Smittybilt Scout Trailer Reviews?

jojackc

Active member
How long ago did you replace your rear shocks? They usually only last around 60k miles. Most people go way over that. Also a few company's make stiffer rear springs you could also replace them. I have also heard of people putting land-cruiser springs in them to get a bit of a lift in the rear and they don't sag as much. Your springs could also be bad if you have been riding with bad shocks for a long time. If it was me I would find springs that are 30% weight over from the stock ones, then throw some bilstein 5100's under there.
 

Catalanbull

Member
Got my boxes from RC Industries. They're really nice, made of aluminum. Sizes are 35x17x13 and couldn't fit better. I used the holes of the rib and the two eyebolts at the top of the side to secure them, along with a good coat of silicon.

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I added the latches myself outside of the boxes so that when I open them there isn't any kind of mechanism inside.

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The Frontrunner Flat Pack works great as a divider for the pots.

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jojackc

Active member

mep1811

Gentleman Adventurer
Lots of beer...

The trailer is very tongue heavy. It even squats the rear of my 200 series Land Cruiser. My fabricator told me that the design is for stability . Heavy tongue and wheels set back.
 

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mep1811

Gentleman Adventurer
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Any recommendations for suspension upgrades that would alleviate the rear squatting but allows for light off-roading?
Air bags would be the most inexpensive way to level out the truck.
 

mep1811

Gentleman Adventurer
Thought I would share a couple of my modifications.

First my water tank. Its just a 70qt igloo cooler.

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I found the rear jack setup to be kind of a pain. This is what a came up with. I used the old jacks, some square tubing and a "Flip" jack foot extension by Fastway.

Fastway trailer flip jack foot



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Very nice. My problem is getting the jack to crank low enough to hitch to my vehicle. Hopefully with the lift ,the truck will sit higher.
 

jojackc

Active member
The trailer is very tongue heavy. It even squats the rear of my 200 series Land Cruiser. My fabricator told me that the design is for stability . hevay tongue and wheels set back.

Looking at your photo your problem is the hitch side of your vehicle isn't high enough. If you raise that, it would take off all the extra tongue weight your getting. Looking at the photo all the weight of the trailer and what is inside is leaning down right at your hitch.
 

mep1811

Gentleman Adventurer
The height of the hitch does not change the tongue weight.

I removed the wheel on the tongue jack to a plate. It is not like the trailer is able to roll on the ground much less on a hard surface.

This allows the jack to get lower to hitch to the Land Cruiser and help when in uneven terrain.

I had a Jeep bumper/tire carrier modified fo the rear of the trailer. It got a bunch of weight off he tongue but it is still heavy, by design.

A Jeep tire carrier is not the best option for this application. The Jeep carrier is 36 inches and the rear door of the trailer is 46 inches. The pivot for

the carrier is in front of the rear door. I had to have mine moved on the bumper for it to work.

For others perhaps a Jeep bumper tire carrier might not work out. I picked this carrier, because I liked the strong latching lever.
 

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Kraxler

Active member
The height of the hitch does not change the tongue weight.

I removed the wheel on the tongue jack to a plate. It is not like the trailer is able to roll on the ground much less on a hard surface.

This allows the jack to get lower to hitch to the Land Cruiser and help when in uneven terrain.

I had a Jeep bumper/tire carrier modified fo the rear of the trailer. It got a bunch of weight off he tongue but it is still heavy, by design.

A Jeep tire carrier is not the best option for this application. The Jeep carrier is 36 inches and the rear door of the trailer is 46 inches. The pivot for

the carrier is in front of the rear door. I had to have mine moved on the bumper for it to work.

For others perhaps a Jeep bumper tire carrier might not work out. I picked this carrier, because I liked the strong latching lever.
Slide the stuff on the rack to the rear as far as you can. Move the propain bottle to the rear and slide the tongue box back against the main box. All those will help with the weight. That's what I did. Still have plenty of weight on the hitch. Also see about getting a hitch riser for the vehicle or drop receiver on the trailer side to help with leveling. Or both.
 

tzw

New member
I love those jacks that's cool, have you thought about putting one on the front?
Not really, the front jack does what it is supposed to more or less. I just couldn't handle the amount of cargo space the rear jacks took up.
 

misubisu

Active member
The trailer is very tongue heavy. It even squats the rear of my 200 series Land Cruiser. My fabricator told me that the design is for stability . Heavy tongue and wheels set back.
Legally, in Australia, the tongue weight mustn't exceed 15% of the total trailer weight.
My setup has the tongue weight at 150kg, which is currently 14% of the total trailer weight when fully loaded.
It tows perfectly at all speeds and through very winding mountain roads.
During holiday season over here in Oz, the police have been known to pull drivers over, that are towing medium to large trailers, and weigh them (using portable scales). If loads are out of spec, they fine them and if badly over spec, the loads need to be rearranged to get them within spec, before they can continue.
Too much or too little tongue weight are both dangerous and for different reasons.
Tongue weight

WRANG.jpg
 

Kmrtnsn

Explorer
"The height of the hitch does not change the tongue weight. "

Au contraire, mon frere. Yes it does, the lower the tongue the further forward the center of gravity of the trailer.
 

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