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I pride myself on being the engineer/mathematician! Obviously not this time! 🤣 You're right it's only a 1/16" diff which may be negligible. Drill to 9/16" and you may have to use a Dremel or something on the outside arc if it doesn't quite fit. I didn't need to do anything, except I steel-brushed and painted them, LOL! I had 9/16" U-bolts installed on D35 axles installed 10 years ago by OTT. I replaced them with new U-bolts of the same size. Did OTT really cheap out on this part?!? They upgraded from D35 to D52 axles while they downgraded from 9/16" to 1/2" U-bolts. This doesn't make sense at all! Dan, make sure you didn't miss the meaning of this statement.

Hello Ron, with the 2015 hull #99, very nice! 😎 There's not a plumbing diagram that would help. My understanding is if the waste valve is closed the pop-up shower floor valve really doesn't matter. If you want to replace it anyway, maybe somebody here knows the make and part number or inquire with OTT. You know, if you close the "back flow" valve when the Oliver nose is down, there would be grey water in the plumbing that would then come out when towing. Make sure your front jack is lifted when you're closing. We use the LevelMatePRO and always have our front up 1/2" or more when camped. We close the bathroom valve before releasing the jacks to tow. During travel, I use the kitchen sink to wash my hands to leave that valve alone. If you open the valve with the nose down with Grey Tank on the full side, water can back up to the plumbing under the shower that you may see later. Given all this, if it's still leaking on the shower floor, your waste valve could be jammed up, not closing fully. With the tanks empty, remove the valve and give it a good cleaning and lube. Under the front dinette seat, it's the 2" line at the top of the picture. The 4" is the black water drain and you might want to service that at the same time. The main Grey waste valve is under streetside bed, jammed against the floor where the two lower screws are VERY difficult to remove. I serviced ours last year since the pull handles were getting very hard to pull. This thread may be of interest. Best wishes, JD https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/10711-waste-valves-restoration-and-upgrade/

OK, check me on this So each bolt side has a diameter 1/16 bigger, 8/16 to 9/16 The radius therefore is 1/32 larger That’s the increase on the inner side (facing axel) and outer, each So each new hole is 1/32 farther away from the old hole Between the two holes it’s therefore 1/16 larger, not 1/8 If I’m doing my Imperial right, by training I’m a metric guy 😅 Regardless of moving each hole 1/8 or 1/16 any drill bit would wander, I’d need an end mill I think - what did you use? Anyhow these have big washers, the tire side holes are big ovals anyhow so I’m not going to worry about it And yes on the spacing thanks, aware of that, this is just the rough fit

Yeah, I must admit our Glacier NP trip was in June and during the Montana Centennial celebration, two good reasons to bring crowds of visitors. But it was 40 years ago! And it was our first experience visiting a western NP. Our Forum friend who just visited Glacier went at a much better time of year, when the kids are "back to school." 😎 Thinking of a Montana-Idaho trip next spring. We will want to see Grand Teton NP and Yellowstone on the way. If it's too crowded, we'll make it quick and then find great campsites to the north. Beautiful places that nobody has ever heard of! 🤣

Hello, I am hoping that someone can provide a diagram of the shower plumbing. I want to replace the pop up drain washer and a looking for the right washer to replace it with. We have had several instances when traveling that the shower pan backs up with dirty water and yes the back flow valve is closed. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thank you Ron

I replaced the entire Oliver suspension: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/11055-full-suspension-replacement-alcan-spring-and-dexter-d52-axles/ The original D35 axles and the new D52 axles both were 3" dia. Also the OEM D35 axles had 9/16" U-bolts and wet bolts. So, no leaf plate modification was necessary. To be certain, I just measured. The old U-bolts measured .55" at the threads and .52" at the top of the U. If they were 1/2" bolts these numbers would be closer to .49". Here's what I mean. Given your leaf plates have 1/2" holes with a 3" spacing between the holes, when you drill out the 1/2" holes to be 9/16" the spacing between will then be 2 7/8". You have to create a 9/16" hole keeping the 3" spacing between. A simple hand drill cannot do this. Also CAUTION! In your picture, I see light between the leaf stack and your U-bolts. When you replace these with the 9/16" bolts, make sure the U-bolts are positioned straight up at 90 degrees and they must be touching the leaf springs when torqued.

Just realized this statement! That's a good idea which should protect the batteries. Please post a link if you believe you found a quality product. We haven't made the trip, so no real experience. I remember reading something on our Forum regarding pets. Our Springer "Charley" is 12 years old and his health records are not exactly up-to-date! Perhaps something to look into if you travel with pets..

Here’s what I mean, there’s precious little room left anyhow, at best I can widen it up a step from 1/2” to 9/16” Interesting to see the bolts stretching already. And these do so on the sides while the stock ones flattened out on the top bend

Yeah that’s what OTT is using and we just kind of went with it, me not knowing any better. Now $180 later … anyhow I’ll be much happier with 90 on 9/16, this 65 just ain’t cutting it. On the plates the hole spacing is already correct at 3” - those 1/2” are holding it together right now (remember OTT now has 5200 axels as standard). I think you upgraded your axels at the same time if I recall? Yes you mention still having the 3500 axels. In that case it sounds like you were using plates from the smaller axel for the larger so they’d need new holes. In this case I may (he said it depends it might be fine, its pretty close) just need to enlarge them a bit. So a 9/16” bit would center on the hole and just hog it out somewhat. I’ll put some anti-rust on it before buttoning up.

Yep!

Hey Dan, wow 1/2" U-bolts, really? I don't remember modifying the leaf plates! If this is true, you cannot merely drill 9/16" over the 1/2" hole because the space between the holes needs to be equal to the axle diameter. You'd have to have a decent drill press, clamp the plate down and drill the new holes off-center to the original holes. You could drill 5/8" holes instead, but that would be sloppy and I don't know about you but I have a couple 9/16" bits on hand but not 5/8" which would be an expensive bit to purchase these days. When I'm out at my shed this afternoon, I'm going to see what was on our hull OEM. I kept all the old parts to sell the suspension used if possible (figure there's got to be some guy in the neighborhood building a homemade ATV trailer). Cheap Dexter 1750 leafs and 3500 LB axles are not enough to carry the Oliver, but would be great for an ATV trailer (upgraded with Timken bearings)! 🤣 Here's the spec sheet Alcan gave me when I purchased my package in person. 90 ft-lbs for the 9/16" U-bolts, 80 for the end wet bolts and 65 for the shackle wet bolts.

Aiieeeeeeee!!!! Just called Alcan for a quick ship of eight new 9/16” bolts. OTT is still going on the low side with these suspensions and installing 1/2” on a 3” 5200 which is specced to 1750. I’ve got five leaf Alcan’s on the the same 5200 axels so should have gone 9/16” but it got lost in translation. Yeah I kept looking at those bolts against the springs/axels and especially that torque setting feels way too low. Anyhow they are helpful as usual, he thought I was right on to upgrade the bolts. He mentioned by the way that Oliver is only using Alcan on the Apex - the others are business as usual. He also warned me that the plate will need to be widened a bit to accept the larger bolts. I asked about how much work this would be - should I disassemble? He suggested just doing one bolt at a time. Told him that’s what I wanted to do but worried it was too much redneck mechanic - to which he said “well that must be what we are because that’s what we do!” 😅 So easy upgrade Thanks @jd1923 for helping on that, wouldn’t have caught it without checking your torque number

Wut? Here’s my spec sheet My U-Bolts are 1/2” on 5200 axels. They had said most Olivers use 7/16” u-bolts but checking mine turned out to be the 1/2 which is 65 ft-lbs. 90 would be 9/16” - is that what you got? Ahhhhh dang - yup, looking over my emails that’s what Alcan recommended, 9/16. But OTT installed 1/2” and so that’s what we went with. I’d feel a more comfortable with the 9/16, 65 on 1/2 is too low. I’ll call them and order a new set, grrrrr ….

Yeah, so far so good for us, but we also have the Dewalt leaf blower and it can empty a 5 Ah battery in 4-5 minutes big amps/blowing hard! Starlink requires a small load over a long period of time, so it should be easier on batteries. 😎 The 6 Ah Dewalts I bought 5 years ago were HD! The case could survive a shoulder height drop to a concrete floor, np but not anymore. Shop as wisely as you can. Hate to say it but the aftermarket batteries are half-decent at half price today.

I’m on the Cummins forum, several Toyo forums for our Lexus vehicles, was in the Bigfoot Forum before OTT, the “Steve Saunders” Goldwing forum for many years (40 years with my classic 1984 GL1200 Standard), a forum for everything I’m working on or have worked on for years! (90% on the OTT Forum the last 3 years)! All the bragging guys write, “did it in 2 hours!” My answer is “BS!” If it went so quickly, you didn’t do it right!

U-bolts or wet bolts? The U-bolts MUST be 90 ft-lbs MIN, 100 would be good, but not more. IMHO, the Alcan torque numbers for wet bolts are more than high enough, I went about 10 ft-lbs less on these. The original wet bolts were shoulder bolts where regardless of torque, the shoulder allows play on the leafs so the suspension can move nicely up and down. Certainly do not over torque these or the leafs may bind on the bolts which could cause the tires to skip and bounce. Before I did our major suspension install, I had no idea! Our OEM suspension was barely hanging on! Like it was never torqued in so many years! 🤣

I Good because that’s where I’m headed! 😅 Agree with all your points, and also I like the self reliance. That’s the idea with this for me, having independence. And now instead of being a mystery I’m confident and aware of what the suspension is doing and know what to look out for.

I spent a lot of time making sure the leafs were in line, square / plumb front to back, before mounting the wet bolts. Actually, I did this on my garage floor prior to mounting new axles, but you’re doing springs only. If you feel they’re not square, what I would do after you’re finished is get somewhere on a big flat level parking lot, loosen all U-bolts (somewhat) and the wet bolts with no torque at all, drive 100 ft or more steering wheel straight ahead! Then re-tighten the U-bolts first, then torque the wet bolts. Ya think the “Professional”installers would worry about this? I love Alcan and everybody I met who works there. But when you get this job done in 2-3 hours, you get what you got! 🤣 I spent 3-4 days fussing over our new axle and leaf spring installation. Was watching the tires over speed bumps the other day. This suspension is a moving work of art! Back home, time to torque again! 🤣

Question: I’ve got 65 ft/lbs on 1/2” u-bolts. Not doubting them but it seems light (I accidentally manually tightened past that on initial setup), probably back in this thread but anybody put a backing nut on it (if there’s thread), witness marks or loctite?

Thanks for the info to Run route off of DC. Since we are in the PNW we camp with a lot of tree cover (Canopy). Usually close to the roads/pavement will have less trees overhead. Like you said You really do not need the router.... until you do. I think you have convinced that router is a great "what if" backup. Thanks for the heads up, just checked my AT&T plan, and treat Canada just like the US. No roaming charges. Secondly, Crossing the border(s) with food stuff/ETOH. I know going into Canada they charge for ETOH over a very small limit, and their regulation about beef, chicken, most produce. If you have already cooked meat/vegges, is that a problem. Going back into the US we haven't looked anything up. So we not only have to travel the mainland US/Canadian borders, but we plan on going to Skagway and back by highway. that is another crossing back and forth. Then we do the AlCan Highway back and forth. Aree all 6 crossing going to be like this? Not taking produce/ meat/Etoh across the border could be a pain. We like to eat fresh fruit. Eat a fair amount of cook fresh veggies, and some meat. I would also like to pick up a bottle of wine in Washington, wine and whiskey in Canada, Spruce pine needle beer in Skagway if they got it. Have not thought about what we will buy in Alaska yet. This could really become a Pain in the..... We bought a fair amount of ETOH on our trip last year to Kentucky/Tennessee and up to the great lake and back west across highway 2. We had planned to jump across the border to the Hope BC Egg rally and then see Vancouver then back home. With all of the ETOH we accumulated seeing so many states and staying at harvest host breweries, Wineries and Distilleries we decided we would forfiet Hope and Vancouver because of the steep fees for the ETOH. If fact we still have not drank everything we bought last year crossing most of the USA.

The Pines of Kabetogama! The other Oliver! Charlie 1607 2025 LEII 2021 Landcruiser 200

Glad I didn’t disappoint 😅 Not a problem anymore but we’ve been over that. But it’s all good, whatever rocks your boat. Actually that too - 2024/25 Silverado EV’s (same platform different front end) are coming off lease and rentals, people are getting them at great prices. But yeah apples to apples you’ll pay an extra 4-6k or something. You’ll save in fuel/service total cost of ownership pretty quickly with gas prices as they are, but granted people tend to be more sensitive to sticker price.

Problem solved. I hoped (but didn’t expect) that maybe when I did the other side it would settle in, but it did and looking good! All four done, wheels torqued but I’ll save the final torque suspension for tomorrow when I’m rested, then take it for a few test drives. Street side started going really fast but then ran into some drama, an axel slipped off its jack (why didn’t I strap that to the jack?) then the very last bolt was a troublemaker. The Dexter bolts are sized down at the very end for a smaller nut. Weakest link in a chain kind of thing, but it does make it much easier to mount - the Alcan are same size throughout so alignment is more critical. Anyhow after moving the jacks a million times taking pressure off here and there finally got it done. A lot of work! Definitely a job where the right tools make the difference. Having a lot more jacks would have helped (also working on pavement, at my brother in law’s in the dirt as I can easily keep it hitched and work in peace.) Oh and guess what? One of the old shocks is dead. Bought this in March so only six months old 🙄

Ya, I like the cord is 3.2 ft (1meter). I did find 1 couple of Dewalt adapters that have Low Volt Cutoff they cut off around 15V. That might help to not torch a battery. Some adapters also have other features as SOC or voltage display, and on/off switch alarm, etc.... That might help to not torch a battery. I just looked at prices they are little pricy, but you're paying for twice the Ah. Just read some complaint with the Dewalt 10Ah batteries shipped with their mowers. Very short life. one guy dropped back to the 6Ah batteries and liked those had a better longevity they just have to spend more time charging to get lawn mowed.

The Pines of Kabetogama, Kabetogama MN. We were surprised to see another Oliver here when we pulled in. Bill 313