So on Friday I left to go camping in the Flat Tops Wilderness out here in Colorado. Fun times, amazing camp site and such a fun area. Sat, we go to explore and while on a trail well off the beaten path and before I come up to a boulder BOOM! It was like i was in a car crash! I get out to see what happened and the track bar is on the ground and the sector shaft is sheered off in my 15 JKU due to fatigue. Not good. Zero steering. For two hours I attempt to find a solution.
I come to the point where it is now 2:30ish and its time to decide. Camp in the jeep with the front of the top off still at the camp site 10 miles away or walk for help. It was getting into the low 40's at night at this elevation. I am about 38 miles from a town and cell service. 5 miles on a jeep trail in a valley from the "main" forest service road. And a storm is moving in.......
Couple of suggestions here. First is know the weak points on your specific vehicle. In these days of the information super highway (showing my age here) finding forums for your specific transportation is easy. I have a JK and have over-built it for reliability by beefing up all the shortcomings, with this said I have not done anything to my steering sector. There are solutions out there I just have not done any. All this goes to prove is you cannot make anything unbreakable. (Also, I assume you meant the drag link was on the ground instead of the track bar. I really can't see the track bar bracket and steering sector breaking at the same time unless it was a highway speed accident.) You don't have any build data in your signature so, I can even begin to guess what caused the breakage on such a new jeep other than a defective part. Well that is not entirely true, I can guess over sized tires and repeated steering while stopped and under load. I'm not a big believer in carrying spare parts 'cause you can't carry everything and Murphy's law will always come into play; if you do have a spare part then the universe will rule that out from being what breaks
Plan A is to increase reliability of your machine. Plan B is to be prepared for self rescue. I try to be prepared to walk out or at least to the nearest road. This means tarp, 550 paracord, food & water, space blanket, couple of different ways to make fire, and suitable hiking shoes and of course anything else the season or terrain requires. The tarp could have been used to protect the jeep if you decided to stay and also make a shelter if you had to overnight on the hike out. The key here is to know where people should be and the shortest route to them. As you found people, the right people, are key to getting back to civilization.
As far as communication, the suggestions of SPOT or sat phone are great but come with a cost and if you are not in the wilderness a lot the cost may be prohibitive. A charged cell phone goes a long way especially when you factor in most everyone is chained to their phone the cost/benefit is definitely there on that one. Not having a charger with you in the jeep is a Homer Simpson D'OH moment. Just making the conscience effort to be prepared will inherently make you be better prepared. In other words, mentally going through what could go wrong will allow you to have a plan and basic necessities, which will greatly reduce the chance of a D'OH moment.
From your description I would have done the same thing you did with the exception of calling a friend or getting another one of my 4x4s and go back in with the parts and tools required to drive the JK out. The bill for the tow and dealership would have made me nauseous.
