The worse the road, the better the campsite

[Riwright]

.. at least that's what I'm finding so far.

I am doing pretty well at horsing that big ol' 3124KS into some pretty challenging campsites but I am thinking about doing some upgrades to improve performance for those "challenging" roads.

I want people to come down a lonely back road, see my camper and say "how the heck did they get THAT thing in here?"

The things I'm considering:

1.) Lift kit. I think this will give me a little more clearance. (I already have 15" tires)

2.) Some sort of skid plates welded to the rear of the camper to make it a more better sled when the rear drags. I am afraid it will just rip the plumbing off right now.

I'm also thinking that chains might be a good idea. The TV is not 4WD so some improvement in traction might be good to have. I live in Ca though, so I don't get a lot of mud.

Any opinions from those who have boldy gone where no Trailmanor has gone before?

[countrygirl]

PopBeavers will be along shortly.

You are VERY correct Riwright, I would only caution you that it's easier going down stuff then it is getting back out.

We recently went up to Clear Creek and the road was really rough, but the further in we went the better the scenery and campsites, I finally found one down a short twisty 4wd road by the river, I walked it to make sure we had clearance on the turns and such, made it down fine. Next day we left in the Tundra and had a bit of wheel spin in 2wd. I thought OH NO....I'll never get the TM up this! Well, in 4wd low it walked up it very nicely, but if I only had 2wd, I may have been in a lot of trouble. It didn't look that bad!

Yes, the first thing I would do is trade your TV in for a 4WD with All-Terrain tires.

[LoveToCamp]

While Brulaz is correct (4wd is best), chains are a cheaper alternative. If you are not going to need it but once every-few years, 4wd is not worth it.

I used to use chains on a 2wd vehicle, and it made a huge difference. Chain-up on flat ground, then start the climb, and you should be able to make it up anything you were comfortable towing down. There are limits, but the trailer will keep you from deciding to tackle something too hairy. With the trailer on, also, you have the additional weight on the chained tires (assuming rear-wheel drive).

I had them put the lift kit on mine before I picked-up my TM. We are almost exclusively Forest Service roads, then 4wd roads, so we need the extra clearance often. Skid plates to protect you plumbing is cheap insurance, also, but I would lift before putting skid plates on.

Good luck! The best sites await way off the maintained roads.

[Bill]

I will ask a question, since I don't have enough experience in rough terrain to answer it.

In the southwestern deserts, it is common to encounter ruts deep enough to get the vehicle high-centered, even on an otherwise kinda decent road. Assuming you don't have a winch or a buddy to drag you out, the answer in that situation is to carry a jack and a bunch of sturdy boards. Jack up the vehicle (not always easy when you are high-centered), slip the boards under the tires, release the jack, and drive out.

People with more experience in the desert do this as a preventive measure. When approaching ruts that are unavoidable, toss the boards in before you get to them, and retrieve them after passing through.

Would that be a worthwhile consideration for the places you plan to go? Wayne/PopBeavers, do you carry anything like this?

Bill

Originally Posted by countrygirl

PopBeavers will be along shortly.

Dang, your quick.

Stand by.

[ShrimpBurrito]

This is my worst experience:
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=8100

It just depends on the severity of the road. This particular one was on the UT/AZ border, with heavy washboarding and desert washes. Lots of bad things happened, as described in the thread.

I was a TM newbie back then, and I've learned alot since. If I were going down that road again, I surely would deflate my TM tires pretty low -- maybe 30 psi or lower. That would have helped alot.

Dave

Late 1960s, back in my high school days I was a member of Boy Scouts Explorer Post 808. This was a Jeep club.

Locally we explored the central Sierras. Every summer we spent 2 weeks in the Nevada desert exploring ghost towns from Reno to Tonopah.

My dad had a 1953 Jeep CJ3B (high hood), that we mostly used for deer hunting. I have some experience with that.

Here is my experience. Some (most) of this might be overkill for you. But it might get you thinking about where you want to draw the line.

For California trips with the Boy Scouts, but not Nevada, we had a small travel trailer. Low Liner or Lil Loafer as I recall. It was a stand up trailer that could be parked in a San Francisco garage. It did not fold down. It was towed behind a 1965 Jeep CJ5. Both the Jeep and the trailer had home made skid plates. I have seen that trailer being towed across and down the middle of dry or nearly dry creek beds. Some of the time the trailer had both wheels off of the ground, thus the skid pates. Make sure the skid plates protect the axle and plumbing.

I have not looked to see what skid plates I have on my 2002 Chevy 1500HD. My 2008 GMC 2500D has the z71 package. I would have to go look, but I believe or serious offroading I would consider z71 to be inadequate.

You need a brush breaker on the front of the tow vehicle. I was following the CJ5 on one occasion, when it was not towing. We were on a two lane highway. We were traveling around 50 mph. Coming at us was a 30 or 40 foot flat bed trailer loaded with either hay or straw. It was probably traveling close to 50 mph also, I do not know for sure. Just as the Jeep and big rig were passing each other a bale of hay broke loos and hit the front of the jeep. Straw went flying everywhere. The truck driver stopped and ran back. He was certain that someone was dead. The bale hit the brush breaker, and did not even bend it. Had the bale hit the ground in front of the jeep or hit the windshield or cloth roof things would have been different.

You need a winch. Ideally the winch should be capable of lifting the entire tow vehicle off the ground. This is a big winch. One of the other jeeps used a 24 volt B52 (aircraft) starter motor. It had a pair of batteries under the hood with switches so that they could be either battery solo, both in parallel or both in series to provide 24 volts to the winch. The winch would run on 12 volts, but did not have the same load capability as it did when running on 24 volts.

You need some cloth straps to protect the trees when you attach the winch cable to them.

You should be able to attach a winch to the rear of the TM. This would probably be a smaller winch that slides into the hitch receiver. I do not think the factory rear receiver that I have is strong enough for this. I would beef it up. The purpose of the rear winch is to be able to straighten out the TM and TV under severe circumstances. The portable winch could also be used in the back of the TV when the TM is not connected. In my case I could also use it on my larger ATV (700 cc, 750 pounds, dual in-line seats)

Have a hi-lift jack. We found two purposes for this:

1. lifting the Jeep or trailer when it was suck on the rocks and even in 4wd there was not enough rubber on the ground to get traction. With 3 tires in the air, or 4, it is hard to get moving.

2. It makes a decent brace when you partially collapse the front part of the frame. You will need a lot of bailing wire. Jack up the low spot of the tongue at the crease and get your tow heavies guys to bounce on it to straighten it out a little.

We carried enough hand tools to rebuild the engine, transmission, transfer case and differentials. We had the knowledge to do so in the middle of no where.

We carried a small set of oxy-acetylene tanks with both welding and cutting torches. We had a modest assortment of welding rods and brazing rods.

You need or should have:

1. an assortment of bolts, especially hardened, as in head bolts.
2. gasket material.
3. gasket adhesive
4. oil and grease.
5. bailing wire.
6. duct tape, get the best available, some of it is junk.
7. electrical tape.
8. electrical connectors and a crimping tool with a cutter.
9. Something to use for quenching read hold welds. We found that an aluminum pitcher full of Kool-Aid to be adequate. It is amazing how fast you can vaporize a quart of water.

10. spare parts. u-joints comes to mind.

When using cutting torches on the Warn all range overdrive to remove it, it is prudent to have tow people, one on each side, with fire extinguishers cocked and ready to go. The person under the jeep doing the gas cutting should be on top of a tarp. There should be two strong people at two corners of the tarp on one side. In the event of a catastrophic event there job is to pull the tarp out rapidly. Hopefully the occupant of the tarp will come with it. We never tested that theory.

You need communication capability. Satellite and cell phones were not yet invented. We had CB (I think CB has a longer range than FRS). We had dual antennas so we could run co-phase and get a greater distance. I will not admit to having an illegal power amplifier. We had ham radio and I think FM SSB. The owner of the CJ5 held a current FCC license for civilian radio repairs (technical license).

Today I would get one of the units that they sell to back country skiers. I would have a GRS. My GRS is loaded with the street maps for the entire US plus the TOPO maps for all of California. I still have my 40 year old USGS paper TOPO maps and prefer them for scoping out destinations and routes.

On a trip with my dad we broke the bolt/pin that goes through the leaf springs. The head is round and not hex and fits into a recess in the axle housing. It took us several evenings around the campfire taking turns filing the hex into a circle so we could put the springs back on dad's jeep.

In ten years I was in the Explorers we never wished that we had something that we did not. We were able to tackle everything that jumped up at us.

For where we went, solo is not a good idea. Neither is a big trailer. So you won't need some of this stuff,e specially if you do not know how to rebuild engines and weld.

If the TM has a problem, you can drive out to get parts or help. If the TV has a problem you might have a long walk. In my opinion, the TV is a much more critical piece of equipment.

In case the TV fails you should have enough drinking water and food to survive until you either walk out or help arrives.

I tow my TM with a full sized truck. In the bed of the truck is a dual sport motorcycle. I can always ride out to get help. This assumes that I have enough gas. At the last gas station before I turn off the pavement I fill up all vehicles plus an additional 15 gallons of gas in containers.

When I leave the pavement with the TM the 40 gallon water tank in the TM is full, the 6 gallon water heater is full, the toilet is charged and I have 40 gallons of water in containers in the back of the truck. I usually have between 2 and 4 cases of bottled drinking water. If I can find a creek, or any other flowing water, I have a backpacking water pump/filter. I can pump a gallon in a little under 10 minutes.

I have a 12 volt air pump for inflating tires. It plugs into a cigarette lighter. One of my two ATVs has a cigarette lighter. This is handy.

It has been a long time since I have been off road that seriously. But if I had the opportunity o go again with that group I would jump at the chance. Every trip was a great adventure.

If you are still reading this, you must be retired in order to have enough time to arrive here.

Like I said near the top, this is overkill. But I hope it provides some food for thought.

ttfn

[MariaG]

Originally Posted by PopBeavers

If you are still reading this, you must be retired in order to have enough time to arrive here.

I'm not retired yet, (although I'm looking forward to the day already, I have a good 20 years to go ) but I'm always amazed by your posts and make time to read them.

We recently changed out our tow vehicle - an old, rusty but trusty 1997 Dodge AWD Grand Caravan for a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Although we don't go where you go, I hope it serves us well in our travels. We leave for Canada in a few days, a 350 mile trip to a Scottish festival where the TM is affectionately referred to as the "Origami". I can't wait, we haven't been camping in months and I miss it!