I’ve got a 2021 Taxa Woolly Bear on order - hope to take delivery mid-July. I’m interested in connecting with other owners to see what kinds of mods/hacks have been done. I’ve read all the WB related posts on this portal but am looking for some fresh info. Any new owners out there? Any established owned with updates? Any other forums out there available that are Woolly Bear / Taxa focused?
Taxa Woolly Bear Owners
- Thread starter rhpmorrow
- Start date
Mountain GXplorer
Rank II
Contributor III
Hi,
I am taking possession of a WB next weekend. Hopefully we will find some other owners on here.
I am taking possession of a WB next weekend. Hopefully we will find some other owners on here.
Mountain GXplorer
Rank II
Contributor III
Hi @rddrew,
I picked up my WB in the beginning of August 2021. I was super psyched for the purchase and had many trips planned. Today, is the complete opposite. No, I would not recommend Taxa Outdoors for your trailer purchase. My WB is sitting broken in my garage currently. It went on 2 camp trips this year. One with and one without my 140 pound RTT. It has a broken axle. I learned from Iron Bear Trailer of Denver, CO that they use an underrated axle for the WoollyBear from a not so reputable company, Lippert. The axle is only rated for 2,000 pounds. The trailer is stock at 1,200 pounds and they say you can only add 600 pounds of cargo. So once you add some weight to the trailer… a couple of water jugs, maybe an awning or roof top tent, your stove and some chairs, propane tank. Everything they advertise it can hold, you are at capacity. Add that to a bumpy forest road coming into camp and it spells disaster. The axle is a torsion axle so no springs or suspension on it. The axle eats up all the bumps and can’t handle it. I calculated the weight I had on the trailer on my 2nd camp trip and I was at capacity but not over it. I will weigh it at a scale with all my gear when it is properly fixed in January. To confirm Lippert is backed up for weeks for a replacement axle and they are just putting the same POS 2k axle back on through warranty. I took Iron Bear’s advice and am buying out of pocket a significantly better axle for the WB so I won’t have to deal with this nightmare again. If you google, WoollyBear axle replacement, there is someone on there with a YouTube video of them replacing it. So it’s common enough.
Separate from the axle disaster, I have found the fridge slide is too low for most decent size fridges, the kitchen cabinets need a more self- configurable design and I had to add 2 additional risers to support the tent properly which wasn’t exactly a cake walk either. When I ordered my 4th riser, they shipped me the wrong parts and it took a few weeks to get that corrected. Plus they use cheap nuts and bolts that have seized.
Customer service has been nice on the phone but I would stay away from ANY Taxa Outdoor product. Hope this helped and Good luck with the search. If it is in the budget, I would look at Patriot or Turtleback trailers for a utility trailer.
- Sam
I picked up my WB in the beginning of August 2021. I was super psyched for the purchase and had many trips planned. Today, is the complete opposite. No, I would not recommend Taxa Outdoors for your trailer purchase. My WB is sitting broken in my garage currently. It went on 2 camp trips this year. One with and one without my 140 pound RTT. It has a broken axle. I learned from Iron Bear Trailer of Denver, CO that they use an underrated axle for the WoollyBear from a not so reputable company, Lippert. The axle is only rated for 2,000 pounds. The trailer is stock at 1,200 pounds and they say you can only add 600 pounds of cargo. So once you add some weight to the trailer… a couple of water jugs, maybe an awning or roof top tent, your stove and some chairs, propane tank. Everything they advertise it can hold, you are at capacity. Add that to a bumpy forest road coming into camp and it spells disaster. The axle is a torsion axle so no springs or suspension on it. The axle eats up all the bumps and can’t handle it. I calculated the weight I had on the trailer on my 2nd camp trip and I was at capacity but not over it. I will weigh it at a scale with all my gear when it is properly fixed in January. To confirm Lippert is backed up for weeks for a replacement axle and they are just putting the same POS 2k axle back on through warranty. I took Iron Bear’s advice and am buying out of pocket a significantly better axle for the WB so I won’t have to deal with this nightmare again. If you google, WoollyBear axle replacement, there is someone on there with a YouTube video of them replacing it. So it’s common enough.
Separate from the axle disaster, I have found the fridge slide is too low for most decent size fridges, the kitchen cabinets need a more self- configurable design and I had to add 2 additional risers to support the tent properly which wasn’t exactly a cake walk either. When I ordered my 4th riser, they shipped me the wrong parts and it took a few weeks to get that corrected. Plus they use cheap nuts and bolts that have seized.
Customer service has been nice on the phone but I would stay away from ANY Taxa Outdoor product. Hope this helped and Good luck with the search. If it is in the budget, I would look at Patriot or Turtleback trailers for a utility trailer.
- Sam
Wow Sam, sorry to hear this. Hopefully you can get her modified enough to be suitable.
I have looked at Turtleback but reviews on this site are not good since they sold.
I'll take a look at the Patriot.
Thanks again for the feedback and possibly saving me a headache as well.
David
I picked up my WB back in August at the Houston factory…towed it to Denver for some RTT/Awning mods…then back home to Indiana. A couple weeks later I drove it out to Montana for a camping/backpacking trip and back home…so it’s got roughly 7000 miles on it already. So far I love it. I haven’t had any issues with it so far. I was looking for a gear hauler that could accommodate an RTT. I didn’t want anything too expensive and didn’t want a lot of bells and whistles that could break down and require expensive repairs over time. I wanted something I could just hook up and take off camping - generally hate packing/unpacking/cleaning the car after a camping trip.
The only thing I wish it came with is storage containers for the field kitchen shelves. You really need to strap everything down or put everything into a container of some kind. Everything in the WB will take a beating while towing it. I found some plastic bins that fit well…but will likely build some customs wood containers eventually. It takes a little while to figure out the best way to organize everything.
I saw the other post about a broken axle - this might be tied to a bad batch of axles they received this summer. It delayed my delivery by about a month and change.
I just picked up a new Woolly Bear at the factory in Houston on 28 FEB and drove it back home to VA. So that's about 2000 miles at highway speeds, but nothing on any trails yet. I was towing it behind my Gladiator and several times I had to remind myself that it was back there - it pulled like it wasn't there, and tracked nicely at speeds up to 80mph.
Re: the axle, I had heard that there had been a problem but that Taxa had switched to a different axle and the problem has been solved. I guess we'll see...
Spring is springing here in VA and we are looking forward to taking the Woolly Bear out soon, so more feedback once we get it onto the trail and into the field.
Re: the axle, I had heard that there had been a problem but that Taxa had switched to a different axle and the problem has been solved. I guess we'll see...
Spring is springing here in VA and we are looking forward to taking the Woolly Bear out soon, so more feedback once we get it onto the trail and into the field.
I bought a used Taxa Cricket last year and have been following the Taxa FB page. I love our cricket and believe it is well constructed and designed for it's purpose intent. I think a lot of the complaints about quality and/or customer service are from people who are not familiar with camper manufacturers and expect them to have the same experience as a major automotive company. The axle issue comes down to QC issues with Lippert and while I haven't had to deal with it Taxa seems to be making every effort to assist owners who have been affected. I would not hesitate to buy a new Taxa and we strongly considered the WB but with us being in the southeast with two really young kids the A/C of the cricket extends our use significantly.
Contributor II
I hope you don't mind me asking; how do you like your Woolly Bear? I have been looking at picking one up
Off-Road Ranger I
I've had my WB since 2021 and we absolutely love it. Yes, they had some issue with the Lippert axle but they issued a warranty repair on them and changed to Dexter axles now. We've put quite a few miles on ours, on and mildly off-road with no issues. Also done a few mods to it as well. Holler if you have any questions
I was just looking at the WB trailers and happened across this thread. How big is your RTT? I noticed you had 3 pairs of risers, did you feel like you needed the third for support?
I'm currently running a FSR High Country 80 on the back of my F150, and looking to get it over to a trailer.
Off-Road Ranger I
We have the Roam Vagabond XL, it is a very large RTT (170 lbs). I bought the extra riser as a "just in case". I felt that 2 would have been pushing the distance since we have my wife and I and 2 kids sleeping up there. I've seen some people do 4 risers which I think is overkill, and I've seen some do 2 risers, but 3 seems to be the most common scenario for larger tents among the WB owners.
LanceK
Rank V
Advocate II
Wife and I and little Mia Beagle took my first trip to Houston Texas August 1st. We picked up our new rig, a 2022 Woolly Bear at Taxa. The boys at Taxa treated us to a factory tour and provided us with everything needed to get our new Woolly Bear on the road to back home. WE have spent the last few months making the Woolly Bear.
Off-Road Ranger I
Congrats! Post up some pics on what you've done so far. I was just hanging out with the Taxa folks today at the Houston Off-Road Expo, great group of people!
LanceK
Rank V
Advocate II
LanceK
Rank V
Advocate II
I added a larger battery box for the 100-amp Lossigy Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery. Added 11 lb. propane tank to the front wall. Added AC shore connection on the driver's side. And a wire access hole through front wall was added to run additional cables for the Renogy DC-DC charger with MPPT.
LanceK
Rank V
Advocate II
I put an electrical control area in the driver's side storage compartment. 
LanceK
Rank V
Advocate II
Next was the 12 volt RV water pump installed. Water is siphoned from the three Jerry Cans to faucet above kitchen.
LanceK
Rank V
Advocate II
Rack for the 2 solar panels was added in under the tent floor. See the faucet, turn the spicket and the pump gives you running water. I was mounting the Renogy battery monitor left of the water faucet.
