Which skid plates would you add first or change first? Just for mild to moderate off-roading. And which brand is the best and cheapest?

 

Well def get a new front (and rear) differential cover. Solid makes a nice one for around $70 with shipping.. Also get an Evap Skid, Theres a vendor on here selling em for $75. Got mine today and its beefy as hell

 

I would think that the oil pan and evap cooler skids are the most important to start with. The diff covers are nice, but comparatively beefy as stock, compared to the oil pan and nothing on the evap cooler.

 

Differential cover or guard? Which one is better? And get them for front and back?

 

i've always preffered a cover rather than a guard, no real reason though, i just dont like the stock ones.
If you can afford them, i'd get both. I always thought the rear was useless until i realized how often your reversing while offroading. I bought my rockcrusher cover for about the same price of 2 solid covers and they seem to be made almost identical

solidaxle.com/ProductCart/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=7

Also you can get a new oil pan or cover as its very exposed, but i have yet to hit my oil pan