InTech O-V-R Trailer opinion (1 Viewer)

[FrazzledHunter]

We found out that a dealer local to us carried inTech RV’s and had a few that interested us in stock.
We took a hard look at the O-V-R Expedition.
inTech O-V-R Adventure RV - https://intech.com/rv/models/ovr/expedition/

The trailer and options ticked all of our boxes but I noticed a couple of things that made me a bit nervous. The 2 issues were: rust on the suspension and placement of the propane and other hoses. The suspension is Dexter which is good IMHO. But with regard to the hoses it looks to me like they would catch on and/or be bumped by all kinds of things. I’d be satisfied with either metal or fiberglass skid plates to protect them but doing that on my own would certainly void any warranty. The dealer is very accommodating and might do a skid-plate mod (we bought our first travel trailer from them) but I didn’t bring it up as I was just kicking the tires, so to speak.

This is advertised as a new off-road-capable trailer. So what do you think?

 

[80t0ylc]

Depends on what you consider to be "off road capable". Maybe to the secluded lake or campground with forest service roads access. But any even slightly challenging terrain, would, in my opinion, be over extending it's capability. That particular dual axle design is NOT very off road worthy. I don't see ANY springs, leaf or coil! And are those welds? In rough terrain, wheels would be off the ground part of the time at best and IMHO, they are supposed to be load bearing, for weight distribution, so the frame would be stressed significantly with the added vibration of off road travel. With the quality of trailers being manufactured today, plus the rust on the suspension shown in your pics, I'd have serious doubts that this trailer would survive more than a couple of seasons, at best.

 

[FrazzledHunter]

Depends on what you consider to be "off road capable". Maybe to the secluded lake or campground with forest service roads access. But any even slightly challenging terrain, would, in my opinion, be over extending it's capability. That particular dual axle design is NOT very off road worthy. I don't see ANY springs, leaf or coil! And are those welds? In rough terrain, wheels would be off the ground part of the time at best and IMHO, they are supposed to be load bearing, for weight distribution, so the frame would be stressed significantly with the added vibration of off road travel. With the quality of trailers being manufactured today, plus the rust on the suspension shown in your pics, I'd have serious doubts that this trailer would survive more than a couple of seasons, at best.

Yeah "off road capable" is kind of a moving target sort-of meaning what you want it to mean LOL. This trailer looks like it's capable of more than just pavement but not capable of "rock crawling", so to speak. But we're not rock crawlers; we're looking for something a bit more rugged than your typical travel trailer.

Regarding the welds - yes indeed they are welds and the manufacturer touts it as being really great! I hadn't considered resultant stresses on the frame in severe off-road conditions given the suspension design. That suspension is an "upgrade", btw. I have no idea what their standard suspension consists of. Maybe their std. suspension is actually better for us.

Manufacturers who don't offer pictures of their undercarriage really make me wonder. It strikes me as if they're trying to hide something. Looks like my hesitation was justified.

Thanks for your insight!

 

[ntsqd]

Depends on what you consider to be "off road capable". Maybe to the secluded lake or campground with forest service roads access. But any even slightly challenging terrain, would, in my opinion, be over extending it's capability. That particular dual axle design is NOT very off road worthy. I don't see ANY springs, leaf or coil! And are those welds? In rough terrain, wheels would be off the ground part of the time at best and IMHO, they are supposed to be load bearing, for weight distribution, so the frame would be stressed significantly with the added vibration of off road travel. With the quality of trailers being manufactured today, plus the rust on the suspension shown in your pics, I'd have serious doubts that this trailer would survive more than a couple of seasons, at best.

Torflex axles are listed, they don't have exposed springs because they are torsion axles. Likely the std. suspension is trailer springs, which will offer the worst possible ride. Be wary of your eggs breaking and your beer being foamed!

That rather ugly, bubbly stuff is spray foam. The welds are clearly GMAW, likely a spool gun, on the aluminum frame. Those black smudge marks are a clear indicator of this. I'm not a fan of AL frames on trailers or bicycles, but there's enough examples out there that prove my concerns to be a pretty low probability. Still, I won't own one of either.

 

[80t0ylc]

@ntsqd pointed out the torsion axles which I missed. I do like the aluminum cage as a opposed to a wood cage. If you can get an independent review and test it might tell you more for a gut feeling. I just keep thinking about the junk that's being manufactured today. It seems that for high quality, there's usually a waiting list. It's a good thing you're not thinking of rock crawling adventures with this sort of trailer. It's quite heavy and large for that sort of thing. For some people, the temptation of an off road challenge looms in their mind with the knowledge that their trailer is more rugged than the standard travel trailer and with inTech calling it "Expedition", well, at least out west you can get in trouble rather quickly if you go exploring off road in unfamiliar territory.

 

[FrazzledHunter]

@ntsqd pointed out the torsion axles which I missed. I do like the aluminum cage as a opposed to a wood cage. If you can get an independent review and test it might tell you more for a gut feeling. I just keep thinking about the junk that's being manufactured today. It seems that for high quality, there's usually a waiting list. It's a good thing you're not thinking of rock crawling adventures with this sort of trailer. It's quite heavy and large for that sort of thing. For some people, the temptation of an off road challenge looms in their mind with the knowledge that their trailer is more rugged than the standard travel trailer and with inTech calling it "Expedition", well, at least out west you can get in trouble rather quickly if you go exploring off road in unfamiliar territory.

Thanks for the reply.
It was the aluminum frame that originally caught my notice but I'm wondering about condensation & mold as every aluminum member is a heat pipe to the outside. I haven't found out how they insulate the walls or if the inside walls actually touch the aluminum framing. The other thing I thought was weird that I mentioned in my OP was the exposed gas lines. I'm thinking they should have been at least run along the framing members. Even our first trailer had that.

I did notice and look up the Dexter torsion axles but couldn't get a sense of how tough they were. I took time to find out the suspension design after almost buying a Black Series. It turns out the suspension on a Black Series is quite rugged but entirely manufactured and sourced in China meaning you can't get spare parts. There were other issues with that brand but I learned to check out the suspension.

Regarding "off road: the plan is to get the trailer to a trailer park, possibly a remote one and go further with just the LC and tent. Unless it's to bear country . I hate bears. I've dealt with them. But I get it this trailer isn't for stream crossing or mountain climbing.

Regarding "junk" made today. I know. We owned a trailer (a Keystone Hornet 33F) from 2002-2018 and have seen & heard it all. Stuff was mostly junk then with a couple of exceptions like those made by Newmar. It's why we've been so hesitant to get back in to trailering.

Maybe a call to the manufacturer is in order. I also have a couple of electrical questions that are a bit esoteric.

 

[ntsqd]

Cold Path can happen with any metal frame. It is one of the reasons why Alaskans are still made with wood frames. Aluminum happens to be a better thermal conductor than is steel, so the effects are more pronounced.

Generally the Torflex axles are tough enough for most all uses. Can get into the axle chosen needing to have bigger wheel bearings for truly off-road use, but that happens with pretty much any suspension design. Years ago A/T made a stink about one that supposedly de-vulcanized the rubber allowing the whole spindle/lever/bar assembly to walk out of the housing. To my knowledge pictures of this event have never been found. Though slowly dissipating the bad word continues to reverberate on the net (dig deep enough here and you'll find discussions about it). Coincidentally this supposed event happened not long before A/T came out with their own trailer suspension design. Draw your own conclusions.

I can tell you that the Torflex under our tiny, light TrailBlazer tent trailer (there's a thread here on those) had shocks added to it almost as soon as the OP took possession. Since then it has been all over the South-West, up and down Baja several times, Copper Canyon, and clear up to the Oregon Coast without any trouble. I suspect that IF the Torflex de-vulcanization did happen that it did not happen by the method reported as that would be impossible. The most likely way for something like that claim to happen would be from excessive heat. I can't prove it, but I suspect that adding shocks moves enough heat out of the rubber and puts it in the shocks, which is what they do - turn motion energy into heat, that the possibility of over-heating the rubber in the axle is very low.
I somehow doubt that you're going to be towing a trailer like what you're looking at down a wash-board road fast enough for any of this to be a problem.

Hangy-down parts seems to be the default design choice with U.S. RV designers. They don't have to deal with the results of customers taking the trailer where their marketing people imply that it can go and I'm sure that any warranty claims are denied as "Use beyond the intended scope" or some such similar wording. From a mfg perspective routing the propane lines thru holes in the frame to tuck them up better is a problem for assembly (slower, more steps involved) and a problem for long-ish term durability (dissimilar metals or abrasion). Better would be for those lines to be inside.

 

[smritte]

I'll throw in something I ran into with a friends trailer and the dexter torsions.
He's the 2nd owner and I dont remember the trailer brand but that frame looks the same.
There are two spring rates from dexter ( I had to call them), 3K and 4k (I think, its been a while).

Pavement it was fine, dirt road at 5mph it would bounce side to side so hard the wheels would leave the ground. He took it to a trailer shop and was told, the torsions were reindexed to raise it. When they were put in proper, their wasn't enough spring rate to keep the suspension from bottoming out.
I spoke with dexter, and we ordered the heavier spring. This ended up being too stiff.

While I was speaking with them I asked about reindexing the torsion for height. The lady there said, people are doing it for their off road trailers but its not recommended.
swapping in new axle and suspension would be fine if I could weld aluminum. For right now, it just bounces along but not as bad as original.

 

[ntsqd]

Put some shocks on it. I am convinced from my lone example that this is the single best thing that can be done with these axles.

 

[FrazzledHunter]

Put some shocks on it. I am convinced from my lone example that this is the single best thing that can be done with these axles.

Great feedback thanks all!

Is there a "standard" way to do this? I looked at Dexter's website and it doesn't look like there a simple bolt-on way add shocks. My guess is that anything I did that involved welding etc... would void the warranty.

EDIT: a look around the internet showed that adding shocks to Dexter axles has been done and has been talked about. One source said Airstream had at one time engineered a proper shock absorber solution for torsion axles. But this looks to me like a job for an expert.

 

[ntsqd]

It's not all that difficult to do this. How they were added to our TrailBlazer:

For an AL frame you can likely make the upper mounts bolt-on, although if they are made from steel you will want to keep them from direct contact or you risk setting up a galvanic corrosion problem.