Dan and Nichols,
I'm thinking much of the conjecture about getting stuck in either 2 or 4 wheel drive has more to do with the operator than the motational device.
Nichols: your departure angle is what is your limiting factor. Do you have those training wheels or skids back there? I've seen this very set up drag the skids just getting into a gas station driveway. I agree that having all that weight over the drive wheels is a plus, but not if the surface is slippery mud or melting snow or bottomless anything with no limited slip device.
Dan: the myth that 4WD will just get you farther down the road before you get stuck is just that: a myth. Again, the operational savvy of the driver will get 2WD-ers just as far as a dummy driving a 4WD. Now that I've completed my XTC drivetrain build, published by our own Mike Smith, I dealt with myriad conditions to overbuild my drivetrain and solve the off road woes carrying a 10K pound, 4WD white box:
http://truckcamperadventure.com/2017/01/extreme-truck-camper-drivetrain-build
AFA trailering, I have a few observations. I've owned quite a few trailers including a M100, WWII jeep trailer; a Viet Nam issue M714 jeep trailer; a custom made ConFer Toyota jeep trailer for a Land Cruiser; a 1955 Bradley jeep trailer; a 14 foot, lightweight car trailer; a mini horse trailer used as a trash trailer; and a 1965 homemade trailer for my Jeep that folded in two half way to Monache Meadows.
The woe I've seen with any of these trailers, off road, is that your drive wheels are pulling the dead weight of the trailer. Case in point: last year I was out scavenging fire wood to feed our winter fire box and backed my Jeep XJ (with L.S. diffs on both ends) and 400 pound Bradley with pintle down a fairly steep embankment to get close for loading. Empty, the trailer/jeep had no trouble going up or down the embankment. Once loaded with about 1500 pounds of oak rounds, there was too much weight in the trailer to overcome the grade even with all wheels just spinning in unison trying to crest the hill to no avail. If the weight were over the drive wheels, it would have been a different result. I walked out to the highway and called my wife on my cell phone and she came over and picked me up. Once home, i enlisted my neighbor Ken to be the designated driver in the XJ while I pulled it uphill with the 15K pound winch on the XTC. I deadmaned the truck so the winch could do its work. Popped it right up. So, my fault was not considering the result of not enough weight over the drive wheels. One tried and true way to help with the 'dead weight' of non-powered trailer wheels is to have larger diameter wheels and tires.
regards, as always, jefe
