My 1989 F250 was 4x4 extra cab long bed, I had a Hi-Lo camper in the back, 10 feet long with no cab overhang. I went alot of places in 2wd and never thought of going somewhere that could need 4x4. Largely due to the fact I didn't want branch holes in my camper. I just walked instead if the road was rough. But when the camper was in the bed, I was caught off guard by a loaded log truck and bailed into a very soft fern bank in November. I was ready to pull the lever (hubs were always locked on gravel) but figured I would try going forward uphill with my drivers tire in the 2-3 inches of moss/mud/ferns. The truck walked straight out of it and the tire tread was perfectly upright in the mud. The weight kept that axle loaded and tracking. At best it was a factory loaded limited slip...in a 10.5 IIRC.
Considering mine was 4x4 and leaf sprung so it sat very level when loaded,tires were 60% Dean SXT mud terrains in 285/75-16, it had a 460 gasser so it had ample distribution of weight, it had a C6 with Gear Vendor, and I knew how bad the condition of travel was. These items are crucial to keeping the power moving forward, the 7.3PS had alot of boost lag in that era, especially as they age. Our 2wd 2001 shop truck was very late in coming into the powerband and you had to power brake it every time you reversed on soft terrain (a loaded trailer helped to keep the tires locked but the braking helped more). This truck was also a extra cab long bed but was torsion bar front suspension IIRC, and so it sat very "raked" which as any drag racer can tell you, is not condusive to traction! Ideally you would get minimum weight shift upon acceleration. Also a manual transmission will be more difficult to launch effectivly. Does your truck have an automatic trans?
I would deffinatly say that your truck can be made very capable offroad, I would look at the Baja side of things and see how they set up the VW bugs for effective transfer of power...then learn the abilities of the driver and when to stop...That is a large truck and adding a winch won't help balance, a front hitch reciever and a 2" mounted winch would be great for you...you could always pull back out and if the trail got better ahead you could pull through as well.