Thanks for the input guys,
i started with a reasonably similar view to all of you, that actually its been done and its been expensive. i think one of the biggest reasons people dont buy them is because they are so expensive, which is offcourse because gears are so expensive to cut. If i could bring the cost down with a fundementally differnt design ie: to use a belt/chain drive,bringing down the cost on gears and in the case of a belt it would not need lubrication...
another option is to use existing gears, ie like those that bill van snorkel used (if i remember correctly)
However, i am still in the early stages, i think its safe to say that its definatly more of a technical project with a marketing bit tagged on, in some ways it doesnt matter if it doesnt go to market, as long as i can understand why... We can make thinks much more cheply with the university workshop, its staffed with about 20 guys who's job it is to make things for projects.
With regards to land rover axle strenght i am wokring on assesing thier strength through testing in the next couple of weeks. This will either yeild a confident yes, or a project stopping no!
I have spent a while reading various threads, i saw the american guy on pirate 4x4, i think the main problem with his concept was that he limited himself to a typical gear mechanism, one of the beauties of a final year project is that it pushes you to explore new concepts and problems that have previously not been overcome, i dont want to just copy something that is too expensive, i want to make it cheap enough to be popular...i am pretty sure lots of people would have them over a lift, if they were cheaper???
loving the input!