Good topic and responses ought to be guided by notion that it is "better to have and not need than to need and not have".
Fortunately, I have not been let down on any transcontinental return trip in North America after preparing the Mini.
Yes lost a #3 exhaust valve in Quebec but replaced in the Ile Bizard, Montreal shop of Keith D. with Mr. Calver and Mr. Dodd as helpers. Funnily enough, when I checked the Mini over next morning inside the walled city of Quebec, the spark plugs were all loose. Too many hands, too little focus.
Had an "S" drive flange fail returning across the US in 2006. They go quietly until you hear the "tap, tap, tap" then nothing, then "tap, tap, tap, tap", then nothing, then "tap, tap" UNTIL it hits you ONLY WHEN TURNING LEFT (or right in another case). Mini was jacked up at RH front corner in Sparwood, B.C. just through the Crowsnest Pass on a Sunday afternoon...and the hub nut was loose to my fingertips.
What to do - no spare upright, no spare drive flange, yes bearings but not likely them. Retorque to 150 ft.lbs. plus and head home overnight...tip toeing around left handers. 1,020 miles after setting out in Montana and driving through four mountain ranges (including the highest pass in B.C.) we were home in B.C.'s Fraser Valley with 75 ft. lbs. of torque left at the RH front.
Of course, if you don't drive the little beauties, making a list and checking it twice doesn't matter.
Photo just east of Crowsnest Pass when heading east in 2009 to a continental Mini Meet East Meets West in Winona, Minnesota, USA.
Rocky Mountains in the distance to the west.
