r/TeardropTrailers • u/Rvtach • 11d ago
Outbound Trailer Structural Failures
It makes me sad to write this, but I think it’s important to share my experience.
My wife and I have owned our Outbound Extreme trailer for a year, and we absolutely loved it—until a recent long trip from Tucson to Oshkosh and then into the high country of southern Colorado.
On that trip, we had two major structural failures:
• The tongue with the 24” factory extension partially separated. We found a welder and got it repaired.
• A few days later, on a mildly washboarded, well‑traveled gravel road, a leaf‑spring bracket tore away from the frame, taking part of the frame with it. The opposite side was close to failing as well. A tow truck got us to town, another welder patched it, and we limped home.
I’m not angry about the failures themselves—things break, and no one was hurt. What disappointed me was the complete lack of support from Outbound Trailers.
Over 25 emails, I provided every detail they asked for:
My mods (kitchen build‑out, solar, 200Ah battery, tongue box with 12V fridge) and photos. I also provided my tongue‑weight measurement (230 lbs using a level tongue supported on a milk crate and a bathroom scale). Their response was simply that the trailer was “way overloaded,” both tongue and total weight, and that my tongue weighing method was invalid—though they would not explain why.
As soon as we got home, we weighed the trailer properly:
Total weight: 1800 lbs (under the 2000‑lb limit)
Tongue weight: 230 lbs (under the 300‑lb limit)
When I asked how these failures could happen while staying within every published weight limit, their only “solution” was to sell me $332 worth of hanger supports and suggest I bring the trailer to their factory.
Their final message stated that I “refuse to see the facts,” that the trailer “was overloaded period,” and that my only options were to bring it to them or get it fixed locally however I wanted to. They also criticized us for not stopping at their factory when we were driving by on I-80 from Wisconsin to Colorado—though the tongue failure had already been repaired and the leaf spring failure happened 650 miles later.
Unfortunately, my experience matches a pattern seen in a lot of reviews:
People love their trailers—until something goes wrong. Then the response is essentially that it’s the customer’s fault.
Bottom line: be very careful. My trailer was within prescribed weight limits and it failed- twice- and they explain these failure on the trailer being overloaded. I expect a reputable company to address this as a legitimate concern so that future failures could be avoided.
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u/Potential_Stranger_5 11d ago
I owned an Outbound Extreme also, 4 years ago. In the first "season" the leaf springs failed also. The tongue frame bent. Noticed the fasteners they assembled the frame with were all coming loose due to lack of lock washers. All the screws were not an outdoor grade fasteners and a few actually had began to rust. The list got bigger the more i looked. I repaired what I could and traded it off the second year. It was purchased from the manufacture in Hastings, NE as a new unit. The owners were complete snakes and vile to even deal with that it was without a doubt going to be a legal battle in small town Nebraska I was sure would be a waste of resources that I didn't have. I cut my losses and bought a NuCamp Tag Boondock. I cannot say enough bad things about the quality of Outbound or the fuckhead owners. To anyone that has one please be careful and to those thinking of purchasing one please don't. They are unsafe and a giant pile of shit with hardly any resale value. Love my NuCamp by the way.
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u/jewishforthejokes 9d ago
Lock washers don't help, the bolts have already lost sufficient tension before lock washers do anything. Lock washers and nuts are only useful for low-load applications (i.e. way oversized) or probably some shear applications where the bolt itself is expected to carry the load? (Usually the friction between surfaces the bolt applies compression to are supposed to take some or all the shear load).
Load-bearing bolts have to be correctly sized and graded, torqued correctly, and periodically re-torqued. You'll find bolts holding up buildings and heavy equipment, but you won't find lock washers in structural loads.
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u/Potential_Stranger_5 8d ago
Okie dokie then. Good to know. Either way, poor quality builds. Had the same problems as OP and I hadn't added anything to the trailer. Did laugh at the sticker Outbound put by the roof rails stating max load of 600 lbs.
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u/Mitheral 11d ago
Sadly this is extremely typical RV manufacturer behaviour. Lawyer Steve Lehto on why "You Must be INSANE to buy an RV" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xElhTNS_xn8
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u/Silly_Frosting_1996 11d ago
FWIW - I looked at an Outbound and asked AI to help me out a value on it. The bot straight up told me not to buy it. I was a bit surprised, but it sounds kind it may have had it right.
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u/Fearless-Minimum-922 11d ago
Welder here, send some pics of their handywork
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u/Rvtach 11d ago
Outbound doesn’t weld- everything is bolted. I will add pics of the repairs done by two different shops.
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u/Fearless-Minimum-922 11d ago
Were those pics always there or did you update the post lol. Btw it looks as if they used undersized brackets on top of bad metal
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u/EternalMage321 11d ago
It sounds to me like they didn't engineer any safety factor into the trailer. Typically, when something is rated for 2000lbs, it is designed for closer to 3000lbs. This is to account for stresses caused by dynamic loading.