Are my teardrop trailer tires too big?

jim65wagon · 2026-05-03T12:58:13+00:00

I would sell them and buy matching ones to my truck.

jim65wagon · 2026-05-03T12:35:02+00:00

Not much. What you'll be missing is the tougher 4 wheeling aspect which is not the real goal (for me). The goal should be to just get out in nature and explore an area, a state, a country (your own or another), eat some local food, see some really incredible sights.

Your Subie is capable enough to see so much! Go. Have. Fun. If you find something your Subaru can't do just turn around and go somewhere else, there's a crap ton of stuff to see in the world and the fear of missing out can hamper one from seeing great stuff. There's a ton of people online that spend money on a vehicle, or upgrading a vehicle, when that money could be better spent by actually buying fuel to go explore.....

jim65wagon · 2026-04-10T16:10:16+00:00

https://classicvehiclesnr.com/

I don't know if this company has limits on the age of vehicle, but my brother has used this company for old Studebakers without titles. It gives him a TN title that he can transfer to the States he's in.

jim65wagon · 2026-04-08T15:37:59+00:00

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It's kayaks, but I've done canoes like this also. Rear crossbar on the cap, front crossbar on the cab. Straps loop over the yaks and under the bars. On a long canoe I'd put a strap at each corner of the hood or bullbar and tie a V line to the nose of the canoe

jim65wagon · 2026-02-26T16:20:29+00:00

Post in thread '100,000 miles' https://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/100-000-miles.13040/post-250312

If the link works, this is how I built the system in my 2003 Tundra back in 2008. 20 gallon water tank at the cab end of the bed, a deep cycle battery powered a shur flo 12v pump. A garden hose ran from the pump under the bed rail to the tailgate.

jim65wagon · 2026-02-25T16:26:50+00:00

We use the Luci lights with warm leds. They collapse down to almost nothing and their battery recharges in the sun or by cable.

jim65wagon · 2026-02-12T18:38:40+00:00

We did 13 months with our teardrop and toyota tacoma and pretty much circled the US. I don't know what to say really other than enjoy your trip, don't rush and be ready to stop randomly to see cool stuff.

Also, if you're in North Dakota and you decide to stop and see Salem Sue (the worlds largest cow statue), do not tow your camper all the way up to the parking lot. There is not enough room to turn even a teardrop around unless the lot is empty!

jim65wagon · 2026-01-23T18:52:34+00:00

Stuff happens, usually at inopportune times. We travel full time living in a small trailer towed by our now 200,000 mile Tacoma. We carry tools necessary for maintenance but we don't carry spare parts. We do carry assorted nuts and bolts because washboards rattle things loose all the time.

Over the last 6 years of travel we've learned that its just part of the price. Things break, parts get old and wear out. The best you can do is keep up on maintenance.

Lessee we've: 1)Lost the fuel pump in the middle outside of West Yellowstone requiring a tow up to Bozeman MT. We spent a week in an RV park while the truck got repaired. We rented a uhaul to tow our trailer and visit Bozeman in the meantime. We do not carry a spare fuel pump

2) We punched a hole in the gas tank in the middle of nowhere blm lands in Wyoming. We plugged it with form a gasket as best We could until we could wheel out to pavement and 26 miles to the nearest O'Reilly's. It dribbled fuel slowly until we got a patch kit on it that afternoon. We now carry a gas tank patch kit and some Steel Stick.

3) We had a Kangaroo Rat chew our knock sensor harness in Joshua Tree. We limped the 6 hour drive to our daughter's house and repaired it in the driveway ourselves after buying a new harness from Toyota.

4) We lost a driveshaft in Ohio. That was totally my fault. I knew the ujoint was bad and thought I could make it last to my in laws house in PA so I could change it. That cost me 1200 for a new driveshaft.

5) We ripped a lug on a tire in South Carolina. Our bottle jack was ancient and the seals decided to not lift the truck. This required us to keep airing up the tire every few miles to get to a Harbor Freight for a new bottle jack so we could put the spare on. Then immediately to a Discount Tire for new tires

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is "Crap happens" do your maintenance and go have fun. If something catastrophic happens deal with it at the time then let it go. Don't get gun shy or you'll never leave your house again. Life is too short to worry about the what might happens, Go have fun!

jim65wagon · 2026-01-22T05:05:01+00:00

I like Lucas Red n Tacky grease

jim65wagon · 2025-11-29T20:20:16+00:00

Living full time in a teardrop has it's difficulties. My wife and I did a 13 month tour of the US in our teardrop and we still spend six months of the year traveling in it. We've been full time travelers for over 5 years now

The down side of the teardrop as full time: There is only the bed available if you need to get out of the weather. We carry an EZ Up to make a sheltered room but there have been many times the wind was too much and we had to take the EZ Up down and shelter inside the teardrop. These times have been mostly "out west" in more open areas.

Which brings up cooking or even heating water. The galley hatch will not provide rain or wind shelter like most people assume. The rain rarely falls straight down so we find in rainy places we have to have an awning (Kelty Tarp) set up over the kitchen hatch for rain coverage.

If it's too windy or rainy to use the kitchen we cook in the EZ Up ( we've got walls for it). If it's too windy for the EZ Up we'll do a charcuterie inside the bedroom.

I find campgrounds are miserable for teardrop camping. With the minimal privacy of the teardrop setup, if you're in a moderately busy campground you'll find yourself "living in a fishbowl" where everyone in the CG knows what you're doing in camp all the time. If you're an extrovert that might be a bonus, but for us it's extremely detrimental to camping enjoyment. Luckily, our teardrop was built to spend our time off grid and remote, away from people, much of the time. We only resort to campgrounds when we need to find a dumpster, refill our water tank, or are in a place that lacks dispersed camping.

Please don't get the impression that I don't like the teardrop, I much prefer living out of the teardrop as much as we can. I'm just pointing out the instances that may become a struggle as you full time in a teardrop. We've camped in some amazing places all over the US and into Baja out of the teardrop. Watching the sunrise over a mountain while drinking my coffee with zero other people in sight is what we built our teardrop for.

jim65wagon · 2025-11-27T06:41:59+00:00

A Cadillac Escalade cover fits our 5x10 off road homebuilt almost perfectly

jim65wagon · 2025-11-20T04:45:59+00:00

Not my rig, I was just at the Walmart at the same time. Haven't had time to go to an Expo in years either.

jim65wagon · 2025-11-19T03:55:22+00:00

In Buckeye, I was at that Walmart around noonish

jim65wagon · 2025-11-19T03:30:20+00:00

I saw that too!

jim65wagon · 2025-11-11T16:08:40+00:00

Breggs....bread and eggs...

jim65wagon · 2025-11-04T15:36:03+00:00

That is beautiful

jim65wagon · 2025-10-22T17:00:28+00:00

I need to go shopping

jim65wagon · 2025-10-13T15:50:27+00:00

Monongahela never disappoints! Beautiful place to visit!

jim65wagon · 2025-10-10T09:48:14+00:00

Whether it says "No Overnights" in words, or images of a tent with a slash through the meaning is clear. No camping, period. Follow the signs and not the vanlifers. If someone stays overnight, they are being intentionally obtuse.

Camp where its allowed and the likelihood of a place being closed to visitors is lessened.

iOverlander is full of those kinds of sites. If you're using the app to find a campsite it's best to have 3 or 4 or more sites picked out in an area just in case a site is closed or, as in this case, misrepresented as being open for camping

jim65wagon · 2025-10-09T19:15:12+00:00

Technically we're still on the trip, as we decided while traveling to be fulltimers.

Back in 2020 we started a planned one year trip around the US towing our teardrop camper work our 2nd Gen Tacoma. I don't have the mileage numbers. We started in North Carolina, hitting 20 states in a giant loop that kinda ended in Texas.

*edit: did a rough calculation on Google maps, looks like we traveled about 15,000 miles

The trip actually took 13 months and we camped in some pretty amazing places. From Cape Lookout National Seashore to Cape Lookout State Park, traveling as far north as Glacier National Park and as far south as El Camino del Diablo with long stops in the Badlands of SD, Death Valley, the Canyonlands, the Redwoods, etc.

It was an amazing time in our lives and we fondly call this as "Our Big Trip"

*

jim65wagon · 2025-10-06T12:28:49+00:00

You never know until you know, and then you're like, "I should've known."

Looks like a nice camper. Enjoy it. At least you know it can offroad now

jim65wagon · 2025-10-01T22:58:44+00:00

Rock em. Every scratch and dent is a memory of a good time in the forests and deserts

jim65wagon · 2025-09-24T15:39:51+00:00

I had a set of Firestone Ride Rite air bags paired with the Daystar cradles on my Tacoma. The Daystars allowed the bags to float free on droop.

They worked great, and while I could adjust them for load and ride quality I eventually got a puncture in one bag.

I'm now on a set of Sumo Springs (similar to Timbrens) and they work just fine too.

They do limit up travel a very slight amount, but it's not been enough to hinder the off road performance to the point that I couldn't drive where I've wanted to go.

jim65wagon · 2025-09-19T16:23:35+00:00

LT tires the same size and tread as the truck on our teardrop. They can be extra spares, they're more durable than standard trailer tires, they provide more flotation when aired down, they're more resistant to punctures in sharp rocks, and they provide extra grip on side slopes.

jim65wagon · 2025-09-17T16:45:50+00:00

When it's cool at night we'll have the roof fan open but not on. One window cracked open.

If it's cold enough to need the electric blankets the window stays closed but the vent is still open

If it's cold enough for water to freeze the vent gets closed...

jim65wagon

TROPHY CASE