The door handles aren't hard to take off, they're just a pain because of what goes with them. The real pain is that there is a pin that has to be taken out to switch the handles once out of the truck. The pins are not replaceable.
If you have an issue and you're in NC, stop by one of my bodyshops, I'll swap them out for you.
As far as the spare, I pulled mine from the truck but kept the carrier just in case. I think if the spare matches the rest of the wheels, it looks great.
The only reason I pulled mine is because it's a PIA to have to swing the carrier out to open the tailgate.
