What I meant was nobody does anything beyond the basic spring or spacer lift, mildly larger tires, etc. The OP is asking about swapping in solid axles front and rear and building a wild off road machine. The 3rd gen is NOT a great platform for something like that. It's way more work compared to something else that has even just a rear solid axle (ie: 2nd gen), not worth it in 99% of people's opinions. However, the 3rd gen IS a great platform for someone who wants something a little more rugged than a Patriot or Escape for mild four-wheeling. The 3rd gens are popular in places like Australia because their style of 4wd is more about surviving a traverse from point A to point B than about conquering trails and obstacles for fun. They two activities are similar but different. I have also noticed that the Nissan Pathfinder R51 (same era as the 3rd gen GV) is very popular there...but here, you'll see about 2 dozen lifted 4Runners before you see one lifted R51.

Im not afraid to modify , wiring is my akelies heel . I can build most anything .
 I've done several tracker sas swappes .
I'm pretty mechanically inclined and I work in a custom fab shop .
 I want a v6 and I want a standard trans . I'd like to look at one to see what it would entail .

So I didn't get the 06 but I looked at a wrecked 09 today . It's a 2.4 5 spd .
 I actually think it would be easier to modify than I originally thought ..... but does the subframe also hold the motor in ? I'm guessing it does . 
And will any of the previous gens transfer cases transmissions swap ?

Yeah... I like that 2.4 better than the V6 from the previous years... I think a sub-frame lift would be the way to go. The back, super easy... The front lift it the same and then do basically an 'engine lift' to get those pieces back in place... I'm just dying to try this. I think 33" on a Gen3 would be fairly easy. ..and driveable.

-Eric

I was thinking ditching the subframe all together. The Vit has problems. It rearended a SUV and the core support is trash along with everything between the bumper and the motor . It started right up though and no apparent frame sub frame damage .
 But if you were doing something along the lines of simpler you could probably put spacers between the subframe and frame .  I offered 5 and they countered at 750 .
I think it may need a rack and ps pump , trans won't shift it just wiggles and bags are deployed. Oh and no throttle . Don't know if it's drive by wire or cable .