I just bought my one-owner '98 5.0L AWD XLT Loaded three weeks ago with 170k on it. It had brand new tires, new battery and new radiator. After going through it thoroughly, I've replaced the plugs, wires, front wheel bearings, upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends, CV axles, shocks, front brakes and rotors. I paid $2400 for it and have invested another $600 in parts. Nothing had failed, but there was a noticeable growling noise and a vibration at 60.
As you may see on this forum, there are a number of very well written how-to's. As it happened, all of the aforementioned items are right there and easily accessible at one time. In other words, the labor in getting to them is all the same so the incremental cost is well worth it. There are countless threads on here that detail the life expectancy of these parts and at 170k, I was at or past the point of needing replacement without any documentation of prior replacement. I chose to do all of it for peace of mind. EVERYTHING expect brakes in that list was original on my Explorer, so it was well justified. The difference in ride and handling is amazing. I'll be doing the front and rear driveshaft u-joints this week.
The other issues I have/had are the front left o2 sensor throwing the occasional code, radio display being blank, the driver's door lock knob sticking in the up position and some minor weakening in the driver's seat cushion. Fixes on those are in the works as well.
Overall, these Explorers are very easy to work on, very reliable when maintained and there is an abundance of very reasonably priced replacement parts. My Explorer sold for $33K new. With my repairs, I have less than 10% of that in it. This is our "spare" third vehicle and we now drive it everywhere.
You can't get hurt buying for the price you indicated. It's worth more than that in scrap and salvage.