What a relief!!
This really good news. Yes, I agree, the 4500 is such an awesome engine and it will really last a life time if looked after properly. There are very few other 4x4's that can say that. It's bullet proof and durable. Very straight forward and very strong. Have you ever spent some time under your patrol and studying where what goes and how well it is designed? Perfect for the application. Super heavy duty diffs, the sump safely protected by the diff. the gearbox and transmission safely tucked away above the gearbox protection plate.
My friend who drives a Hilux has endless problems protecting his sump and transmission from rock and sand and middlemen on two track trails. He had to upgrade his protection plates to 6mm steel,but that added weight and lowered the IFS even further.No such worries in a patrol though. I thought about it once, my Patrol is 9 years old....It had it's ability 9 years back when land rovers were still powered by the legendary nissan 3.0V6 tow truck!!

. And today it still goes where the other brands cannot go,ever.
The only real problem is it's length and width, because in some areas you'll pick up a few scratches. I tend to bottom out on very steep ''necks''. In Afrikaans you call it a "hoernekkie". But with OME the problem is solved. The engine and transmission is heavy duty and bullet proof. I've replaced my cracnkshaft seal once, because the mechanic who ''repaired'' my clutch, used a cuuting torch to heat up the nuts in the flywheel, which heated up the crankshaft and damaged the seal. Anyway, the gearbox is VERY VERY heavy. We battled with it. It was a very k@k job, but I'm glad I did it, because now I know things are done correctly and the clutch works perfectly,\better than before.
I'm currently busy constructing rock sliders, but will report back once they're done and will post a few pics. Thank you very much for the information. I'm quite relieved.