New Adventure Trailer + Story Pt 2 of 3

[TheMike]

Hey Michael. I saw what you are building and wow. I wish I had your tallent and time.

As far as the trailer flipping, completely my fault. You should always load the heaviest things on the bottom and a 60/40 split forward/rear. Unfortunately, between the rock strategically placed, and me not loading it very well, all the correct elements were in place for it to flip over. It literally bounced over itself when it hit that rock on that angle. I had storage containers covering the entire bottom of the trailer and therefore had to put some heavy thing on top of them. Up until I flipped it I was more concerned about things shifting and chaffing while on hundreds of miles of offroad trails we were doing. Things were snug and didn’t move, even when flipped. Oh yea, I was aired down to 15psi too.

So with that being said, to answer your question, sort of, it depends. The trailer stands about the same width as my 06 Rubi (about 60" center of tire to center of tire - rough and quick measurment). I am running 35's all around. The loaner was running 33's. I am also running the RELA 5.5 so the bottom of my rear receiver in the bumper (w/no body lift) is 27". The trailer is about 26 when the airbags are properly inflated. With the coupler installed everything is perfectly level with one another.

The trailer is high with my setup. Even more important then is to load it properly. Unloaded I have no idea how far it would go before flopping. the tent on the roof weighs 145lbs complete. Add the roof rack/bars and now maybe 160lbs. I mentioned somewhere that I believe my trailer empty is about 1200lbs. I will find out soon enough as there is a scale close by.

The new trailers are coming with Rancho RS9000 shocks so dial in your preferences for road/loads. Completely up to you. That might or might not help.

 

[MichaelW]

Ok, that makes more sense now that you explained it more. So this was a loading and bouncing more than just a leaning. Thanks!

I will admit that the trailer seemed to survive pretty much unscathed. I do like the AT amenities.

I have a friend that recently did somewhat the same thing on the Rubicon with his custom built trailer. The trail was pretty much flat where he flipped his. It was just all the laws of physics and a little bit of Murphy that came into to play and next thing you know it's trailer recovery time.

Good stories!

Oh, and I too wish I had the time to build my own trailer. But alas like most of us I conceded that surely someone else has a little more skill and a lot more time. Although I am working on my welding skills and would love to have built my own this time I'll just stick to the idea and concept parts. LOL.

I hope that one day we can share a campfire together and admire each others equipment and swap some funny stories. :camping:

 

[Martyn]

Although I agree with the whole stay on the trail concept and how people that are not doing so are giving ammo to those that want to close our trails, especially in Moab..... And that this was a good point to bring up.....

However....

I have another question as it pertains to this.

I too am having a trailer built and I really, really thought long and hard and gave serious consideration to Adventure Trailers but I have to ask. What is the side hill angle that an unladen AT trailer will flip? I say unladen as obviously someone loading cotton on the bottom and lead bricks on top will really mess with this equation. But it seems to me and I don't know how deep the hole was but this wasn't that much of an angle and certainly not one I'd expect to flip a trailer.

And yes I know that any trailer can flip and I'm just asking a question. Is it the narrow track width or ??? I realize that this is a drawback to any off road trailer as we are using a design to get as much ground clearance as possible and sacrificing some stability in doing so.

I know when I get my trailer I will use a fork lift to find at what angle it wants to flip over as many of the trails I run have some pretty good side hills and it would be good to know in advance when to expect to be putting the trailer back on its wheels.

A Difficult question to answer because there are so many variables. As mentioned there is the Center of Mass which is dependant on how the trailer is loaded, air bag inflation, tire inflation, speed, momentum, tire size, driving and towing style.

A useful article on the subject is in our resource library http://www.atreport.com/towingguide.html it was written by Doug Williams. Doug is an extremely competent driver and what I think separates him from the pack is the smoothness with which he drives.

 

[MichaelW]

Thanks Martyn! That was a good write up and the videos were nice too! It was good to see Chris Velasco from the former Nth's face.

I have a question that maybe you can help with. I am going to be using your same 3 point hitch and it seems as though there was a lot of spotter line action. I am curious if something like a limited slip styled clutch pack be used in the roll axis of your hitch would help reduce some of the need for as much spotter line yet still maintain the level and degree of roll angle?

Also another thought I had after seeing the videos, I think I will be wanting to mount my Hi-Lift, horizontally and on top of the trailer tub. That way you could use it without the need to remove it to flip you back over after a roll. And the same jack could be used to pull you over using a snatch block coming from jack extended to compressed.

And of course the other thought being, why not just include as an option a small ATV winch, fed out the bottom of the tongue area via a roller fairlead and operate off of the reserve deep cycle batteries that most of us with trailers will already have?

Here is an example of my style of driving and other than the last drop, I would thing that any trailer should be able to go with me. So hopefully I won't have to learn too much as I'm old and you know what they say about old dogs.

 

[Martyn]

Michael

A few thoughts. Rolling a trailer is an uncommon event, when you consider all the miles of off road terrain that the owners cover. I know people will tell me otherwise, but when one does roll everyone remembers it and retells the tail around the campfire :REOutCampFire03:

So an isolated incidence becomes a legend. Stories are not told about the uneventful hours on the trail when all you did was breath dirt!!

People won't like me for saying this, so apologies up front my friends , but roll overs are primarily caused by driver error. And to add insult to injury they usually occur in easy terrain or flat terrain, at about the time everyone has just realized, let their guard down, increased the speed, and dare I say it "forgot" they were towing a trailer. The mantra is "You now have 3 axles!".

The rotational coupler should allow the trailer to roll when and if it needs to roll. I know of a few cases where if the trailer hadn't rolled it would have taken the vehicle with it.

 

[TheMike]

but roll overs are primarily caused by driver error. And to add insult to injury they usually occur in easy terrain or flat terrain, at about the time everyone has just realized, let their guard down, increased the speed, and dare I say it "forgot" they were towing a trailer. The mantra is "You now have 3 axles!".

HEY!! I resemble that remark :jumping:

 

[ntsqd]

snip......

I have a question that maybe you can help with. I am going to be using your same 3 point hitch and it seems as though there was a lot of spotter line action. I am curious if something like a limited slip styled clutch pack be used in the roll axis of your hitch would help reduce some of the need for as much spotter line yet still maintain the level and degree of roll angle?

When I first laid out my coupler (SW pics posted around here somewhere) prior to hearing that the L-n-R coupler was available & had a patent I included a shear pin. The idea was to limit the ability of the trailer to roll unless it had enough inertia to also roll the tow rig. At that point the pin would shear & allow the trailer to roll.

I've since concluded that is a great, one time use idea. For multiple uses I intend to use friction IF I ever build my design for me. At the moment I have little need since the TrailBlazer is base camp and not taken on the trail.

 

[Willman]

We have since changed all of our hubs and spindles to US made Dexter components as all steel is not made equal.

Martyn.......

What company did you change from???

 

[elcoyote]

Martyn.......

What company did you change from???

Hayes

 

[spressomon]

HEY!! I resemble that remark :jumping:



X2!

 

[bc_fjc]

Michael

A few thoughts. Rolling a trailer is an uncommon event, when you consider all the miles of off road terrain that the owners cover. I know people will tell me otherwise, but when one does roll everyone remembers it and retells the tail around the campfire :REOutCampFire03:

So an isolated incidence becomes a legend. Stories are not told about the uneventful hours on the trail when all you did was breath dirt!!

People won't like me for saying this, so apologies up front my friends , but roll overs are primarily caused by driver error. And to add insult to injury they usually occur in easy terrain or flat terrain, at about the time everyone has just realized, let their guard down, increased the speed, and dare I say it "forgot" they were towing a trailer. The mantra is "You now have 3 axles!".

The rotational coupler should allow the trailer to roll when and if it needs to roll. I know of a few cases where if the trailer hadn't rolled it would have taken the vehicle with it.

I know when I flipped mine I was just thinking of getting the truck up the ledge and before I had a chance to think about the trailer it was already over. Day 3 of ownership....

It is really easy to forget about the trailer once you have been throw some difficult spots without incident and you get over confident. The other big factor is learning how to setup the trailer, how much air to have in the airbags, what tire presser should you be running for the terrain you are on, how is the weight in the trailer displaced.

I know since then I have been doing a lot of things differently to minimize the risk of rolling it again. But in the end there are times you have to drive for the truck not the trailer and if it rolls its nice knowing that the trailer will hold up.

Thanks AT

 

[Willman]

^Not good.......At least it give you the chance to make sure everything under the trailer is ok....J/K

sorry to hear about your roll-over.......

Love the blue.......

 

[TheMike]

..... Day 3 of ownership....

Wow, do I feel for you. Your emotional state at the time is quite obvious in the picture. Sorry to see it.

What got damaged? Did the tent come out ok?

 

[bc_fjc]

Wow, do I feel for you. Your emotional state at the time is quite obvious in the picture. Sorry to see it.

What got damaged? Did the tent come out ok?

It's not me in the photo... I think everyone else was more upset about it then I was. Apparently the frame hit the ledge and it bounced straight up in the air and then landed on the tent without touching the sides. The tent cover and the supports for the roof rack took almost all of the damage. The one fender got tweaked when we rolled it back over and the hinges on the tent got bent but we were able to bend them back. The only other thing that got damaged later on that day was the trailer wire harness; it got cut by the tong of the trailer going down another ledge. Now I keep it bungeed up to the back of the truck when I’m on the trail.
Like I said earlier there is a bit of a learning curve involved.:arabia:

 

[CodyLX450]

(note to self: Good idea on the 2" spacers at each wheel...also good idea on the insanely heavy tires)