If you’re a person who enjoys smaller, more efficient vehicles, chances are one of your favorite activities with that vehicle doesn’t include hauling a travel trailer. Lots of small vehicles just don’t have the guts to handle huge loads, which is fine! If you want to hitch a camper to the back of your Volvo V60 Cross Country, Ford Maverick hybrid, Subaru Crosstrek, or (technically) your Chevy Trax, you still have options out there. One of them is the Antishanty 4XD, a durable aluminum trailer with a base weight of 1,000 pounds, or 1,500 pounds when loaded down with options.
Recently, I’ve written about a camper that weighs 16,000 pounds, another that clocks in at 6,200 pounds, and another a full water tank shy of 8,000 pounds. If you drive a crossover or smaller, you don’t stand a chance at towing any of these things. That’s assuming your bank account is even flush enough to afford the over six-figure prices these campers command. That’s why I’m happy there are a number of companies still trying to keep things light and at least somewhat affordable. Here’s something you could easily tow with your Subaru Forester or even a Ford Maverick with the hybrid powertrain. The base weight of this one is low enough that my Smart could even take it off-road. I can smell my clutch now …
Antishanty
Back in 2019, Antishanty hit the camper media circuit with its debut trailer. The company’s first camper was a versatile metal box on wheels that you could sleep in during any season. The Antishanty name has a meaning, too, and the company says it’s because its founders are “opposed to small crudely built dwellings typically constructed of wood.” Antishanty says you won’t find any wood in its builds, which the company says should save around 10 trees for every camper built. It’s unclear what 10 trees Antishanty would use if these were made out of wood.
As a bonus, Antishanty’s all-metal campers are durable while also having a weight light enough to allow nearly anything with a tow hitch to pull them. The company’s original Antishanty AS-1 collapsible A-frame trailer weighs just 1,500 pounds. Its highlight is an aluminum exoskeleton structure plus a fiberglass reinforced composite floor, aluminum composite walls, and an aluminum composite roof. This is all insulated enough to allow for winter camping. While there isn’t much in the way of amenities, the trailer is a blank slate for you to build as you want. Antishanty even offers a bunch of different mounting points for gear, equipment, motorcycles, lighting, or whatever you want to bring with you.
The owner of Antishanty is Rod Leishman and his bio states he’s a bit of an adventurer. He rides jet skis, motorcycles, snowmobiles, mountain bikes, road bikes, and just about anything with wheels. Of course, when you take those vehicles out into the wilderness, you need a trailer to carry them. Leishman brings experience building toy haulers and adventure trailers. His team includes other thrill seekers who have built their own campers, sportsmen, anglers, and more. So, this company appears to be chock-full of people who like getting dirty in the wilderness.
The 4XD
Antishanty’s latest offering is the 4XD, an overlanding trailer that’s even lighter than the starting weights of its other trailers. At just 1,000 pounds, practically anything with a tow hitch can haul the base trailer.
The base trailer is called the 4X Trailer. It starts as a single beam of square-tube steel that runs from the tongue to a receiver in the rear. This makes up the trailer’s backbone. On top of it is a riveted aluminum frame and body. The body is designed to work a bit like a truck service bed. So there’s a flat floor taking up real estate in the center and the bed is flanked by lockers. Those lockers run the full length of the body and are your blank canvas for whatever you can fit in them. These cabinets and their doors can be used as countertop surfaces. There’s another storage locker up front for more gear or equipment and the space between the living space on top and the trailer’s bed can be filled with MOLLE panels to hang more gear. Under the trailer bed floor is a compartment revealed by a tailgate, which is large enough to store even more gear.
When you buy the 4X Trailer, you get the trailer, the lockers, 29-inch BFGoodrich KO2 all-terrain tires, Timbren Axle-Less suspension, and a 360-degree hitch. If you want electrical power, water, or anything else, you’ll have to add it yourself. At the top of the trailer is a sleeping platform for a roof tent or whatever else you want to put up there.
If you pay more, you can get the 4XD Base, which adds a hard-sided “Rooftop Dwelling” to the top of the trailer. This functions like a tent, but instead of canvas walls, you get folding insulated aluminum walls. The interior of the RTD reminds me of some static hard-sided overlanding trailers I’ve seen. Is a hard-sided tent necessary? No, but if you’re tired of the typical tent like I am, it’s a welcome change. Antishanty says its RTD is spacious enough for two adults plus a child or a pet.
If you want more than just a cargo trailer with a place to sleep, you’ll need to either figure out your own solutions or step up to the 4XD Pro. That model comes with everything included in the 4XD Base, plus:
– Cargo Lights: Illuminate your cargo area for effortless loading and unloading, even in low-light conditions
– Interior Roof Top Dwelling Light: Enjoy a well-lit interior environment, enhancing your overall comfort
– USB Charging: Stay connected and keep your devices powered throughout your journey
– 100W Solar Panel: Harness the power of the sun and recharge your battery on the go
– Solar Ready Port: Prepare for extended adventures with the convenience of solar power
– Shore Power Charging: Stay charged with the option to connect to shore power
– High-Capacity Battery: A robust 200 Ah battery ensures ample power for all your needs
– Versatile Power Supply: With both 12v and 24v power supply via an inverter, the 4XD PRO offers flexibility for all your electronic devices.
– Dometic Fridge with Slideout: Keep your food and beverages fresh with the integrated Dometic fridge on a convenient slideout.
– MOLLE Panels: Securely attach your gear using the MOLLE Panels, both inside and outside the cargo bed.
– Tonneau cover: Lock and secure your gear with the tonneau cover
From there, Antishanty offers a variety of tire options. The company says you can option your trailer with tire sizes as large as 40s. The price for those chunky rubbers isn’t noted, but 35-inch BFGoodrich KO2s on American Racing AR172 wheels will set you back $650. If you want a spare to with that, factor in an additional $550. If you don’t get the 4XD Pro, you can get the fridge slide for $500 and the MOLLE panels for $1,650. A front rack to mount that spare tire is another $420. Otherwise, you’re on your own for everything else.
Antishanty doesn’t note base weight for each individual level, but I could see the 4XD Pro clocking in at 1,500 pounds. While that knocks that theoretical Chevy Trax and all Subaru Crosstreks but the Wilderness out of the running for being able to tow this trailer, something like a Maverick can still tow it. Antishanty says any vehicle with a tow hitch rated for 2,000 pounds can tow all of its trailers without an issue.
Pricey, But Competitive
I haven’t noted the most important part yet. How much does all of this cost? If you want just the bare-bones trailer without the dwelling, it’ll cost you $14,900. To get the same trailer with the dwelling, that’ll be $21,900. This implies the hard-sided tent is worth a whole $7,000 on its own, which is a lot! Finally, the 4XD Pro clocks in at $27,900.
That does seem like a lot of dough for what seems like a cargo trailer with a tent on top. However, prices for trailers like these do get even higher. Yes, I’m still as confused as you are. Anyway, the 4XD is cheaper than something like the Taxa Woolly Bear Overland, which costs $18,880 before you add your equipment and a roof tent. It’s also only slightly heavier than the 850-pound $13,995 Addax Overland Global Edition but comes with way more storage. Antishanty is still cheaper than the fully loaded $30,495 Addax Overland Jeep-branded trailer, and that one still has a canvas tent.
So, I do think Antishanty is competitive with other brands. I also like that the trailer appears to have a lot of places for you to make it your own. Unlike some of the steel trailers out there, the Antishanty isn’t likely to become a pile of rust after a decade of going on cold weather adventures. All of that is good. For sure, I’d love to see one of these going down a trail behind a Subaru.
(Images: Antishanty)
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Wouldn’t this be painfully hot in the summer?
And super cold inside if it was cold outside?
My thoughts exactly. And I think the definition of “camper” is being stretched a bit these days. I could get a U-Haul box and call it a trailer… because I can sleep in it. This thing strikes me as silly and pricey.
check that… I could call it a “camper”
Ridiculously overpriced. You could buy a much larger camper, a vehicle to tow it with, and enough fuel to drive it from coast to coast and still have money left over for beer!
I skimmed through this just looking for the stunningly high price and I wasn’t disappointed!
Came here for the welding porn , left disappointed …
Judging from the screen name, I figured you’d make your own!
I like the size, idea, and look of it, but $15-30K is borderline insanity. Of course, there are a few folks who can rationalize paying more for a tiny camping trailer than they probably did for the small car towing it, but I’m not one of them.
I suspect it’s possible to get 75% of the Anitshanty’s utility for 25% of the price using bits from Harbor Freight and Home Depot. It’d take time to assemble of course, and wouldn’t look nearly as cool, but you’d still have most of the down payment for a house in middle America left in your bank account. Plus, your little Frankentrailer. 😉
Well take my opinion at your risk because I took a drink every time the author wrote Antishanty so a half bottle of Vodka later, I had to refill 4 times, I disagree. I bet a good DIY could build a cheaper better equipped trailer from the bed of a 4wd pickup. Locking hubs, a decent campertop and all kinds of custom attachments will surpass this. It really is just an expensive trailer with locking hubs. And I really don’t get how that works without power to the axle.
This is wonderful.
I’ll stick with a pad, a tarp and the truck bed, however, until I have more ca$h dripping from my various orifices.
Stuff like this seems like the whole point is to keep your mind occupied by all the insanely expensive and frequently superfulous gear rather the landscape you are driving through. When it comes to enjoying the outdoors, just give me a simple tent, pad, and sleeping bag with a basic cookset. I’d feel very self-conscious and kinda embarassed to be dragging a $15-30k hot dog stand behind my CUV.
We had a Livin Lite 10.0 popup that was 1000lbs.They were awesome – A 10′ long aluminum box that basically had a very nice tent on top that folded out with 2 queen beds. had a tiny kitchen and a little dinette. It was $5k new and I sold it for $3800 5 years later. We towed it with a 2008 Mazda 5 (5spd manual) and then a 2013 Kia Soul (6spd manual). You didnt even know it was back there. They briefly built a Jeep badged version with a lift and ATX tires that was sold through Jeep dealers. Awesome little company. They were bought out by Thor who promptly screwed up everything and shut them down. Surprise surprise…
Holy cow – it looks like a canadian company is now building almost exact duplicates. I dont get how they wouldnt be shut down. https://vidacampers.com/
If I had to stay within 1500 lbs, I could get a 13 ft Scamp with no bathroom. Also not made of wood. I’d rather have that than a pop up hotdog cart.
The catch is this is designed for off-roading though, there’s lots of on-road options in this weight range for less, but it’s a specific use case. I’ve got an A-Liner Alite hard-sided popup (no water, but electric, a/c, heat) that’s 650 lbs all up and cost about $5k new, I believe (bought used), but it really isn’t built to do any more strenuous off-roading than down a dirt road or across a field
Trailers and off-roading don’t seem to mix. Especially if you’re exploring unknown primitive roads. If a rockfall blocks a canyon shelf road, you might be backing up a long way.
A Sylvansport Go or Trailoft looks a lot more fun than this repurposed hotdog vendor cart. oooo hard hitting stuff. But seriously, SylvanSport are making super nice things.
1000lbs towing is actually nothing. You can tow that behind anything, and I mean that. You don’t need any of these qualifiers like “anything with a hitch” or “anything factory rated for at least 1500lb”.
If my 4000lb f150 can tow 7500lb(it can, and surprisingly well; I’d be willing to put more behind it for short distances) then your 3000lb Corolla can tow 1000lb.
Too many manufacturers won’t sell you a hitch or void your warranty when you tow with a car: back in the 50s and 60s people towed giant campers behind their sedans and it was fine. That’s still how they do it in Europe, and it’s also fine.
It’s the transmissions. The TH425 in a Toronado can survive a 20k pound gvw, but anything newer? Not a chance, unless they built it for towing. Modern stuff is designed to do just enough, with nothing extra.
Yeah but even a Corolla is good for 800lb of passengers and cargo, so id think the trans is good for at least that much trailer.
But I don’t like autos anyways, especially autos without temp gauges. I might have to amend my statement to, “I would tow 1000lb behind any manual trans car”.
This is what a coworker who owns an Outback said. He was told he couldn’t even put steel wheels with snows on it because that little bit extra weight would ruin the transmission. I’m like seriously? What about carrying cargo? He said you don’t do that everyday. What if you’re a full family who is well built? He didn’t know.
Either way, one reason I don’t own modern cars. They’re designed right down to the bone.
Sounds like a sales person making up an excuse to sell a second set of alloy rims. Unless it’s in the manual, I wouldn’t believe it. The AWD system used in the first 4wd Volvos, needed identical diameter tires, or else, so blowing one often meant it was time for 4 new ones.
They do it in Europe and not here because of liability. It’s assumed drivers there are aware of what needs to be done to drive safely when towing with a smaller vehicle (select a trailer with a low tongue weight, drive slower, etc), but they know they’ll be sued here if someone pulling a camper with a Jetta flips over on the Interstate because they were going 85mph with 65% of the weight on the tongue, because the owners manual told them the car could pull that GVW.
The MINI Cooper 3-door Hardtop is rated to pull 1100lbs in the UK and 0lbs in the US, and it’s not because they build some special, weaksauce transmission for export models and keep the good stuff at home, it’s because BMW doesn’t want the negative PR and the lawsuits that would inevitably happen from Americans driving them with a trailer the exact same way we would an F-250.
And also because they kind of want us to buy an X7, or, even better, lease one.
There is also a difference in trailer building and speed limits for towing. Most trailers here (U.S.) are built with more weight toward the tongue. Being that we have generally higher highway speeds and no speed restrictions (in most places) for those trailers, this limits what many smaller vehicles can tow. The tongue heavy approach is more stable at speed but requires more of a burden on the tow vehicle. Combined with the possibility of owners try to (and legally being allowed to) tow at 70mph+, most manufacturers just don’t bother here.
That’s in the quote, there’s nothing stopping you from driving at a lower speed with a trailer, regardless of the limit (as long as you stay above any posted minimum speed), and, while rarer, there are trailers built here with low tongue weights (especially ones designed primarily to be pulled by motorcycles). IF you followed those criteria, you could pull a trailer with your small car the same way they do in Europe, but the manufacturers know we can’t be trusted to do that
To add to your points- Brake controllers.
Many countries world wide legally recognize the benefits of trailer brakes on trailers towed by passenger vehicles, something we don’t bother with in North America. It makes a huge difference, such that some governing bodies will actually list “Braked” and “Un-braked” figures.
From what I can see, almost any vehicle is physically able to safely tow at least its own weight if you slow down and drive carefully- or with a braked trailer, drive the speed limit. Too bad the North American expectation of driving with complete indifference throws that out the window…?
In truth it’s probably just marketing. Companies that sell big SUVs and trucks want to upsell you, and FUD over towing is an easy carrot/stick. Why put in the effort/money to secure a decent tow rating for you compacts when you don’t want to sell them anyways? See Ford Bronco Sports’s pathetic 2200lb rating, (beaten by a Volvo C30 at 2500lb) for an egregious example. There is no reason the Bronco Sport can’t tow more, other than the F150. Sadly Volvo also stopped rating its midsize sedans and wagons at 3500lb once they started to sell more SUVs.
Hopefully the ever growing popularity of small outdoorsy vehicles and increasingly stringent CAFE regulations pushes automakers towards selling compacts that actually pull their own weight. (Ha!)
The new Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness with the 3500lb tow rating is a huge step in the right direction, (Almost enough to make me like Subaru) and shows absolutely nothing has changed at a regulatory level. If my 90hp Volvo 240 could tow 3500lb, so can a similar weight modern car with VSC, ABS and double the power.
Umm….. Trailer brakes are required in the US. In my state they’re required on any trailer over 1500lb unladen weight but it’s 2000lb in most states.
Not sure what you’re on about about not having trailer brakes.
That’s great to hear, but definitely not the norm for North America for smaller trailers. Look at U haul’s rolling stock, only their largest double axle models have surge brakes.
I was shopping for a single axle box trailer the other month, and basically none of them had brakes.
I’ve seen very small trailers with optional electric brakes, but yes, trailers under 1500lb unladen weight normally do not have brakes. This number is a little high depending on what you’re towing it with, in my experience up to 2000lbs of unbraked trailer is just not a big deal on an XJ Cherokee with 15″ wheels and drum brakes.
In the olden days, you weren’t driving 70 mph on the freeways, like today.
Did I mention the olden days? When I towed a trailer in 2023 at 80mph up to 2000lbs of unbraked trailer was just not a big deal on an XJ Cherokee with 15″ wheels and drum brakes.
If you’re implying that an XJ is a vehicle from the olden days, know that they were made 1984-2001. During that entire period, and especially at the end, you most definitely were driving 70 mph on the freeways, like today.
I’ve got a very similar steel made old Jeep type setup, albeit more primitive, purchased for $1500 with a Thule Tepui Autana 4 RTT that sleeps 4, for $2500. When I bought the trailer, the seller said it was 800lbs dry, which I’m starting to question now.. but still, for the price its fine. I towed it with a 4cyl PHEV.
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/TVSs6oIpRZqCn_8TBAYBFQ.czOGj0aTA7XEs-6xDoFCsr
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/5jjAIGgCQ9OUxdhNRKdJeg.OYYVO833EoGh2oox-y4fsb
Pretty sure the ten trees saved were previously uprooted to strip-mine the requisite three tons of bauxite. Nothing against an all-aluminum design, but resources are resources. They cost.
The aluminium is the problem. Yes it’s a tad lighter than steel but it’s harder to work with and expensive to boot. Hot dip galvanised steel chassis under an aluminium extrusion platform (like an alloy flat bed tray) is all one needs as a base. Anything above that can be folded steel or alucor sheet.
As for this particular contraption, that cargo area between the wheels should be a pull out drawer behind a fully dropping tailgate. Otherwise, it’s a perfectly functional camper trailer that’s little different from what is here in Oz at that target market. Although I do like that ‘tent’.
Imo the bigger problem with aluminum is the limited fatigue life. If you look around Facebook for trailers under $500, you will find janky homebuilt trailers from the 70s, janky pickup bed trailers from the 50s, beat up cargo trailers from the 80s, and broken in half aluminum trailers from the 2000s. Usually broken right along a weld. Same thing when looking at camper shells: aluminum frame ones can have a decent lifespan, but especially when used on bumpy roads constantly, aluminum lasts 1/6th as long as steel or fiberglass before structural issues.
That’s why they simply don’t exist in Oz. And no-one credible would even attempt to sell you one. Steel chassis are all there is…
That’s interesting. Aluminum trailers are fine, it’s not like they really break all that fast or are unsafe or anything, but the tradeoff for the lower weight is reduced life. Aluminum trailers might last 20+ years of on highway use, which is really not bad, it’s just that a steel trailer frame has no real limit on lifespan and will last 70 years easy.
15K to start?
I’d write some snarky comment about the pricing.
But it will need to wait till I am done laughing. Could be a while though.
Don’t laugh too much, you’ll lose your voice! Don’t ask how I know…
Happy Turkey Day to you and wife my friend.
It’s 15K to start for something that at first glance looks like a hot dog stand.
(That was my first reaction to the picture of it folded up, and I can’t get it out of my mind…)
That’s all I could think of when I saw that first picture. How’d they get the hot dog smell out of it?
Free Coney dog with all the fixings with every purchase.
I been trying to figure out WTF this thing looked like.
Now I can’t unseen that. Are they serious?