Do people really take their off-road teardrops through gnarly trails?

[alanymarce]

As I mentioned, I'm not really focusing on rock climbing. I'm thinking of heavily rutted/rocky trails. As I mentioned at the top, I've seen a lot of off-road trailers parked in places I could reach with a sports car.

So, apparently we're talking of the same type of trail - not "rock climbing" but something for which 4x4 would be useful. As noted, lots of trailer on this type of route in Australia and Southern Africa - we don't pull any type of trailer ourselves but have seen them in places which would probably be considered challenging ( Richtersveld, Simpson,...).

 

[ducktapeguy]

I’ve rented an off road teardrop and have taken it off road. Whether or not a larger camper could have made it I don’t know, but I don’t think I’d want to try it. The trail I took it on would have been considered easy for a Jeep or FJ40, but for a mostly stock SUV towing a trailer it was quite a challenge. I definitely got my money’s worth from my skid plates on that trip.

 

[F350joe]

How do you back out of trail with a trailer? Thats the video i want to see. I don’t think you see it very much because the risk is not worth the reward. Kills your offroad range, is hard on the truck and trailer, it’s just not that enjoyable to deal with.

 

[Kowboy]

As I mentioned at the top, I've seen a lot of off-road trailers parked in places I could reach with a sports car.

Absolutely agree but I usually see photos/videos of awesome teardrops ... on terrain that could be easily handled by most crossovers ...

Most off-road trailers are not limited by the trailer itself but the vehicle towing it. The "overlanding" image is popular now and a big seller. A compact truck/crossover SUV with a roof rack and snorkel and an "off-road" trailer behind it is the hot ticket in the campground.

As I've tried to state, it takes a helluva 4wd trail rig to tow a ton of dead weight behind it on an actual 4wd trail. A rig that'll do 5 (outta 5) rated trails by itself will struggle with 3-rated trails draggin' the trailer.

How do you back out of trail with a trailer? Thats the video i want to see.

I use reverse. Sorry, don't have a video. Only one time was I not able to just back out. Had to disconnect the trailer and regroup. It was ugly and a pain in the ass for sure. Obviously, more conservative on trail selection when towin' the trailer.

 

[bluejeep]

not a teardrop, but a small camp trailer on the Rubicon, no real issues with it really.
The vid starts out funky, just wait for it, you will see the trailer going thru one of the sluice boxes. I was new to my SoloShot camera that auto follows a puck i place on my mirror, it got too close to follow accurately at the start

 

[WOODY2]

not a teardrop, but a small camp trailer on the Rubicon, no real issues with it really.
The vid starts out funky, just wait for it, you will see the trailer going thru one of the sluice boxes. I was new to my SoloShot camera that auto follows a puck i place on my mirror, it got too close to follow accurately at the start

World of difference between a teardrop and the trailer pulled by this jeep FWIW

 

[mep1811]

I recently took my Mission Overland trailer through the Magruder Corridor trail. (113 miles off road)
The only issue was driving up and down long narrow one track roads which would have been hairy if I met someone in the other direction.

I aired down the trailer tires to 20 psi and it handled the rough road with ease. The Timbren suspension really works well.

I don't have any pictures on the really narrow road. I was too busy praying and staying on the track.

 

[Kowboy]

World of difference between a teardrop and the trailer pulled by this jeep FWIW

Agreed … HUGE dif'rence.

I recently took my Mission Overland trailer through the Magruder Corridor trail.

You're missin' the snorkel.

 

[mep1811]

Agreed … HUGE dif'rence.




You're missin' the snorkel.

I decided against that.

 

[Kmrtnsn]

I've pulled a SoCal Teardrop 459 Crawler over the Mojave Road twice and over the El Camino Del Diablo, as well as a bunch of trails in Central Arizona, as well as all over Death Valley. The trailer was perfectly capable of going wherever my Jeep could, and did.

 

[Timbren]

I recently took my Mission Overland trailer through the Magruder Corridor trail. (113 miles off road)
The only issue was driving up and down long narrow one track roads which would have been hairy if I met someone in the other direction.

I aired down the trailer tires to 20 psi and it handled the rough road with ease. The Timbren suspension really works well.

I don't have any pictures on the really narrow road. I was too busy praying and staying on the track.

Looks like you had an awesome trip! We are so happy you are apart of the Timbren family and are sharing your thoughts on our suspension system. We look forward to seeing more trips in the future!

 

[1Louder]

I dunno, as others have said gnarly probably means different things to different people. I have taken mine down Lippincott in Death Valley, around Utah, spot in CO, and all over AZ. Length has never really been an issue. I have V'd out plenty of different trailers at the tongue but have never hit a trailer on anything anywhere else. Do you have to drive slower? Yes.. Does it help to have someone without a trailer in front scouting? Yes, but I have been the lead plenty of times. Width might be the primary issue. My current trailer is a little bit wider than my FJ. It requires a bit more spotting in the mirror.

I would like to take it on Lockhart basin near Moab but the main step section might be a bit narrow. Not sure. Last time I did it the sun was setting and getting dark. That trip I had a Turtleback.

There are thousands upon thousands of miles of trail that you can explore with this style of trailer. I really don't find it limiting at all.

I have taken different styles of trailers on all of these trails. All that are listed would not be limited with my current trailer, 2019 Off Grid Expedition 2.0

AZ BDR
UT BDR
ID BDR
Northern Baja
Kofa in AZ
Mojave Road (multiple times)
El Camino Del Diablo
North Rim in and around the GCNP
Death Valley all easy and wide with the exception of a few turns on Lippincott trail near the Race Track
Section 1 of the CO BDR (I believe all sections are trailer friendly with the exception of the route from Telluride to Lake City)
Sections of the AZ Peace trail. Some are not trailer friendly regardless of size. Too narrow
Sections of Grand Staircase/Escalante area including Smokey Mountain Road area, Lake Powell. Areas around Capitol Reef on dirt
Great Western Trail in AZ and southern portions of UT

Plenty of off shoot trails all over AZ. Yes there are times where you have to do a 10 point turn to maneuver out but I have never been stuck and had to disconnect.

Could you take my trailer on the Rubicon Trail? Nope but that is fine with me.

 

[Hilldweller]

Trails around here are too tight for just my truck in some places; I could never get my teardrop through them.
But there are many nasty "roads" that it's gotten down.
I got to an intersection once that had a drop-off on both sides. It was a tight turn with an embankment directly in front. This was when I had the Power Wagon ---- I disco'd the front swaybar and put the PW as far up the embankment as it would go but still didn't have enough room to make the turn. My choices were to unhook the trailer, get the PW ahead and winch the trailer around, or let the trailer dangle off a bit and drag it up on the skidplates. I did the latter; looked pretty cool with the trailer dangling halfway off the trail.

 

[Wendell-R]

Nice! I've taken a look at those (TetonX Hybrid). How do you like it so far?

It's been great - we just spent 10 days in it and didn't feel claustrophobic at all - generally nice weather though.

The Kitchen setup is amazing. My wife is vegan and I end up eating the same thing as her most of the time. That means making a lot of stuff from scratch and carrying a lot of vegetables and doing a lot of slicing, dicing and steaming. The layout works really well for almost everything we make. That are a few things that we prepare ahead of time because it's easier with a food processor, but mostly, we do everything out in the field. I do have a second fridge in the 4-Runner that we used at the beginning of the last trip to hold all the food that needed refrigeration.

We've got the bed oriented the long way because we're both tall and I'd worry about sticking my feet through the window if it was oriented the other way. It takes about 5 minutes to switch between being setup as a bed and being setup for sitting or for travel with the bikes inside now that we've had a bit of practice. It does get a little cramped when you need to put the bedding somewhere while you shift things around. The bed is extremely comfortable - getting a lot of really good sleep! And being able top stand up inside makes all the difference in the world.

I've got 200 watts of solar charging the batteries and so far, it's topped them off every day - no completely overcast days yet, but we've never gone below 70% full in a single day (300 amp hours of batteries).

I'd definitely recommend the re-circulating Truma hot water heater. It would waste so much water getting it to the faucet otherwise. We've only used the furnace a couple of times last spring so I'm not sure yet how much propane it will end up using.

Also really like the shelves in the front - we've got some Zarges aluminum cases on the bottom shelf with cooking and cleaning stuff and I make some open top boxes to fit on the top shelf to hold clothes and other personal stuff.

 

[snowgroomer]

With the bed set up how much room is there at the end of it? Trying to figure out if a porta potty would fit