If 2WD is good enough where you live, fine.
It's gonna suck to be you if you do like you said and go somewhere snowy!
2WD pickup trucks are probably the absolute worst vehicles in snow.
If you ever try to get going from a stop uphill on gravel with a trailer on, you'll wish you had 4WD.
This reduced payload nonsense is exactly that: nonsense. It's just like the supposed payload decrease with a diesel. ALL the extra weight is up front, where you aren't putting any of your load anyway. Extra weight up front actually helps when pulling a trailer.
Chains really suck. They eat up your tires and when a link breaks it becomes a weapon that beats the **** out of your fenders.
If you hadn't said you planned on traveling out of the warm & dry southeast and into the area where winter actually happens, I'd say go ahead and buy a factory-crippled truck.
