Quote Originally Posted by the godfather View Post
In hindsight I would have been better off doing the job myself from the start. As usual Mechanics have proven to be useless.
alas hindsight is exactly that.
As for keeping it, i am not.
Do I still love Patrols, yes I do.
But the reality is I need my car for work, and running a Patrol all day, 5 days a week is not practical.
So I will be trading it in on a small, 4 cylinder, newer vehicle.
Yes I will make a loss, but in the long term I will be better off.
When my bank account recovers I will revisit my outback adventures.
Combining 4WD as a tourer and a commuter is a hard ask for most of us IMO.
I tend to stick with public transport and a bike for getting around.
If a car is necessary, there always are small, fuel efficient units, so maintaining two cars can even be cheaper
than wearing out a big 4WD as commuter.
4WDs are always more expensive to maintain. Learning some stuff to DIY is the only answer in my case.
I decided few years ago, I can either learnt to DIY or stick with cycling. I decided to become a DIYer, so I can keep the
troll.
After reading a lot of disappointing stories from the guys of the forum, I thought ZD30's are not a good choice, unless they are the
latest ones. I think sticking with old school TD42 & RD28 is safer for diesels. I think many guy's bank accounts and credit cards have taken a hard hit from those earlier ZD30's.

Personally I prefer RD28's. That 'cos I can put a one in my RB30 without having to muck around with the gearbox(afaik).