Camper trailers - What stops them????????

[MidLifeCrisis Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close MidLifeCrisis]

mlc does not like this!

I reckon over the years I must have seen at least 50 trailers broken down on the side of the road while out touring, I know a few personally that have issues and have spoken to a few on my travels that have suffered a breakdown. In every single case I can think of it was suspension / Axle problems.

A mate broke his U-bolts going across the Anne Beadell, met a couple in Broken Hill who snapped a stub North of Tiboburra, long story that one but someone managed to steal the entire abandoned trailer even with a broken stub. The pic below is of a guy on the Tele Track up the cape, he broke the Ubolts, axle dislodged, blew a tyre, busted his water tank, bent the gaurd. He was a real cowboy and was going like the clappers though, watched him nearly roll it at Gunshot later that day!



We camped with a guy at King Edward River in the Kimberly, I was a bit surprised to see he had made it that far running slipper springs, he told me they were great and never had an issue with them. Later that day we met them again at Drysdale Station, spring busted and the trailer in a bit of a mess.

The independant suspension hard top trailers are particularly prone to breaking stubs, the Kimberliy's come with a spare stub supplied. apart from them being heavy, my theory is the independant suspension only goes up and down in a straight line, no change in camper as it flex's putting strain on the stub, thats just my theory though.

Not that it stopped the trailer, but the first trailer I built, on its first big trip (Tassie) had a push pull manual water pump, first night Trish broke it, couldn't buy another one and spent 3 weeks with a full water tank that we couldn't use, put 12v pumps in ever since. fortunately plenty of water in Tassie.

Cheers Andrew

I'm dobbing, Trish said YOU broke the pump!

[MDS69 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MDS69]

I don't think it matters how much you pay for your CT if it has a fault it will break. I think Bushbasher or AJ helped someone with a Pioneer Camper who broke a stub axle. That was one of two in around two months. These are fairly exxy campers.
I have a GIC Off Road Extreme. Google GIC and sit back with a 6 pack because you will be up all night reading negative threads all over the internet about GIC. Ours is a Feb 2011 build and I believe they started to improve not all that long ago in their QC. They are a budget camper and were renowned for not finishing things properly like blowing a hole through the chassis with a gas torch to run the tail light wiring with scotchlocks. Dodgy welds. Shit paint, water tanks mounted upside down, water tank plumbing with non-drinking water type hose etc etc. We knew this when we were looking and it fitted out budget and I could retify these things.
We took ours to Fraser Island in 2011. In 2012 Sydney to Oodnadatta Track, Ayers Rock, Finke, Dalhousie Springs, Simpson Desert, Birsdville, Birdsville Track then back to Sydney with no issues apart from me not checking the U bolts on the axle. They came loose on one side but I caught it in time with no damage. I totally stripped the paint off the draw bar and front of the CT from rock strikes but I needed better stone protection.

IMO the main thing that goes wrong is lack of maintenance. Check/re pack/replace your wheel bearings regulary. Check/ re grease your greasable shackles on your military style rebound leaf springs (no shocks) and hitch. Carry spare wheel studs/nuts, wheel bearings (already packed with grease and vacuum sealed), U bolts for the axle. If you have a manual hand pump for the water tank then tape up the spout to stop the corrugations pumping your tank dry and dust becoming mud and clogging up the spout. If you have an electric water pump then a master off switch so the one for the tap doesn't get bumped and fill your trailer with water as happened to our travelling companions. Robust protection of your plumbing and electric brake wiring for rock strikes.
Don't put 2 tonne rated leaf springs on a trailer that carries half that. You will smash your cargo and stress the trailer as the suspension will not be working. Tyre pressures are as important on a trailer as they are on your tug.

[MDS69 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MDS69]

double post.

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

Those shocks are over-rated. My CT has heavy duty 9 leaf springs (made in SA) which were recently reset, re-tensioned, new u bolts, new locating greasable pins, etc. I don't have shocks and it's performed extremely well for the past 10 years. It has home made armour around the water tank and piping. The pictured trailer with at 5 or 6 jerries on one side alone, who knows what's on the other side, was probably way overloaded. It only has a short body so I'm thinking that weight, as well as dumb driving, was probably the culprit for his problems.