Hello Mike, sounds like you're getting equipped to go off road. If so, let me share my perspective.
If your intent is to provide protection for your truck going over rocky trails (like in the southwest, where you live), then, (ignoring cost), I would suggest the following priority:
1) OME springs to get some lift.
2) Sliders to protect the rocker panels
3) Rear tire carrier to get the spare out from underneath
4) Replacement front bumper, if you're going to install a winch
In my case, when I go off road I am often gone for a number of days, and carry a lot of water, food, tools, camping gear and such. I absolutely needed stiffer springs just to keep from dragging tail. I installed the first 3 items in the above list in one go. I've not yet found a front bumper that I like. I will probably go custom in order to mount a winch.
In terms of protection, it is fairly easy to avoid hitting obstacles with the front bumper, compared to the difficulty of determining whether or not your rockers will clear an obstacle that is easy to drive over. If you carry much cargo at all you will be dragging your spare tire way before you will likely be hitting stuff with the front bumper.
The gotcha regarding the springs is that they need to be matched to the weight of the truck, which is troublesome if one wishes to install sliders, bumpers, and a winch over a period of time. I expect that I will need to replace my OME springs in front when I install a heavier bumper with winch, so that adds a bit more cost for doing the install over a period of time.
I suppose if I went offroad in places where I was more likely to get bogged down in mud and such I would give more priority to a winch, but that is not the case for me.
Rich
