What is the longest reasonable length for an off road trailer?

[LanM]

Hi fellas, I think this may be a good question to start out with instead of blindly picking a desired length and building it with no idea of its actual performance off road.

I'm looking to find out what the longest reasonable length that an off road trailer can be and not be a severe detriment to mobility.

My personal desire is to have a setup similar to the outback teardrop but a bit longer, with an additional 24 inches of frame that will be an enclosed gear box on the front (in addition to a tongue enclosure that would hold propane tanks). I understand departure angles and clearance would depend on a couple factors, but I'd like to have a general idea if what I want is possible or not.

An off road trailer on 33-35 inch tires that would ultimately be 13 feet long (8 foot of camper body , 2 foot of storage box, and a 36 inch tongue)---so that's 13 feet of baggage dragging out back. Is it possible to take something that big to places like the Rubicon or Moab or am I out of my mind? I'm guessing so many off road rigs are dragging small trailers with rtt's for a reason...

 

[Elysian Ranch]

I've been wondering about this exact same question and I don't know the answer. But, I've started to wonder if there is any correlation between the distance from the tow vehicle's front axle to it's back axle and the distance from the tow vehicle's back axle to the trailer's axle? Should a short wheelbase vehicle pull a shorter coupled trailer and then could a longer wheelbase vehicle be better able to pull a longer trailer? I have no idea if there is any rationale to my thought or not.

 

[Mr. Leary]

If you can manage it, build the trailer so that the length from the wheels to the tongue is the same as the wheelbase, and it will articulate very similarly to the truck, taking some of the guesswork out of it. I have pulled both short and long trailers off road, and both have their drawbacks.

Short trailers are easy to maneuver on tight trails, and have less rock smacking issues. Drawbacks include: PITA to back up, as they are very touchy; tend to "walk" more on dirt roads; they also tend to ********** rocks on the tops of steep hills, and can even get you stuck (ie high center just behind the tongue). Long trailers feel more stable back there, especially on washboard roads; They are much easier to back up; Seem easier to pull on trails as long as there are no sharp turns.

To answer your question... longest reasonable length depends on the vehicle and the terrain normally traversed. I would not want to pull a very short trailer with a long wheelbase vehicle, . I would also not want to pull a long trailer down a trail where you may have to turn around or make lots of tight maneuvers. I would not want to pull a short trailer for a trip mostly comprised of washboard dirt tracks.

 

[Martyn]

An off road trailer on 33-35 inch tires that would ultimately be 13 feet long (8 foot of trailer, 2 foot of storage box, and a 36 inch tongue)---so that's 13 feet of baggage dragging out back. Is it possible to take something that big to places like the Rubicon or Moab or am I out of my mind? I'm guessing so many off road rigs are dragging small trailers with rtt's for a reason...

There are places on the Rubicon and at Moab that a trailer like this could go, but if you mention these two areas to give an idea of the difficulty of trails you want to take this trailer on, then the answer would be it would be difficult to impossible.

If I reading this correctly the trailer body would be 8ft in length and the tongue area ahead of it 5ft. On Teardrops the wheel is placed behind the door so your axle placement would be around 5ft from the front of the trailer body. That would give you 10 ft from the axle to the tongue, plus 1 ft for the coupler, so 11 ft total.

This set up will produce the following.
Extreme tongue weight
The trailer tracking inside the tow vehicle on turns
Wide turn radius
Augering of the tongue in gullies and crests

I'd think it would be a great design for unimproved roads and easy trails.

 

[haven]

The Kimberley Kampers trailer and similar Australian designs are very long, and seem to go just about anywhere. http://www.kimberleykampers.com/index.php?item=New2010Model

I suppose that if you're seeking out challenges that involve crawling over rocks the size of a refrigerator, then a smaller trailer would be better, and no trailer at all would be best.

 

[Martyn]

The Kimberley Kampers trailer and similar Australian designs are very long, and seem to go just about anywhere. http://www.kimberleykampers.com/index.php?item=New2010Model

I suppose that if you're seeking out challenges that involve crawling over rocks the size of a refrigerator, then a smaller trailer would be better, and no trailer at all would be best.

I think you have to remember that Australian and South African trailers are built for more wide open spaces where twisty trails and obstructions in the trails are less common.

Don't get me wrong the KK is a great trailer, but the full size models would have a hard time in Moab or on the Rubicon. The first 10 KK's imported into the USA were stored by us in California so we got to see all their positive and negative aspects.

We also imported South African trailers for a few years. We took them over the Rubicon and they came back heavily damaged. It's all a learning process and US conditions are typically different from those encountered elsewhere.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I'd like to add, I don't think the overhang of the back of the trailer should be much longer than the overhang on the back of the tow vehicle, if you're interested in extreme manoeverability. A long overhang on the back of the trailer will result in it swinging out on turns and tagging obstacles with the outside rear corner.

I've got one of the larger trailers on the board I think, similar in size to what you're suggesting. I wouldn't dream of taking it on the Rubicon. It's just too much.

Actually, you should check out my trailer in the trailer section, as it's not far off the dimensions you're stating. Mine is actually kinda simliar to what you want. I've basically got a 24" storage box in front of a teardrop. Only, my teardrop is turned sideways and is only kid-sized. So I've got 24" of storage, about 5" of sleeping space behind that. The tongue is about 5 feet long.

The tongue weight won't necessarily be extreme. It just depends on where you place the axle. Mine is fairly well centered such that the tongue weight is almost zero when the trailer is empty, and it relies on the cargo in the front to weight the tongue in-use.

 

[LanM]

If I reading this correctly the trailer body would be 8ft in length and the tongue area ahead of it 5ft. On Teardrops the wheel is placed behind the door so your axle placement would be around 5ft from the front of the trailer body. That would give you 10 ft from the axle to the tongue, plus 1 ft for the coupler, so 11 ft total.

This set up will produce the following.
Extreme tongue weight
The trailer tracking inside the tow vehicle on turns
Wide turn radius
Augering of the tongue in gullies and crests

I'd think it would be a great design for unimproved roads and easy trails.

Thanks for the input so far guys.
Martyn, I didn't quite word the description of what I wanted properly, so here's what I really meant:

Goal: Extremely capable off road camper to use as an extended base camp for summer adventures/travel work.

I want it capable enough to take places like Moab where you can pull it down trails and remotely setup, and not have to park it at a campground.

Desired dimensions: It will be a modified grasshopper design, on 33-35 tires.
The frame itself will 5x10, of which 8 feet will be devoted to the camper body, and the last 24x60 inches will be a dedicated battery, equipment, and gear box (mounted on the lid may be a solar panel), and a small tongue box for propane

MY local trailer builder suggested 36 inches for the tongue, but I'm open to suggestions. He also said for a 5x10 he mounts the axles 6 feet back.

with a 36 inch tongue that would make the trailer 13 feet overall length-a lot to be pulled into the unknown by a TJ on 35's.

 

[Martyn]

The axle placement on a Teardrop is slightly out of the norm because of the design and the door placement. So while Rob and your trailer builder suggest something that is "usual" the trailer body may dictate otherwise.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Hmmm... looking at the pics of your teardrop, and not knowing more about the design, what is preventing the axle from moving forward? I see it would compromise a few things, like the door placement and/or size. Anything else?

Lan, why not make your cargo box *under* the sleeping area? Solves the axle issue, and shortens it up. The whole thing will be taller, but being towed by a tall SUV, shouldn't matter much.

 

[ntsqd]

Curious that no one has yet suggested that the tongue be extendable. Was that ruled out early-on and I missed it?
I have two trailers with socket receivers on their tongues. One is extendable, the other is merely for theft deterrence. I've never heard either making noise.

 

[LanM]

Thanks for the input so far. I'm going to put together some conclusive ideas and put em' up here for review.

 

[dzzz]

Interesting thread. What is the military approach?

I wonder if, at a point, good off road performance and safe high speed performance are contradictory.

 

[sapper]

Interesting thread. What is the military approach?

I wonder if, at a point, good off road performance and safe high speed performance are contradictory.

A tandem walking beam suspension would be amazing offroad but illegal in most places on road. I wish I could build a walking beam that was street legal here as I would make an amazing offroad trailer.

 

[jesusgatos]

What is the military approach?

Well a deuce and a half is about 26ft long, the M105-sized trailers that they usually tow behind those are 9-10ft long, with 4ft tongues. I lengthened the first trailer that I built and put a 12ft uhaul bo on top of it, and now I think it's too big. Just picked up another trailer, and I'm going to keep it at 10ft. And just for reference, it's 96" wide, the deck is 3ft off the ground, and it's rolling on 43" tall tires. That probably sounds huge to most of you guys, but it's proportional to the truck that's towing it.