your thoughts on water crossings

ArkansasDon

Adventurist
I belong to another forum I visit "every once in while" it's all about small trailers. They had a thread on "Water Crossings" The question asked was...…" Is there anything special I need to do when building the teardrop to make it more suitable for water crossings?"

I know many or all of you have experienced water crossing whether pulling a trailer or just your vehicles. Sally & I made our fair share of calm water crossing in our adventures & we take them seriously, the approach & the exiting, I never crossed fast or deep water. We've had to make some detours because the water was moving too fast, or the oppisite side or both banks were completely washed out.

Back to the replies from the other forum "I agree that floating isn't a bad thing as long as the water is really fast." "A little bit of floating is not going to cause your trailer tires to loose contact with the ground. Your suspension will sag a bit before the tires loose traction."

Some of these replies do not make any sense at all. As for me I want my trailer tires in connect with the ground during a water crossing, & I sure don't want to cross fast water or deep water were it would cause problem to my vehicle. When I think of fast water, I think of flood related low water bridge crossin & how many deaths were cause by attempt.
 
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Funny you should post this today, the day I spent replacing tie rod ends that were, in part, ruined by a deep water crossing last year. The infamous Mojave River crossing at the end of the Mojave Road trail. Water level was half way up the headlights. See my avatar. Tomorrow, I will be changing gear oil in the diffs. Engine oil and auto trans oil are ok.....I think.
I seem to be able to make the correct decision regarding a "safe" crossing. However, as I am making the crossing all I can think about is the electrical, the diffs, the trans oil, and the rust (I drive an FJ55-made to rust).
Anyway. On a trailer I would think that fully greased hubs would be the rule of the day, like a boat trailer. Pre-spray all vuneralable areas including electrical wires and bulbs with WD40 or the like.
I would not cross fast water that would be as deep as the rocker panels. Just watch the news footage of flood events.
 
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Robert, my thoughts exactly
Chevurai, my vehicle sits @ stock height w\ some suspension up grades. For me, anything deeper than few feet would be risky for me I would hate to have engine stall or a mechanical issue in the middle of a crossing.
My trailer has no problem with water crossings, bottom has a solid rubber membrane that is wrapped on to the sides before they skinned it in alumunium siding. I moved the tail lights up on the cabin, when I re-done all the electrical trailer lighting wires I all soldered, shrink wrapped twice all joints & sealed with sealant.
I replaced all the original bearing grease with Bel Ray's Waterproof Axle Grease, I lifted the trailer trailer to get chassis height which is 24". It seems to do good w\o any issues. What is surprising to me is on the other forum the information given to others on water crossings is like what Robert replied "makes no sense". I agree Chevurai "I would not cross fast water that would be as deep as the rocker panels. Just watch the news footage of flood events."


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A trailer could be dried out theoretically, but a modern computer controlled transmission with factory vents has no business near any water over the wheel hub. Water is the devil. It's bad for the truck, bad for the trailer, and bad for the macro invertebrates. Like Nancy, just say no!
 
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