Availability of Jeep parts in Mexico/Central America

Unless you're racing in the dakar and have a support truck to haul it, bringing a spare transmission / axle / transfer case, etc. is a joke for hardcore wannabes who have no clue. The added weight of all that crap is more likely to cause your truck to break parts - and as luck usually has it, the ones you didn't bring with you. Bring the basics, and handle the rest on the fly. If the "right" part can't be found, adapt what's available. The only parts I can see bringing would be oil / air filters - stuff you KNOW for sure you'll need and might not be able to find easily depending on the model of truck. That and a good tool kit.

The OP hasn't come back to her thread since April 25th.

I don't have a problem with that....! I do after all have many thousand miles of driving in Mexico. All of it with old junky vans in reasonably good mechanical shape when I left Canada. Carry tools....water...oil. That was it, never really had to bring out the tools but for others stuck somewhere from lack of preventive maintenance.

Oh yes maybe a U-joint, had to show the Patron of the shop how to install it.

The head mechanic at the Nissan dealership here refused to believe that he reassembled my driveshaft 180 degrees out and that it even mattered (despite the fact that above 30 you had to shout inside the truck to be heard over the loud rumble). He was completely unaware that driveshafts are balanced and need to be reassembled the same way they were before. That was the HEAD mechanic at an official Nissan dealership, not some shady backstreet taller mecanico. ...and people wonder why half the cars in mexico are barely limping along. Our company typically sells off our company cars immediately after the warranty runs out because by then the dealership mechanics have done so much damage that they're no longer cost effective to keep on the road. This same dealership (before I knew how bad they were) dropped my trans out of my pickup to get at some other problems and lost the transmission mounts (probably threw them out by accident) in the process. They reinstalled the trans on wood blocks without telling me. They got thoroughly chewed out for that one and got to buy me a new transmission mount.

The most important thing to bring with you is a good understanding of how your truck works, how it's assembled, and how it should be fixed. Personally do as much of your own maintenance/repairs as you can. Never let anyone work on your truck without thoroughly talking it through with them beforehand to make sure they really understand what they're doing. Ideally, watch them do the work, but at the very least inspect it thoroughly when they're done.

not that US dealer mechanics are all that great, but here's a little story for ya.

my buddy is in the process of opening a triumph dealership in nicaragua. of course, it is his responsibility to find a mechanic who is then trained by triumph "factory techs"--allegedly.

so, he has to send his mechanic to mexico for training. believe it or not.

This is gonna be good!:eek1

....and it became interesting, and filled with real life experiences...and some good BS...:)