Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I plan to build my TD for off-road camping. I want to build a 5x10 Comet. I will be pulling behind my Jeep Grand Cherokee which has a wheel track of about 4'-8" on center. Obvoiuysly a 5' wide tear would have over a foot more width between the wheels. This seems like it could be a problem for off road use, especially on rutted roads, and narrow roads. Ideally, the track would exactly match the Jeep, but I don't want a 4' TD.

Has anyone else (aside from the outback teadrop) run off road? How important was matching the wheel track to your tow vehicle? Any ideas on how to keep the wheel width to a minimum?

Thanks!!

My future tow vehicle, has two different width axles. The rear axle is wider than the front axle... '51 Willy's Jeep Pickup.
Since you're going off road and need the ground clearance, why not consider wheel wells?

Thanks, this is really helpful info.

I am considering wheel wells, but I haven't seen any plans or examples,... do you know of any? I am really hoping to be able to use a double bed inside, does anyone know that width?

Thanks again!

Past experience shows that the only time you will have trouble with the trailer being overwidth will be, as mentioned above, in snow, sand or bulldust(Aussie phenonomen). IMHO if the trailer is going to be put into these situations with the possibility of it getting stuck, the easy solution is don't take it there. I tend to have a good look before I drive in if the situation looks suspect. As they say in the 4WD fraternity if you can't get there by one route there is probably 10 alternatives you can try.

Just my 2 cents worth
Cheers
Paul

I agree with powderburn. I 4X4 alot. I don't have my teardrop built yet but my utility trailer now has a 5X8 bed. My Camping vehicle is a CJ-7 and I like to go to the beach, usually some pretty rough going. The wider trailer does pull alot better in the soft sand cause I'm not dragging it through the same ruts the Jeep creates. It also tracks well on the road. I'm building a 5x11 benroy.

Dean can show you how to build a bulletproof trailer.

All of my off road driving is in the mountains and through the woods, so soft sand usually won't be a problem. Rutted, narrow roads are more of an issue. Your feedback makes me feel better about building the 5x10 comet!

Any other thoughts, above and beyond the outback teardrop site, on design and build for heavy duty off-road use?

Thanks!

ErikU wrote:Any other thoughts, above and beyond the outback teardrop site, on design and build for heavy duty off-road use?

!

I'm pretty new at this myself and as you have been absorbing as much as I can. I am using a modified boat trailer. I thought I was going to use Flexride axles but since changed my mind. From what I've read I don't thnk they can take the abuse. So I'm going with a 3500 lb straight axle with shocks. I figure it'll be close to 1000 lbs when I'm done. I have a V8 in my jeep so I'm not worried about it being on the heavy side.
You can gain alot of information here. I know I have, and changed my plans alot since joining this site. look though other peoples albums and you will pick up alot. Just go to anybody that posts profile and you can see thier albums there.
Welcome aboard and as anybody here will tell you as madjack always says we love de pic's.

I might suggest that another consideration, maybe more than wheel width, is overhang off the back of the trailer. Nothing more disconcerting than 4 wheeling though a coulee and having the back end of your trailer dragging through the wash! If I were building a serious off road camper, a tall frame and axle placement towards the back would be my first considerations.

You know your terrain better than I but I would really look for getting the same width. My reasoning is you have a particular line you take the truck through with small boulders in a given place with relation to truck wheels. THat same line will place the trailer going over differnt rocks and roots and Murphy will guarantee the trailer needs to climb one of them just as the truck has to climb another set.

As mentioned above, I think you're going to want height so you can clear the same things the truck does. That "bang" on the truck's skidplates alert you to one set of issues. Will the trailer be providiing you the same feedback in time to do any good?

Erik, another thing to consider is the length of your drawbar/a-frame(you know, the thing on the front of the trailer that lets you connect to a vehicle). Make it too long and the trailer will tend to cut corners--not the required result in tight situations . Make it too short and trailer and vehicle a likely to argue with one another . Just something else to consider apart from height and wheel width. I've used a lot of Larry's design principles in setting my trailer up, as he seems to have done a lot of homework on offroading with a trailer.
Cheers
Paul

ErikU wrote:I plan to build my TD for off-road camping. I want to build a 5x10 Comet. I will be pulling behind my Jeep Grand Cherokee which has a wheel track of about 4'-8" on center. Obvoiuysly a 5' wide tear would have over a foot more width between the wheels. This seems like it could be a problem for off road use, especially on rutted roads, and narrow roads. Ideally, the track would exactly match the Jeep, but I don't want a 4' TD.

Has anyone else (aside from the outback teadrop) run off road? How important was matching the wheel track to your tow vehicle? Any ideas on how to keep the wheel width to a minimum?

Thanks!!

I tow mine with a 98 Wrangler. You need to remeasure your axle it should be the same as min (60" wheel to wheel). I use a 55" axle on my tear.
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/ ... 766&R=7766



Track is perfect. My trailer was definately designed to tow off road. My trailer frame is 57"x 102". It rides on 31" mud terrain tires.

Hi,
I'm an avid 4 wheeler, and I have a 5x9 TearDrop towed by a 98 Jeep Wrangler TJ. The width of the TD wheels is not exactly the same as the Jeep's axle, but it's close enough that it's just fine. The TD has 30"x 9.5" tires, and the Jeep 32"x10.5" BFG. I made the tongue just long enough so I can open the Jeep tailgate. That is a good size & works great. I have 4 wheeled this set up quite a bit, and in places most people wouldn't even take a truck, let alone a trailer of any kind. Most of my wheeling has been in the So Cal desert, but I've done some narrow forest ruts and Mexican outback rivers too. Plenty of rocks in all those places, and it's just not a problem. (unless you get too wild or forget you are towing a camping trailer!) However, having enough clearance to get over most of those rocks really helps! After the trailer was built, we went & added a shackle lift to it anyway, just to get a few inches more. Plus the way i see things, it ought to be able to drive over the same rocks that the Jeep can.

I would go with the 3500# axle is you can, I know that Larry Sorensen bent his 2000# axle bouncing along the washboard trails in Baja Mex. The 3500# axle is a lot stronger will stand up to that. My preference is for leaf springs, not torsion axles. While we're talking about it, I also highly recommend electric brakes for us offroaders. It really helps. You really don't want your trailer to push you at the wrong time, like when you're trying to do a tricky bit of downhill on a curve.

The TD just tracks along like it's supposed to, no problems.

I am planning to use a 3500lb axle. I also have alot of washboard to deal with, have you learned anything about designing the suspension for that? Are you using shocks?

I have thought about brakes a bit since I plan to go up into the mountains and have a steep 30-45 minute drive down. The Grand Cherokee doesn't have that great of brakes to begin with, and I use them as little as possible and use compression braking all of the way down. Electric brakes seem like such a hassle to install,... I'm not yet convined they are worth it... thoughts?

Thanks for all the good info, it makes me feel much better about building a 5x10 Comet for off-road use.

Erik...modern electric brake controllers are a snap to install...they use an accelerometer so you do not tap into the vehicles hydraulic brake lines...just run a power line to the controller and a wire from there to the trailer...that's it...that steep grade would result in compression braking and a little (judicial)manual application of the trailer brakes for a safe descent
madjack

Hi, MadJack is right, the brake controller is an easy install. The only hard part is getting yourself under the brake pedal to tap into the red wire at the brake pedal switch. oof! The brake controller I use is the Tekonsha Voyager. I think is was about $75. Buying the axle with electric brakes was only a tiny bit more, like $20 or something. Money very well spent. BTW, Tekonsha totally stands behind their product. If you ever have a problem just call them & they will fix it up asap. I have high praise for them because of that. Long warranty too.

Having a braked trailer is more than just slowing down quickly enough. It's also about angles, and what happens when you stomp on the brake pedal. If your Jeep & trailer are not 100% in a straight line to each other, an unbraked trailer may push your vehicle at an angle- even jackknife you both. This is undesirable, and in some cases "very bad".

If you have trailer brakes, thats not a problem. I've found that having trailer brakes is nice, even just putting around town. It feels a lot better, and I'm not wearing out my Jeep brakes so fast.

I do for sure have shocks under my trailer. Even with shocks, I have to be careful to keep the trailer on the ground when we are bouncing over washboard. I don't know if it would even be possible w/o shocks. Shocks = good.