I had a bad experience with my BJ74, I bought it from a guy called Nigel in Calgary. I took it for a drive and everything seemed fine, I checked the underside and it looked like new, the body is great as well. I don't think it has been anywhere other than clean roads, no rust anywhere, 130,00 kms and new tyres and brakes all round. I did notice that the front ball joints had been leaking for a while, but assumed wrongly that it was just a matter of replacing the outer seal, as is the case with landrovers with which I am familiar.
I checked all the easily checkable fluid levels, and asked if the transmission and axles had been checked, I was assured that they had and that it was ready for a long trip. Half way through what should have been 11 hr drive home I noticed a burning oil smell, so I pulled over to take a look. There was oil all over the back axle, and I could not put my hand on the transmission and transfer as they were so hot. I did not have any tools with me and was in the middle of nowhere. I waited an hour for everything to cool down and drove slowly to the next small town garage. The guy there was just about to go home and did not want to put my LC on the lift to check it out, but I managed to borrow a couple of wrenches and discovered that there was no oil in the transmission and the transfer was way overfull. The transmission running dry had overheated the transfer and it had ejected oil from the breather. The guy who in the garage did not have any gear oil, so I walked a couple of miles to a service station and bought some there. I also bought a wrench and a flashlight so I could check out the oil levels in the dark on my way home. I eventually made it home in one piece, but covered in oil and pissed off.
The seal had gone between the transmission and the transfer box. The front inner axle seals needed renewing which was quite a job, and the preheat was not working, also it smoked like a good un when starting from cold.
I have sorted out all of the above and am now very happy with my BJ74, even the gearbox and transfer seem fine which surprises me after what happened.
With hindsight I should not have taken this dealers word for anything, I should have had it checked out independently.