$1000 seems a bit steep. The aluminum front can be strengthened, or replaced with a Toyota or Grand Vitara steel front. The CV's can be replaced with Toyota CV (which is what the orange rig above is using, and his club is using, and they run 40" tires with great success). The big trick is getting the Toyota CV to play nice with the Suzuki hub / knuckle (is it called a knuckle? kingpin?). Actually, I'd love to see a swap that converts to Toyota front steel housing, CV & bolt pattern, so I can toss in a Toyota rear and open up a much larger aftermarket world of gears / lockers / etc... and still be IFS in the front.
Someone used to sell some kinda adaptor to make the toy CV work with the Suzuki stuff, but... he's vanished & doesn't respond to PM or order requests anymore :'(