Camper Trailer Recommendations

[Blue Phoenix]

I am seeking opinions and recommendations from those of you who have experience with camper trailers. I'll try and be brief (I'm usually not) but here is where I am at currently: confused. There's a ton of options out there and it seems like every week there's some new company advertising the newest "best" trailer out there.

A little back story:

The first draw I felt towards towing a trailer behind my vehicle was the first comparo Overland Journal made of adventure trailers. I was hooked by the idea of being able to drop everything and go wander off and come back without having to lug all the equipment around (i.e. weight).

At the time (probably 10 years ago) I wanted an AT Overland Horizon trailer.

Fast forward some years and like many here, the family has grown and as such, the needs have changed.

Now before I get ahead of myself I think I have narrowed down the requirements for a trailer based on those needs:

For starters the tow rig is an '06 100 Series.

- The trailer will be taken off-road. Nothing extreme, but from the several threads I've read it seems to eliminate anything with a Torsion bar axle) and it will need to have reasonable clearance as well.
- Must be able to accommodate 4 people (2 of which are kids for now)
- Goal loaded weight is around 3000 lbs.
- Looking for a small footprint, so less than 18 feet I think
- Must have kitchen (either slide out galley or interior)
- Prefer internal cassette toilet/ shower area but not opposed to external as well.

For reference the trailers I've gone through are:

1. TetonX Hybrid which at the moment is my favorite.
2. Taxa Mantis, I like the style. I have steered clear from them though as it seems they are made more for the hipster "overland" crowd and I'm not confident it will put up with abuse
3. Aliner Titanium which is growing on me but I know nothing about the company.

I'd like to know people experience with the company they chose as well. My neighbor just got a camper and already the thing has had all sorts of warranty issues and the company seems to be giving him the run-around on most of it.

I apologize for the long read.

 

[flipmachine]

pop up, option for bunks, canvas not installed in the picture, this is one I am currently working on, but has everything you could want. heat, sink, stove, fridge etc.

 

[dreadlocks]

Checkout InTech, thats what I ended up buying and I friggin love it.

I rented a taxa cricket and its nowhere near as capable as they look, way over priced on a cheap frame.. think I read a report on here not long ago guy took a taxa down the dalton highway and ended up abandoning the trailer before making it home because frame was cracked and insurance totaled it.

 

[flipmachine]

 

[GkraneTX]

Colorado Teardrops have a couple models hat tick your boxes, well at least most of them. Bunk beds for your kids are especially nice. Dread has some good advice on at least looking at the intech trailers. I am in an extended shopping phase right now because it is hard for me to justify spending 25k+ for a 2 person camper that I will spend 20 nights a year in max. For me living in South Texas one of the must haves is an A/C due to the humidity and heat. A lot of the trailers that I have looked at that have all of the bells and whistles that are 20-30k either have no A/C option or have an option to have ports for a climate right external A/C that gets pretty much terrible reviews and looks to have serious reliability issues. The intech and VRV trailers don't have all of the bells and whistles the others have but have pretty decent A/C units and still will fit in my 83 inch garage opening. I can pick up one of these trailers for probably 15k or so, and they have an aluminum cabin frame which is important to me. Every trailer seems to be a trade off in one way or another so I am really taking a hard look at things and re-evaluating. For me the increased cost of the top of the line trailers seems to be getting harder and harder to justify when you boil things down and they are still only a 2 person trailer. I have no intentions of going to Moab or anything like that so a torsion axle seems fine to me.

 

[Grassland]

Trail Marker Outdoors might have something that fits the bill for you.

 

[GkraneTX]

I just got an email from VRV that they stopped manufacturing as of 12/31/18. Bummer.

 

[Teardropper]

"but from the several threads I've read it seems to eliminate anything with a Torsion bar axle..."

The U.S. military apparently isn't reading the same posts.

I looked hard at the so-called axle-less products for build #4, again will use a Dexter Torflex. No adjustments and not interested in replacing worn out tires at 20,000.


T

 

[GkraneTX]

Do the timbrens cause an increase in tire wear?

 

[dreadlocks]

Why would they? Ive got dexter torsion axles and I have no idea how OP came to conclusion to avoid torsion axles.. they are far better than leaf springs, on road or off road and give you much better clearance.

 

[ottsville]

Why would they? Ive got dexter torsion axles and I have no idea how OP came to conclusion to avoid torsion axles.. they are far better than leaf springs, on road or off road and give you much better clearance.

Martyn posted in some older threads about how torsion axles held up in their tests. Take a peek to see their results.

I love how people use the "good enough for the US military" to justify torsion axles. Remember:
A) it's the government(not like your going to say "oh, it's good enough for the IRS,etc")
B) they're going to the lowest bidder

 

[dreadlocks]

well in his defense milsurp trailers are highly coveted on these forums.. and I've seen plenty of axle problems with solid beam setups as well

Looked up Martyn's decade old article on it in way back machine, and my experience is like polar opposite.. my rig does fantastic on washboard roads, mebe its because I'm tandem torsion axle and I've towed plenty of tandem leaf spring setups to know how terrible they do on washboard.

I suppose for my setup I feel they are ideal, Ive got a toy hauler though and the loads are rather variable.. there's a huge gulf between empty and gross weight, and it rides great regardless.. as always YMMV is applicable.. use what you feel most comfortable with im sure either has trade offs, but personally I'm rather happy with my tandem dexter torsion axles both on road and off.. I see no reason to disqualify a trailer because it has torsion axles and not solid axles; dampening, clearance and independent motion are actually quite nice things to have when your towing through varying terrain and conditions.

 

[GkraneTX]

Why would they? Ive got dexter torsion axles and I have no idea how OP came to conclusion to avoid torsion axles.. they are far better than leaf springs, on road or off road and give you much better clearance.

I have no idea why Timbrens would increase tire wear. I just got that feeling that Teardropper was stating that they did when he said he did not want to replace tires every 20,000 miles.

 

[Marine]

pop up, option for bunks, canvas not installed in the picture, this is one I am currently working on, but has everything you could want. heat, sink, stove, fridge etc.
View attachment 495319

All I can say is your sir are a artist. Very nice work

 

[Teardropper]

I have no idea why Timbrens would increase tire wear. I just got that feeling that Teardropper was stating that they did when he said he did not want to replace tires every 20,000 miles.

The problem with the Timbrens is that they as you know, they are not attached to each other and thus need to be adjusted. They need to be parallel and set for the right camber -independently. You don't just bolt them to a properly squared chassis and expect them to track. Kind of like a front-end alignment except done in your garage. With a spring or torsion axle, all you have to do is get them installed squarely and they track with a proper camber.

I've got a friend that put Timbrens on his teardrop. He's very mechanical but he has never been able to get them adjusted to where they don't eat tires. I think he's got 80,000 miles on that trailer including a trip from Texas to Fairbanks. If he builds another one, it'll have a Torflex on it.

I asked him about the Timbrens and washboard and his answer was, "they ride just like my truck."

One builder's experience is anecdotal but that's where I'm coming from.

T