Wow, quite interesting responses! Lowering while retaining the 4WD, yeah, that's possible. Since the differential is fixed, that'd make it way easier.

As far as the 700r4, just look at all the 4L30 threads and the expense to fix those. Not cheap. 700r4's for the V6 seem to be plentiful, since the V8 700r4 is much more in demand. And they appear to be far less expensive to maintain and /or repair. At least that's how it looks to me. And maybe that darn "Check Trans" light will stop lighting up! LOL!

I appreciate all the ideas and advice. Like I said, I'm just in the early stages of working this out, so nothing's set in stone.