Here's the problem as I see it: Most civilized people don't want to participate in the internet equivalent of a bar room brawl. It seems that anytime there is a post with something positive to say about EarthRoamer or EarthRoamer Xpedition Vehicles, the attacks begin immediately. Frequently the credibility of the positive posts are called into question and this discourages constructive discourse.
When
trailsurfer posted his firsthand experience traveling with an EarthRoamer XV-LT equipped with air ride and MPT81's in Baja:
"I have been all over Baja with a buddy and his air suspension/tires LT and he went everywhere I did in my fully built Sportsmobile. Sand, arroyo's, river beds etc ... . And he gets to sleep in a nice level rig every night. It is really a neat system."
We get this response by
explore this:
"Well... Let's see some pics, routes, the works... Get your buddy to post up. Let's see this extra $30k++ at work!!"
Many would consider the personal experience of
trailsurfer useful information. The post by
explore this seems to question the validity of
trailsurfer's post and take yet another jab at the high cost of the tire/wheel/suspension upgrade. All too often this just leads to another useless war of words. Man up! If you just want to be an internet bully take the fight elsewhere.
Many of the questions in this thread have focused on the capability, reliability and price of the upgraded EarthRoamer wheel/tire/suspension option, so I will attempt to address each of these three areas in more detail.
Here are the Pros of the air ride suspension/MPT81 tire/military bead lock rim upgrade (
http://www.earthroamer.com/galleries/mpt81/)as I see it:
1) Incredible off road performance, especially in soft soil and sand - the aggressive tread pattern, large tire diameter (41") and ability to air down all make a dramatic improvement in off road capability
2) Much better ability to air down tires - with the beadlock rims and taller side walls, this tire produces a very large contact patch when aired down
3) Ability to increase approach angle, departure angle, and breakover angle on the trail - air up the front and air down the back and the approach angle increases dramatically. Air all the way up and the breakover angle and ground clearance (except for the axles) get better.
4) Ability to level the rig in off-camber situations - When traveling on an off-camber trail, simply air up the low side to level the rig.
5) Improved ground clearance - With 41" diameter tires instead of our standard 37", ground clearance under the axles is about 2 inches greater (about 11.8 inches in the front, and 12.5 inches in the rear).
6) Better ride quality on and off road - It is an air ride vs. leaf and coil springs, enough said.
7) Ability to level the vehicle in camp - No need to block up the wheels or use leveling jacks, simply use the air bags to level the truck. The air ride controller enables each corner or axle to be controlled independently.
8) Improved steering precision on the highway - this came as a surprise to me, but the MPT81 drive better on the highway.
And here are the cons:
1) It is a very expensive upgrade
2) Slight increase in road noise
We have now installed over 20 air ride suspensions on EarthRoamer XV-LTs and over 75% of these installs have been with the MPT81s. The air ride system is manufactured to EarthRoamer specifications by Kelderman Manufacturing with proprietary modifications designed for EarthRoamer XV-LTs. We use two different air ride suspension designs since the MPT81 tires obviously require a greater lift to clear the larger diameter tires. There has been some debate about the shocks used on EarthRoamer XV-LTs. To clear the air, the prototype XV-LT and production units 1 and 2 used King Shocks. Starting with unit three, various configuration of Bilstein shocks were used. We recently switched to massive 3 inch body King shocks with a proprietary EarthRoamer design and valving. We use heavy duty front and rear sway bars manufactured to our specifications and we design and build our own cutout fender flares.
The performance of this setup on the trail is simply amazing. At the 2009 EarthRoamer Owner's Rally we led more than a dozen EarthRoamer XV-LTs through a trail in the heart of Arches National Park. Most of the XV-LTs had the standard EarthRoamer suspension, one had the air ride suspension with 22.5 inch tires and wheels, and two had the full package with the MPT81s and beadlock rims. The trail started near Balanced Rock before heading north west up to Klondike Bluffs. We encountered plenty of soft sand including a long, relatively steep sandy ascent, steep rocks, and rock steps. While all of the XV-LTs completed the trail, XV-LTs with the air ride suspension and MPT-81s had a dramatically easier time doing so. In the deep sand, the MPT81 equipped trucks simply drove through it. The EarthRoamers with the 37" Michelins on 22.5 inch rims often required several attempts to get through, and some even needed to break out their winches. On the steep rocky section of the trail, non-air ride EarthRoamers were scrapping front tow hooks and rear receiver hitches on the rocks. The air ride equipped trucks simply aired up and down as needed and had plenty of clearance. Scott was along for the '09 rally, maybe he will post his comments. Full disclosure - I am a bit of an EarthRoamer fan and I may be a little biased, but it was absolutely amazing seeing these 8 ton beasts devouring the trail.
There has been some speculation about the reliability of this system and the components we use, specifically with regards to wheel bearings and the use of aluminum wheels instead of steel. With well over 100 EarthRoamer XV-LTs on the road, including one that traveled completely around the world, we have never seen a wheel bearing or wheel failure - with one exception. A couple of the very first EarthRoamer XV-LTs used 37 inch Goodyear MTR tires mounted on Stockton steel wheels. After experiencing multiple cracked Stockton steel wheels, we switched from the Stockton steel wheels to Alcoa 22.5 forged aluminum wheels (later we offered Hutchinson 20 inch aluminum wheels as an option) and have never had another problem. Worried about mine survivability? Hopefully not, but just in case you are:
http://www.hutchinsoninc.com/aluminumvssteel.php
The bottom line is that our suspension/tire/wheel system works very well and has proven to be very reliable, but as we all know
it is very expensive.
I have been researching the best tires and wheels to use for over 10 years. I have personally logged hundreds of thousands of miles with various tire/wheel/suspension configurations traveling in EarthRoamers from Prudoe bay Alaska to Costa Rica and many points in between. There is no one tire, wheel, suspension system that is perfect for every on-road and off-road situation (especially for an 8 ton rig), but this setup is the best I have ever found for both on and off road performance.
When I first received a price quote from Hutchinson for the MPT 81 tires on military beedlock rims, my first thought was "wow, that's a good price," then I realized it was for one tire mounted on one rim - NOT a set of five! I decided the price was too high and didn't even offer it to my customers. I kept looking and months later I still had not found a viable alternative, so I offered the air ride/MPT81 package to EarthRoamer owners. The price is what it is. I could sell the upgrade for less and lose money, but that doesn't seem like a very good business decision.
There have been posts in this thread accusing EarthRoamer of charging "ridiculous prices" and questioning the intelligence of EarthRoamer owners for paying such high prices. Many EarthRoamer owners are (or were) successful small business owners and understand the concept of VALUE very well. They certainly didn't achieve their success by being foolish with their money. Many cheap products are exactly that-cheap. When I decided to go into the business of building expedition vehicles, I decided early on that I would build the best expedition vehicle I knew how to build regardless of the price. The marketplace was already flooded with companies competing to build commodity campers at the cheapest possible price. EarthRoamer employs world class craftsman, uses the best components money can buy, and invests heavily in design, engineering and R&D. All of this is expensive. With over 100 EarthRoamer Expedition Vehicles on the road, it is clear to me that there is a demand for high quality, high function, well engineered and designed vehicles-even if they are expensive. More than a dozen EarthRoamer owners have bought a second EarthRoamer, and two owners have bought their THIRD EarthRoamer. We must be doing something right.
Bill Swails
President and CEO
EarthRoamer
