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Overlanding trailer - space trailer

Mgg253

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Has anyone used these?

spacetrailers

The 4xe and really likely any JLU has no room to bring what is required to get my wife camping with the kids. I am looking for a good solution for being able to bring more gear but not being locked down on where I can go. I can’t bring myself to drop serious coin on many overlanding trailers because at the end of the day it’s going to be used 4-5 times per summer and if I’m lucky a few more time on longer trips by myself. I like that these are lightweight and can be stored compactly. It sure would make a multi day camp out with the fam much easier. I am worried about the lack luster suspension, but being so lightweight I feel like it would be easy to drag over sh!t and not worry too much about damage other than scraping. I looked into RTT on the jeep, but not sure I want to go that way because I like taking my roof off on a whim and when I’m camping, wheeling during the day is half the fun!

my last camp trip was 1 day in a campground with my wife and kids followed by 3 nights of wheeling/roaming with just me and a friend in the the Rockies without much of an agenda. We did multiple passes and stayed different places each night, but my wife would never commit to that without a more established base

give me your thoughts!! I am open to hearing any other ideas, and I’m very handy… my other consideration is to build something myself. The problem is time to do that, I have a lot of hobbies and adding another project may be like signing my own death warrant with my wife. Building something would have to be a massive savings and at the price of the space trailer I have a hard time justifying it.
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Reinen

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No experience with these but I can see why it's interesting.

The biggest thing that concerns me are those bars. They look really flimsy and they only rate them for 225 lbs dynamic and 600 lbs static. It can barely hold a RTT moving and static with two people in it. Three people is definitely over. A RTT will be 125-200 lbs empty. Throw in some off-road bouncing and rocking, it might buckle.

I'd want more headroom between weight and rated weight for any sort of off-road use. It's probably fine for paved roads but off-road I'd be babying that trailer like crazy.
 

cornercanyon

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When the kids were little we had an expedition rack on our TJ. Went everywhere, including the White Rim Trail. Top on, top off. Worked great and the kids still talk about how much they loved that Jeep. Tent, chairs, ice chest, water, gas, kitchen box with plates, pots and more all atop. I would get something akin to a quality Gobi rack for half the cost of an inexpensive trailer—
 

kiese02

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Space trailer owner here and love it! Bought a nice used one for a vacation trip we took last December from Illinois to Arizona. Pulled it behind our 2020 JLUR and it pulled great. Very handy to manuever around and has tons of room. We stayed in a cabin tucked in the mountains and it had a 40 minute drive off pavement and did fine. Not sure i would want to pull it behind us on a serious trail but if using it for light trails/overlanding it would be a great trailer. Let me know if you have any questions and i will do my best to answer them.

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Mgg253

Mgg253

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Space trailer owner here and love it! Bought a nice used one for a vacation trip we took last December from Illinois to Arizona. Pulled it behind our 2020 JLUR and it pulled great. Very handy to manuever around and has tons of room. We stayed in a cabin tucked in the mountains and it had a 40 minute drive off pavement and did fine. Not sure i would want to pull it behind us on a serious trail but if using it for light trails/overlanding it would be a great trailer. Let me know if you have any questions and i will do my best to answer them.

Jeep Wrangler JL Overlanding trailer - space trailer 20201225_123240
Looks awesome! Are you worried about trails because of the strength of the build or limited by suspension and clearance? While I don’t picture hard core trails, some moderate ones will likely happen
 

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The Last Cowboy

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I would consider building off of this. There are a lot of videos and posts where people have built off of this frame. The price can be even lower if you take advantage of their sales and coupons.

https://www.harborfreight.com/autom...x-96-in-super-duty-folding-trailer-62647.html

The Space Trailer is nice and the specs look good. But that price is tough to swallow for what you get. As far as finding a used one, I’ve never seen one. I’m always looking at used utility trailers as I’m looking for another to replace my old one. Mine is strictly a work/utility trailer and not worth trying to do a build on.
 

GATORB8

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May be worth checking outdoorsy to see if there's one (or something similiar) available for rental near you.

We've been talking about getting something and my plan is to try a couple options to see what we really would want. In our area, there's a pretty decent selection of small trailers for ~$75/night. Hiker, teardrops, FR NoBo, and who'd have thought, a 2019 Space for $60/night.

https://www.outdoorsy.com/rv-rental...ng?quote=4802599c-3722-11ec-a905-bec2fdffdeda
 
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Mgg253

Mgg253

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I would consider building off of this. There are a lot of videos and posts where people have built off of this frame. The price can be even lower if you take advantage of their sales and coupons.

https://www.harborfreight.com/autom...x-96-in-super-duty-folding-trailer-62647.html

The Space Trailer is nice and the specs look good. But that price is tough to swallow for what you get. As far as finding a used one, I’ve never seen one. I’m always looking at used utility trailers as I’m looking for another to replace my old one. Mine is strictly a work/utility trailer and not worth trying to do a build on.
Was looking at building starting with this frame, for ease of working on it I am limited by materials so I do worry about weight and how compactly I can easily store it.

May be worth checking outdoorsy to see if there's one (or something similiar) available for rental near you.

We've been talking about getting something and my plan is to try a couple options to see what we really would want. In our area, there's a pretty decent selection of small trailers for ~$75/night. Hiker, teardrops, FR NoBo, and who'd have thought, a 2019 Space for $60/night.

https://www.outdoorsy.com/rv-rental...ng?quote=4802599c-3722-11ec-a905-bec2fdffdeda
This is a great idea… for 5k that’s a lot of rental nights when I’d use it for maybe 10 per year! Plus no storage or maintenance
 

brewski

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I'm a guy with a wife, 3 young kids and a dog. I've been using a trailer since 2016 and it is helpful, but can be limiting sometimes. I have an m416 I built up to basically be a truck bed with a lid that has power to run a fridge; its super helpful. I can pack all I need into the jeep if it is just my 5yo (oldest) and wife and I going, and that works for 2week long trips.

These space trailers look like a good value, but I would be very hesitant to take it on anything that is more than a fireroad. Not they aren't well built, but they don't look strongly built for more rigorous trails. BUT, I haven't seen on in person, just going off what I see on their website. Pics of my trailer when I had a JK, no pics of it with the JL. Currently reworking parts of it to make it match the JL better, like machining the hubs out so I can put in M14 studs on my trailer hub.

And trailer maintenance is easy, next to nothing you have to do if its good to go w/o needing replacement brakes, hubs etc but even that is easy peasy. Only thing you need to do is grease the hubs, on my current configuration I don't even have to take a wheel off to do that. Storage can be an issue. I store mine in the garage which takes up a car spot. I live in the PNW so lots of rain and don't want to store it outside for that reason, but you can easily do that if you have the space.

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Jeep Wrangler JL Overlanding trailer - space trailer Jeep-trailer
 
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kiese02

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Looks awesome! Are you worried about trails because of the strength of the build or limited by suspension and clearance? While I don’t picture hard core trails, some moderate ones will likely happen
The Space trailer is very well built but it has a basic dexter trailer axle under it and that does create limitations when it comes to harder technical terrains. (That is where Timbren axles come in handy!) I was in the same position you were in when i started my offroad trailer research. I had looked at building a trailer or buying a true offroad trailer and i kept having a hard time spending major money on something i would only use a few times a year. The wife stepped in when she saw what a true offroad trailer would cost and gave me a budget # to work with and that is how I stumbled upon the Space trailers. I was able to find a 1 year old trailer being sold 150 miles from me and bought it at a great price. I could easily resell it for a profit if i had to. They hold their value and have a cult following! Another thing i really liked about the Space trailer is that it's able to be pulled at interstate highway speeds! (Something many utility trailers can not do safely) If you really plan to do more serious offroad trails beyond mild to semi mild fire roads i personally don't think you would be happy with a Space trailer without some modifications. I decided that we would park our trailer at a base camp and take our JLUR out to explore from there, thus the reason i went the route i did. I hope this helps you out! If you have more questions or would like more pics of anything let me know.
 

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kiese02

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The Space trailer is very well built but it has a basic dexter trailer axle under it and that does create limitations when it comes to harder technical terrains. (That is where Timbren axles come in handy!) I was in the same position you were in when i started my offroad trailer research. I had looked at building a trailer or buying a true offroad trailer and i kept having a hard time spending major money on something i would only use a few times a year. The wife stepped in when she saw what a true offroad trailer would cost and gave me a budget # to work with and that is how I stumbled upon the Space trailers. I was able to find a 1 year old trailer being sold 150 miles from me and bought it at a great price. I could easily resell it for a profit if i had to. They hold their value and have a cult following! Another thing i really liked about the Space trailer is that it's able to be pulled at interstate highway speeds! (Something many utility trailers can not do safely) If you really plan to do more serious offroad trails beyond mild to semi mild fire roads i personally don't think you would be happy with a Space trailer without some modifications. I decided that we would park our trailer at a base camp and take our JLUR out to explore from there, thus the reason i went the route i did. I hope this helps you out! If you have more questions or would like more pics of anything let me know.
 
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Mgg253

Mgg253

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The Space trailer is very well built but it has a basic dexter trailer axle under it and that does create limitations when it comes to harder technical terrains. (That is where Timbren axles come in handy!) I was in the same position you were in when i started my offroad trailer research. I had looked at building a trailer or buying a true offroad trailer and i kept having a hard time spending major money on something i would only use a few times a year. The wife stepped in when she saw what a true offroad trailer would cost and gave me a budget # to work with and that is how I stumbled upon the Space trailers. I was able to find a 1 year old trailer being sold 150 miles from me and bought it at a great price. I could easily resell it for a profit if i had to. They hold their value and have a cult following! Another thing i really liked about the Space trailer is that it's able to be pulled at interstate highway speeds! (Something many utility trailers can not do safely) If you really plan to do more serious offroad trails beyond mild to semi mild fire roads i personally don't think you would be happy with a Space trailer without some modifications. I decided that we would park our trailer at a base camp and take our JLUR out to explore from there, thus the reason i went the route i did. I hope this helps you out! If you have more questions or would like more pics of anything let me know.
Sounds very similar to my situation. Wish I could find a used one!
As for “serious “ trails, moderate is my jam with the fam and likely max with trailer attached, the day disconnected is for anything more. The two most commonly visited places I would camp ive seen other off-road trailers up so I imagine this could certainly make it, even if a little slower
 

kiese02

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Good luck in your search. I know there is a facebook group called Space Trailer Fans and people have posted some for sale on there in the past. I literally stumbled upon mine on facebook marketplace.
 

alksion

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I contemplated the same thing as you. In post number four in the thread I linked below, I’ve given a few additional options you might consider as well. If you’re looking for something that’s just going to allow for extra space and might be able to add a rooftop tent, I think the space trailer may fit the bill with some minor modifications since you mentioned your handy.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/turtleback-expedition-and-jlu-towing-capacity.73396/

For me, I actually did consider it. It’s on my list in post number four as the cheapest option. But after doing all my research, I realized that if I spent even three or four grand, I wouldn’t ultimately get what I wanted.

Of course, I ended up with a $30,000 plus Turtleback trailer and it truly doesn’t make sense for most people, but I considered every option for about two months until I made a decision.

As mentioned, the space trailers seem to hold their value well. Why not make the purchase, take it out a few times and see if it will at least accomplish what you’re looking for in a trailer? Of course it has major shortcomings, but it’s also an economical choice.

I would say buy the space trailer, see how it works for you, then decide if you need to move up in class. Building your own just takes way too much time. If you have the time and you really enjoy doing these type of things, then by all means go for it, but I don’t necessarily have the skill or the time for such a build.

Looking forward to finding out what trailer you end up going with. I really enjoy being outdoors and I’m excited to have a convenient option to take me out there more often.

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GATORB8

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Was looking at building starting with this frame, for ease of working on it I am limited by materials so I do worry about weight and how compactly I can easily store it.



This is a great idea… for 5k that’s a lot of rental nights when I’d use it for maybe 10 per year! Plus no storage or maintenance
Just booked a Rove Lite for next weekend in Uwharrie, reminded me of this thread and figured I check in on your decision.
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