Long story short, my son has taken my late model truck to college with him because he has a 5 hour trip and needs something reliable. So now I'm using my weekender 98 Disco as my daily driver. The only "breakdown" issue I've ever had with this vehicle is the brake switch, so now I carry a spare around. Since I will now be using this as my main vehicle, what 3 items would you carry with you at all time, similar to the brake switch..? Just curious as to what you guys think, thanks.

 

Serpentine belt, plastic radiator plug(one at top left), triple A premier membership card.

 

belt, rubberized duct tape & AAA

 

I can't think of any single component that would fail more often than every 50,000mi really.. so.. it's kinda luck of the draw. I probably wouldn't take anything with me, it's just about statistically impossible to predict what would actually fail next, at least in normal (ie non-severe) driving. Even if you started carrying part, what about tools and access / lighting required to perform repair on the road?

There's actually very few components that just plug in with one or two 10mm bolts or something.. perhaps that brake sensor gave you the wrong impression.

Next time, plan on a tow.

Or just stay on top of every little tick, vibration, squeak, rattle, or change in performance or handling that you can think of.. preventative plus regular maintenance.. that's the only reliable way to keep a vehicle on the road IMHO.

edit: I take that back, for my DII with modified air suspension (RR air tank, viair compressor, digital press. gauges) I might take some 1/8" push-type air fittings, air line, and a 1/8-to-schraeder valve for emergencies. This pretty much guarantees that even in the worst air suspension system emergency I can attach both air springs to my portable 12v air/tire pump and inflate them and get home, or at least bypass a solenoid valve, recharge air tank with my portable air compressor, etc. I have the lifetime warranty Arnott air springs on there and in this situation there isn't any reason they couldn't be as reliable as a coil-spring system.

Early on with this vehicle, I WAS left stranded in the middle of NOWHERE when a leaky spring caused a fault as the system couldn't keep up.. finally it gave up and the air bag deflated to bump stops and I had to drive like 30 miles home on bump stops.. headlights pointed skyward.

I isolated the problem and would have been able to manually inflate the bags if I had a SINGLE fitting with me.. I had even been playing around with that stuff recently but had just cleaned out the car. I was SO CLOSE to a "field fix..." but alas.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I think besides the brake switch and spare belt, some tools and jumper cables are about as good as I can do. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't another brake switch type thing out there that I could have on board to save me from a tow, etc.

 

oh there are plenty of them, it just where to you stop and start caring spares.

 

I thought I'd circle back to this post for a minute..

If you want to get back home in an "emergency" I'd also bring some brake fluid and some 50/50 coolant with you.

I've had some leaks develop in the coolant system (TB plate, which I've now deleted) and had a rear brake line blow out on me (rusted out) - in both situations some extra fluids would have really helped.

The TB plate leak was slower so that's different.. but if you catch it late in a parking lot or on a long trip, skiing or something for example... you can just top it off and worry about it later.

For the brake line, it happened in stop-and-go traffic, someone panic braked and when I stepped on the brakes all seemed fine till the next brake.. and pedal went to the floor. I knew what had happened obviously (plus it was pulling HARD to one side so I knew one channel of brakes was gone). I pulled over and yeah, I was SQUIRTING FLUID out of a line in the rear. I had maybe 1/3 of brake fluid reservoir left. I really should have towed it, but I had a good idea of how fast the fluid was being used on every "pump" and I coasted and used engine braking as much as possible to get home. I only had to go 9 miles though - if this was a longer trip, I would have been stranded.

So yeah you can't repair the lines on the side of the road, but maybe if you brought brake fluid you'd be able to get home at least. Not that I advocate driving with only half of your brake system functioning but yeah...

Another thing, if you're talking about getting home without a tow.. MAKE SURE YOUR TIRE CHANGE KIT IS COMPLETE. I also carry a 12v air compressor and a plug kit.. this will seriously save your a$$ when you least expect it.