How wide can you go?

[Capo]

Making the Dirt Bike Trailer Double as a Camper

The latest idea of mine is to move the roof tent and awning from the retired roof rack over to the roof of the dirt bike trailer. Since the G will go light weight I'll move over my home made cooker table, propane can and cutlery/utensil/plate set as well. This will provide a little more luxury when away dirt bike riding or on a motorcycle meet. The trailer is not made for serious off-roading. It has a body lift of 80mm but it doesn't have off-road wheels and it's heavy since it's made to support six persons on the roof for when watching MX racing, let alone it carries a few heavy bikes, fuel and tools. Nevertheless it will do light off-roading and it will be a good base camp from where to go either dirt bike riding or off-roading with the G.

i just need to be able to homologate it in CH since it is on Spanish plates. I'll post some pictures when it starts happening.

Here it is:

 

[Capo]

The dirt bike trailer has a fixed ladder and on the roof there are fixed mounting bases for the railing posts which are stowed inside. I don't know why it didn't occur to me turning it into a camper/dirt bike trailer before. Now it makes sense since I have the awning and some camping gear left over from the G.

 

[mk216v]

A bit OT I guess. It was a stock 14" VW alloy with a 27" General Grabber AT2 tire at about 20psi. Drive train was in 4wd.

Here is a picture of a 16" alloy with the min clearance lower ball joint bot circled. This is what tore the rim open as the drivetrain torque surged dramatically.

I think the Hutchinson G-class rim is undoubtably much stronger and this sort of damage would be much less likely. However, I have also bent a steel rim with a similar strike in the past, so inside wheel clearance off road deserves some consideration if you ask me.

Having a dramatic reverse offset has it's own set of issues that I have practically no experience with. So I would recommend thoroughly researching this issue before embarking on that; keeping in mind what your intent and use of the vehicle will be.

Another pic showing the stock wheel and the van in sand on the same trip but before the wheel damage.

You know if you would have taken your G you wouldn't have gotten stuck.

 

[mk216v]

I guess clearance is not to be taken lightly. Perhaps a 17" Hutchinson with a 35" tyre is a good solution for me. It's a strong wheel, practical with its obvious advantages and an additional inch in wheel diameter provides better clearance than 16". Or run my stock 16" or 18" and just be careful when driving with low pressure in sand and snow.

I wrote the Icelanders kindly asking for their opinion. I'll post information if they oblige with a reply.

Only issue is that you're not going to easily find a 17" Hutchinson for sale for a G--would have to be special order/military forged wheel for someone like Arctic Trucks. Check out the tan G on their site with a tan 5spoke--17" military.

 

[Capo]

Only issue is that you're not going to easily find a 17" Hutchinson for sale for a G--would have to be special order/military forged wheel for someone like Arctic Trucks. Check out the tan G on their site with a tan 5spoke--17" military.

I'll likely end up listening to what my mechanic says: 18" MB stock rims (which I already own) with 35" tyres, a 40mm body lift and progressive extra long, heavy duty army springs. It will look deceivingly stock to avoid fines by Swiss Police and it will handle off-road well.

I see if I can fit my 16" stock MB rims/265AT on the dirt bike trailer to make it perform better off-road.

 

[Capo]

Only issue is that you're not going to easily find a 17" Hutchinson for sale for a G--would have to be special order/military forged wheel for someone like Arctic Trucks. Check out the tan G on their site with a tan 5spoke--17" military.

That G is for sale. It looks very nice! As I'm not selling any of my Gs I didn't ask for the price. Also, I prefer Gs with more power.

 

[Capo]

Arctic Trucks

I got a very informative and knowledgeable reply from Arctic Trucks at very short notice, highly appreciated! Here is a summary of some of the conversation.

Had it not been for Swiss traffic law, I would have opted for 38" on the G400 and 35" on the G55K. I am concluding towards 35" on both with a slight suspension lift (from stock suspension height) on the G400. Right now the G400 is a little bit too high.

My earlier assumption that AT use a wheel offset leaving the brake out of the wheel bell was wrong. The offset is considerable but the brake is within the 15" wheel bell and actually small enough to fit. So 16" would be minimum for the G400 for the sake of brake clearance. AT recommended 38"x14,5" tyres on 17" Hutchinson bead lock rims in case I'd opt for 38". 17" bead locks are in tune with the inputs I've received here at this forum with regards to enough side wall and a safe brake clearance. Due to Swiss law it will be 18" stock MB rims with 35".

On the AT 35 and AT 44 they don't use bead locks on 15" rims as it is not deemed necessary. The rims are made to AT's specifications. AT prefer not to use spacers.

Right now I have too many vehicles but I'm working on reducing the fleet. When that's done and when the world economy is bit cheerier I would like to buy an AT 38 or 44. I couldn't have it on Swiss plates so it would most likely be on Swedish plates where modification rules are much more permissive. Sweden is a nice base for Arctic driving and I have place for a vehicle in Sweden. I do a lot of snowmobiling in Sweden and an extreme AT could be a great alternative. I could stay out in the wilderness for a longer time with an AT because of the greater cargo capacity. I could even carry a snowmobile out and set up camp for some inspired driving, burning all the petrol out at the fun riding areas instead of as usual: burning half of the petrol and time on the commute.

What I particularly like about the AT vehicles is that they have been put through the test in extreme environment time and again over a long period, evolving into a refined efficient and reliable product for its purpose. The weight of their vehicles is rather low yet they are evidently sturdy enough. I thought you could only go off the trails in snow with a Hägglund but I was wrong. The ATs do it on wheels!

 

[Capo]

Tracks on a 4x4

Yet another exciting use of a 4x4 in the snow is putting tracks on it. I've seen Hummers on tracks in deep snow just floating along. Imagine putting tracks on your G and head out on the tundra!

I am assuming that the reason why Arctic Trucks are not using tracks is because the immense wheels in deflated mode give almost the same footprint as tracks. As you cross sections of harder snow you can inflate the wheels again and hence improve the crucial fuel autonomy compared to tracks. Again, I'm assuming this is the situation.

 

[mk216v]

I got a very informative and knowledgeable reply from Arctic Trucks at very short notice, highly appreciated! Here is a summary of some of the conversation.

Had it not been for Swiss traffic law, I would have opted for 38" on the G400 and 35" on the G55K. I am concluding towards 35" on both with a slight suspension lift (from stock suspension height) on the G400. Right now the G400 is a little bit too high.

My earlier assumption that AT use a wheel offset leaving the brake out of the wheel bell was wrong. The offset is considerable but the brake is within the 15" wheel bell and actually small enough to fit. So 16" would be minimum for the G400 for the sake of brake clearance. AT recommended 17"x14,5" Hutchinson bead lock rims in case I'd go for 38". 17" bead locks are in tune with the inputs I've received here at this forum with regards to enough side wall and a safe brake clearance. Due to Swiss law it will be 18" stock MB rims with 35".

On the AT 35 and AT 44 they don't use bead locks on 15" rims as it is not deemed necessary. The rims are made to AT's specifications. AT prefer not to use spacers.

Right now I have too many vehicles but I'm working on reducing the fleet. When that's done and when the world economy is bit cheerier I would like to buy an AT 38 or 44. I couldn't have it on Swiss plates so it would most likely be on Swedish plates where modification rules are much more permissive. Sweden is a nice base for Arctic driving and I have place for a vehicle in Sweden. I do a lot of snowmobiling in Sweden and an extreme AT could be a great alternative. I could stay out in the wilderness for a longer time with an AT because of the greater cargo capacity. I could even carry a snowmobile out and set up camp for some inspired driving, burning all the petrol out at the fun riding areas instead of as usual: burning half of the petrol and time on the commute.

What I particularly like about the AT vehicles is that they have been put through the test in extreme environment time and again over a long period, evolving into a refined efficient and reliable product for its purpose. The weight of their vehicles is rather low yet they are evidently sturdy enough. I thought you could only go off the trails in snow with a Hägglund but I was wrong. The ATs do it on wheels!

Does AT sell the 17" Hutchinson's then? 14.5"w is crazy--is there a picture of these? It can't be the tan G I saw--wheels only looked maybe 8.5"w on it.

 

[Capo]

Does AT sell the 17" Hutchinson's then? 14.5"w is crazy--is there a picture of these? It can't be the tan G I saw--wheels only looked maybe 8.5"w on it.

The tan G for sale sports 37"

 

[mk216v]

The tan G for sale sports 37"

Yes, 37" but wheels are custom forged Hutchinson's in 17x8.5";

http://www.defence-arctictrucks.com/Defence-Arctic-Trucks---Frontpag/Products/High-Mobility-G270-

Did you mistype above about AT's recommendation about 17x14.5" beadlocks with your 38" tires?

 

[Capo]

Yes, 37" but wheels are custom forged Hutchinson's in 17x8.5";

http://www.defence-arctictrucks.com/Defence-Arctic-Trucks---Frontpag/Products/High-Mobility-G270-

Did you mistype above about AT's recommendation about 17x14.5" beadlocks with your 38" tires?

Sorry, not wheels but TYRES, my bad:

Checked again and their recommendation OF TYRE for 17" Hutchinson wheels is 38"x14,5" and 37x12,5". I don't know the width of the Hutchinsons in the picture but they look like 8" to 9", like you suggest.

 

[Capo]

Sorry, not wheels but TYRES, my bad:

Checked again and their recommendation OF TYRE for 17" Hutchinson wheels is 38"x14,5" and 37x12,5". I don't know the width of the Hutchinsons in the picture but they look like 8" to 9", like you suggest.

Out of curiosity I checked BF Goodridge's rim recommendations:

For tyre size 38"x14,5" the rim recommendation is 10" to 12" width on a 17" diameter rim.
For tyre size 37"x12,5" the rim recommendation is 8,5" to 11" width on a 17" diameter rim

The same rim width recommendations go for 18" diameter rims in the A/M tyre sizes.

 

[Capo]

G55 K "Arnold"

The G55 K in England with one of my vintage boats, you don't feel it's pulling the trailer. It's effortless with all that supercharged power.

 

[Capo]

Tyre Dimensions

For the time being I will use my existent AT 265/75 on my MB 16"x7,5" rims. I will put on stock progressive springs in stock lengths but in military heavy duty strength and with a 20mm suspension lift. That way I can make use of the city garages that have a max height of 205cm and still have a very capable off-road vehicle. Before, parking in public garage buildings was out of the question. Now that the roof rack comes off, it's all of a sudden doable so it would be a shame to overshoot 205cm by just a few cm.

When the tyres are worn out I have the option of changing to 285/75x16 and still staying below 205cm. I just need to find a way to improve those brakes without changing to larger discs.

My dream of big tyres will come true at some point but it will be another vehicle and on Swedish plates where monster tyres are legal.