Offroad Capable Mainstream Trailer???

Grassland

Well-known member
Considering Livin Lite sold out to Thor and then promptly went down the ************** and then the brand was dissolved.. and the Jayco Baja was discontinued years ago and wasn't much better than a standard tent camper, and they too were bought by Thor. Fleetwood went bankrupt and the rights to the Evolution series went to Somerset, who were plagued by poor build quality from what I've read, and as they got better, dropped more model lines, and kept the one with a slide...
You are up the creek for something smallish, capable of fire service roads and washboard, and being "fully equipped', especially if you want to be able to stand up in it.

These days you pretty well have to custom make something. Its either US style staple and caulk specials with TVs, microwaves, granite counter tops etc, or spartan compact units that actually have good materials and skilled builders.

And if you live in a sparsely populated generally poor Province or State, you won't be finding much else other than the mainstream junk.
I don’t know much about it but the Coleman/Fleetwood appears to be rugged enough for the trails you are considering. Shouldn’t be to heavy for the 4Runner either.

8349adf6bc8702feb44bbb2c7a6f1ffa.png



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


I've set to see more than one for sale at a given time within 2500 miles of me.
 

QQQ

Member
Any pre-2016 livinlite that still has the aluminum floor and roof is OK. Anything that doesn't have these 2 features was the start of downhill slide and I don't recommend them (I've owned 2 livinlites).

Depending on your needs a 10.0 tent trailer or one of the 11 or 13 foot travel trailers would be good. They can be raised although that would require either a new dexter axle with a different angle or a new leaf set up.
 

bent

New member
We've been researching the same topic lately. We want an RV that we can live out of for a year, but are avid rock climbers and need something that is off road capable enough for us to get to climbing areas. No crazy 4x4 trails, but something that can handle moderate rutting and washboarding as well as tight turns. Given that we'd be living in it full time, we'd want a bathroom and something big enough that I can stand in and fit in the bed (I'm 6'4"). We don't intend to move camp more than once or twice per month, so something where we can detach the RV from the vehicle is a major plus.

For trailers, we had been looking at things like the RPod, the Geo Pro, and the Little Guy Max. All of these claim to have off-road packages, but in practice, none of them seem very capable. Also, none of them are even close to being four season. Now, we're looking at options like the Lance 1475 and ORV 18RBS, both of which look like good four season options. I'm not sure how off-road capable either of these are though.

Another thing that we've been considering getting a bigger slide in truck camper. Some of the bigger models with slide outs seem pretty spacious. The good ones are pricy and you need a lot of truck to haul them, but they can definitely go places. You end up with a pretty tall vehicle though, so I do wonder about clearance. Also, some of the nicer models can be used off of the truck, so that meets our leave-the-RV-behind requirement.

Finally, we considered a class B setup. The Sprinter van conversions are really popular with climbers these days. I don't think they're right for us though. They are super expensive (easily $150k), fairly cramped, and you have to break down camp every morning when you want to drive somewhere.
 
We've been researching the same topic lately. We want an RV that we can live out of for a year, but are avid rock climbers and need something that is off road capable enough for us to get to climbing areas. No crazy 4x4 trails, but something that can handle moderate rutting and washboarding as well as tight turns. Given that we'd be living in it full time, we'd want a bathroom and something big enough that I can stand in and fit in the bed (I'm 6'4"). We don't intend to move camp more than once or twice per month, so something where we can detach the RV from the vehicle is a major plus.

For trailers, we had been looking at things like the RPod, the Geo Pro, and the Little Guy Max. All of these claim to have off-road packages, but in practice, none of them seem very capable. Also, none of them are even close to being four season. Now, we're looking at options like the Lance 1475 and ORV 18RBS, both of which look like good four season options. I'm not sure how off-road capable either of these are though.

Another thing that we've been considering getting a bigger slide in truck camper. Some of the bigger models with slide outs seem pretty spacious. The good ones are pricy and you need a lot of truck to haul them, but they can definitely go places. You end up with a pretty tall vehicle though, so I do wonder about clearance. Also, some of the nicer models can be used off of the truck, so that meets our leave-the-RV-behind requirement.

Finally, we considered a class B setup. The Sprinter van conversions are really popular with climbers these days. I don't think they're right for us though. They are super expensive (easily $150k), fairly cramped, and you have to break down camp every morning when you want to drive somewhere.

We have been eyeing the Outdoors RV for some time. Definitely 4 season but off road capability, construction concerns us as well. While we don't intend to go rock crawling with the camper, we do want to go further in than the average camper would go. I just checked their website and there have been some serious changes to the "Back Country" series and added a toy hauler category "Trail Series". I do not expect their construction methods to change though. We do not care for slide outs or canvas pop ups as it is more to fail long term. Something in the lines of the 18RD or 21RD would be perfect for us. Yes bed size and orientation is important to us as well. Me being 6'2" and 225 pounds makes it uncomfortable if one of us has to crawl across the other to get in and out of the bed.
 

bent

New member
They definitely market the ORV as being decent for off roading. Having never owned a travel trailer though, I am totally ignorant as to how important clearance and trailer length are for the types of roads we drive on. Part of me thinks that the shorter length on things like the RPod might outweigh the beefier suspension and higher clearance on something like the ORV.
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
InTech trailers are fully welded aluminum chassis/frame, and come with torsion axles and nice AT tires.. Overall Quality is an order of magnitude above anything I seen from ForestRiver.

Ive got the biggest one they ever made and have dragged it over a few gravel passes and many forest service/logging roads.. I wouldent take it down a Jeep trail tho.
 

ottsville

Observer

Buddha.

Finally in expo white.
They definitely market the ORV as being decent for off roading. Having never owned a travel trailer though, I am totally ignorant as to how important clearance and trailer length are for the types of roads we drive on. Part of me thinks that the shorter length on things like the RPod might outweigh the beefier suspension and higher clearance on something like the ORV.
Having worked at a campground and seeing a wide variety of setups come through, the first thing I'd look at is how close the dump pipe is to the ground. For example on those rental class c units by rvamerica the dump pipe gets tore off if you try a steep driveway. Some of the trailers have more clearance than others, some even are swept up in back for clearance. Another easy thing to check is the tire and axle ratings. Some trailers have very limited payload ratings and the axle and the tire ratings don't leave any wiggle room.
I have a big heavy 30' trailer. I'd never take it down anything rougher than a dirt road. It's frame is so floppy I can't close the door unless it's level.
 

QQQ

Member
We've been researching the same topic lately. We want an RV that we can live out of for a year, but are avid rock climbers and need something that is off road capable enough for us to get to climbing areas. No crazy 4x4 trails, but something that can handle moderate rutting and washboarding as well as tight turns. Given that we'd be living in it full time, we'd want a bathroom and something big enough that I can stand in and fit in the bed (I'm 6'4"). We don't intend to move camp more than once or twice per month, so something where we can detach the RV from the vehicle is a major plus.

Check out Oliver, they are expensive but are true 4 season and can certainly handle some offroad.
 
We bought an Outdoors RV and have been very happy with it. I would not hesitate on gravel and forest roads. Seems to be well built compared to most of the others. Definitely on the heavy side but does have lots of payload capacity
 
We bought an Outdoors RV and have been very happy with it. I would not hesitate on gravel and forest roads. Seems to be well built compared to most of the others. Definitely on the heavy side but does have lots of payload capacity
And the largest fresh water tank when compared to comparable sized campers. 60-80 gallons.
 

Grassland

Well-known member
InTech trailers are fully welded aluminum chassis/frame, and come with torsion axles and nice AT tires.. Overall Quality is an order of magnitude above anything I seen from ForestRiver.

Ive got the biggest one they ever made and have dragged it over a few gravel passes and many forest service/logging roads.. I wouldent take it down a Jeep trail tho.

They made that model for what, a whole year?

You see what I mean though? They went back to tiny/non standing height units.
You can find well built trailers... They are all just short/small units.

Take the things you need structurally for an "off road" trailer, and none of them will hurt a camper that's larger and only going to do fire service roads and washboard.
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
They made that model for what, a whole year?

You see what I mean though? They went back to tiny/non standing height units.
You can find well built trailers... They are all just short/small units.

Take the things you need structurally for an "off road" trailer, and none of them will hurt a camper that's larger and only going to do fire service roads and washboard.

well I think height at this point limits capability for me, top of the roof is 11ft off ground and the roof bars take alot of tree branches and stuff when going down paths less traveled.. if it were not for the roof racks the aircon woulda lasted me about a month before getting taken out by a tree limb.. Ive broken off two ham antennas already... so the counter argument is the less height you have, the easier it will be to get it into tricky locations.. and also the less drag you have to deal with (crapper highway fuel economy) and weight, I mean how many truly offroad capable vehicles have a >7k# towing capacity? for small and mid sized SUV's the Touareg/Q7 were kinda rare to have as much towing capacity as they have.. for example, the OP only had a 5k tow capacity so my Discover woulda been too much trailer for him.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,529
Messages
2,875,566
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top