toymaster

Dude, as stated that is an extremely hard choice. In another post your mostly worried about sliding off-road in your newly adopted home. With that i'd buy a nice winch and accessories... possilby the front bumper. With a $50 winch plate you can mount a winch on the factory bumper. Then do the lift, tires, and bumper(s) when you can do it all at one time.

Also remember a winch alone is not going to get you out, you have to know how to use one. Example, my wife and kids were visiting Yellowstone in my F350 with 12K warn on the front. An RV got stuck and he tried to use my set-up. (from what my wife said he was insisting) Of course my wife had no idea neither did the unhappy camper evidently. He broke the electrical connection cover/cap and my winch cable was improperly re-wrapped without getting the job done. I'm sure he just tired a straight line pull. Long story short, there are some great videos about the proper way to use recovery equipment...watch them.

Enjoy the Rockies

toymaster

That is just one of the many, many factors. We were trying to answer his question without going overboard. Springs/load leveling is whole nuther topic.

Conserning the weight issue if you go with a syn rope and hawse fairlead you save a lot of weight....like 50lbs or so. I knew this but it does not hit home till you hold the steel cable/ roller fairlead in one hand and the rope/alum. hawse fairlead in the other.

35SOUP

I would go winch first, here is why.
Bigger tires and a lift are tools to get you stuck.
A winch is a tool to get you unstuck.

Harbourone

He also needs to consider that with highway travel his synth rope will turn into a brick of ice and be a pain to deal with. That's one upside to steel cabling. I live in the biggest shithole for winter weather ever, imagine living on the prairie but there is an ocean to the north and a bay with the biggest tide rise and fall in the world to the south. The distance between the two is less the 60 miles. We get wild snowstorms through here.

Joisey

Lift and tires, bumper and winch will casue your JK to sag and you with loose your clearance.

Kedge

Lift and Tires.