Birth of My Kimberley Karavan

[Every Miles A Memory]

That stinks Brad! That is one thing I've ingrained into my head after too many misses like that. I see a scene, first thing I do is check my ISO to make sure I can grab it. I fire off a few shots, then start paying attention to the little details.

I cant tell you how many times I've cussed myself because I missed a awesome shot because of a wrong set ISO

 

[Tucson T4R]

One other Karavan update. This trailer is designed for the Australian outback road conditions and typical driving speeds. Here in the US we have a lot more high speed freeways with speed limits up to 75mph. What I found was that at speeds of 70mph or more, if you hit irregular roads surface conditions that had dips or bumps on just one side the trailer would start rocking side to side and would not stabilize until you slowed down. This is not your typical horizontal sway improperly weight distributed trailers can get into, this is a vertical side to side rocking on the independent suspension.

I worked with Kimberley on this problem and they sent me a beefier adjustable 18mm anti sway bar which I installed before my last trip. Success!:victory: The new stiffer anti swat bar totally resolved the problem. I was able to take it up over 70MPH on uneven road conditions even passing semis and getting the wind buffeting with no side to side oscillations at all. The trailer immediately stabilized after every bump.

I prefer not to tow trailers that fast anyway but if needed I don't want to worry about a stability problem. Bottom line is the new anti sway bar fixed the issue and I'm happy now.

 

[Titanpat57]

Maybe you could talk them into giving you "U.S. Design Emeretus" status....:ylsmoke:

I mean geesh...you'd think for all that dough you should be able to at least go a 100?...right?

 

[Tucson T4R]

Maybe you could talk them into giving you "U.S. Design Emeretus" status....:ylsmoke:

I mean geesh...you'd think for all that dough you should be able to at least go a 100?...right?

It probably can now but I don't have the nerve to be the test pilot. :sombrero:

For me 70mph is plenty fast enough when towing any trailer both from a safety and gas economy standpoint. From an economy perspective 55mph would be probably be a heck of lot more efficient.

 

[java]

Great to see it out getting used!

 

[p1michaud]

Brad,
Got the latest Australia 4WD Action and guess who's picture was in there? Yep, they have been using some of your great photos showing the Kimberly Kamper in a few spots in the US. Their quote is: "Where will you take yours?". Congrats on being the US "advert" guy for KK.

One other Karavan update. This trailer is designed for the Australian outback road conditions and typical driving speeds. Here in the US we have a lot more high speed freeways with speed limits up to 75mph. What I found was that at speeds of 70mph or more, if you hit irregular roads surface conditions that had dips or bumps on just one side the trailer would start rocking side to side and would not stabilize until you slowed down. This is not your typical horizontal sway improperly weight distributed trailers can get into, this is a vertical side to side rocking on the independent suspension.

I worked with Kimberley on this problem and they sent me a beefier adjustable 18mm anti sway bar which I installed before my last trip. Success!:victory: The new stiffer anti swat bar totally resolved the problem. I was able to take it up over 70MPH on uneven road conditions even passing semis and getting the wind buffeting with no side to side oscillations at all. The trailer immediately stabilized after every bump.

I prefer not to tow trailers that fast anyway but if needed I don't want to worry about a stability problem. Bottom line is the new anti sway bar fixed the issue and I'm happy now.

Question about the beefier sway bar. Do you think it will affect your side angle ability on the Karavan? Just thinking out loud here... Great to hear that they have been very supportive and provide good customer service. We've been generally happy with ours but there were a few "minor" bugs to sort out.

Cheers,
P

 

[Tucson T4R]

Yep, funny stuff on my photos being in their ads now. It was a scratch each other's back deal and I think we are both happy.

On the side angle impact of the anti sway bar, I'm not totally sure yet. I have been discussing this with the Karavan owners group down there and at first I was thinking I would need quick disconnects to not negatively impact my off road flex. They have kind of talked me out of that thought. It definitely has an impact on a four wheeled vehicle restricting downward travel if one wheel needs to drop into a hole. For a two wheeled trailer that freely pivots on it's tow hitch it may not make any difference at all at slow crawling speeds. The trailer would probably find it's lean angle the same with or without an anti sway bar installed.

The only speeds and conditions where it may be a negative is if your towing around 20-30mph on a reasonably rough dirt road the independent suspension would not be able to react as quickly with the ant sway bar attached.

I would love to hear other opinions on this and if justified I'll figure out how to add some quick disconnect pins. For now I think it's major safety benefit at high speeds, no effect at crawling speeds and possibly a negative effect at moderate speeds on rough roads.

Any other thought on this out there?

 

[1leglance]

Great pics and nice job getting out for a quick retreat.
I am really liking your setup and would love to hit the dirt with you guys some time...but not sure about letting my wife see how nice that is or I might be towing one shortly thereafter.
She has always talked about having a nice basecamp to hang out in while I go play in the dirt

 

[Tucson T4R]

Thanks.

Anytime Lance. We can just throw a big canvas tarp over it and tell her it's a tent.


Just don't let her see the inside. :sombrero:

 

[rockman]

Tucson T4R

Have you got any pic's of the sway bar at all ?.
I have just finished building a camper and seem to have the same problem .

Cheers Jim

 

[Tucson T4R]

I don't have any pics at the moment but I can snap a couple this weekend and post them up for you.

 

[Tucson T4R]

I snapped a few photos of the anti sway bar. The uninstalled bar is the old one. The only difference is the old one was 16mm in diameter and the new one is 18mm with 3 mounting holes for the down links so you can adjust the spring resistance.

It's hard to see when mounted. If it helps, the silver metal in these photos are the frame and the blue is the independent swing arm.

 

[rockman]

Thanks very much for that

Greatly appreciated .

Cheers Jim

 

[p1michaud]

...but not sure about letting my wife see how nice that is or I might be towing one shortly thereafter. She has always talked about having a nice basecamp to hang out in while I go play in the dirt

A few words of advice. M and I had been very happy living out of a tent for two years now. Managed to see some very beautiful places in Oz, then we decided to go have a look at the Kimberly Kampers... Needless to say, we have one in tow now. Not sure you can call it camping anymore. :sombrero:

Any other thought on this out there?

Brad,
I say stick with what KK have suggested. They have tested their products in Australia over quite a few years. If it's good enough for the conditions here, I'm sure it can handle anything the US can dish up bar the Rubicon I suppose. They know their gear and capabilities so I'd trust their suggestions.

On another note, stopped in to the local ARB shop with the KK in tow and turns out three of the workers there are KK owners. In about 5 minutes they were checking out the changes since they've purchased theirs 2005 and 2006 models. One bloke upgraded to the Karavan and is very happy with it. Just did a 10 000 Km round trip using a nicely set up 100 series turbo diesel to drag it around. Even mentioned that at one point he got the KK airborne (all 2.3 metric tons worth) doing 120 Km/h in the Norther Territory. Hit a dip at speed with no time to slow down. Though they were doomed but the KK landed, he kept on the throttle and everything worked out. He did say that he would not advise this and he had to stop to clean his underpants afterwards... Long story short, he said just get out there and enjoy the KK. You won't break it.

Cheers,
P

 

[Tucson T4R]

I chuckled at that because Bruce told me that happens frequently down there. I said I didn't plan to do any airborne activities.

I was mistaken. Last week on our trip to Turkey Creek I did the same thing except I was down around 45 mph. A dip in the road surprised me and and both the 4Runner and Karavan caught a little air coming up out of the dip. I agree it freaked me out a bit but the Karavan didn't mind at all. :Wow1: