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If you live south, and have the Dometic Penguin II A/C installed, the Oliver is also merely a 3- season camper! Any season is good when the A/C is OFF! 🤣 First real trial of our Furrion Chill Cube, camping in the Phoenix Valley this week. We turned it on yesterday at 3 PM, been running since. In start-up it pulled 50A on 12VDC. Was down to pulling only 16A, 40 min later. Overnight it was whisper quiet using very low amps. I estimate <25A per hour daily average. Like our friend @FloraFauna, we’re not going on any winter survival trips! This 3-day trip, we ran the A/C, our Suburban HWH (largest power draw -120A) and the Dometic fridge ALL on battery! Still have 50% SOC as we’re breaking camp today. 😎 Yesterday the Victron shunt read 67% SOC. I looked at Chris asking, “you know what that means?” 67% of 900 Ah is equal to 100% SOC when we had our 600 Ah battery bank! Those of you who recently upgraded 300 Ah Battleborn to 600 Ah Epoch, next time you read 50% SOC on the shunt, just smile knowing that was your 100% in years past! So cool…

Not just the older trailers! @Tom and Doreen own a 2023! Hope you have Alcan Springs on all fours now! 😎

The wife refers to it as the “man barn” for my “man toys”!

I totally agree on this one!! We had our curb-side rear spring break on our last trip. I ordered complete sets from Alcan and replaced them yesterday. I expect things to break while dragging the trailer around the country and I'm good with that and actually enjoy fixing / improving things when that happens but I don't expect something as critical as the suspension to break under normal usage. In my opinion that's an unacceptable failure, costly as well as a potential safety concern. From the number of failures on new as well as older trailers the build requirements need to be respecified.

Yes, other than a slight recess at the bottom of the door to prevent water intrusion.

This is all you need. Figured out where you want the wet bolt opening. Weld a little 1/8” x 1:4” x 1” tab perpendicular to the shackle to the inside of the bolt head. Install the bolt in position and only the nut only should spin when torquing. I’ll turn mine some while greasing, prior to torquing maintenance. Mine are all still clean and straight. My thought is Ken’s got that way from less torque. They would not bend if held square. As often as I’m doing regular maintenance, I’m not going to worry. If they look bad years later, I’ll buy a new MOR-Ryde HD shackle set and replace them. 😎 https://shopmorryde.com/products/heavy-duty-shackle-kit

PS SWEET BARN! And Ollie too of course! GJ

Roger, I have a very simular issue but harder. If the approach is level, carefully checking clearance is easy. Mine had a foot tall "ramp" that would kick the rear of our Ollie up about 5" as I backed into the lean-to enclosed area. I removed the gavel floor took out a couple inches of dirt and re-graveled. Still no go. Then I hauled back all that dirt, and a bunch more, and made an elevated area 20' long and 10' wide "Table" in front of the barn door. So I back Ollie up onto the "Table" and then it was an easy back into the "Ollie Cave". Hope yours is a level entry. GJ

They are 6 point, will they work with the cross holes being drilled erratically or will 12 point be needed to get things lined up correctly?

I have extended the awning out a few feet during rains with no issues, the only benefit to be able to keep the windows cracked for fresh air. I really like the CGEAR sand-free mat for a porch treatment. I have even hosed it down a few times with no mud problems, and routinely use the blower to clean leaf and other debris. I place a neoprene mat at the foot of steps, as well.

All good points @FloraFauna couldn't agree more.

The height of my new shop door is exactly 10’ and with a little gain by the Atmos 4.4 a/c there is clearance, but not much. Gonna have to get up there and take an exact measurement before a spring upgrade. Thanks for your response!

Living and camping in Wisconsin and Michigan, I completely agree with your post. See my recent post concerning that big hole in pre-2024 Olivers for the refrigerator venting. I also agree with your comments concerning the Imperial Outdoors' trailers. That said, I decided I am too old to want to camp out in 10 degree and below weather 99.99% of the time - might have been ok when I was 30 years old. The logistics of winterizing and dewinterizing make winter camping less desirable for me. Running and heated water is important to us. And we just don't want to be sitting around the outdoor campsite at 20 degrees nor cooped up in the trailer for any extended time. Even my dogs agree. So, the Oliver works for us and probably most folks, even though it is not a true 4-season camper in my part of the world.

Had problems with trying to include my DIY attachment. Trying again. GJDIY - Dexter EZ-Flex Center Bolt Spline Repair (20 APR 2024).docx

DIY - Dexter EZ-Flex Center Bolt Spline Repair (20 APR 2024).docx Yes for splined bolts you MUST do so. Yes, that "someone" was me. Here is my DIY to fix it. Hex Bolt Capture Washers. Only alternative solution would be to replace the tangs and that is much more invasive than the capture washers. GJ

That would be Geronimo John. See this thread for “Hex Head Capture Washer”. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/3665-dexter-axle-loose-bolt-at-the-equalizer/page/2/

I thought about that as well but non of my bolts had the flats lined up exactly. I don’t think that when the cross holes are drilled they are in any particular position. I don’t remember who but someone on the forums had a supplier of rings with a 12 point pattern on the inside diameter that looked similar to a boxed end wrench. These rings would be placed over a bolt and welded all around. This would hold the bolt securely in place.

Well, after seeing this, the first thing I'm going to do is weld two strips of 1/8 steel to each side of the hole to hold the bolt from spinning once installed.

I ordered and received all heavy duty shackles, bolts, and U-bolts with my order from Alcan, per David Austin.

Yes, I had one shackle that had both bolts rotating freely. I only have a few thousand miles on the new spring set but the holes were still wallowed out some. The original plates have punched holes so they are naturally just sloppy clearance holes perfect for bolts or rivets but not so good if a press fit or close accurate fit is required. The original grease fittings were straight so I couldn’t tell that they were rotating until I replaced all of the fittings with 45 deg fittings. One of the side plates was very worn so I made a new one with close fitting 9/16 holes which allowed for a fairly hard press fit for the straight knurled bolts. The 60 ft/lb torque suggested by Alcan in my opinion is way too high being that the bolts are not shoulder bolts. I basically just snugged them up at 30 ft/lb and will probably leave them there. I too had the shoulder bolt vs straight bolt conversation with the Alcan folks while I was in Grand Junction. Contrary to what some folks have been told……I was told to make sure to hold the bolt head stationary with a backup wrench while tightening the shackle nuts and not to allow the bolts to rotate. Anyway? Whatever…. The first photo is of the original worn side plates. The second is of the finished parts installed and the last photo is of me making 1/2 inch thick plates out of 5/8 thick stock. At some point I will probably make all new plates maybe with recessed bronze thrust washers. 🤔

You got this right! Dan is new here, but there are 20-some failures written up on our Forum posts. When you read the title of this thread, I should have more posts than you. Since I've actually installed "Made in USA leaf springs" and wrote posts about my installation, maintenance and performance observations! 🤣

I agree. I went with lower torque numbers. Instead of the Alcan recommended 65 ft-lb on the EZ Flex and 80 on the ends, I went 55/65. Of course the U-bolts must be 90 as specified. The Alcan shackles and wet-bolts are not the quality of their leaf springs. I believe they cut the shackles and likely outsource the bolts. Ken’s @mountainoliver shackles have already bent some, bolt holes buggered. He made new shackles in his machine shop, drilled tighter fitting holes. If I were to do this again, I’d certainly buy the Alcan 5-leaf pack springs, but buy a full new HD EZ Flex kit, including shackles and wet-bolts. I had to get new EZ Flex centers anyway which should be replaced if more than a few years old (the center bushings will wear off angle due to the design).

Hey JD Looks like I'm lagging behind on posts about springs. LoL Can we lock all spring pages? Just kidding all questions deserve a respectful answer. gj

I beg to disagree for the statement's inclusion of the 1750 rated springs. WAY too many have FAILED to even be considered for use as anchor weights, let alon a 6,000 pound contineous 24/7/365 load plus G-forces. Even Dexter says this. For the life of me I do not understand why OTT continues to ship trailers with these springs. It boggles my mind..... I USED to say for 90% the Dexter 2400's would be a great solution. That other 10% is for the Off-Roader's that put their trailer thru gynmastics on a regular basis. Now I think 85% is a better number as I am hearing of more than a few owners in the 5,000 pounder class that may also skate by with the whimpy 1750's for 5+ years as well. But if I were one of them, I would still go with the 2400's to get a respectable 15 or 20 year life for the springs. I like doing things once to learn, but not repeating when logical to do so. GJ