Quite the undertaking! Good luck.
Question: Have you considered buying a cheap rusted out 4x4 Sprinter from GB and swap the parts?
Yes. Went pretty far down that route. Unlike you folks in Canada, I would need a 25 year old sprinter. I could have someone else pull the parts, and ship on a pallet, but that's quite expensive. In the end I would still end up with a bunch of well worn parts, many of which are nearly impossible to find new, and cost megabucks used. While I could source most of the wear parts, Oberaigner will only sell parts to countries that received 4x4 sprinters, and requires the correct vin.
In fact while I was in Aus I was a hairs breadth from tearing the bits off a 4x4 sprinter there, and putting them on my van.
In the end my current approach will result in a more capable machine overall (hopefully). Which better ground clearance, easier to source parts, and a much simpler control mechanism (mercedes uses electronic and vacuum control).
For example, I can get a used 242 Tcase for peanuts, wheel bearings are 80$ a side, and suspension parts are stocked all over north america, etc. Mercedes wants 6,800 for a new/reman front differential, 500$+ for a CV axle, etc. I don't really blame them, the 4x4 T1N production numbers were quite low.
