Looking for advice before taking the building plunge

[grubbr]

Background: I am a new wanabie tear drop builder and have been researching, drawing, and reading everything I can find including most of the post on this site. I still have some questions that I hope I can get some advice and this groups thoughts on before starting. I am a Jeep owner who will be doing some offroading, but mostly logging roads up here, dirt roads, etc, but not really rock crawling or extreme. I live in Washington state and we do have big hills. Looking at a 2" square ladder type chassis, pretty standard it looks like and thinking about a 2000lb axle, w/3 leaf springs set up. 5X10 benroy design.

Concerns and things I just don't get:
1) Trailer Brakes have been mentioned several times, do you think a 5X10 needs them?

2) Does anyone think for light to moderate offroading, I should upgrade to a 3500lb axle?

3) I had not considered shocks at all for the trailer, but several have discussed it, is that for more exteme off roading?

4) I have millions of questions left, but I guess knowing what I plan on using the rig for, if anyone has any other recommendations or advice that would be great.

Pretty long winded, but its not often you get a chance to ask a question or two before jumping in the deep end of the pool.
Ron
Bellingham, Washington State

[madjack]

...don't ownna jeep...haven't been offroad in years but I'll offer a thought or two...
...brakes(with a good controller) can be EXTREMELY helpful going down a really steep, really rocky grade...even on a 5x10...

...i would definitely go with the 3500# axle and have it apprpriately sprung for the actual weight of the trailer...this gives you bigger, more robust spindles and bearings, a stouter axle tube and the availability to have 10" brakes instead of 7's....

...nope, shocks are not just for serious off roading...they can offer a multitude of benefits when added to any spring hung trailer greatly smoothing the ride of your camper and especially your stuff!!!

...those are things I would do if I was gonna build an off road camper.....
madjack

[Ageless]

i've likely done 10,00+ miles on WA forest service roads over my years. compared to places un the SW deserts; our backroads are pretty tame Unless you plan to rock-climb with the trailer; the extra beefy axle isn't needed. i've trailered standard units all over the place. The question of brakes will depend on the final weight. If yoou go over 1000 lbs; opt for brakes; some of those hills go down and can be muddy. Now based upon a few experiences with roads that 'washboard'; you might want the shocks as I've had the trailer get squirelly at anything less than a crawl . .the downhill thing again.

hope this helps

[Russ in California]

Brakes---YES
3500lb axle---YES

If you're going to "go bush", remember there will be 'years' of this activity down the road and you don't want to under build in an off road build, IMHO.
As a guide and/or primer to off road building, I highly recommend referencing, patterning after or just plain copy(like me) the 'Outback Teardrop' of Larry Sorrensen. Link: http://www.outbackteardrop.com/
There you'll find most of the pertinent considerations, again, IMHO.
So, off you go and good luck.

[Shadow Catcher]

There are times I want more clearance for our Mega-Mini. This uses a Dexter Torflex axle and while I like the independent suspension for off road (VERY desirable) the inability to add shocks or affect/change in ride height is a down side.
Also a negative is that the Torflex reportedly does not handle washboard well.
Not being one to ever accept that there is not a solution I discussed this with my brother in-law who is an engineer and supplied him with information I had gathered, the no longer available Monroe shock adapter and what Airstream does with a torsion axle and shock absorbers.
What we will have is an adapter that will support an air shock which when extended will negatively load the arm and provide a suspension that is more adaptable to rough terrain and giving greater ground clearance with out sacrificing road manners and height.

[grubbr]

First I want to say thanks for everyones help, advice and information. This is a great group and more than willing to share. Thanks for all the input.
Yes, the electric trailer brakes and the 3500lb. axle make too much good sense. It just needs to be done. It may turn out to be overbuilding for a lot of what we plan to do, but as was pointed out, making these changes now are cheap, compared to doing it over later.
I am going to work on a lighter set of leaf springs because I think the ones for the 3500 lb axle are 4 leaf and stiffer than what we want. Airing down the tires some still works for long streches of wash board roads to soften the ride.
Will post some pictures when we actually start building. Plus, I still have lots of questions, like how does the aluminum skin hold up when getting beat by tree branches and such? We call it Cascade Pinstriping up here. Any other good skin recommendations?
Ok - I gotta go negotiate with the Chief Financial Officer over this change in budget. See ya.... Ron

[Russ in California]

I think the Filon will be hard to beat but quite pricey. Would love to use it but Larry Sorensen spent aprox $3000 IIRC, back in the late 90's on his. A little stiff for my wallet.