Hi Jeeper5USA,
Welcome to the forum. This is why I read this site daily because of the wealth of information you can receive. I might add, not all of it is good but none the less, a great site.
I have a 1987 Wrangler that is pretty modified. Big tire, big axles, big steering components, etc. My 87 weighs in at about 4600#'s as recorded a few years back at my local truck stop CAT Scale. I pull an enclosed trailer with extra height to be able to accommodate the height of the wrangler. The trailer has a 7' tall ramp door on the rear and a 42" wide side door, a tool box/work bench mounted against the front wall. My dilemma was that most of the places we go for 4 wheeling were in extremely rural areas without descent or close motels. I got tired of tent camping so I bought a truck camper. I put it on my '06 2500, 4x4 Chevy Dmax and had plenty of tow capacity left over for my 9500# towload. I traded my 2500 Dmax for a 11' 3500 crew cab, long box 4x4 Dmax. Now I had even more towing/carrying capacity so we started looking at new truck campers when we were on a trip to Moab back in 2013. Then while driving down the highway and needing to use the bathroom I always had to pull over. Brain storm setting in!
I started looking for the motorized RV that could handle exactly what you are looking for. I had 3 criteria that I couldn't live without!
#1 Diesel. I work for a heavy equipment dealer in STL and have diesel in my blood and the fact I would be towing heavy load through the mountains and a gasser would suffer in my application.
#2 and this is a big one........10,000# tow capacity. This will be your biggest challenge because a Class C rig that can tow this much weight and get off road is close to non-existant.
#3 Had to have a cold weather package.
this was a tall order and not for the faint of wallet. I ended up with (see picture) an '08 Ford F-550, 6.4L Power Stroke, 4x4 with a diesel genny and 10,000# tow capacity. 14 months into ownership and I have driven this RV through the mountains of Colorado 6 times. We even drove over Cottonwood Pass in the middle of the night towing the Jeep. Scared the heck out of us but we did it. No problems. Plenty of horsepower and torque to get us through the hills of Colorado.
I own a Host 300. Very nice rig. and the wifey can use the bathroom while we are going down the highway and get me snacks and Gatoraide without having to pull over.
Another issues lots of posters are bringing up is storage for the trailers. We live on acreage so it has never been a problem for us. I once owned a construction company and I will tell you that the enclosed trailer has been the #1 borrowed tool I have ever owned. The only friends that haven't borrowed it are the ones that own their own enclosed trailer. Maintenance has been tires and brakes over the years but this is by far one of my smartest purchases.
I also have a tow bar for the '87 jeep but would never tow that Jeep more than a couple hundred miles. If I broke any drive train component while out on the trail I would be stuck making a trail repair that could cost in the area of $1000.00 or more. Have already experienced this and replacing ball joints or axles or even a broken differential is not fun when you are laying in the sand or tall weeds.
You need to look at Super C class RV's otherwise you will have to go to a Class A or a Big Rig type. DynaQuest/DynaMax make a Super C on the F-550 and on the M2 Freightliner. Host wasn't selling enough of these RV's and have put builds on hold for now so only used ones are available. I looked at the Senaca's but the older ones on the Chevy Kodiak Chassis didn't have the tow capacity nor the bigger Allison trany. We didn't want the bigger Freightliner due to the area's i get the RV into, plus an M2 with 4 wheel drive really stands tall and is expensive. I hope this helps.
