Protection For The Front Of A Trailmanor

Originally Posted by rtcassel

I was cleaning my TM today and for the first time realized that the finish of the front surface surrounding the window and below the molding that separates it from the roof is a different material from the rest of the TM. The surface has a grainy feature, sort of like leather, maybe. I am the first owner and I did not put any protective surface on this area. Has anyone else noticed this? I have some small dents elsewhere on the trailer, but not in this area.

I think the lower part of the front is fiberglas or something like that. If TM would have carried the aluminum all of the way down, that area would look like the metal sign at the OK Corral.

chap

[countrygirl]

I have meant to respond to this thread...but forgot till now. A friend of mine went to Alaska recently and he told me that most of the locals have a welded cage on the front of their vehicles to protect them from the rocks. It sounded like an expanded metal cage. I have never been there or seen this though.

If it is what I think about, those cages are what we in Wyoming call "cattle guards". It's to protect the vehicle in a collision with an animal.

[Bill]

Joel -

In Oz (Australia) they are called "'roo bars", and with kangaroos in mind, serve the same purpose. But I think something with a finer mesh (like expanded metal) would be needed to protect against gravel and rocks in the 1-inch range.

Just my thought.

Bill

[countrygirl]

He used to be a real cowboy...on a ranch...so he would have told me if it was a deer or cow guard. Where he went fishing at a friends place in alaska....he had to fly in an out by helicopter. Tha log cabin he stayed in and everything in it had been brought in by helicopter. He is going back in a few months and I will get him to take a pic of the things he called rock guards. He saw the vehicles with them in the town he flew out of. Naturally I can't remember the name.

A friend of mine had a home made grille bar (brush breaker) on the front of his Jeep cj5.

While driving down a two lane highway at 55 mph a big rig passed us the other direction, I assume at 55 mph.

A bale of hay fell off and hit the front of the jeep. Hay flew everywhere. I was following the jeep in my truck.

The truck driver made a panic stop and came running back. He said later that he was certain that someone was dead.

There was no damage to the Jeep.

If the hay bale had hit the windshield or the ground directly under a front wheel I believe that the results would have been different.

Which is worse, impact a large animal at 55 or impact a bale of hay at 110?

I hope to never experience eigher.

Has anyone ever tried one of these?.

http://protectatow.tripod.com/

After four trips over the Alaska Hwy, and more than two thousand miles over gravel roads, the front of my TM has taking a beating. I'm getting ready to buy one but thought I'd try and get some input first .

Ed

[Wavery]

The problem goes much farther that just the gravel that your TV throws up.

The big problem is the gravel that is thrown up from vehicles coming the opposite direction. Those things hit your TV and trailer like bullets. Not many vehicles make that trip without loosing a w/shield.

For the front of the trailer. I would recommend diamond plate.

The problem goes much farther that just the gravel that your TV throws up.

The big problem is the gravel that is thrown up from vehicles coming the opposite direction. Those things hit your TV and trailer like bullets. Not many vehicles make that trip without loosing a w/shield.

For the front of the trailer. I would recommend diamond plate.

I’ve made eight trips over the AK Hwy, four with the TM and have never had a cracked windshield or lost a headlamp. In fact, I’ve never even received the smallest scratch to the front of my vehicle from on coming vehicles. The damage you are talking about is caused from you/me running into and hitting that gravel that is being tossed up by the on coming traffic while traveling at 60 mph or more. All you have to do is slow down and move over for on coming traffic when there is gravel on the road. This is no problem as there is very little traffic on gravel roads or on the AK Hwy in the wintertime and many on coming vehicles will do the same. In the summer time there is little problem on paved roads except for bugs. My problem is on gravel roads with little to no traffic and in the winter when the roads are sanded. A couple of thousand miles of kicking up sand/gravel behind your TV does a job on the front of what ever you are towing. Mud flaps or skirts help but not much. I can guarantee that 99+ percent of the cosmetic damage to the front of my TM is from what I’ve been kicking up behind me. I was hoping that this gadget would be the cats meow.

[SCBillandJane]

We should have updated the results of our trip a long time ago. We took 9weeks and went on almost all of Alaska's main roads except the one to Deadhorse. Before we went, I was sure that we would suffer significant damage to the front of the Trailmanor. Since this was a trip we had dreamed about for several years, we purposedly bought a used trailer and went anyway without any protection except the standard mudflaps on the truck. We suffered little if any visable damage. Bugs, mud, and tar from road construction were terrible. We never did get it clean until we got home. I would recommend that your spare tires be in excellent condition. We heard many stories in campgrounds of delays of over a week to get another tire.
You will get some pecks on the front of both the TV and TM , but there were no dents or broken glass. Low speed and not following closely are the keys to minimize damage.
Our trailer was 5 years old when we went, and looking back with 20/20 hindsight, I would have taken it to a good dealer or the factory to have the shells adjusted to shut firmly. The shells did rub against each other some.
The trip to Alaska is one that you should not miss because you worry about the roads. I think that a Trailmanor has an advantage in that it is light weight. There is nothing like it anywhere else.