My opinion would be to go lower geared again,I just took the 4.636 axle out of the back of mine and swapped in a 4.875. There is a difference,but it isn't a huge one. I live pretty much at sea level and find that mine will drop a bit of speed going up long hill on the factory size tyres. It will keep speed if you put the foot down a bit,but then you can watch the fuel needle drop too :Wow1: It doesn't slow to a crawl by any means,say if i'm doing 60 at the bottom of the hill,and don't labour the engine too much it will be doing 55 at the top. But on my mud tyres which are 31's (but really heavy) the decrease in power is really noticeable,so I would say choose your tyres really carefully,weight is a big factor,and with a high altitude it will really make a difference
If you are going to be changing ratios you may as well go the whole hog and put in the lowest ones you can find,or maybe keep the 35s on a separate set of rims and have a different set for everyday driving with factory size tyres on it. I do this and while it is a PITA now and again,the amount i'm saving on diesel is huge :sombrero:
If you are swapping axles be aware of the prop flanges on the differential,the 4.875 had a different flange to my 4.636 and I had to use the flange from the donor pajero's prop along with the bolts,and put the flange onto my own prop
On a side note,how hard is it to take out the front differential from one of these things? I must swap mine out for one that matches the ratio of the rear axle