Trailer or heavy roof rack ?

[uk_vette]

Hello, I am thinking of towing a trailer with my 4x4.
Trip from UK down to Cape Town, route not yet decided.
I am not sure I want to load up a heavy roof rack, or pull a trailer,
so I am asking for opinions.

I have in mind to pull a trailer, sized about 5 foot long, 4 foot wide, 18 inches deep, with a flat lid, so I can, if I wanted, fit a foof rack.

So, then I think to myself, whats makes a good 'long distance expedition trailer'

I would probably carry no more than say, 300kg in it, or shal I say, PLAN to carry no more than say 300kg.

Now,
Questions, should I look for a 2 wheel trailer or a 4 wheel trailer.
Should I look for leaf spring, coil spring, or indespension units?

I would say, that I am only looking for a trailer that has the 'A' frame draw bar, rather than the weak looking single draw bar.

Tyres, I think 10 inch would be quite unsuitable, should I have to cross any sand, so, perhaps the minumum should be 14 inch van tyres, that have the extra ply's in the side walls.

I would like opinions on all ideas please.

'vette

[winchman]

Roof rack
Trailers bad bits
Can develop faults ( roof rack cant)
More wheels on the road = more punctures. ( roof rack cant have a puncture)
Easy to steal ( harder to steal)
Costs more on ferry. ( makes you taller but no extra charge for this)
More expensive ( cheaper)
I would go for a roof rack due to all the above.

[VentureOverland]

300kg on a roofrack over the type of roads you will encounter is asking for trouble. likewise is pulling a cheap trailer.

All the best Australian touring trailers are coil sprung with dampers. All springs, dampers and wheels are similar sizes to those of the 4x4.

What are you taking with you to need an extra 300kg of space?

[aopoleyin]

Trailer with the same wheels/tyres as your 4x4. Better still if it's built around a rear axle and suspension.

Worst case scenario, you can cannibalise the trailer for parts.


Be sure to use a proper hitch that allows 360 degree rotation, that way if the trailer rolls, it won't take the vehicle with it.

[Let Luce]

Trailer with a nato ring. Make sure the wheels are the same size and type as the ones on the tug. I'd go for something like a Sankey. Tom Sheppard the author of The Vehicle dependant Expedition Guide used a Sankey behind his range rover whilst off places. I'd go for single axle as twin axle ones are a pain to maneuvre by hand.

For those who think that there's nothing to go wrong with a roof rack, think again, they can and do break, also they put extra stresses on part of the vehicle not really designed to take them. They're not the most secure of storage either, and any weight on a roof rack increases the height of the vehicles c.o.g.

With a trailer, if you get stuck you can unhitch it get the tug out and then recover the trailer seperatley. They spread the load over an extra axle so reducing your ground bearing pressure. If you put a steel lid on it, it becomes secure storage for your possessions as well.

If you've never driven on corrugated roads before, they are worse than anything you can imagine (You have no idea of just how bad they can be until you experience them. Think screws shaking out of holes,swing away wheel carriers tearing off their mountings, Ours made from 4mm box section, broke and was repaired a number of times throughout our trip. A toyota we travelled with for a while had a shock mount break off due to to the vibrations) and put immense stresses on the vehicle.



www.themorgans.info/expedition/index.php

[ross_fj73]

The ideal situation would be to review your inventory and whip a 150 kg off the load.
I wouldnt like to tow a trailer that distance unless I really had to,but neither would I like to go with 300kg up top.

If you take a trailer it must be an offroad trailer,single axle with either military wrap springs or coils.
The draw bar should extend back to the rear axle,not stop just past the box
Narrow tyres ,like all tyres, will go through deep sand by airing them down.
A deflated tyre gets longer,not wider.
Ive had both and the wide tyre is only marginally better in sand,but most of your trip will be on bad sealed and unsealed roads

The narrow tyres have less rolling resistance,are cheaper to replace and should be lighter.
My fuel economy is about 3% better with 235x85x16 over the 33x10.5x15
The 16 inch rim has a huge choice of light truck tyres if needed.

The trailer wont be cheap if you want something you can trust.
The Sankey has been suggested,obviously strong enough but how heavy?


This is my favourite internet trailer story. Its funny and sad but against all odds ,dad pulls through in the end

http://www.4wdmonthly.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=23641

[Scotty2]

Trailer over a roof rack for safety. But if you really need that much stuff, maybe take a Defender 130!

[Let Luce]

There are better options than a Defender 130.

Merc sprinter 4x4
Landy 101
even a Merc 508

We met a dutch couple who'd driven their 2wd merc 508 down through Morocco, Mauritania, around past lake chad (this is a hard core proper Sahara crossing and they did it on their own), found the Chad Sudan border closed so headed south into Congo, then in to Southern Sudan (The rebel held area). We met them in Windhoek in Namibia where they were about to head north up into Angola to head back up through West Africa.

We also met a german guy in Nairobi who was shipping home his VW camper as he'd run out of money, yes he'd driven it there from Germany and along the Moyale-Marsabit road (a notoriously bad stretch of bandit ridden track in Northern Kenya, we avoided it by driving a really remote stretch of track near lake Turkana). He was shipping it home 'cause he'd had to fund repairs at most major towns as he didn't really have the clearance for the roads he'd been driving on.

The point is you don't really need a 4wd vehicle just something with adequate ground clearance that's as tough as old boots. (A sense of humour helps too)

[ooky_123]

Lots of cheap ex-MOD trailers around.. for less than £100 for poor condition ones to £300 for pukka ones. All are Alli in construction, some have drop down sides, and are all leaf sprung.

Oh, and can usually take excess of 500kg with ease.

Only downside is the NATO loop required ... but if you have a compatible towbar .. Bobs your Anty's boyfriend !

[uk_vette]

I have got a duel bar hitch, so towing a Sankey, not a problem.

They'r just so damn heavy to start with.
Towing with a MAN or Bedford truck, OK, but to heavy for what I want.

'vette

[Nightbar]

I'd go for the trailer option and as aopoleyin says - same wheels as the tow vehicle so you are interchangeable for spares. Helps on an overland trip like that if the trck of the trailer is the same as tow vehicle so it will follow the same ruts as you and you know where it is going to be going behind you. Also keeps the weight low(er) and if you have to you can drop the trailer and recover later.

I would give these guys a shout as they built my trailer and do exped prep for africa and all sorts - I am sure that they will be willing to give advice.

http://www.douglassmotors.co.uk/

[ema]

I go for land rover roof rack. I think the trailer is also heavy but the roof rack is much compact. However, trailers are much safer.

[jmpc]

Trailer. no question.

With such a long trip planned there is a mountain of gear that you´ll need to / want to take. Just extra fuel and water alone could easily mount up to 250kg.

With a trailer you won´t need to limit what you take, (of course you´ll always here from people ,´take as little as you can etc´) but why?

You have huge great 4x4 that´ll easily tow a ton of gear, so why not take advantage it?

Why not use all that power to make your journey more comfortable and safe. After all, it´s not as if you are cycling, where weight really is an issue.

Its a great comfort knowing that you have an extra 2 tanks worth of fuel if you need it, or that you have drinking water for two weeks if you get into series trouble.

A roof rack is only good for light loads up to 100-150kg tops. Anything more and a trailer is your only option.

With a trailer you can take an extra battery, extra wheel, recovery gear, gas bottles, loos, etc.

My advice, stick a roof ten on the roofrack, and all the rest in the trailer.

Suspension has to be either leaf spring or trailing arm with shocks. Leaf spring possible easier to fix, though has a tendency to bounce around a lot.

Wheels and tyres interchange with the vehicle.

You may find a nato, pintle, or even universal hitch are not legal as you drive down through Europe. But that is more a technicality, as you are unlikely to get stopped anyway.

Don´t let people scare you off the idea of having a normal hitch though, they are absolutely fine. You´ll here people say with much authority that a ball type hitch only has 20% articulation, and therefore you´ll get into trouble in difficult terrain. Most of these people have never actually seen what 20% articulation look like, because it is a heck of a lot, and copes perfectly well with huge undulations in terrain.

Finally 2 axles or 1. The more gear you carry the more your are likely to need two axles. However, for your sixe trailer 1 will be fine. 2 axles are more difficult to amuver by hand as there is more resistance on the ground, but this is easily over come by simple jacking the trailer up using ghe jock wheel, the trailer then behaves as a single axle as the front axle becomes lifted of the ground. SO if you find a good 2 axle trailer, don´t be put off.

Hope this helps.

all the best

JMPC