Personally, for what it sounds like he's going to be doing, I'd look into more of the budget boost area. I'm running the Rocky Road 3" BB on mine, and for the type of wheelin I do, it's perfect. Mine sees plenty of highway miles each day, and gets me back and forth from college to home (about 65-70 highway miles one way) with no problems.
Mine's a light wheeler....mainly a little bit of muddin, and exploring some "off the beaten path" trails where a small lift makes it much easier. Going 3" allowed me to clear 31's with minor rubbing (rubs on the lower control arms ar full lock). For now i've just adjusted to the larger turning radius until I can come up with a better solution.
Here's what it looks like sitting at 3" and 31's:
The 3" BB from RRO ran about $149 + shipping, which
you can see here. The set up is very affordable if you use your Jeep like me (98% street) and just want a little something to get you a few more places. I don't rock crawl with mine, so I didn't need a serious kit.
One downfall to a set up like this is, unlike many of the other "kits", you dont get shocks included. Anything 3" and over, and you'll need to get longer shocks. I went with the BDS 5500 series and have no complaints.
I also bought a tcase drop, which I ended up needing. In addition, I went ahead and upgraded my trac bar, based on the advice from another member on here who is running the same set up and ran the stock trac bar and had some problems shortly down the road. I went with the JKS adjustable one and it was just shy of $200 from Jason at Jeepinoutfitters.com He's got the best price on them i've seen, and gives a discount to
members (as he is one himself).
I ran into some mad death wobble after putting my lift on, and ended up having to upgrade the steering stabilizer to help settle the wobble. Tack on an additional $40 for a Skyjacker HD Stabilizer.
You'll also need longer u-bolts as well. I don't recall the size at the moment, but if I can dig up the receipt i'll let you know. I bought the shocks, tcase drop (all BDS brand) and u-bolts from a local 4x4 shop for a very reasonable price (right around $200 if memory serves).