I agree with the above to a certain extent. However when you prepare make your preparations for any eventuality. I was sent to Yemen after the US embassy attacks as a contractor to an oil firm. At the time Yemen was in the beginning stages of a revolt. The oil wells were located in the desert, but the main office Was located in the capital. The decision was made to bring all non essential personnel back and fly them out if the country. There was a prop plane that flew back and forth carrying every one, but it was attacked that week by Al Qaeda when it landed in the desert, hitting the pilot, some passengers and the engines. So the only way back was by land cruisers. We loaded up about twelve of them, coordinated with the Yemeni government and drove the most unforgiving desert known to man and we did it going through rebel territories. It took about 8 hours driving on no roads until we reached "civilisation". We didn't have much time to pRepare and we loaded the trucks minimal stuff except for fuel and water to make room for everyone. We got thru, it was miserable but it got done with no one breaking down. The long and short of this story is this. With regular maintenance your truck can do almost anything, ours were stock . I would get a full floater rear as a minimum though, Not sure why the US got semi floats to begin with.