4wd Camper Trailers: front fold and how long is too long?

[Chris220220 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chris220220]

With GTG around the corner a not so young mans heart turns to his camper.
Our current camper is a soft floor side fold on 14inch wheels. Not a 4wd trailer but ok on the dirt.

We looked about and my wife loves the new front fold style camper.
Eagle make one and so do Camptime CX. Both 14 oz canvas and come ready to go, sold as an off road camper.
Sales people say they have done the Cape and no issues with them.
The idea is great. I just don't know how a 4wd camper that is 5m long will handle 4wd track.

If anyone has any ideas or experience with long trailers or front folds I'd love to hear from you.

[Chris220220 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chris220220]

Any one? How long is your camper? would longer be a pain?

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Done the cape no problems hey! There is more than one way to do the cape so a bit more specific info might be useful before you take that as gospel.

My Camper is 4.5 metres long from tow pin to rear end.

2 Problems you will have with a trailer and length is ramp over and articulation around tight bends. Axle position and ride height are also factors that will affect these.

I have done the cape with mine, no problems might be stretching the truth a bit, no major dramas but certainly a bit of scraping through Palm Creek and the articulation issue raised its head at Gunshot, although where there is a will there is a way and the pictures showed how we got around that particular tight corner.



In the Vic High country if you get on some of the steeper tracks; ramp over will become an issue getting over the conservation mounds, although I suspect for the GTG they will keep the trailers away from these tracks.

Otherwise on 99% of tracks I doubt you would have an issue, width would seem to be more of an issue then length on most bush tracks.

Cheers Andrew

[Chris220220 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chris220220]

Thanks Andrew.
We are unlikely to try anything too crazy.....at this stage.
As our current one is a lot shorter I thought I'd see what people had and thought.
Tight bends and ramp over was my concern. This unot does have plenty of clearance and wheels a long way back.
The 100-150kg ball weight was another I was not sure about. I can lift our current one when packed and never more than 70kg on the ball.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Wheels a long way back is not going to help, with all that weight on the drawbar it sounds like the axle might be further aft than ideal.

Cheers Andrew

[Chris220220 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chris220220]

Here is a picture:
camper

This is an earlier model, but same wheel base and box sizes.

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

Here is a picture:
camper

This is an earlier model, but same wheel base and box sizes.

Bloody hell. Do you take a water bottle when walking to the back of it? I would have some concern over sharp crests. Mine is nowhere near that long and causes me grief from time to time.

[iantz Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close iantz]

I believe MDC also make a forward fold camper. I've look at them as we are looking for a hard floor camper now that the boys love their swags. My thoughts were that pretty much all of the ones I've sat it, the seats are too low and a bit uncomfortable. I also think that every time you open it up, you have to take the car off to open the rear door, which is a pain in the ass for over night stops.

In terms of hitting things, my soft floor is @ 4meters long. On the Border Track during the SA GTG, I definitely had issues and I broke a jockey wheel. In the Grampians in October last year, I broke the jockey wheel handle on those conservation humps on a long uphill stretch. I gather these ones were put there to shed water off of the track, but they're cetainly not friendly to your trailer draw bar. The only trailer that I have been around which hasn't bottomed out was the POD trailers, with their super short draw bar and light build. I guess then, that you can expect an issue with just about any camper trailer. It doesn't always sound good, but she'll keep on following the car in the end...

[leachy_9 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close leachy_9]

As AJ said, total length is only one factor that will influence off road ability. Tvans are one of the most capable off road campers available and they are 4.9m.

Leachy

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Lots factor in with a trailer and what suits you, that one doesn't look particularly friendly for anything serious off road, although it reminds a bit of the Kimberly Kampers with the super long front.

From what I can see in the pictures I reckon your biggest issue with the Prado is you wont be able to open the back door unless you unhook the camper.

But as I said, 99% of the time a well built off road trailer will be fine, but how it handles that 1% can make all the difference.

Tvan or an Ultimate if you want serious off road ability, but not cheap either.

Cheers Andrew

[Cookie120 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cookie120]

An alternative reasonably new to the market that I have on order,
http://patriotcampers.com.au/

[OKAth Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close OKAth]

Camprite=bulletproof

Quality trailer plus you get excellent resale.