Seeking tips on 4x4 mods.

Hi all-
I'm new to this forum and am ready to do some research. My current taco is a 2010 4x4 TRD offroad 6 spd manual with many of the optional bells and whistles. so far, I've added smitty built nerf bars (temporary--will get rock sliders later with next tire purchase) and camper
shell. This is my 3rd toyota 4x4 so i have some experience for comparison. I do regular 4x4 trail driving and clunk my underside often. I'm going to stick with this one for a while and want to make some mods to help with clearance and trail riding. I would like to add an inch or two lift and get better tires than the stock BFG rugged trails. However, the truck rides like a cadillac (OK, Lexus) and I don't want to hose my ride or screw it up by making too radical a mod. An engineer buddy of mine tells me to leave it stock. But I've seen some real nice trucks out there that have modest lifts that don't seem to radically affect performance.
The other dilemma: My trailer light harness was torn off on my last outing. Any mods out there on alternate locations to mount the stock plug: That thing hangs real low!!!

If any of you pros out there can steer me to the appropriate threads or help with my indecision, I'd much appreciate it.
Thanks!

 

thanks Christian. i'll take a gander at these links. i like the trailer light mod that one dude made on his bumper.

JD