descending steep driveway

[kandkbrand]

My sister and her Husband own 4 acres of land in the mountains of Colorado. They just recently had a road graded in and invited us to camp on their property over memorial day weekend. I went to look at the property to see if we could do it with our trailer and here is the issue. I have a 31 foot (hitch to bumper) trailer. It is a dirt road to their property, and as you turn into their property, the newly graded road drops to about a 16% decline for about 40 yards, and then levels out to where we would put the trailer. My concern is with that big of a drop in such a short distance would it damage my hitch, trailer frame or truck frame. I would take the weight distribution bars off before going down, but is it even possible to do this. I am worried about the torque on the hitch as the truck descends and the trailer stays on the road. once both are headed down, i have no worries, it is that first little bit over the ledge. Thoughts?

This is what I see happening, but without the boulders...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRg7LCLs47k

[BarneyS]

Dave Mck wrote:
Attach some heavy duty casters to the rear, I have seen that on some trailers

That may make it easier to move when the rear end hits but it also reduces the amount of clearance of the rear. I think I would prefer to just skid the frame rather than have less clearance.
Barney

[Dave_Mck]

Attach some heavy duty casters to the rear, I have seen that on some trailers

[blt2ski]

If you find yourself with the rear of the trailer connecting the ground. Remove the WD bars, assuming you have them hooked up. This will lower the hitch area, raise the rear of the trailer, possibly freeing up the rear ofthe trailer to move forward.

Marty

[blt2ski]

Yawn,

Call me when you are going up or down 20-33 percent grades. I would not worry about a 16 percent grade, other than the hanging up on the way down or up....Assuming you have a 4lo? as the new to specs only give you a max 12 percent grade before you are over ratings.....

Marty

[Groover]

On a re-read of your post I see that your concern is a little different than what I first thought. It sounds like your primary concern is hanging the trailer on the edge of the road as your tow vehical starts going down the 16% grade whether your hitch will take it. Your are talking about less than a 10 degree angle and I have launched a lot of boats on ramps steeper than that with no hitch issues, even with the torsion bars still attached. I am fairly sure that the hitch is fine. The only issue that I have encountered is dragging the trailer about midway between the hitch and the front trailer axle. At the point where the trailer is dragging the hitch is well past the breakover point and the torsion bars have already cleared. Let's say that you have 200 inches from the center of your axles to the hitch and that the angle is split between the vehicle and the trailer(think of a hump between the trailer and the tow vehicle with an 8 percent slant on both sides so that the difference is 16 percent). So if you go forward about 100 inches to the midway point(or about 8 feet) and go up 8 percent (which works out nicely to 8 inches) and you have plenty of clearance your trailer should not drag even if it is a sharp break. If anything was done to break the angle you will be that much better off. I probably would not want to try it in my motorhome but most travel trailers I have seen have plenty of clearance.

[Groover]

One thing that I have learned is that my electric brake controller does not respond well at low speeds. When going slowly down steep hills with limited traction and especially if there is a turn involved I need to keep a hand on the manual override to keep from getting out of control.

You did not give us any information on what the transition looks like going from 16% to level. I have a steeper slope in my driveway and have never had an issue with anything dragging but then I have about a 100ft long transition zone. Getting enough traction to pull a trailer up the slope can be issue, especially if it is covered in loose gravel instead with no fine materials to hold the gravel in place. If you have a 4wd truck and it weighs at least half as much as your trailer and the surface is a well packed mix you should be OK, as long as there hasn't been any hard rain to cause washouts. I keep my 4000lb boat at the top of the hill and have pulled it up my slope that is about 18% with a two wheel drive van or truck many times but a running start is very helpful. My new 4wd truck does make it nicer. I keep my 12,000lb trailer at the bottom of the hill for traction reasons. Before you start up have a plan of what to do if traction fails you and keep your hand on the brake controller.

[hawkeye-08]

Please take video of trip in and trip out and share with us.

[jfkmk]

cbshoestring wrote:

camp-n-family wrote:
Clicky

Towards the end, all four wheels of the trailer are off the ground as the rear slides across the rock. I want to see the clicky of them going back up that rock.

I was thinking the exact same thing!

[Tyler0215]

Just remember, if you get in, you have to get out.

[burningman]

Really no one on the internet can answer this one for you.
You have to look at the situation and evaluate it yourself, there are always a zillion variables that make or break a situation like that.

[mkirsch]

Quick and dirty way to check without risking your trailer is to get a 16' 2x4 and a 5 gallon bucket to approximate the front half of your trailer. Take your truck over to the property, and start into the driveway. Lay one end of the 16' 2x4 on the hitch ball and the other end on the 5 gallon bucket. Keep moving everything ahead little by little, and if the 2x4 gets close to the ground, the trailer will probably drag.

[RedRocket204]

Chances are when yo get to the bottom of the steep decline, you are going to hit the back end of your trailer, possibly causing some damage even though you mention that wasn't your concern. Same will go for when you are leaving the property. All trailers are not created equal regarding height clearance and you can notice that the trailer in the linked video is setup for off road trailering, meaning higher clearance than normal trailers.

Does that 16% grade gradually get less steep to make the angle at the bottom you will need to clear less? I'm not certain I would take a chance

[cbshoestring]

camp-n-family wrote:
Clicky

Towards the end, all four wheels of the trailer are off the ground as the rear slides across the rock. I want to see the clicky of them going back up that rock.

[Tvov]

My first thought is that if you are this uncomfortable about doing it, than don't do it.

Most trailers and tow rigs can do much more steeper angles than you'd think.

Having said that... If you go too steep / angled, you may not know it until something bends or breaks.

Also, what about getting out? If it is that steep going in, can you get out?

I have to chuckle, though... friends of ours bought a cabin in Vermont - when they invited us up, our first question was "can we bring our camper?". They said we should probably take a look first. They have over 10 acres, and not 1 spot flat enough for a camper! lol!