Yeh, I hear you...I don't like mud myself (and even less after it loads up ATs and stops forward progress... I like mud terrains because good ones work were all terrains typically give up; gravel (decayed granite) rocks, some forms of snow etc.
Thanx for the eval. of Trutracs, its pretty much what I was hoping for.
My experience with lockers is that they don't quit so you can get through if even one tire has grip, on ice however they just screw downhill and hinder rather than help (I'd rather be open on road in the winter).... selectable lockers are probably best in snow country, IMO.... For wheeling in snow deep enough that you will be high centered if you stop, lockers also help. For this kind of wheeling I found Boggers or other extreme mud tires to be the best except on side hills where Boggers sometimes tend to ski sideways (make your heart go pity pat in the mountains). Note; the on road life of Boggers and other extreme mud tires is worse than terrible.
My view on winches is; basically they are, primarily, for rescuing other people, I haven't used mine (on the Jeep) for myself in years... the last time was to turn around in the middle of a trail in knee deep snow.
The idea is to stay physically small with the winch to keep reasonably good air flow to the radiator and tranny cooler, also there is no real need for me to transport an extra 75 pounds or more everywhere, all the time, when it literally may never get used.
I had 4.56s and 33s on a Jeep for years but they resulted in excessive RPM on the highway (4 spd). My mileage and performance improved when I went to 4.56s and 35s on the CJ-7 (5 spd). The biggest downside to 35s is that they make vehicle entry more difficult due to the lift that they usually require (got short legs). I probably won't do heavy rock with the Explorer (got the Jeep for that) so I probably wont need deep reduction, although I really like it for crawling in the Jeep (4:1 transfer case gears); I figure on optimizing the Explorer gearing for mileage while still keeping reasonable street performance... reminds me; need to look up the torque curve on this ol' 4.0.
... getting older and slower...
...want to keep the explorer as a, relatively, civilized daily driver/camping vehicle...
Enjoy