Seriously, don't waste your money on anything else when you first buy your truck. The most necessary element is speed. You need to make your 4x4 go. And I don't mean take the governor off and giveit a better top speed. We're talking juice injected, air pumped, tire-balding power from right off the line. It's a must; you need it. Real power can compensate for everything else...well, not everything. Your girlfriend will still be disappointed. But none of your friends will be because you have so much power in your truck that you can basically blast over any obstacle in the way if you get a long enough head start.
You need to get that power any way possible. Work two jobs, sell your youngest child, trade your wife's minivan (she won't miss it-no more driving the kids to school). Anything to get some cash together to buy yourself more horsepower and torque. If you have a donor ride (or your neighbor does and he's asleep) then junk that car and yank out that big motor. You won't miss it in your car (especially if it's your neighbor's), and the added power will make the fact that you just put a Pontiac big-block in your Ford well worth it.
Think about it; you don't need suspension or tires or gearing to get over that rock pile if you hit the first one at 50 mph. The second your front bumper hits the rock it'll send you into a nice skyward motion, bringing you effortlessly over those rocks or that river crossing. They did it on Dukes of Hazzard. Why can't you do it too? And that was in a car! You'll be at least 5 or 6 inches higher in the front end, even with a stock 4x4. And that gives you...what, a 5 or 6 times better chance of making it, right? Well, maybe not. We were never really good at math.
But we don't need to be because we have real power, which is the only thing you need to get you out of almost any situation. For reals. Power can even compensate for math. Let's say your professor gives you a problem of two accelerating trains, on the same track, doing different speeds, facing each other. How long until they crash? Well, you simply throw your teacher in the truck, wait 'till Train A passes you, then tell him that you bet your test grade that you can beat Train A to the railroad crossing a quarter-mile down the road. Do it from a dead standstill too. By the time you and the teach get through that intersection, he'll be begging you to take an "A" if he/she could just get out of the truck. See? Power can take the place of even math (or intelligence).