locker first, but it's really up to you and what you want to do, and how much you wheel.

I still don't have a locker on my rig, and may not put one on, ... </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Perfectly fine choice, and it does depend on what you want to do. I went this route for many years on my first three trucks. Then I just got tired of either 1) being stopped at the first real obstacle, or 2) ramming like a yahoo through it just to get over it, damaging the truck. One advantage of a locker (combined with gears it gets better) is the ability to go easier on equipment. But you have to choose.. just don't go down a one way path and have to re-spend your hard earned cash undoing it.

Oh, and a side benefit- night before yesterday, 'bout midnight, I got to play heeeero, pulling a car out of a ditch on an icy road without a slip, and ultra slow. He was about the age of my son and his dad was struggling madly with a stock Taco trying to do the same. They wuz reel glad ta see me.

<small>[ February 28, 2003, 02:23 PM: Message edited by: Bill_Morgan ]</small>

Depending on what you want to do .....That is the key........

MUD......Power (Iair and exhaust) and tires...maybe locker rear

Rocks ....Gears Lift and lockers

Hands down, file closed, end of story!!

1. Tires/lift
2. Locker