Towing a Conqueror UEV 14

First time poster. I searched and could not find.

We are thinking of purchasing a Conqueror UEV 14 camp trailer with a dry weight of 4300 lbs. Can anyone report on the mpg performance of their Tacoma at highway speeds pulling one of these or an equivalent like the OBI 13? These offroad trailers have the poptop which I assume improves the aerodynamics.

Our Taco is 4WD with tow package.

 

Pushing the limit at 4300LB

 

I used to have a NOBO 16.6 that weighed about 4300-4500 lbs loaded. Dry weight was a little under 4000. I'd get around 10 mpg towing it with my very similar 2007.

I'll say this much, that is right at the upper limits of what is practical for a Tacoma and would be more trailer than I'd want to pull at altitude. Your engine loses about 3% of its power for every 1000' above sea level. You start to notice it above 5000' and at 10,000' you're only getting 70% of your engines power due to the lack of oxygen in the air.

I pulled my trailer a few times with my Tacoma, but my F150 handled it a LOT better. And even the F150 was working hard in Colorado.

When thinking about a trailer it is your payload rating that matters more. There is a sticker on the driver's door jamb with a statement that reads something like (The combined weight of passengers and cargo should not exceed XXXX lbs.) The exact number varies depending on the individual truck, but most 2nd gen 4X4 DC trucks will fall between 1000-1300 lbs. My truck is rated for 1200.

Then figure 13% of the loaded trailer weight as tongue weight. Let's say you pack light, and the trailer actually weighs 4500 lbs. That is 585 lbs on your truck's suspension. That would leave 615 lbs for myself, my wife, and gear in my truck. My wife and I combined are 360 lbs leaving only 255 lbs for cargo and gear. I also have a 180 lb cap on my truck getting me down to less than 100 lbs to stay under the payload limit.

You can probably handle that trailer, but you may have to pack carefully, and you won't be able to carry 3 adult passengers in the cab with you. You don't give the GVWR of the trailer, but it is probably 5000 lbs +. You don't want to load it right to the max.

 

They're pretty trailers, but they're bulkier than the pictures show. Even fully folded they aren't exactly small (or light on the trails).

Personally I think that there are better options for that kind of money.

 

Thanks for the posts and feedback. We currently own an Aliner Ranger 12 that I've upgraded and modified with an independent trailing arm suspension with shocks and airbags, rebuilt cabinets, 200Ah AGM batteries, 240W removable solar panels and Isotherm DC fridge. Loaded at ~3,000 lbs, our Taco has pulled it well for many years. We don't have a garage so anything with pop-out canvas that can get wet is a non-starter for us in the western Oregon weather. The Conqueror UEV 14 has the perfect layout for us and our needs/interests. Eventually we may need to upgrade our tow vehicle, but for now we really love our Tacoma even if it means we have to go a little slower.

Other threads here and on ExpeditionPortal suggest the 6,000 lbs. towing capacity and 600 lbs. tongue weight of our Taco could tow the UEV 14 well enough but mpg is around 10, so not great.

All food for thought.

 

Everyone telling you it's really to heavy, people that have done it over and over. Decide as you want.....

 

My general philosophy is this: as amazing and cool and beefy as the off road campers are, I haven't met a trail yet where they can do better than my stock, cheap pop-up camper. That little ugly trailer up there can go (and has gone) anywhere that the Conqueror can go, or the Opus, or the Black Series, or any other hardcore brand. The only difference is that on occasion I have to clean the dust off my countertops after a long section of washboard, because my box isn't exactly the most sealed. It's probably not much different than your Ranger in that regard.

But a trailer is a trailer. No trailer can take extreme rocks or off-camber trails, no matter what the video brochures claim. Most trailers can take moderate trails with the occasional large rock. I would say that the heavier you go, the more you risk your truck frame.

Mine is about the same weight as your current one - about 3000 pounds plus maybe 100-200 depending on how full I run the water tank. And no matter how careful I drive, there has been the occasion once or twice where a trail took me by surprise and I landed on the bump stops, hard. And that's where I'm grateful for a middleweight trailer. Because if it was any heavier, chances are that the bigger tongue weight could have tweaked my frame.

So that's my personal perspective. The nice trailers are nice, but they aren't any more capable than your already nice Ranger 12. And the heavier you are, the less "out there" you can reach.

 

I am definitely listening and appreciating the feedback.

 

You sure you belong on this website? Most people get offended when their own opinion isn't echoed back at them. Just kidding.

My biggest gripe against the conqueror lineup isn't really the capability or the weight, it's the price tag.

I caught up to that 440 at Devil's Tower a couple days after I snapped that photo. So I went and talked to the owners. They of course loved theirs, and for the price of a full sized airstream I would certainly hope that they would be in love.

They showed off the interior, and yes, it's clever. It really is built well and has all kinds of neat ways of doing things. But in the back of my mind I'm watching them fold panels in and out, accessing this storage and that, and quietly thinking "this thing doesn't seem all that livable to me."

Trailers have a certain flow to them. When you cook a meal you expect a certain ergonomic way of doing things, same when setting the dinette, washing up, or going to bed. Every task has it's own little "triangle of space", where the things you need to access surround the space you need to do it in. The efficiency of the triangle is how quickly you can grab your pan, light the stove, pull the eggs from the cooler, and toss the shells in the trash - and how little motion you need to complete all of this. And the inside of the conqueror looked like there were way too many overlaps between those "task triangles" - it would be a constant disturbing and shuffling to get anything done.

To me, the novelty of that would wear out in a hurry. I think that this is where a lot of the off-road boutique trailers miss, and miss hard. Many are so wrapped up with how cleverly they can stow and protect your kitchen wares that they forget or sacrifice the ability to actually use the kitchen. It seems like so many are leaning towards "look at how many ways you can use this space because we can Go-Go-Gadget this room into something else!" And what they don't tell you is that all that cleverness means you have to ask your wife to stand outside for a minute so that you can turn down the bed.

So to sum up my very, very biased opinion
It's a niche trailer that isn't as ergonomic as it looks, it isn't any more trail capable, and it's horrendously expensive. On the plus side it's tough as nails, it will outlast your truck, your house, or a nuclear bomb, and it turns heads at the campsite. I'm not saying "don't buy it," I'm just saying that there are better trailers for the price.

 

No worries Rock Lobster.

The Conqueror UEV 440 and 490 have zero appeal to us for some of the reasons you listed plus a few more we don't like about them. To us, the UEV 14 is different and checks all of our boxes. We walked through an OBI Dweller 13 and 15 but didn't like the cramped dinette area. The table and dinette seating in the UEV 14 is very big and open in comparison. I wish the UEV 14 at 4300 dry weight and 5300 GVWR was lighter so our Taco doesn't have to work so hard.

The purpose of my post is to determine whether we can safely travel long distance on highways, byways and moderate dirt track pulling the UEV 14 until we can upgrade our TV in a few years. We are okay "cruising" at 65mph and slowing down further in high winds, I just don't want to cause an accident or have my Taco burnout on a BLM road 50 miles from black top. Other thread suggests its do-able but not ideal.

What really bothers me right now (without actually pulling this trailer yet) is the ~10 mpg it sounds like we should expect pulling that much weight despite the Conqueror's lower profile with its pop top compared to a typical travel trailer. Upgrading our TV just for the reason of improving gas mileage for a 5-8 mpg gain doesn't pencil out with the cost of a new pickup like a F-150 or equivalent.

Bottom line: we love the layout and features of the UEV 14 and so I want to know if we can reasonably "get by" towing it from Oregon to southern Utah on family vacations for a week or two here and there.

 

Get by? Absolutely. The Tacoma isn't the most comfortable when pulling anything above 4-4.5 k wet weight, but it'll do it. Anything between 60-100% max tow won't hurt the truck, it's just a little slower, it drinks a little more gasoline, and it fatigues the driver a little faster. That's it. The truck itself will be fine.



You'll get horrible milage as you already know. 65mph will mitigate that by a good amount. Good news is that it's such a dense trailer that unlike a full size TT, it won't try to countersteer you with every cross wind. But yes, it'll pull along the interstate without any other issue, I think.

Sounds like you have a good handle on the 14 and realistic expectations.

Post pictures when you get it.

 

No matter what you tow with the mpg is going to be lousy. You are towing heavy (for the Taco) and even good aerodynamics
isnt going to improve the mpg or at least not noticeably.
I don’t know the tongue weight of that trailer but I think with the tongue weight of the trailer loaded, passengers (family) and gear in the truck you may likely exceed the trucks GVWR and that may be problematic. You may want to check that out before purchasing the trailer.
Yes your truck can tow the weight , it’s under (not by much) the manufacturer tow capacity (don’t know about the GVWR). But towing that much weight plus the weight of passenger and equipment ain’t going to be fun. Towing will be stressful, fatiguing, anxious, tiring , not relaxing.
You would be better off with a bigger truck more suited and more capable of towing that trailer.
From what I can see that trailer is upwards of $80,000 out the door. Your truck is 17 years old, don’t know how many miles on it, and is worth 1/5 or less that of the trailer. Just my 2 cents worth (not trying to tell you what to do) but I’d consider a lesser and cheaper trailer that fit my needs and upgrading to a more substantial and more capable tow vehicle.
Lastly you should see if you can find a 5000+lb. trailer you can rent for a couple days and take a little trip. Then you’ll have a good idea if you really want to tow 5000+ lbs with your truck.

 

10, the answer is always 10.
Pulled a 3 horse slant with living quarters with an F350 dually/Diesel.....10
Whenever you push the limits of your tow vehicle......10 is the answer
You get 10 miles/gal and do a 500 mile round trip adventure
vs
You get 15 miles per gallon
Ok, so you spend $20,000+ on a travel trailer and $20+ a night for 10 nights at a campsite
The difference in gas cost at $4/gallon is $67
In the realm of things......does $67 really make a difference? It's all relative
Enjoy the adventure, don't worry about gas mileage

 

You will only be cruising at 65 under absolutely perfect conditions. If you want an exhausting experience, go for it. The first time we towed with our Ram, my wife commented on how quiet, comfortable, and boring the towing was. My personal opinion is if you can afford that trailer, you can afford the correct tow vehicle.

 

3500# (wet) Vorsheer XOC and Taco loaded to the gills (FSR 55in High Country RTT on the leitner rack with full gear pods), decked drawers fully loaded. My worst mileage was a few weeks ago in 55+ MPH crosswinds from Cheyenne to Casper, WY. 6.8 MPG. I am asking way too much of my Taco in those conditions (stock tune + gears, 32 in tires, 2.5 in OME-005 heavy lift, SPC UCAs). My average is 9 - 11.5 on the highway from Texas to Wyoming and the best I have ever done on a tank of gas towing was 13.

I looked at the OBi Dweller and a number of other off-road trailers (serious off road, not the shit boxes coming out of Elkhart, IA) and determined they were just too heavy for my use case. A tune and 5.29 gears are in my future if I keep the Taco. I'm considering converting a square body dually into a 4x4 single rear wheel to take advantage of that 7.4 liter goodness. My last trip through Wyoming in high wind was miserable and I was towing much less weight that you will be.
You will be fine if you just occasionally tow, but if you live out of your trailer or spend a significant amount of time traveling, you WILL be miserable with a stock Taco at the weights you are looking at. I highly recommend 5.29s, a tune, a ODBII monitor like the scan.gauge.II, and a quality brake controller like the Redarc Tow Pro Elite.

My setup (be full timing since May in this). Pic is from the LBJ Natl Grassland.

^ This. This man knows his towing.
81 GMC Dually 454 w/ 4 Speed and I get 10 no matter what (empty bed, full bed, 5000# trailer, 12,000# gooseneck, mountains, desert, uphill, downhill).

 

Thought I’d report back. After towing the Conqueror UEV-14 from north of Provo back to western Oregon with our 2006 Tacoma 4WD dbl cab with factory tow package and rear air bags, I can confidently report it towed just fine. All miles were on interstate. The worst fuel economy was 8 mpg on a sustained uphill in a headwind and the best was still a lousy 10.8. I averaged 70 mph but 65 through the Columbia Gorge. The rpm’s noticeably increased to about 2500 and upwards of 3500 on some uphill grades. Aside from poor fuel economy, the Tacoma performed well. I would not hesitate to head out on the open road again.

 

You're right about where I am at with my '21 TRD Sport w/ 275/70/17 KO2s, 2.5 OME lift, RTT and loaded bed + gear pods towing a 3500# squaredrop Vorsheer XOC. My worst was ~6.5 MPG from Cheyenne to Casper in 50-60MPH gusts. That was miserable.

I'm right around your average of 10.8 though. If I can get 12 MPG on a tank I am ecstatic. Next project are gears and a tune.