Backcountry Trailer

Cascadia

Undecided
Location
Orem, Utah
I'm thinking of building a 4'x5' trailer for backcountry stuff and for hauling small things around. For those who have done it or read up a lot on it what type of axle is best to run? What springs should be run? Something from Henderson trailer supply or springs from a 4x4? I plan on running about 33's so I would need clearance for those. Is it best to run spring over? What type of hitch is best?

Sorry for so many questions. Just starting the thought process and researching.
 

lowe1974

mbryson's butcher
Location
SLC, Utah
Ok my advice for a set up would be not to use "tailer" springs as they are too stiff for off-road use. Do not use torsion axles because they will not hold up to the abuse and the shifting weight load to each axle can cause failure. Trick ideas are airbag and coils with track bars. In my option just more to brake. A 2" wide jeep or Toyota leaf spring would make for a better ride and better flex off-road. The longer the spring length the smoother the suspension. The hitch question, a two inch receiver would be fine for almost 80% of what you would be towing. A pintle hitch is nice off-road for being able to articulate but are very noisy and vibrate a lot on road unless you have really heavy tongue weight and trailer. Some trick hitches have come out like a Maxcoupler that or nice and pricey. You could make you own similar concept. And last Spring under or over not much difference I would set up as spring under then if you want more height with the leafs you are using make it a spring over.
 

STAG

Well-Known Member
A couple of our smaller trailers at work have torsion axles and they work well. We ran one of our trailers with torsion axles with skidsteers and asphalt rollers on it for a long time before we had any issues with our torsion axle. I'd run one on mine. Bookoo clearance.
 

Brian P

Misanthropic Fuel
Location
Taylorsville
Trailer springs have worked out great for my trailer, I use tire pressure to smooth things out, I'm running 33" tires so there is some room to play with.
Mine also runs SOA, figuring that if the vehicle can clear an object so will the trailer as it has more ground clearance than the tow vehicle.
I've put nearly 6000 miles on my trailer since I built it and have had zero issues, my only complaint is that I should have added more tongue weight to it, But as long as I keep fuel and water up front it tows like a dream!.
Best of luck!

Mine! :)
 

lowe1974

mbryson's butcher
Location
SLC, Utah
So you're saying stay away from normal trailer axles and trailer springs. And you're also saying stay away from torsion axles.
I know this is a torsion axle but seems like they've been used a lot. when i do have the trailer on i wont be doing any hard core wheeling in it. http://www.tentrax.com/options/prodpages/axle_1400_page.html

Any opinions?

Trailer axles are fine. Trailer springs are short and stiff. Think why are truck leaf springs long, eye to eye. Trailer leaf springs are short. The longer the spring the smoother the flex. But if you are not doing hard off-road then those would work. You'll need a good drop to clear 33" tires.
 

Brian P

Misanthropic Fuel
Location
Taylorsville
How much on road travel do you think you might be doing? Soft springs would obviously be great for off road, but could cause some sway at higher speeds, finding the happy medium would obviously be best, But that is where you need to decide how you are going to use it.
Again with mine it was built to be a utility trailer as well, So I could make trips to the. Dump or what not.
Best of luck!
 

Cascadia

Undecided
Location
Orem, Utah
I imagine mine will be used 50/50. I have an enclosed trailer to haul big loads but I would like this for smaller jobs and backcountry. It could also be used to haul dirt bikes and gear which is appealing.
 

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
Use Jeep CJ front springs. They are some of the shorter length springs available, but much longer than trailer springs. Designed for holding up a 258 six, they should do well for your trailer.
 

Cascadia

Undecided
Location
Orem, Utah
Ill be using my tundra if it doesn't sell or my old Tacoma if my tundra does sell. If I had all terrains on my wife's touareg we would also use that. But most likely my tundra.
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
So what 'backcountry' trailer need do you have? I.e. give us an example of a trip you did in which your experience would have been better had you had a trailer? Or an example of a trip you would have done if you had a trailer?

I'm a fan of off-road trailers in the right situations, but for those with pick-ups and trips under a week, I really don't know what advantages if any a trailer is going to offer particularly given your criteria to also use it as a utility trailer. I get the need/want to have it dual purpose, completely logical but that means its likely not going to have all of your camping gear organized and stowed thus your still loading and unloading it each trip. If you don't have enough room in the Tundra or Tacoma I understand the need, but if you don't have enough room in the Tundra or Tacoma your either packing waaaaay too much stuff or your hauling around 4 adults and gear/food for a months self supported travel. I'm not trying to bust your chops here, just trying to grasp what your actual 'back-country' trailer need is. Sounds to me like you've in search of a problem because you have the answer. Go on some backcountry trips first and decide if you need a trailer, furthermore that will tell you what type of trailer it needs to be to solve you actual needs.
 

Cascadia

Undecided
Location
Orem, Utah
No experiences off the top of my head necessitate a trailer for us. The main issue that I see a traielr resolving is getting out period. We used to get out a lot more and camp and explore before we had our son. He is almost a year old now and we haven't been out camping (other than in a nice rv) since about half way through my wifes pregnancy. One of the main reasons being we don't want to sleep in a tent on the ground with him. We would like to get a rtt and be off the ground. I realize it is only a few feet higher but it puts you further away from bugs and animals. They are not a big deal to us but don't want to risk anything with him.

We do tend to pack more stuff now with a child, which is expected. But nothing a bed couldn't handle. We like to bring our bikes with us most of the time and they fit in the bed nice. One option would be to build a rack for my truck for a rtt but that brings problems for work. A rack would almost always get in the way and an open truck bed does not keep things out of the elements. It would be nice to have things covered in a trailer with a top out of rain, snow , and dust. These are a few of the reasons I can think of why a trailer would work for us.

Sleeping in the bed would be nice but again, with a baby we would like to have coverage and not open to the elements. If I got a shell for my truck, it would once again interfere with my daily work.
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
No experiences off the top of my head necessitate a trailer for us. The main issue that I see a traielr resolving is getting out period. We used to get out a lot more and camp and explore before we had our son. He is almost a year old now and we haven't been out camping (other than in a nice rv) since about half way through my wifes pregnancy. One of the main reasons being we don't want to sleep in a tent on the ground with him. We would like to get a rtt and be off the ground. I realize it is only a few feet higher but it puts you further away from bugs and animals. They are not a big deal to us but don't want to risk anything with him.

We do tend to pack more stuff now with a child, which is expected. But nothing a bed couldn't handle. We like to bring our bikes with us most of the time and they fit in the bed nice. One option would be to build a rack for my truck for a rtt but that brings problems for work. A rack would almost always get in the way and an open truck bed does not keep things out of the elements. It would be nice to have things covered in a trailer with a top out of rain, snow , and dust. These are a few of the reasons I can think of why a trailer would work for us.

Sleeping in the bed would be nice but again, with a baby we would like to have coverage and not open to the elements. If I got a shell for my truck, it would once again interfere with my daily work.

Sounds like you have your head wrapped around your needs, can't argue that. Its my experience that having a trailer does not 'get you out more', nor does a RTT for that matter and I never recommend people buy them with that in mind as they are often for sale a few months later when they find that out personally. Don't let the things you don't have be the crutch that keeps you from heading out now, I can promise that once you check all those 'must-have' items off the list, you likely won't have any more time or motivation to do the trips you could have just as easily done before, make sense? That said it sounds like you have your mind made up so I won't further try and convince you otherwise. But you have to let me say "told you so" when you have it for sale because "I just haven't had time to do anything with it and I am getting swamped with work and I don't want it to just sit there in the snow all winter" :D
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
Time will tell. But usually everything I buy is for sale pretty soon afterwards. So this is an easy bet for you.

Believe me, I'm trying to help you out here. I'd hate to see you invest money and more importantly time into a trailer and RTT, plan a trip and then get home and say "that wasn't any better than it was before the trailer" and now we have to unload the trailer, store it, move it, maintain it, etc. Perhaps a small off-road inspired pop-up camp trailer would be a worth attempt? Rent one and see if that is a good segue back into camping? I don't have kids so I don't claim to know what its like to camp with them but having a trailer or RTT wouldn't make it any less daunting for me. :D

What does your misses have to say about this? Does she want to get out camping more or is this an attempt to convince her? I could invest in all the creature comforts of the glamping world in an attempt to get my wife to come along on some of my trips and at the end of the day she would still decline and that totally works for us, she has her hobbies and I have mine, when we can we overlap but in the meantime it wouldn't make sense for me to cater to her wants. Otherwise I'd have a 40' RV that sits 362 days a year :D
 
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