Thread: camper trailer stone guard

I thought I'd try a full-width (1.8m) 6mm insertion rubber stone guard mounted on a bar attached to the tow-bar. Gravel cannot pass between the top of the guard and the bumper yet even though there is only 120mm between the guard and the ground, at 100 kph some gravel is thrown high quite close to and all the way across the vehicle. I suspect that low-flying gravel is striking the road then bouncing high. I will try again tomorrow at 80 kph but I'm not hopeful that this guard will work well enough to be of any use.

The big mudflap has been scrapped. The bar will be fitted with a much shorter and lightweight flap to fill the gap between the bar and bars that are now on the van. The van bars are held forward by gas struts that fold back during cornering when pushed against the vehicle bar or can be folded past an over-centre position against the drawbar for quick access to the rear of the vehicle. Now need to obtain some appropriate material for the van and for the vehicle. Pics when finished.

Originally Posted by Graeme

What's the tow vehicle - not a D3/D4 is it?

The tow vehicle in the picture is not a Land Rover as the photo is copied from the Adventure Camper web site. They take a better photo than I would and my tow hitch and trailer are not fitted at the moment since I have to work and am not able to go camping until my next holiday (sadly).

Here are some pics of my home-made stone guard that has folding arms for cornering and access to the back of the vehicle. Nothing ended-up on top of the guard after 80 kph on a loose gravel road where normally rocks are thrown everywhere. I might even give it some paint now that its proven.

Normal position. Lightweight rubber flap on vehicle readily bends back for reduced wind drag as it only fills the gap between the 2 bars.


Turning pushes the arm back temporarily.


Full lock pushes the arm over-centre causing it to fully retract.


Arm still retracted after full lock.


Both arms folded for easy access to the vehicle and coupling.

That looks excellent. How did you mount the swing point? I see a gas strut there. Do the front sections push themseves back into position?

The bracket for the arm pivots is a piece of flat bolted under the 2 rear coupling bolts/nuts. The struts are mounted on a bracket at the arms so that there is an over-centre position when almost fully back after which the arms will stay in the pushed-back position, but normally the arms return to their forward position as they are allowed. The strut mounts are rather close to the arm pivots because further out they provide too much force and would soon bend the arms. Whilst I already had the long struts, I thought short ones would provide excessive force as they compressed whereas the long ones compress less than 20% of their stroke. An unexpected good characteristic of the gas struts when extending is that they slow as they approach their extended limit rather than cause the arms to return at full speed.

I ran a Stone Stomper to Wonangatta. It died. Great on flat like oonadatta track but could not cope with the Mountains, Rocks bits and realy rough stuff. My trailer was partly or mostly to blame which is covered in another post on increasing the height Stone stomper is great for touring as is Graeme's self made version! Just forget them for the really extreme fun bits. back to the drawing board. doh

Mine needs a modification and a change in use practice!

There was a mishap when doing a tight turn whilst going sideways over a mound which caused a handle to get under the vehicle bar then got caught there, resulting in that side of the vehicle bar being bent back then snapping off when attempts were made to straighten it. The handles will be made a little taller and I'll fold the arms back when turning sharply on very uneven ground. My van is only a tourer so hopefully the mods will suffice. The exit road from Yarrangobilly Caves is probably the worst it will have to endure, with its current chassis and suspension anyway.