I have a new-to-me 2010 F250 that I use for driving forest roads in the PNW often to get to trailheads. Due to all the rain (and general lack of maintenance funding) our forest roads here are in pretty bad shape with many pot holes and rocky sections. I'm not looking to do any serious off-roading, just drive rough forest roads with confidence.

So far I'm planning on getting better off-road tires since that's low hanging fruit. Beyond that, I was wondering about a limited slip differential? I've definitely had a few times where the open diff would result in one wheel spinning when the other still had good traction. I'm not sure how difficult/expensive that would be, but would it be worth it?

Aside from that, are there any suspension mods to help with the many pot holes maybe? Anything else to consider?

A few weeks ago I posted here asking about buying a first hand plane and if it was worth dropping ~$400 on a Lie-Nielsen one.

After all of your comments about getting an old Stanley I kept an eye on Craigslist, Ebay, and FB Marketplace for a little bit and ended up finding someone selling a collection of pre-WWII Stanley planes about an hour north of me. Including, specifically, a 4-1/2 and a 5-1/2 which was exactly what I wanted.

Knowing that the 1/2 sizes were less common than the round numbers and since the guy was local I jumped on it and ended up buying both for $40/each. The linked to album is the before and after of the 5-1/2 after cleaning it up. It's all tuned up and works beautifully. All in, I'm at $80 for two planes, $15 for cleaning materials, and $35 for a whetstone sharpening kit; way cheaper than a new Lie-Nielsen and I got two planes! Thanks everyone!

https://imgur.com/a/AoABAsI

I’m working on a project with a 19x26" panel that I realized after gluing still has a bit of a twist in it across the three boards. In the past I’ve simply sanded down panels, but I think this one is going to require a plane. Thing is, I’m still fairly new to woodworking and don’t have any planes yet so I’ve been doing my homework on which to get.

I generally avoid buying junk tools, especially Chinese junk so that rules out a bunch of the options. Plus, I assume I’d find it difficult to tune up an old one since I’m not knowledgeable enough about them yet. Because of that I’ve ended up going straight to the top and considering either Lee Valley or Lie-Nielsen.

Given that my immediate task is to flatten a panel I was thinking either a #5 or #5-1/2 high angle jack plane knowing that I’d likely expand the collection in the future with a smoother as well, but for now I’m only looking for a first one.

Does that make sense for me? If so, any tips on deciding between the #5 and #5-1/2? The #5 is a bit cheaper, but it seems like the slightly bigger #5-1/2 would be good if I followed it up with a #4 in the future. Specifically I’ve been looking at:

• https://www.lie-nielsen.com/products/no-5-1-2-jack-plane-?path=bench-planes
• https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/planes/bench/115289-veritas-custom-number-5-1-2-jack-plane?item=06P1571A