You know, I was an "import only guy" for years and years. I've had Troopers, Pup's, Tacomas, Frontiers, Landcruisers. All 4x4, all well driven on dirt roads. Oh yeah! A Mitsubishi L300 4x4 van that I used in the Sahara (a VW bus sized 4x4 built on the Montero chassis). Then the family became 4. The long trips we go on required a full size truck. It ended up being a Ford F250, manual trans, crew. I drove this truck hard almost all of its 30K miles off road. One thing you must do is remove front and rear sway bars! I never ever had a single problem (I was impressed!) and with its 75:1 ratio and 3,000 Lb. payload it was sheer luxury. My daughter was in an pile-up in an F250, there were deaths invoved, she came out of it without a scratch. My mistake was the V10 instead of the V8. I only got 12 Mpg (V8 manual gets 15). I sold it for the superior Dodge Cummins. Now I get 20-22 Mpg, better ride, more articulation. Same payload. Stump pulling torque. I hear the new Dodges are bullet proof, I am keeping my fingers crossed. Once you've had the payload and power of a full size, plus better fuel mileage than a mini truck, it is hard to go back. Oh yeah! I get to run biodiesel, "No War Required".