Thread: Spares list for touring - input needed

a little story
i was contacted by this guy, out of the blue, who had a whole lot of land rover parts that he wanted to get rid of. luckily for me, they were all series 2 and 2a parts.
when i went to his place to pick them up, every part was wraped in plastic with greased paper inside. as i unwrapped them, loads of red dust fell out. as it turned out, he used to do a lot of outback travelling and would take truckloads of parts with him, most of which he never used.
now, at the time he was doing this, there wasn't sat phones or mobile phones and the HF radio network probably wasn't as good, so under the circumstances, he was doing the right thing. taking every spare he could carry.
these days, you are fairly likely to bump into others on the same track as you, on some of the more popular ones anyway. not that you should assume that you will. hopefully they would lend a hand where they can, even if it's only passing on a message that you're ok or you need a CV joint.

Unless you have capability as a mechanic the list is virtually useless to you unless someone comes along and can actual repair your vehicle for you.

If you are a competent mechanic then a pre trip survey of your vehicle and repalcement of any parts likely to go wrong due to age wear such as dodgy heater pipes, should have done pre trip departure.

Most people over carry spares tools for their trips

Most vehicles are now beyond roadside repairs due to on board electronic computers controlling them

The list doesnt carry a list of tools to undertake repairs

The list doesnt list a jack plate to under jack when in soft sand mud

The lsit doesnt list vehicle jack stands to hold vehicles off ground while you work on it from underneath

I would concentrate on spare tyres, puncture repair plugs, trye pliers for removal from rims.


depending on location and weather may require at least 5 litres of water per person per day

hose and fluid leak repair kits

spare fuel filter as most likely to have fuel contamination source as problem

EPRIB beacon so they know where to find you as telstra/optus mobile phone coverage covers 95% of population not 95% of landmass

rent a satellite phone for trip if really in outback and travelling alone if in group everyone can contribute to rental costs.

I would concentrate on arranging for another car travelling with you with a competent mechanically minded person to do the work drving behind the wheel of that other car and a deck chair under an umbrella to keep you cool and the esky/fridge which keeps the beer cold and bbq tongs so you can toss the snags on the BBQ as you bind to get hungry while repairs are done.

rember lots of boys already have all the toys but lack the opportunity to play with them it isnt worng to indulge their need to demonstrate their handy tool skills by fixing your car theya re always grateful to you for adding another story to their repetoire of how l saved johnny

cartm58