Leaderboard

Vector, I may be in the minority, but I don't believe it's necessary to have a heavy duty (3/4 ton) pickup to tow an Oliver Elite II. I tow with a 2015 VW Touareg TDI (turbo diesel). It has a 7700 lb. towing capacity and I tow without an equalizer hitch. The standard bulldog hitch works well. The diesel provides the grunt to pass with the Ollie on two-lane roads and gets me up to cruising speed very quickly. I checked my mileage yesterday after returning home from a campground in NE Iowa about 120 miles from home and I averaged 19.5 mpg towing the Ollie. I was on 2-lane roads most of the time driving between 55-58 mph and interstate for about 40 miles towing at 65 mph. The Touareg's only negative is that you don't have the cargo space available in a full-size pickup, but if you have or are buying an Ollie, you've already made the choice to go "small". When I'm not towing, I have a very comfortable, luxurious SUV as my primary vehicle that averages 26 mpg in my everyday driving and around 30-31 mpg when traveling long distances at sustained speeds of 75 to 80 mph. It really does double duty! Don

For me, its more a question of gas vs diesel for pulling a heavy load, and for me it is always diesel that wins out. I've had a Toyota Tundra and am now on my second Dodge Ram diesel (3500 SRW) and I much prefer the grunt of the diesel. I've hauled a car trailer with a 1969 chevelle on the trailer and it was effortless with the Dodge, especially when crossing mountains. I am getting 16 mpg around town and 20-22 mpg on the highways, with no trailer, in the Dodge. I'm anticipating an easy haul with the yet to be purchased Oliver.

Gregg, We worked mostly with Anita on the graphics, and a little with Rodney Staggs (Tommy's nephew, I think). Rodney doesn't work in the Trailer part of the company. I requested to have "The Lone Star Oliver" on the side instead of the "Legacy Elite II", our hull number on the back above the window and out big star with winding road on the front. There were a couple of issues - I think they just forgot/overlooked the side and back graphics. On the front, Rodney couldn't print our star big enough, so I had it done locally. That presented a question of liability - if it was messed up being installed he didn't have the ability to print a new one. The graphics took a back seat to the other issues. The outlets were easily fixed and the short in the wiring was just bad luck, it took the better part of a day to fix that. I decided I would take care of the graphics later. I peeled of the their front graphic and installed mine at our first campground. Very easy, just had to be slow and careful. I have some pictures in our profile. I'll do the side and back graphics over the next few weeks. We have a local guy who prints and installs. Mike