LOL,
Man, you asked the same question I did when I first posted. I too have my 03 baby, (she is auto though, unfortunately, the wife has to drive her also when she has our daughter), and I was so pissed that I had over 2000 dollars of stuff to buy in order to make my truck decent.
Then I talked to Brent, XslapXshot, and john (a buddy from Cali). Dude, take your X out like old boy said and then decide what you want. Trust me, you own an amazing piece of machinery and there's not much it can't do on trails with it's stock arsenal.
I went trailing last month with John and his Tacoma TRD, Graham and his Ranger, and Justin with his 02 GMC 1500, all stock. The Tacoma and Ranger ripped my ass on speed but everytime we hit anything muddy, hilly, or any kind of sand, my X made up for her lack of trail speed by dusting the other 3 trucks. For only a 180 horses, this thing has some serious torque. I'll take pictures next time (forgot my digi).
I'm telling you, you get a little miffed by everyone elses speed on the trail, but man, everytime everyone else got bogged, my baby pulled through like she was driving on the highway. Dude, we even hit about a foot of clay (A.P. Hill sucks by the way) and I had to pull Graham's Ranger (found on road dead) out. Same with water. We hit a few river crossings, one at about 2 1/2', 3' and Katie (my baby) did just fine.
So I'm taking Brent and John's advice. Getting some rocker skids, some skid plates and some new tires, and that's about it. Plus new seat covers and a bunch of interior and little personal touches on the outside.
And for what I do, (trailing, creek bedding, and mountain climbing) that's about all I need. So unless you're trying to bog her or something, just trial run her about 2-3 times keep notes.
Late,
Chris