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Look, make no mistake, a Patrol would be the solution to all our "problems", but does create another big one for me, and that is the budget to feed that monster with petrol or diesel. I went wheeling a few weeks back and had a few Patrols with us. Those things are mega capable. I would need lockers front and back, 10 inch lift, SAS with articulation to the tenth degree and probably still be at a disadvantage due to the power loss I suffer with my little 2.7TD. BUT, speaking to some of the guys that have upgraded from my truck to a Patrol, they say they are now at a disadvantage when it comes to overlanding with the Patrol. Fuel is one issue, but the main one is interior space. Seems you just can't get as much into a Patrol as I could get into my van. You would never say so when you see the two parked next to each other, but they say the shape of the packing space is limiting.

Well here in South Africa the stealers make it worth while the second time you do the full IFS fix exercise to rather have gone the SAS route. The big problem here is that we just don't have anybody with the expertise to even want to touch your vehicle to do something like this. Talk to people about SAS and they think you are mad. They will tell you to rather just sell the IFS vehicle and purchase a Patrol. I have even looked at doing a body swop onto a Safari or old Patrol running gear, but that opens up a whole new set problems. I would have to relocate fuel tank and filler position on the body. With a right hand drop on the patrol diff, I will need to cut and move portion of my sump. The chassis will stick out 12" past the front of my body I have. To further confuse me, last weekend some guys went wheeling and in the group were two Jeeps. Both broke universals on the front diff. A Fortuner broke a CV, but the Land Rover's, Isuzu and Nissan Pickup had no problems. The Dana diff is starting to worry me as to it's strength. My truck is my daily drive, so I don't really want to go too high and mess with my road manners.

I watching this topic from over the sea as it's something that I have wished for 7 years now. I have been through the stages of replacing TRE's twice on a trip. I have drilled out drag-link ball joints and replaced with 18mm bolts and vesconite bushes. I have turned up torsions, and then had to turn them back down. Combination of cranked torsions and bigger than standard wheels is looking for trouble. I have not been bigger than 31" muds, but they destroyed my TRE's every few days. So I started look at the SAS route. Here in South Africa, the parts we are looking for are expensive. Dana Diffs are as expensive as fitting a ARB locker. As a comparison, that cost is about 50% the value of my truck... Then it seems any diff I get, I am going to have to have to do a regear to match my 4.88 rear ratio. Or replace both diffs. My list goes on and I am probably off topic by now. But as much as I would love to this, it's just out of my budget.