If you were to bring a spare part or two on the trail what would it(they) be??? What part is the most prone to failure on the trail. Ball joints, U-joint, tie rod, etc.....I will say that any trail I go on will never be like the ones out west with nothing but rock. We have some rocks, mud, dirt, moss, roots, etc!!

 

A serptine belt, 2012+ the idler pulley. Spare fluids, tire plug kit and compressor, AAA membership and cell phone, and some tools.

 

Driving skill?

My only trail failure - apart from skill - has been tires.

 

Extra girlfriend isn't a bad thing to have with you.

 

That little cheap plastic bushing for the T-case shifter.

 

I say fluids, belt and tires plug kit.... Don't hurt to carry some X joints with u either....

 

Yeah, but that will set you back quite a bit just to have a spare.

 

I would not have said this until last weekend but be sure to have an engine belt in your kit. We were wheeling with a JK with a 3.8 and his engine belt disentegrated way out in the desert. Thankfully, we had a spare belt. You can limp home with many broken parts, but the engine has to work.

 

If you mean that stupid clip to keep the tcase shifter linkage hooked to the shifter cable, zip ties will hold it back on the peg. I'm a huge fan of Zip-ties and Duct tape for emergency repairs. Sunday used them to hold a shock to the axle on a friend's jeep, amazingly he got home with it still holding.

CaliJK speaks of my jeep and serpentine belt. Saved my butt and now I will always carry an extra belt in my parts kit. I bring fluids for everything (I stress extra ATF+4), complete front d44 shafts and joints, brake lines, a variety of tubing and wire, extra hardware, and a rear shock. I still need 1310 and 1350 u-joints and and idle pulley. Tools are important too, without the right tools spare parts become worthless.

Keep in mind CaliJK and I were at The Hammers which is exclusively rock. My parts kit is planned for medium-distance multi-day group trip.

That said, I have seen the D30 passenger side u-joint fail more than anything else. Had 2 die in a week's period right in front of me on buddies' jeeps and they weren't being hard on the axle.

Everyone's jeep is different, try to understand where your weakness are and plan accordingly.

 

X2 on BigLow's advice - never wheeled with a guy who can do the trails we do on 35's - his Jeep takes a lot of abuse!