The Reality of Handling Trailers in the Back Woods

[Lucky j]

Suggestion That were mentionned here that I totaly agree with.

-if you are not sure, scout the trail. By feet, by bike (motor of pedal) if it is in your trailer, by car/truck leaving your trailer behind, a body and cb and a drone (l'm begining doing that lately).

-A short tongue is great for tight manovering, but a pain in backing up long staight line, a long tongue is nice in backing up, but can make foward turning a pain in tight turns, but adjustable tongue is a goog idea, I have one, multiple use, including with I cary my sea kayak. ( someone mentioned about installling a short tongue in a back hitch and pull other direction. If you have an extendable tongue, remove, place in the back and go the other way for a while).
-if you have power in the trailer, a small home made electric dolly from the trailer power. ( hey,just a tought)
-front hitch work really really well, installed one on my old YJ, we wanted to move a small barn and I wanted to have a better contol on my direction and better view at my spotter.
-reinforce and protect the rear corner of you trailer with metal (tube, angle iron, plate) so you can push a little more in the brush while backing out.

-what else....??

 

[billum v2.0]

I've been dragging my homebuilt trailer behind my rig for years. At times I'm glad I have it and other times I'd like to push it off the side of a cliff! There have been times I've had to disconnect and spin it by hand. Problem here is both times I had my bike in the back and had to unload it prior to repositioning the trailer. You definetley want a wheel you can crank down in order to support the trailer. Once in Alaska, I got in a position where I couldn't disconnect and had to back it for almost a half a mile down a tight road. Always, get out and walk a road if it looks like it might close out to ensure there are spots to turn it around. Another thing I've done although haven't had the chance to use it, is mount a front receiver hitch on the front of the truck. Could save you a lot of aggravation in the right situation. Sound advice given by all previous posts. Love the quote earlier "hmmmmmm crossed my mind". I've uttered that phrase before and now get my lazy butt out of the truck when that thought enters my feeble mind.

Great photo and gives immediate perspective.

This was taken near the "hmmmm" moment.

Yeah, I know..............

 

[parkkitchings]

Here's another one for perspective. My friend, pictured here, and I crossed over from the Sea of Cortez side into Todos Santos this past winter down in Baja. Road basically turned into a quad track up top and the tires were overhanging in places. Trying to back up the steep grade with some of the switchbacks.....forget about it. Pucker factor at times. Luckily we got through but trying to get his rig spun around in here would have been next to impossible if the road had gotten any worse or there was a slide or something. Once committed.......you're in. Brings back memories as I was thinking......Holy S#%^ I hope this goes through!

 

[grogie]

^Park, I've enjoyed following along on our adventures. Thanks for sharing your advice.

 

[Neptunesrevenge]

I'm still in the planning stages of my trailer build but I've been thinking about putting electric brakes on it connected to two buttons. That way if I needed to backup on the trail I could use them like cutting brakes to make backing up easier.

Sent from my VS810PP using Tapatalk

 

[ex m38a1er]

I think that this would make things very complicated.
The right size of the trailer compared to the towing vehicle is the key.
Just my two cents

 

[Septu]

So I have been using my rooftop tent on a Subie for a couple years and I am considering a light offroad teardrop trailer (little guy rough rider). I generally restrict myself to rugged, remote fire roads that are, at most, severely rutted, yet often narrow.

Narrow is the operative word. Many of the people on this forum are overlanding in the desert southwest where things are frequently wider. (I know there are narrow trails in the west too.) What I want to know is how you have coped with a situation where you are pulling your trailer and you find yourself in a narrow spot and you need to turn around or back out. Every offroader (whether extreme or not) has done a 25-point turn in a narrow spot. With a trailer, I am afraid that is a near catastrophic situation.

Presuming you could get your tow vehicle around the trailer, can a light-weight trailer be disconnected, turned around by hand and reconnected? How much manhandling can you expect to do in that situation? Fear of getting boxed-in to a narrow trail would seem to be a substantial impediment to enjoying overlanding with a trailer.

Depends on the trailer. My m101 that weighs around 1300 lbs loaded can easily be turned around and moved out of the way to do what you described. But then it's superbly balanced.

This concern is one of the main reasons I ended up selling my Little Guy Rough Rider and sticking with my m101 and RTT. Loved the teardrop (especially for road trips), but ultimately found I didn't really need it, as I'd take the m101 every time I thought I would do a trail and the main reason was due to it's size and weight and my inability to easily move it if I was on a trail and needed to unhook.

 

[Septu]

3. Use your rig as much as possible. If you can get the trailer mostly jack-knifed you need only move it a few feet and re-hitch. Like others said if you got into the trail you can get out. You may have to back.

This is one statement I disagree with. While it's usually true, it doesn't apply 100% of the time. I've squeezed my jeep through some really tight places, where on the return trip (same trail), I couldn't get the angle right as much as I tried to get back between those same tree's. On the way in I didn't touch the trees. On the way out I was worried about how much damage I was doing to my jeep, just because due to other tree's/rocks I just couldn't get the same angle as I did on the way in. Dinged up the rock rails, mirrors, really scratched the **** out of the paint down the sides and was worried I was going to tear off my door handle. So while yes in theory this is true, it's not always the case.

I could also see a situation where one could be backing up and mess up (trailer starts to turn wrong way or something), and for whatever reason you can't go forward to straighten it out (hill/loose traction, obstacle, etc).

I'd be really hesitant about taking a trailer (even my little one) down a trail I did not know - especially if I was the only rig or by myself.

 

[calicamper]

I spent many yrs towing a very long tongue boat trailer easy to back because it hardly turned. Lol.

I have the little 12ft life time trailer now. It took some recalibration on my part to back it, but short tongues make for backing in tight spots far far far easier given the trailer will turn. With practice its really not an issue. I just backed my trailer up a steep curved walkway to deliver a heavy vending machine for our local pool club. No way I could have made it with my longer truck or longer tongued trailer.

My caution to you as a Subaru owner is your gearing in reverse and the lack of power to push a trailer up over ledges. I have yet to find the no go point but my recent steep backing up a foot path was clearly near the max ability of the Subaru in being able to push a trailer up the ramp. 890lb trailer + about 400lb vending machine on a smooth concrete path that was actually pretty steep. Add a ledge to pop over and it would have been a no go. The Subaru is good but its still just a car on stiltz. I love our Outback but it has its limits.

 

[calicamper]

I like having the trailer given we set up a base camp for a number of days. Then do day trips and return to camp and dont have any teardown or set up. For road trips where your not in any one spot more than one night the trailer starts to loose its appeal. I think ultimately my ideal set up will be a diesel midsized for the Subaru like range, and interior, paired with a flippac, and our trailer. That way I can do road trips via flippac. And base camp trips via trailer.

 

[Lucky j]

This isue could be happening w/o a trailer, like with low hanghing branch from a tree, a hoverhanghig rock along a rock wall and a rtt, wide fnder flare, unprotected rockers, a hard top window.

At some point, no mather what you drive, comes a time where going back can be harder then going in. So inmy book, not a real reason not to tame a trailer. You could even be stranded w/o a trailer and by your self in such a situation.

This is one statement I
with. While it's usually true, it doesn't apply 100% of the time. I've squeezed my jeep through some really tight places, where on the return trip (same trail), I couldn't get the angle right as much as I tried to get back between those same tree's. On the way in I didn't touch the trees. On the way out I was worried about how much damage I was doing to my jeep, just because due to other tree's/rocks I just couldn't get the same angle as I did on the way in. Dinged up the rock rails, mirrors, really scratched the **** out of the paint down the sides and was worried I was going to tear off my door handle. So while yes in theory this is true, it's not always the case.

I could also see a situation where one could be backing up and mess up (trailer starts to turn wrong way or something), and for whatever reason you can't go forward to straighten it out (hill/loose traction, obstacle, etc).

I'd be really hesitant about taking a trailer (even my little one) down a trail I did not know - especially if I was the only rig or by myself.

 

[Curtis in Texas]

I have always hated trying to maneuver around tight wooded trails while pulling a trailer. So my fertile mind came up with a solution to the issue.

I'm currently building a modified teardrop trailer you might be interested in. Here's a teaser!

The top flips open to provide a sleeping area under a roof mounted tent a lot like a roof top tent, but will have an interior that I can stand up in to get dressed inside. There will be a small bathroom with shower capabilities inside too.
The kitchen is under a hatch in the rear of the trailer like a traditional tear drop.

Although it won't be a real lightweight, I am going to have a few unique features that will make most backing issues a thing of the past. I will be able to maneuver around trees and rocks by following the same line my tow rig takes.

My build has independent suspension with wireless, remote control, electric drive steering. That's right! The trailer wheels are able to steer around obstacles on tight trails controlled by me or a spotter from inside or outside my 4 X 4 tow rig. ( that part is already built and working as designed. )

And should I need to back up in a tight spot, that task should be easier if I use a spotter that can walk behind the trailer. I'll just give my spotter the wireless steering control box and my GMRS radio. He can talk to me about how fast to back up while he steers the trailer around obstacles. But since my tow rig has 4 reverse gears, that shouldn't be that big a deal.

Traditionally, I have a winch up front of my tow rigs front bumper, but also carry a receiver hitch winch that I can put in the rear of the trailer should I really get in a tight spot. The trailer has a winch power lead in the rear bumper and battery in the trailer that not only can operate the winch, but it will be tied in conjunction with the tow rigs battery charging system and keep charged with a battery isolator.

The parking brake will be cable operated disc while the main brakes are electric drums. Isuzu Rodeos have both drum and disk brake rotors on their rear axles that I am adapting to my trailer.

Once I get the box framed out I will post the build here on Expo.

I'm slow, so rather than make you folks wait 2 + years for me to complete the build, I'll start the build thread just about the time I wrap it up. And yes I have already written up the build , with pictures, up to where I am now.

I think you'll be impressed.
The floor is framed and the walls are almost ready to attach.
That's a lot of typing to explain it, but I hope it enough to help you see what's going into this camper.

More than one way to solve an issue.
Yea, I live outside the box.

 

[Lucky j]

Of course we are interested.

 

[tlrols]

A trailer with electric drive would rock. The motors really wouldn't need to be large at all...just enough to slowly pivot the trailer around its own center. The trailer battery could easily drive these motors. The hard part is trying to put this together. You need some way to decouple the motors when you are towing I would think. Land Rover experimented with a PTO driven trailer many years ago, that might be a place to look to get some ideas.

I just got some more scratches on my trailer dragging into some tight spots. So far I have been able to always unhitch and turn it around but I do agree that you might find a spot that is exhausting if not impossible to reverse the trailer.

The more I think about it the more I may put a hitch on the back end. Sort of a "bail" hitch. Presumably you unhitch and get around the trailer and merely move it slowly using the rear bumper hitch to a place you can turn it around. There would be no long A-frame or tongue...just a receiver that one could attach to and very slowly pull the trailer backwards. I think you would need to balance the trailer rather carefully but I don't see why this isn't a safe option. Slow speed, hitched to the rig...doable I think.

Any one else have an opinion? Sadly I do find myself having to unhitch at least two or three times a year. Mostly due to fallen trees and me needing to get a tow strap on the trees to clear a path.

 

[OCD Overland]

There are solutions out there already, mainly in the EU market and designed to aid parking. Expensive, heavy and probably iffy for even rough pavement. The Truma kit is probably the most applicable, but also probably the priciest and I don't know how well it would work on muddy tires. Anyway, would be nice to see some other solutions.

Eventually, we're going to see trailers with driven wheels - its only a matter of time. But you'll see it in travel trailers first, probably with anti sway tech built in. How long off, who knows, but it will be cool when available.