One of the best ways to avoid back country issues with most of the items you have listed, is to use oem parts over parts stores, or have the oem parts rebuilt, maintain your rig, and do a once over(pre-flight check) before heading out.
I buy a lot of non-oem parts, but I usually try to get the good brands. Lewis' Law of Junk says that it will infallibly break when you most need it not to.
Would add,
Basic tool set and a set of long sockets Working on that -- I have most of the tools I need but lack a few miscellaneous ones. Good tools aren't cheap.
Hi-lift jack Check
used set of drive belts, spark plug wires, cap/rotor, a couple of plugs, fan clutch Good idea!
a spare hub, yet another rare oem failure Really? I can't imagine breaking an Asin hub with normal driving...
spare engine mound or chain Again, why? Do engine mounts really just break? What kind of chain could substitute for an engine mount, anyway?
spare valve stems, tire spoons, ratchet strap(helps to reseat a bead) Why spare stems rather than inspect before departure? do they tear off easily in normal driving?
steering linkage components, Which, exactly?
Rear driveline. Why? Are these prone to breakage in normal use? I cannot think of any situation in which a rear driveline would just break.
starting fluid Especially for a carb.
If running a front locker, spare birfs or a cv Diff lockers are for people with plenty of money and sense. I have neither.
some of that stuff is pretty expensive and will normally "fail with warning"...for example you can drive home on a bad alternator, but you really should bring an alternator/water pump belt cause that will bite you 10 times harder. Tools, fluids and lube, ratchet straps, tow strap, baler wire, stuff to get off the trail...then you can bring the more interesting stuff like bar of soap and plastic bags.
Can you clarify what you mean? I've seen alternators fail, without any warning whatever, on vehicles that were 60 miles from pavement. The only "warning" was when the vehicle engine died from having run down the battery. And there is no way in the world I'm going to make it 200 miles on only a battery. And I personally have been stranded by a bad igniter, which is another "rare" failure.
My view on rare failures is that there is a large probability of at least one rare part failure. And it really doesn't matter which one failed if I'm stranded, so I have to bring them all.
Edit: you can go crazy with this and bring spare motor mounts and stuff...but if you already spent the money on the part, why let it go bad in the back of your truck, or worse yet, wait till you're stranded to replace the part in the wilderness? Replace said items now if you're really worried.
Some parts
might have 200,000 miles left in them. Then again, they may only have 2 miles left. Replacing them now is a silly waste of whatever life they may have left.
Thanks for the input. I would prefer to own a halfway reliable vehicle, but that's just not possible. The next best solution is to carry with me one of everything that might reasonably be expected to go wrong.
