An offroad camper trailer is one of the best tickets you’ll ever buy to the adventure playground that we call home. Hooking up your camper trailer and heading away with your family is an incredible experience! However just like any type of vehicle, a 4×4 camper trailer needs regular maintenance and love to ensure you keep it in the best condition. Don’t stress though – camper trailer tips and tricks for maintenance aren’t hard to handle, and in fact you’ll be able to do all this camper trailer maintenance yourself at home with nothing more than basic hand tools.

From junk to absolute gem – anyone can add value to their 4WD camper trailer, and it starts right here – so grab your tools, wheel the old girl into the shed and turn your camper trailer back to the pride and joy it should be!

WHEEL BEARINGS

For us off-roaders, water would have to be the biggest wheel bearing killer we come across, and in fact it’s the number one cause of breakdowns and camper trailer problems – particularly if you only use your camper trailer once every couple of months. If the camper trailer’s hub assembly gets a mouthful of river water, the grease’s lubricating properties are severely affected.

The early warning signs are unmistakable, as water contaminated grease tends to turn white and cake up in clumps. If you don’t check your camper trailer wheel bearings fairly regularly, chances are you won’t know until it’s too late.

There are however, a few simple and easy preventative measures you can take to help your camper trailer wheel bearings last the test of time. Start by installing marine grade hub seals if your camper trailer doesn’t already have them, which are actually designed to handle the pressure of complete submersion under water. We’ll talk how to regrease and install camper trailer wheel bearings in another article as it’s worth not skipping over.

HOT TIP: INSTANT BEARING REPAIR KIT

Always carry a spare set of greased bearings for your camper trailer. If you have a packed set sealed in a sandwich bag, they are always ready to install whenever you ever need them, and there is no need for you to grease them in the bush.

WHEELS AND TYRES

There’s the obvious signs of wear and tear on your camper trailer tyres, such as tread running close to wear indicators, but make sure you inspect both tyres inside and out for slices, cuts and potential weak spots. With older tyres, check for sidewall fatigue, which can happen if the camper trailer’s been sitting in the front yard with low tyre pressures for too long.

Buying second hand tyres has to be done with caution. Quite often they’re cheap because they’ve been sitting round for a good while. The best to way check if they’re not too old is to test if the tread blocks are still soft – or to check for the date code on the side of your camper trailer tyres.

Should you need to replace your tyres and wheels, why not put on a set to suit your 4WD setup? This essentially means you’re always carrying two spares wherever you go – matching your camper trailer tyres to your 4WD.

SUSPENSION

Your suspension is arguably this most vital component of your trailer, and really needs to be given the correct attention. First up, check the wear on your springs by ensuring the camper trailer is not sagging or sitting unevenly.

With your camper trailer shocks, inspect the shock mounts for cracks, then check if the shocks are leaking fluid or have any physical damage. Bent shocks are a common problem, and need to be replaced immediately.

Also have a good look at your offroad camper trailer’s bushes – if you think they might be getting old, it’s cheaper to replace them now before they fully give way, which can cause damage to more expensive components.

If you get in the habit of conducting these checks on your camper trailer after you come back from a trip, and ideally a couple of weeks before an upcoming camper trailer adventure, you’ll minimise the risk of camper trailer problems arising and ensure that your holiday will go as smoothly as possible.

In Part 2 of our guide to easy ways to look after your 4×4 camper trailer, we’ll delve further into the world of camper trailer ownership, what to look for on your camper trailer and how to keep your offroad camper trailer in tip-top shape!