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In case you’re not following my other thread where I mounted a trail cam such that I can watch the suspension Based on my observations of the Dexter in action, run, don’t walk and get yourself set up with five leaf Alcan.

Towed it back home after a trip. The following observations are preliminary pending what I see after I install the Alcan. They’re not scientific or measured in any way, but my impression from watching the trail cam for an hour over a variety of road conditions. Having said that I’m pretty confident of the patterns I’m seeing. I’ll try and post good video captures before/after so you can make up your own minds (I got some video from this trip but I really need a phone mount), but for now here are my impressions … Suspension Run, don’t walk and get yourself set up with a set of Alcan 5 leaf! For reference I started as an Alcan skeptic to agnostic, now I’m a raving convert. The stock suspension is undersprung, I’m convinced of it. Confident I’m seeing that the springs have too little travel and bottom out too quickly. After this I can’t unsee it, just sitting there parked they’re too compressed. Alcan’s assessment that for this trailer you need five leaves is 100% accurate, and for an engineer to say that is as strong an endorsement I can make. The stock suspension works, that’s the best I can say, but they’re not performing as they can (or should). I’m really curious to see the Alcan’s in action but I have no doubt it’ll be better than this. Five springs? All the way. Tire Pressure Stop underinflating your tires! Its ruining milage and stressing your tires. It’s perfectly clear the suspension is doing what it’s supposed to do and absorbing the bumps and rattles. Whatever makes it through that doesn’t matter and there’s little you can do about it anyhow. This is most obvious on hard, quick impulse hits like going over a pothole. That suspension is getting brutalized! But it’s taking it, I can see it rattling around like crazy but I’m not seeing an ounce of rattle making it to the hard mounted camera. Think of it this way, imagine a 7 thousand pound weight going down the road. Lots of mass and momentum right? Hard to get it to move out of a straight line according to Newton, correct? But it’s got a spring connecting it to the road which is designed to move and quickly. What I see is 100% clear - the trailer plows ahead like an aircraft carrier that doesn’t care one bit about the road, while the suspension is getting beat to hell. By the way I’m able to judge the trailer vibration I think by how ‘steady cam’ it is, and compared to the road/lines/etc as a reference. Basically it looks like an actual steady cam, while the suspension is rattling away and moving all over the place, while the trailer just isn’t seeing it. If you see stuff getting knocked around inside it’s the porpoising. That’s the biggest trailer movement I could see, with a little minor waddle, but road rumble isn’t making it up there much as far as I can tell. Tank drain Kind of an interesting one. I opened the fresh drain valve and it continued to drain intermittently for over an hour, from 30%. Going from a stop would always get a gusher. Anyhow FWIW - feel free to keep your Dexter’s and low pressure, but I wouldn’t touch it after seeing it in the real world.

Yes of course, it’s always operated correctly but two times at night it had this issue, only in high cold temps That’s what I’m doing? 😅 Sorry but that’s the point of this, I’ve taken care of other pressing tasks on the trailer and am getting to it (along with my breakaway controller which isn’t charging) JD I’m trying to to diagnose this, of course it could be the 12V but 32 years of debugging tells me that’s not the first thing to look at. It’s a rare event that only occurred in a couple special circumstances so it’s not like I can test and measure. At any rate I live near the Pacific ocean where temps don’t get cold enough to test. … a bunch of good points brought up, thanks … The nearest Truma center is 4 hours away and want you to leave the trailer until they can look at it in their queue. Not optimal. I know this because I’m chasing an issue with the blower fan intermittently rubbing. At any rate I’m looking into this now and gathering information so that IF I need to take it to the Truma repair I have conclusive evidence of an issue. I guarantee that if i took it now they’d say it’s fine, because it might be fine. At any rate with this thread I’m also looking to see if anybody else has experienced this.

2022 Oliver Travel Trailers Legacy Elite II Standard King Bed, Oliver Travel Trailers Legacy Elite II Standard King Bed highlights: Front Wet Bath Convection oven (not a microwave) Exhaust Fan in Bathroom Rear Standard King Bed Side Dinette Choose your favorite campground and get ready for adventure in this travel trailer. The rear table converts to a standard king bed for seating or sleeping, and the side dinette converts to a 76" x 25" bed, so you can sleep three each night. A flush mount two burner stove and convection oven will let you make breakfast in the morning, and everyone can take turns cleaning up in the front wet bath. Here, you'll also find a brushed nickel faucet with a pull-out shower wand, a mirror tinted door, a towel bar and hook plus many more convenient features. You will also love the LED courtesy floor lights on this model, along with an LP ducted furnace, a lighted full-height wardrobe closet, and an AM/FM radio with USB, Bluetooth, and more! With any Legacy Elite II by Oliver Travel Trailers, you will enjoy many standard features that are considered upgrades on other travel trailers. The full custom molded interior and exterior shells add durability, and the holding tanks and drain pipes are enclosed between shells with heat to diminish freezing. There is also a Dexter E-Z Flex suspension for smooth towing and a three point power stabilizing system for added stability at the campground. The interior includes fiber-granite countertops, day/night window treatments, and frosted upper cabinet doors in the cabin and bathroom. There are also multiple charging stations to keep you powered up, added safety features for your peace of mind, and a Maxxfan deluxe remote control RV ventilation system to ensure your comfort. Upgrades I paid for: Almost $1,000 for the white interior with grey-blue cushions (Alps decor, Monte Blanc tables). $2,150 for an extra powered awning on the street/back side (double awnings). About $7,000 for solar panels and a lithium battery upgrade done after I got it, outside of Oliver. I had solar guys do it so I could have the best. $450 for the convection oven upgrade instead of a microwave. $430 for propane tanks and propane quick connects. $1,550 for the Truma tankless water heater. $800 for the backup camera. Hull 1078. Delivered April 8, 2022. Asking $74,000. Las Vegas, NV. Good condition, a few scrapes inside, overall very good. Mileage available on request.

"Couple times" did it ever run correctly? "Low nighttime temps cause the propane to contract" Have you tried it when it's warmer out? Why not take time now to fix the actual issue? It's August now vs. March so certainly no need to heat tanks this time of year (if ever). And you can work on this middle of the afternoon, not waking up middle of the night. Get error codes if present. Don't assume12V at the ignitor just because of a "max battery pack." Are you hearing ignition? Test for 12V+ and actually see or at least hear the ignitor clicking for actual verification. Then are you getting gas? The heater fan will blow to "clear out the ignition chamber" as a process step whether LP is present or not. Is your LP regulator supplying LP at the correct pressure? Gas in the lines? We usually light the LP stovetop to clear the lines of air but you may have an induction cooktop. Is the hot water heater working correctly? If you have the rear LP port run something back there to verify good gas flow. We had issues our last trip out with LP keeping our older 3-way fridge running overnight. It ran fine on DC and I was worried about the new LP regulator I had installed. While parked at home this August, I ran all LP appliances to be sure (stovetop first, then the furnace, HWH and fridge). Cleaned the sail switch in the Atwood furnace which barely needed any cleaning. They all tested/worked well when at home, so my conclusion was that the old fridge will have issues running on LP when at 7600 FT elevation like our last campsite. Now is the time to get yours fixed when you're not out camping. Some of our members from up in Montana or Minnesota can chime in, but unless you are camping regularly below 20F a heater blanket should not be necessary. LP will not vaporize at all when -44F but certainly will for occasional drops below freezing (32F). Your Truma should still be under warranty, so you could schedule repair service. You will want to go through testing steps regardless, know that you have LP and 12V+ present and record any error codes if possible.

Couple times on our March trip back from the factory the cabin heater got stuck. No heat, loud fan blowing. Consulting with Gemini I found the following, that its probably a lockout state caused by an ignition failure. The heater is running the fan full blast to clear out the ignition chamber of unburned propane. Can be caused by a low 12V line (not the case here with the max battery pack), or a propane line drop. Low nighttime temps cause the propane to contract and lower the pressure, explaining why it only happens then. Another possibility is moisture in the tank. Being new to the trailer and it being middle of the night I didn’t catch an error code, but most likely due to this. Possible fixes to prevent are to … Go to a place that can put a little methanol in the tank prior to filling to act as an antifreeze (a bother) Wrap the tanks (30lb on mine) in a heating blanket (expensive at $500+ each) The propane lines are set to 11” pressure by RV regs, so increasing that isn’t an option. Being out West we frequently travel between temperature extremes so I’d like to be generally prepared to prevent this from happening again. I’m wondering if there’s a low cost way tank heater blanket solution? Or other ideas, we have 30 lb tanks.

I believe if we were ever to mooch-dock with family, I'd use the wet bath inside or better yet borrow the family shower in the house! 🤣 I use the outdoor shower boondocking when miles away from others, and yes we're always "in the dirt." I thought of an outdoor shower mat, not like the one Steve showed but something perforated. But the issue with either kind is afterwards you have a big dirty shower mat to clean. Too much trouble. I wear water shoes when showering outside. They get a little dirty on the bottoms and I take them off as I'm stepping on to the camping carpet. When they dry out, just rub them together to remove the dried dirt and put them back in the truck. Also, where we generally camp the shower water is absorbed very quickly in the ground, rarely creating puddles or mud. 😎 I also use water shoes in public showers at campgrounds for health concerns.

I was little off on my post last night. It was the length that I left a little extra meat. OK here are the dimensions of the shackles I built. 1/2 thick x 1-1/2 wide x 4-1/4 long. The distance of the centers of the holes is 2-5/8 which is 3/8" longer than origianal. As far as materials, I called Alcan and found out what they used, and then got the closest material from my son at the manufacturing place he works. It was a hot rolled steel is all that I remember. Here is my original post: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/9996-made-in-usa-leaf-springs/page/23/?&_rid=4210#findComment-113853 My son is a welder for a company that makes the equipment for the wood mills that turn logs into wood products. He has been a great source of materials: hot rolled, cold rolled, Stainless Steel, and Aluminum, and UHMW. We try to find scrap materials first, if not we get new. We pay for the materials and they get bag of smoked Cheese twice a year for their troubles. Cost me about $100 a year in Cheese. Not a bad deal, no cutting charge, and the prices are at their cost.

A friend of ours frequently uses an outdoor shower with his teardrop trailer. He has something similar to this underneath to direct the water away from the trailer, and to keep the shower pan clean. Another simply uses a teak shower mat similar to the ones many of us use inside the trailer. I think I'd prefer the first option, so as to not need to store a wet, dirty platform somewhere onboard. https://a.co/d/06PyWIjw

Nifty solution. I’ve been mooch camping at a relatives out in the country a lot this year and have been working with grey water similarly. I charge the house batteries off the truck, fresh water from a garden hose off the well and since we’re composting it’s just a grey water dump of biodegradable dirty water into a ditch. Super easy and convenient, if we had a black tank toilet it’d be a big problem with lots of long drives to a dump station. Anyhow about an outdoor shower, especially with dispersed camping and such, aren’t you taking a shower in the dirt? We’re camping in a mowed field essentially under a big old oak tree, I’ve got the ground pretty well cleaned up, but I have to be careful with the water hoses and such as any water into the dirt creates a muddy mess. I’m happy with the wet bath and just squeegee and towel dry it down, but an outdoor shower would be a dirty mess unless I had some kind of raised platform. Even then I’m still creating a mudbath around the trailer.

Welcome to the group. Cool name!

@2008RN what are the dimensions of your shackles and what material did you use? Bill

I don't know what exact shackle Oliver is using with the Apex with the Alcan springs. What I do know is the reason to use the Alcan Shackles with the LEII with the 5 leaf springs. The only real thing that I know the Shackle difference is the Dexter are galvanized and the Alcan's are painted. As long as Alcan improved their punch quality they should be the same. Note most all of this is cover somewhere in the 38 pages here. As far as quality goes the both Alcan and Dexter shackles are very close to each other. The original Dexter Have 4 leafs and the 3rd leaf is around 4-5 inches away from the eyelet. With the Alcan 5 leaf the 4th leaf is an inch away from the eyelet. With the 4 leaf so close this is what gives the needed support for the 5 leaf so it will not bust. Here is the rub. The addition of that 5 leaf causes interference with the EZ-Flex and does not allow full movement because of the 4 leaf was interfering with the EZ-flex with Dexter Shackles. What Alcan did was lengthen the distance between holes on shackles to help with the clearances between the 4 leaf and the EZ-flex. (My opinion ON.) I still did not like the distance between the 4 leaf and the ez-flex was still not enough less than .060 in resting state. Due the Alcan punch manufacturing shackle problems at the time, I built my own shackles with an extra 1/2 distance and a slightly wider width on a mill. Opinion Off. As far as wet bolts. I tried the Alcan's wet bolt (they had splines at the time) and torqued to their specs. The shackles and hangers were so tight that no grease would go into the wet bolts. I had to loosen the wet bolt to get grease in. I also felt that the tightness of the Alcan wet bolts hindered free movement of the Ez-flex and leafs. I went back to the Dexter shoulder wet bolts and found that there was 0.010 inch clearance using the Dexter Shoulder bolts with Alcan leafs with the lighter torque. I have around 20K miles since installing the Alcan leafs in this fashion and Happy with the results. How I changed my leafs out. I lifted each side and supported with Jack stands. If I had to do it over again I would probably use Jack stand on all 4 corners. I did get 2 light scissor jacks to lift each axel. I could turn the scissor screws by hand to lift the axel just right to align the EZ-flex and the leafs and hangers. Cheers, Bob

Appreciate your feedback Chris. I recall reading that too, but several owners in your post report otherwise. Please explain. Apparently Oliver is satisfied with Dexter parts durability as that is what they are using on new Apex model. Perhaps you misunderstood my comments. I would never suggest re-using old and/or worn parts. @DanielBoondock has a 2026 model, and has said he lubricated his wet bolts. They should be inspected of course, but there should be essentially no wear on the bolts or shackles. If any wear, it will be the bronze bushings in the springs, which of course are being replaced. I’m not knocking Alcan, I am a customer, just haven't received my springs yet. I’m only summarizing what I’ve read. All of these reported shortcomings are not deal breakers, they are just not ”optimal”. Working together, we can do better, but it’s important to get the facts straight and pay attention to the details on our running gear. We are moving in the right direction, and have Oliver’s attention.

Yes, it’s built on the Tacoma chassis. It’s a light vehicle. The 2026 non-hybrid has a 2.4L turbocharged engine, which works just fine as my wife’s grocery getter.

Legally, you sure can. Realistically, you may be super anxious and unhappy in mountain passes. Not sure on the specs of your 2026. I like a TV with weigh exceeding the trailer, and excess towing capacity. We towed our Elite home from Hohenwald to Florida with our Vilvo xc90. It was fine. Towing to Asheville, through Green River Gorge, we wete definitely in the slow lane, and wishing for more power. Volvo weighed around 6000 lbs, trailer probably 4900. We've been happy towing it with a half ton. Is the 4 runner built on a truck chassis? Not familiar with them.

The shower hose I purchased was a stainless steel hose on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0dgsEMfQ   It was very straightforward..open the street side access hatch and a little teflon and you're golden! I have had it on there for five years and it fits just fine and hasn't bound up inside the compartment. Here are a couple shots of the suction mount. It's a ratchet style with two additional suction cups below it for some added strength.

2026 meaning you just bought it? Thinking of buying it? Is it true all 2026 4Runners have 2.4L 4-cylinder engines? Wow! We had an older 4Runner with the 3.4 v6. Sold it for a GX with leather and the 4.7 v8. We never even towed with it, but it needed more power just around town! If possible ditch the idea (or get the dealer to take it back) and get a 5.7L v8 Tundra, any half-ton American truck, or the midsize trucks with special towing packages. OTT claims the Elite is 3700 dry weight, 5K GVWR and 370 LB tongue weight. Doable yes, reasonable no. The stock 4Runner is made for suburban driving with some gear, occasional dirt roads. The little engine is certainly not made for towing and will wear quickly as well as the drivetrain and suspension parts. Another point I always make is the very, very short wheelbase. The WDH will help, but tail wagging the dog for sure!

I own a 2026 4-Runner, and I used to own an Elite 1. Even if the numbers indicate it’s possible, I wouldn’t recommend it.

We used to tow a 16’ Airstream Basecamp with a second gen 4wd crew cab Tacoma. We made several trips west to Moab and the mountains were a grunt. The truck was underpowered and I eventually had to add an axillary trans cooler to maintain acceptable trans temps going uphill. Just bc you can doesn’t mean it will be fun. All the above points are also correct, fuel range, braking downhill etc.

Unless the new 4Ruuner has a *lot* more oomph than my2016 4.0 six cylinder, I’d say nope! You’ll be at or near cargo capacity with the back of the 4R empty. Mine was woefully underpowered with a 3000 pound trailer. I’m currently in a V8 200 series Land Cruiser, and “adequate” is generous with the EII trailer. I’d never go near the western mountains. Maybe switch up to a V8 Tundra or Sequoia? Friends tow their EI with the new Tundra with zero issues.

No way! I’m in the River Hills Community. Small world indeed. I’ll definitely be in your area at some time in the future as I love to fly fish and the White River is fantastic to do.

This is always a difficult question to answer as an "adequate" towing experience means different things to different people. Your 4Runner will be on the edge of safe towing in my opinion. You will be always having to worry about payload (895+ pounds?) Count on your tongue weight for a fully loaded Elite 1 being at least 400 lbs. Then add passenger weight, hitch weight, cargo weight, and any other add ons. Next, the 4Runner has a relatively short wheelbase which hinders stability, especially in wind. Braking on long mountainous descents will be harder and much scarier as the small displacement turbo gas engine in the 4Runner will not be able to deliver much vacuum braking (not like compression braking in a diesel) and you will be on your brakes a lot more. In fact, I've read turbo gas engines produce less vacuum braking than naturally aspirated gas engines due to their comparitively smaller displacement and lower compression ratios. The Oliver1 is a small trailer, but heavy for its size. You can try it and see how it goes, but every person I know who started out with a light TV eventually got at least a 1/2 ton truck/SUV or more. I tow my Elite 1 with a 3/4 ton truck and just love it. No drama, just a peaceful driving experience. You also need to consider how your TV would handle an emergency like a flat tire, or an animal running out in front of you, not to mention all the jack wagon drivers on the road these days. The Inter-Mountain West you describe as your target area is great country, but can be challenging for towing. One last item that comes to mind is that your range will be pretty limited with only a 19 gallon gas tank. Some things to ponder.... It's a great vehicle, but you'll be running it at its limit. My 2 cents! Good luck! Dave

Wondering if my 2026 4Runner (full-time 4WD, non-hybrid) using weight distribution hitch, and with 700 lbs of CCC left (after passengers, gear, etc) can reasonably tow an Elite 1 Platinum Pkg in mountainous terrain, fully loaded with water, propane, food, gear, etc (but staying below GVWR some)? (for instance I-70 from Denver to Grand Junction, or Beartooth Highway US-212 from Yellowstone to Red Lodge, or Trans Canada/Iceflow Hwys from Calgery to Jasper, and the like) By reasonable I mean adequate. Is it sensible, prudent for safety and wise for vehicle longevity?

I lived in Fort Mill. Kept my boat on Wylie. Still have friends in the area.