There used to be stuff I would avoid because I knew I would get stuck, now I know I can make it. I have driven through snow up to the bottom of my frame, been in 3.5' deep mud boggs and done a little rock crawling and rarely get stuck. Lockers changed my wheeling completly and Im sure will change yours. And with the 5.29's you'll have lots of torque.

 

ya man i got stuck on a logging path because my back passenger tire was off the ground. if i would of had a locker i would of made it out even though i burried my frame. lol

 

Backgate, if you wanna get cheap, just lincoln lock the front..
Like you said, you won't feel it until you lock the hubs anyways, and it'll be as cheap as the welding stick.

 

But you can't reverse that if he decided he didn't like it, and Ive seen people blow a lincoln locked diff when they hit the gas a little to hard and blew when it locked.