Need help choosing a suspension set up

Hey fellas. I’m new to the forum and to the world of truck mod’s in general. I realize that this topic has been beaten to death, so I appreciate your patience.

What I have:

1. An unmodded 2005 double-cab Tacoma SR5 with the 4.0L and 6 speed manual transmission. I just ordered a set of BFG TA KO’s in 265/75/16 which should be arriving shortly.
2. Roughly $1200 set aside for parts.

Where I drive:

On pavement 60% of the time. In the mountains on unimproved/unmaintaned forest service roads 35% of the time. I only hit true backcountry a couple of times a month. I usually see 2-4 ft of snow in the winter. As cool as it looks, I don’t mess around with mudding and crawling. If there is a downed tree in my path, I break out the chainsaw. If there is a boulder or stream/mud deeper than 2 feet, I go around.

What I want:

1. To beef up my suspension to improve my off-road capability (mainly handling and traction) as well as moderately increasing my load capacity. I would like to improve these things with as little lift as possible. I don't plan on running bigger tires. I don't care about how my truck looks as long as it gets me where I need to go.
2. To do it right the first time, even if that means doing suspension now and traction stuff later. I’d like to avoid wasting money on constantly upgrading my upgrades.

After lurking the TW forums for the last few weeks – BTW, the FAQ and stickies were awesome – I’m leaning towards starting with a set of Bilstein 5100’s front and rear. Where do I go from there? Springs? AAL? Traction bar vs. locking dif?


-Walt