Kevin,
I remember seeing a post about a year ago on the message boards about someone around our age...I'm 22, who had an Explorer and had wanted to make modifications to it. The response from one of the guys on the board was that he should sell the Explorer and get a vehicle to get through collage that was inexpensive and could get good gas mileage. I also seem to remember being particularly annoyed by that response... I think I responded by saying that I needed the 4x4 because of the geographic region that I was in...lake effect snow....and that it was a saftey issue rather than just wanting to drive an explorer or 4x4 for that matter. Well what I found out during my Junior and Senior years at 4 year Univesity, was that the guy who wrote that response really knew what he was taking about. True, there was abit more saftey in driving the Explorer, but there was a cost associated with that also. So by now you're probably wondering where the heck I'm going with all this. All I'm saying is that when you modify the OEM status of your vehicle, be prepared to fork out MAJOR cash should anything go wrong.....that said... there are several 3" body lift kits out there.
Generally speaking the Performance Accessories ( or as I'm told, the replabled Dick Cepick kit) is what I ordered for mine. Trailmaster and a few other companies also sell a similar kit. I bought my kit for $94 w/ tax. Tires that will fit under that... prolly up to a 31 or 32"...if you're going with an Mud Terrain, prolly run you around $100-$150 or more per tire. If you' get new wheels ...going beyond maybe a 10.5 or 11.5 on the width of the tire they'll run you about $50 - 300 per rim.
I started making a "wish list" of parts in excel so that I could keep track of the expenses for my 91' Explorer. What I decided to do was take 1/2 of my expense money and put it away so that should I take a hit on repairs down the line I'd have it ready. So far I've got a 5.5" Superlift standard kit and Rancho RS9000's in addition to the 3" body on the way. I'm plannin on putting 32 or 33" X 11.5" Bridgestone M/T's on ARE Baja rims... thats the immediate future and there are alot of other body and engine parts that I wouldn't mind doing. Ahhh...if I could only win the lotto!...
Alright, well I hope that I didn't sound preachy...good luck with your modifications...
Keep on Wheelin'!
