My experience with road cars is that a rear-heavy vehicle will be fine for most driving, but hard to handle once grip is lost. How much is this an issue have you encountered this with off-road driving? The physics are the same, but I see lots of rear-heavy Baja bugs and whatnot doing just fine in practice... I'm designing a camper/RV and wondering how much to prioritize cargo (weight) stored behind the cab rather than at the rear bumper.

On the other hand, would it help structural integrity to load the frame more evenly? I've heard of one '81 Chinook 4x4 splitting the frame in two, off-roading while weighing in north of 5000# if memory serves.

 

While I am no expert...
Your experience with road cars were front wheel or rear wheel dive or all wheel drive? And the idea of off roading a camper/RV makes me think dirt roads with maybe mild mud and stream crossing.

My experience has been extremely heavy 1ton+ truck on such dirt roads and the biggest problem I've noticed is the weight shift going up or down hills. In a heavy/large vehicle steep incline/decline really makes the pucker factor. Headed down all the weight really puts the strain in the front end parts. We go through u joints, ball joints, ring and pinion on a regular basis. Even tore the steering box partially off the frame. Though this discription makes the truck sound under gunned, it's not and these parts are a fuse able link to getting the load to its destination.

Obviously a equal load across the platform is desired but offroad can be more severe than the hwy.

Build your front end stout.

 

All kinds of road cars, but mostly FR layouts. I don't believe I've ever driven a 996 Turbo, Murcielago, or any other rear-heavy AWD car.

You're talking about it being hard on the front end to have high total weight, or its distribution?

Other design question related to equal loading is whether to join the camper to the cab, or if I'll be breaking windshields by stressing the A-pillar frame. Any ideas?

 

Sorry, I was a bit long winded while I ate lunch.

It makes the most sense to have weight distribution as even and low as possible, right?

Maybe what I was trying to say was how the front supports and is asked to steer on a decline.

Maybe you were refering to something entirely different...

......rear wheel drive with a loss off traction in a
Top heavy RV?

 

Low, absolutely (Z axis). Even? Optimal handling prefers it as centered (on X and Y axis) as possible. That's the theory, anyway. I'm a newbie with 4x4's and don't know how much that theory matters in practice.