off roading on steep inclines?

[mennace]

i recently purchased a 2003 FWC Eagle and have been enjoying it immensely. i live in Colorado, and been doing a lot of uphill offroad to get to destinations. Recently a trip to a lake up in the mountains concerned me. I had my camper, 2 people, and about 8 gallons of water in the tank. the hills we were climbing were pretty steep, and sometimes i could not even see the road in front of my so I'm guessing it was a 20-30 degree incline. As the road was very rocky, the fastest speed i got was 3 miles an hour. My question is how safe is climbing steep hills with a 1300 pound load in the back of my truck? can my 2015 toyota tacoma tip over backwards? I went almost a mile as it was difficult to turn around and reverse was out of the question.
I was probably at the limit of my 1300 pounds. i can only guess but it was about a 30 degree incline as all i saw on the road were a few atv and some decked on jeeps

 

[ntsqd]

My suggestion would to find an accredited and hopefully local 4x4 driving class near you. In CO, Bill Burke might be able to help. He is certainly qualified and lives somewhere in your state.

 

[DesertDave]

Back when I used to four wheel regularly, I would refer to my angle meters when I got scared. Since I never did roll over or endo, each data set gave me confidence that if going slowly, I could safely negotiate that angle. Each year the numbers would get bigger as I became more experienced and tried crazier stuff. Each rollover I saw others do was usually related to too much speed, with the occasional endo on steep rock climbs in old 80" wheelbase Jeeps. I never saw a pickup endo, due to the long wheelbase.

No one can give you a degree measurement, unless you have a fixed design in a laboratory. Every situation is unique.

 

[dakozicki]

I just took my Chev 2500 diesel and '15 hawk up a few steep inclines in the Mohave. The truck and camper behaved well. But, as the owner of FWC told me at the Overland Expo, "Check your turnbuckles." This was sage advice as when I did check them I found two to be very loose and two to have come completely off. I suppose that is bound to happen given all the bouncing around we were doing.

 

[PJorgen]

Agree with the advice to take an off-road driving class, it will allow you to learn the vehicle's (and your) limits in a safe environment and give you more confidence.

To answer your question - it is extremely unlikely that your truck would tip over backwards, but it depends on where the center of mass (gravity) is located. Ideally you want the center of mass as low as possible and centered between the front and rear axles as well as centered left to right. FWC puts the water tank and battery low and toward the front of the camper for a reason, as it keeps the mass where you want it.

To understand what it would take to tip your truck over backwards, visualize your truck from the side and place a dot where you think the center of mass is. Draw a line from the center mass straight down to the ground. On level ground, that point will be directly under the CM. As the truck begins to climb a hill that point moves to the rear. The truck will begin to pivot around the rear axle when that point is under the rear wheels, but as you can visualize, it takes an extremely steep hill before this happens.

Edit - this example neglects the effects of acceleration. If the truck if bouncing around the CM will be accelerated as well. However, if you're climbing a steep hill you'll be going slowly so acceleration is minimal.

Hope this helps.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Lot's of good tips here (if you need to use them)---but the most important one is this-if it looks like you may tip over or side hill/roll down a mountain side and it's not a matter of life and death--park and walk or turn around, that's what your feet are for ! Sorry to be such a wet blanket, but I spent to many years working in the back country and driving smart is the best advise I can give anyone who wants to enjoy a long and happy life WTWing!

Smoke

 

[nobueno]

I drove up a bumpy washboard road that averages 25 degrees and tops out at 30 with a 3500 lb hardside camper in the back of my gmc 3500. Took it very slow and kept a steady foot on the accelerator. I wouldn't want to go any steeper that's for damn sure. Can't say I would even care to do it again haha. I'd say with a light pop-up you should have no worries.

 

[Durango1]

Sorry to be such a wet blanket, but I spent to many years working in the back country and driving smart is the best advise I can give anyone who wants to enjoy a long and happy life WTWing!

X2! And especially with a 10,000# pickup! I carry all the extraction toys including a 10,000# Warn Winch that can either be mounted hitch mounted front or back. So far I've never used it and hope I never have to.

My best guide to where I shouldn't go is Sioux's pucker factor. Kept us out of some bad places. After all. if Momma's not happy... what's the point? (If we are going to stay in one place for awhile and roam around we tow the 2 door Rubicon with Warn winch which will go places even I don't want to go!)

Steve

 

[fireball]

Tipping over backwards is far less of a concern than sideways!


Sent from my iPhone using Wander The West

 

[XJINTX]

^ I agree I'd be more worried about losing traction and sliding sideways. DITTO on the 4x4 training that and experience will help a lot to make you more comfortable.

 

[mennace]

Thanks for the answers. Searching for a class this week! That's why I got the truck and a fwc in the first place!!


Sent from my iPad using Wander The West

 

[ntsqd]

No idea of your location, but I can highly recommend Tom Severin at Badlands 4X4 (.com I *think*) if he's close enough to you.

 

[Kodachrome]

I live in the high country in Colorado and see this level of incline regularly, it certainly can get spooky that is for sure, especially if it starts to go off camber on a shelf road. Like others have said on here, a nice and steady throttle position and slow speed should take the edge off of it. I tend to really like 2nd gear in 4-Lo for that kind of a climb that way if you run into some rocks or big holes you can drop it down a gear and get really effective movements that finesse though the terrain rather than punch over it.

A good suspension upgrade that is valved for the extra weight is what I run with and while the extra 3" of lift is nice for clearance, it is the big increase in downward travel that I truly love to keep rubber in contact with rough terrain. Don't be shy about having someone get out and spot you over things you can't see too, better to be safe than sorry.

 

[XJINTX]

Yes, ditto what Kodachrome says as it makes perfect sense. ESPECIALLY the reluctance of using a spotter. I'm pretty experienced offroad and always feel safer with a spotter (that I trust)

 

[W6USA]

This thread reminded me of this video. Posting it again for those who have not seen it yet.

 

[WyoIDI]

Holy Cow! I almost dirtied my shorts watching that video, thats about as close as it gets!!

 

[EDR]

That's a great video and a nice recovery. Hope the drive out was less dramatic.

 

[Ace!]

Gravity pulls the weight down, not back. 30-degrees would never be a problem for you.

 

[ntsqd]

In the greater scheme of things I don't disagree, but the physics of the situation are that with any slope to the bed that there is a component force applied parallel to the slope of the bed.

In this illustration Fy represents Gravity (with the arrow pointing in the opposite direction of true) and F represents the force trying to slide the camper out of the bed (again with the arrow head pointing opposite of true). The angle Θ will be the angle between horizontal (Fx) and F.

Since SINΘ = Fy/F then F = 1/(Fy*SINΘ); at F = 32 ft/s2 (accel of Gravity) and Θ = 30° then F = .0625 ft/s2
So a pretty small acceleration, but it does exist. Even with the mass of the camper multiplied by this acceleration the force won't be large, but tilt the truck more and suddenly that force will be quite large!

 

[Wallowa]

In the greater scheme of things I don't disagree, but the physics of the situation are that with any slope to the bed that there is a component force applied parallel to the slope of the bed.

In this illustration Fy represents Gravity (with the arrow pointing in the opposite direction of true) and F represents the force trying to slide the camper out of the bed (again with the arrow head pointing opposite of true). The angle Θ will be the angle between horizontal (Fx) and F.

Since SINΘ = Fy/F then F = 1/(Fy*SINΘ); at F = 32 ft/s2 (accel of Gravity) and Θ = 30° then F = .0625 ft/s2
So a pretty small acceleration, but it does exist. Even with the mass of the camper multiplied by this acceleration the force won't be large, but tilt the truck more and suddenly that force will be quite large!

I believe the Op's questions was whether or not his Tacoma would topple over on a steep grade...not whether his camper would "slide out" of the bed..hence, Ace's observation...

Really this is an interesting topic but one that can never definitively be answered...too many variables and empirical decisions are needed in each differing situation...

Just learn by doing.... In the end it will be entirely up to the driver making their best choices...

Phil