What would you do?

[ssgharkness020147]

Wow. With 20-30K in mods, I could go on and on.

Half shafts: Yes they break, especially if you are not careful. The solution is 12K half shafts. Which will set you back a couple of grand. If you choose to do this center the front diff. As of right now you need to carry 3 shafts as spares, with centered diff you would only need one (I would bring to just to be safe)

Do you have a winch? If not throw it on the list. I have a MM hydro, its a sweet setup, but I do need to fix it right now.

Brushguards, nice brush guards are good to have. They can save you from wrecking a 1000.00 hood.

Rock tubes are a must, doors are over 1K a piece. Rock tubes prevent you from banging up your doors.

GPS is a must.

Communication is a must. I have a CB, others also have VHF.

If you dont have a roof rack thats another good one. It also gives you a place to mount a spare tire (you have one of those right?)

If your 96 is a TD get the "cool head" kit. That increases the cooling to your cylinder heads, (in the back of the heads), which prevents them from cracking. 6.5 heads are VERY prone to cracking, I would consider this is a must. You will also get faster heat in the morning when you first fire the rig up.

Extended under carriage protection is another very nice thing to have, it can save your T-case off road.

Having a better T-case (atlas II) or any other gear driven variant is something I would highly reccomend. The chains have been known to break off road leaving you completely stranded. Considering its not very easy to carry a spare case, and even less likely that you will want to undertake installing one on the trail, installing a bullet proof unit to begin with is a logical choice.

Spare parts. Ball joints, tie rod ends, tie rod sleeves, U-joints, etc.

Do you want to lift the truck and get bigger tires?

Lockers. Why the hell not, lockers are sweet.

I would (and did) upgrade the power steering system. The stock pumps are junk. I bought a 1045 pump and remote resivor from PSC. While I was in there I also installed an in-line tranny filter, in the return line to help keep crap out of the hydroboost, master, and pump. You could also do a full ram assist setup.

I will once again plug Travis for this stuff @ www.rubberduck4x4.com
You are also somewhat close to him, so if you dont spin a lot of wrenches, he will install them for you (in Ohio).