JamesDowning wrote:....
The hardest part about being a college student on this site is the money aspect. This site can really help our members part with their cash.
I agree.
I was patient and was fortunate to find almost all of my parts (suspension lift, body lift, skids, adapters etc) used and I still have about $1k invested not counting tires. Keep in mind I am about as tight as you can get. If I had bought them all new it would have been a lot closer to $2k.
You'll hear a lot of great advice.
1. maintenance - all fluids, especially the xfercase every 50K.
2. define your mission, what your offroad needs are.
3. search/read then ask questions.