Offroad-Express

At last I've got myself a 4wd Project, Bought a 96 SWB pajero 3.5l and about to start converting it to a reasonably serious (but not likely competiton level) bush truck.
I've got a few plans on the cards.

Firstly Decent tyres- thinking min of 35"s but would like to run 37"'s will depend on how much needs to be adjusted to get them to fit and articulate properly.

Next is going to be a winch, Hoping to go Hydraulic, but looking under the bonnet there is not much room to run an extra pulley for the pump. Also space for the required tanks may be a little tricky.

Keen for advice on all of the above. Pretty new to this, but good engineering background but keen to be forwarned if others have run into issues with similar mods.

Anyway that's about all I can introduce myself with at the moment. Once I've dropped a new Clutch in. I'll be into the conversion to Mud Beast.

What are you planning to do to to the front suspension? The IFS will not cope with 35s for long and certianly wont put up with 38s. Your low range will be messed up too.

You dont need a hydraulic winch for club/bush work a good quality electric will do all you need.

Dont take me the wrong way. All for major mods and big plans but make sure you plan first and cut second otherwise you may end up with something you hate and break everytime you drive it off the trailer. The Net is your freind if you can think it someone has done it. search think search somemore then break out the grinder and welder. And then do a build thread so others can watch

doesnt happen to have been that one for $2k off Trademe? needed a windscreen etc?

Apart from the steering idlers 35's should be ok IFS wise as they are dam tough but the gearing will be terrible. Paj's have a pretty high low box

Thanks Guys for your comments so far.

Might be the one off trade me but what donor vehicles aren't? Windscreen is OK though some very minor scratches, I’m not planning of driving on the road anyway.

Still keen on the 35's but after having a little play around the farm on some tricker tracks and did notice the gearing was high specially on some rocky tip you over stuff, so I'm going to "borrow" some 35's of a mate and see actually how bad the gearing is going to be.
I figure that I'm putting the same in from the engine end so drive train shouldn't be overly stressed.

I'll have a look at the steering Idler and see what sort condition it's in. Is there a easy way to beef them up?

If the weather is fine I'll hopefully get a few pits to start a build thread soon.

Winch will be waiting so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. But it looks like the AC Pump spot would be the only place I can fit it if I was to go Hyd.
But in the mean time I'll get the tyres and clutch sorted.

Is there anything else I should consider to "bush proof" it while I've got it in the workshop for stage 1?