The new money pit... 2010 Forest River Take-it-EZ mini toy hauler

[JoshT]

Bought my first camper Friday...

...and what a mistake that was!


Grew up camping with Boy Scouts and family. Always in a tent with scouting. Family started in a tent and eventually graduated to a popup then a small 5th wheel. After graduating high school I enrolled in college, joined the workforce. Regretfully I let that get in the way of going and doing, pretty much stopped with the camping aside from sleeping on the couch in the parents camper a time or two a year. Wanted to go with them more, but also needed my own space. Tent camping wasn't really in the picture anymore. I don't mind sleeping on the ground, but I hate the time involved in packing and setup/teardown of camp. It's difficult to want to pack and setup for a weekend to spend all of a day camping before taking it all back down, especially when you're going solo and doing all of it yourself. Add to that I just can't sleep worth a damn any more with out AC.

I needed a camper. I didn't want just any camper, I wanted a toy hauler to take along my ATV or motorcycle. I wanted something small enough that I could still pull it behind my Ranger. I was pretty much going to have to build to get what I wanted. By build I mean buying a cargo trailer and converting it. If I was building I only wanted to do it once, which lead to the needed size growing. Quickly reached a point where it would no longer be a comfortable size to pull behind a Ranger. Kept overthinking and overanalyzing to the point of no action. Even if I could work around that, building takes time and space I don't really have to devote to it, and it would be months/year before I had something that was usable as a camper.

Last weekend I spotted this on FBMP. A 2010 Forest River Take-It-Ez 14 foot mini toyhauler.



Toyhauler big enough for my ATV or motorcycle... Check
Small enough to pull behind the Ranger... Check (at leas I think so)
Ready to use... Mostly (I thought)

Not big enough for the future toy I want to build, but cost about the same as a base trailer for a CTC and gets most everything else I wanted. After a woefully inadequate inspect in the rain this past Friday, I paid the man and drug it home.

It is a very basic setup. Not much more than a tear drop camper except for the fact that it's big enough to put a motorcycle or ATV inside. Interior is sparce, no bathroom, no kitchen, no tables or furniture. Basically the way I was going to build it if I had done so. It does have a TV, refridgerator, AC, and heater in the "garage"/sleeping compartment, but got to BYOB (bring your own bed). There is a basic "chuck wagon" kitchen underneath the hatch on the front. Tounge is removable for working in the kitchen. If you need a bathroom or shower, better hope the park's facilities are working. That's basically how I was going to build my CTC, so no real loss there.

Biggest drawback to the design of this trailer is the headroom. It was designed to be parked inside a standard residential garage, so it's short. Inside ceiling height is only about 5.5 foot tall, so my 6 foot tall self won't be able to fully stand up inside. I'm not going camping to hang out in the trailer, and I wouldn't be able to stand up fully in a tear drop camper or most dome tents either. That short height makes for a lot less drag making it easier to pull behind a smaller vehicle. While it might be a little tight, I'm choosing to see it as a net positive.

As for pulling. Haven't tried it behind the Ranger yet, got to fix the brakes on that first. The trailer should have a dry weight of around 2200 lbs and GVWR of 3500 lbs, within the specs of the Ranger and should be good behind the F-100 too. I can say that it pulled great behind the F-150, truck barely even knwe it was there. It was about a 30 mile drive back to my house and didn;t really even take a hit in the MPG department which was unexpected.

Unfortunately it's been raining for most of the past week, and this weekend has been noexception. Since I haven't been able to take anything but the picture above, here's some more photos from the listing:







Morotcycle not mine or included, just threw that picture in for size refrence. Bed isn't either, but I'd have wanted my own anyway. Awning included and will be nice to have, though I intend to rig some tarps for a quick and easy setup. One of the motorcycle chocks was included, not that I currently need it, mine hasn't moved since 2014.

That's the introduction. I'll get into the being a mistake part in the next installment, once weather clears up and I can get some pictures of the problems. Simply put, I was apparenlty wearing blinders when I inspected it. While it's (hopefully) usable for now, it's possibly going to turn into a full gut and rebuild. I can't honestly accuse the seller of trying get one over one me, while he did, I seriously doubt he noticed the issues that I have since getting it home.

 

[superj]

That looks perfect dor a base camp

 

[Li'l Work Truck]

That is definitely a Bike Week camper! Pretty sweet setup. What's it weigh? Looks very tongue heavy.

 

[RobbieD]

I really like that rig. I think that you did good with it.

 

[JoshT]

That looks perfect dor a base camp

That's the idea. I'm not much for going and sitting around camp. I prefer to use as base camp and go see places in the area. That's why I decided I'm not too concerned about the low ceiling height. Most of my time spent inside should be sleeping or getting out of the weather, so sitting or laying down.

 

[Li'l Work Truck]

That's the idea. I'm not much for going and sitting around camp. I prefer to use as base camp and go see places in the area. That's why I decided I'm not too concerned about the low ceiling height. Most of my time spent inside should be sleeping or getting out of the weather, so sitting or laying down.

This holds no real value and is not something I expect anyone to do, but it is semi-common for "floor pockets" in some homebuilt teardrop trailers to provide a "standing" area for getting dressed inside the camper.

 

[JoshT]

That is definitely a Bike Week camper! Pretty sweet setup. What's it weigh? Looks very tongue heavy.

Previous owner definitely used it for that. Me, not so much. Something like our forum gatherings is about as close to a rally as I want to get. I do intend to remove the Harley decals (they're everywhere), I doubt I'll ever own and wouldn't want to advertise it if I did. If I can fix the problems and it pans out I'll probably do some type of outdoorsy wrap.

Weight and balance are some of those questions I have right now.

Factory specs I've found show that it should be around 2200lbs dry weight, with a 3500lb GVWR. It should still be close to that, but I'm not sure how much extra it's carrying around in the floor below the front galley. After getting it home I found a puddle below the water tank up front and closer inspection it's sagging and showing signs of having been leaking for a while. I'm not sure where it was coming in at, and doubt the PO even knew since he he kept it parked under cover when storing. Most of the garage floor area is solid and no sign of leakage in the area, but there are two soft spots back by the ramp door. Not sure how much will have to be removed and replaced to fix all of it.

Yes, empty is is going to be very tongue heavy, but SHOULD be well manageable by the tow vehicle. All equipment is located in front of the door, from there back is the "garage". The garage compartment is pretty well centered over the axle, so between gear and toy, should be able to get the balance where it needs to be. It's also not helping that the drawbar on the truck is probably too low for the trailer.

I'll admit that I wasn't expecting the truck to sag quite as much as it did. This is the first time I've ever put a real load behind it. Dad definitely hauled heavier with it. His tractor and trailer is much heavier than a camper, but that trailer also has more ground clearance and it was either loaded or unloaded, not nose heavy. They pulled their 24' bumper pull with it, but he also used a weigth distributing hitch when doing it. Don't think one of those with this camper since the tounge is a removable piece. Might end up getting some of those assist springs to put on the back axle and help keep it level.

It's also not helping that I don't think the trailer ride height is where it is supposed to be. I've got the reciept and order form where PO had axle replaced. It looks like two thing may have happened when it was replaced. One is that he ordered the wrong axle specs. It's a Dexter Torflex and the correct weight, but looks to me like he ordered it for the wrong height. That or is'd completely worn out int he last 4 years. Another is that it looks like the shop may have bubbaed the install. When I looked last night it appeared that the axle was welded direct to the frame, not bolted in with the usual Dexter side mount brackets. If that happened I'm not sure that they put the axle back in the correct location.

Kind of need it at the correct ride height to get the right draw bar. Already looking at options for correcting, or improving rider height. Eventual answer is replacement axle with correct height, but it'll almost 1k and have to be made to order. After the hit of purchasing the thing and its questionable future dur to other damages, that's not on the table at the moment. A lift kit would help for now, but if the install was bubbaed like I expect, then the lift brackets won't work.

If possible new axle is going to come during/after the other repairs that are needed. I'm already considering alternative options for that. Leaf spring axle would be cheap not sure that the frame is build to handle it and I think it would be too tall. If I'm going to have to spend close to 1k for an axle, I'm in the range of Timbren axle-less suspension which brtings a lot of advantages acording to the literature.

 

[JoshT]

I really like that rig. I think that you did good with it.

Thank you, but no, I got my a$$ handed to me. The at home inspection shows I'd have come out better if I'd lit that cashiers check on fire.

It would have been a good purchase if I only had minor repairs and upgrades to do. Riping out the floor to replace it is going to cost at least a few hundred in materials, that's assuming that I can caregully remove and reuse a lot of the interior that is there. Considering that I will likely upgrade, and improve other stuff while in there, probably a few thousand. New axle is going to be 1K plus what ever other costs I'm going to have to far out to support replacement. The entire liftgate section probably has to be removed so that frame cracks I missed can be repaired. Who knows how much time all of that will take and or what else I'll find while doing it

Fortunately it doesn't have to be done right now, I know it can be done, and I probably have a place to do it.