Offroad Capable Mainstream Trailer???

[john61ct]

Good reason to go for a design that allows lowering the roof while travelling.

If going custom DIY anyway.

Looking for hardware sources on such mechanisms if anyone knows of any, worldwide is fine.

 

[Grassland]

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.

Thats because its designed as a toy hauler. A non toy hauler of comparable size would have a lower GVWR.
What is the empty weight of your trailer? I doubt more than 3000 lbs. Most modern midsize trucks, all half tons, and a few SUV can handle a trailer in the 4-5000 lb range if properly equipped.
Personally the main reason we want a trailer with a tip out bed is to not require air conditioning. We aren't going to have power to run it anyways. If it wasn't for the fact they get so warm, we probably would have just bought an Escape Industries fiberglass trailer, but you can't get the same ventilation with those as you can with a tip out tent bed.

 

[dreadlocks]

without toys in it but outfitted im likely around 4klbs, yet >700lbs on tongue.. which is more tongue weight than most vehicle rated for 4k-5k can handle.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

Need to rearrange some of that weight. You are about 300 pounds too heavy on the tongue.

 

[dreadlocks]

there's nothing to rearrange, anything not part of the trailer is already at the back cargo ramp.. if i had a large rear engine toy or a few dirt bikes I could take some weight off tongue.. its not this trailer too, I looked at ton of travel trailers. pretty much every single one once you put LP and Batteries in it was hundreds of pounds too heavy on the tongue.. some trailers I found were borderline fraudulent on their weights after seeing em in person, many forrest rivers were in so far over the advertised dry weight by the time it was ready for camping it was absurd.. those popup's with the toyhauler deck up front caught my eye for a moment, but damn u need a big honking truck once you throw a quad on that deck because the load is all infront of the trailer axle..

but meh, im not over my vehicle capacity (helps having air suspension) and I'd rather have too much tongue weight than too little.. but buyer beware, sometimes it seems there's more overladen travel trailers on the road than properly setup ones.. my FIL went out and bought a camper, then tried to visit us here in Colorado.. he made it a few hundred miles into colorado and hadda buy a new truck.. his old dodge half ton was a gonner, when he finally showed up a day late to camp I see this monster camper and I grilled him on what the hell made him think he could tow that with his old ram.. his response was 'oh I bought it from some ppl who towed it with a jeep and thought I'd be fine, gave me no problems in Kansas'.. I just shook my head and agreed that his brand spanking new $50k cummins was up to the task.

 

[john61ct]

Thanks for the reminder, in designing a custom trailer, being able to move the wheels forward or back relatively easily is an important design goal.

 

[Grassland]

For manufacturers who build toy haulers, being tongue heavy when empty is typical. There are compromises you have to make when designing with that in mind.
Looking at smaller trailers, Escape Trailer makes a 17 foot fiberglass egg camper and the dual battery option puts them on the rear bumper. Helps balance the trailer better.
Personally not interested in a toy hauler, but in a trailer built very sturdy with materials like aluminium and non wood composites. I guess the market for a smaller trailer that isn't a toy hauler or a tear drop is too small for anyone to have much interest in. By smaller I mean 14-16' live in area, as the main stream builders focus the most on 19' and larger trailers and fifth wheels. Recently Forest River took the usual ******** box and slapped some larger tires on it and marketed it as the NOBO series, which is surprising enough, but then again, it probably cost them next to nothing to shift into trying for a slice of that market.

 

[jmllenos]

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 are in the same situation as you Bent. Having a trailer would make it difficult to maneuver BLM camping spots. I also considered class B or even mod van but they are just too expensive (4x4 option) for me at this time . So for now we are going with a lightweight AT Habitat on my Tundra.

 

[Desmontes]

There are a few new 2018/2019 LivinLite trailers still out there. We looked at one in Albuquerque recently. It was beautiful and light. Please be aware that not only are they not being made anymore, there is a NHTSB recall on several models for serious cracking in the aluminum frame. Looking at LivinLite forum posts, the type of aluminum they use is not easily/successfully weldable, and these trailers are a potential serious safety hazard. https://rv-pro.com/news/nhtsa-recall-made-livin-lite

 

[Desmontes]

Check out Oliver, they are expensive but are true 4 season and can certainly handle some offroad.

Yep, and they're really small inside. We saw one recently at the North Rim GC and checked them out online.

 

[john61ct]

My post #5 seems worth standing by

 

[FFJJ]

That is true. I figured out the Black Series Camper are made in China, and assembly in USA. The parts are imported from China Shan Dong.
The quality is not reliable, and low level of management, no response to customer complaints. Tell lies to mislead customers.
That is horrible, we should be careful with that.