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The keyless entry lock I've been looking at, by a p products, has mixed reviews,as in people love it or hate it. One reviewer suggested that alignment issues may be the reason it doesn't work for the unhappy customers. I was curious to know if anyone here on the forum has tried one on their Oliver, and the results. Sherry

When I brought my Oliver to the factory in October to have the Dexter upgrade, they did grease all of the fittings.

If you get the ramps that I have you will not have any trouble with any bike you buy. I have owned many motorcycles and wouldn't have a problem loading anything that will fit in a pick-up.

I did not change the suspension on the Tundra at all. It seems to tow the Oliver and carry the bike without issue. When loaded the truck and trailer seem very level, at least visually. The ramps that I got are almost overkill. It is very comfortable to load the bike seated and can stop midway, start again, backup, you name it even when wet. They provide excellent traction and are 12' long with a camber so you avoid hitting the underside of the bike at the apex ( as was mentioned). They can be purchased in different configurations for different applications. As I said before they were pricey but at my age and considering the places we sometimes end up, they were a worthwhile investment.

If considering loading ramps, besides safety, it is vital to consider the angle at which they will connect to the truck. If too steep, a heavy street bike may not have clearance to load or unload. My ramps are rated at 1,000 pounds and work fine for a 4-wheeler or a dirt bike, but will not load my street bike without help from a hillside (to raise the low end of the ramp, reducing the angle and the top-thus increasing clearance.) Backing the bike off onto a hillside is not an attractive option unless you can find a hill top to drop the ramp onto. Makes them practically unusable for the HD street bike. Notice how Grayson's ramps curve near the top. Much better option than straight ramps.

Bill and Grayson, We considered an ATC aluminum Toy Hauler before buying the Ollie. In the end our first priority was camping with the Ollie and second priority was taking a motorcycle while camping. We have a Vstrom, but want to transport our smaller Honda CB500X on the 6.5' bed for two-up riding while camping. It's less than 450 pounds wet and should be able to close the tailgate with the CB loaded at 56" wheel base, axle to axle. When I was a teenager, standing in a automobile pit next to a small HD leaning on handle bars while changing motor oil. Pulled too hard on the drain plug wrench and the bike came over on top of me in the pit. No one could hear me, but managed to get the 270 pound HD 250 Sprint up out of the pit off of me. Safety lesson learned! Will check out both ramps posted so far. Thanks,

Fixed

I think gravitate is a good word for it. I started out sleeping on the ground and then a few years later, putting a piece of clear plastic draped over a rope to form a tent to keep dry when it was raining as a young Boy Scout. Then we bought and used a Cab Over Camper for a lot of years when deer hunting out of state and that was fun. My dad had an old canvas army tent that we would put a wood stove into during the winter when hunting in Washington or Idaho as a teenager and as I grew up and moved out I ended up back in a pup tent for years and had camped in that tent until I eventually needed a bigger tent for the wife and kids. So I've had many tents and this last summer even though I had a Casita,I stayed in tents again, the Coleman Signature Instant Tent and the Browning Big Horn for the second year. I camp most of the summer down at my Gold Mine here in California as I make a living in the most wonderful of ways while creating new money that sees light for the first time when I pull it out of the ground. Here's a link to what I use during the summer at our camp - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HeVukH6Qdk&t=279s&list=PLcAJzGCJ3Q7zOmNdX_oYMqNUAMDGhQpMO&index=1 I've had 4 trailers and a Motor home on my own also. 2 of the trailers and the motor home are in these pics - [attachment file=DSCF0023.JPG] [attachment file=Dredge Trip 057.jpg] I used the green camo trailer as year round storage and for sleeping in 2005. Then in 2006 I brought in the Pace Arrow 32' Motor Home and our family used it to stay in until 2010. The other trailer we used basically for friends and it was given to me by a friend who stayed down at my claim for a few weeks that summer. Actually all of them were given to me or I inherited them from friends for different reasons. I still have the frame from the green trailer here but it's a flat bed trailer for my trommel these days and the other trailer I gave to my sister and she and her family still use it today. I'm basically a tent person but my wife and I were in a car accident in 2013 and found that putting up a tent was really painful, so we did a bunch of research and ended up buying a 2010 Casita Liberty Deluxe in February of last year and we traveled all over the west coast with it. We ended up setting up a permanent bed in it and we just sold it last month because when it was raining, the choice was to sit on the bed or put a chair up in the isle in front of the bathroom and we needed more room. Plus we camp all seasons and need and all season trailer so last month we ordered our Olli and it will be ready for us next February. So as much as I prefer tent camping to trailer camping in the summer, during the winter, trailer camping works the best for us. I have a bunch of Casita Videos, camping gear videos and some campground reviews on our YouTube channel and we will be incorporating what we need into our Olli. Our camp stove and griddle will still play a big part when we are camping with groups because our griddle and pizza oven make for some wonderful days and nights when we are staying far from any city. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4jSha8P7UI&t=409s&index=12&list=PLcAJzGCJ3Q7zOmNdX_oYMqNUAMDGhQpMO Anyway, we love camping and spend all summer out camping here and there most every year rain or shine and we have gravitated to the Olli because we really like having a trailer to stay in when we are on the road. We are still feeling our car accident from 3 years ago and putting up a tent a dealing with the pains has become a problem for Karen and I to do all of the time, so we have the trailer that we can just park and go without the trouble of packing the gear all back up onto the luggage racks on top of the car. Before the accident - [attachment file=March 2014.jpg] Before Olli :) - [attachment file=Casita in Albion.jpg] A few of our tents - [attachment file=Some of our tents.jpg] We do love camping on the coast -

Rideandfly - Started a new thread about loading ramps so as not to hijack this thread further. Bill

Snowlakemike I am glad you will be joining us at the rally. Regarding scheduling, let me give you some feedback. Our rally program officially begins Friday afternoon May 5th. We will have scheduled programs that evening, Friday and all day and into the evening Saturday. I would highly recommend everyone stay through Saturday evening. However, we will have other opportunities before and after the rally. We have purposely scheduled the rally at Hohenwald, Tenn. At our first rally, many Oliver owners scheduled maintenance, warranty and service work to be done before and / or after the rally. On Friday before the rally began, the campground had Oliver technicans doing service work throughout the park, going from one Oliver to the next. This was very convenient for Oliver owners and prospective owners. Oliver had the latest models on display in the campground and some of the sales staff was available to assist future owners. A tour of the Oliver factory was made available as well. A number of attendees stayed past the weekend to do the above, visit Nashville, and drive Natchez Trace. The point is, we have tried to make the rally as convenient, fun, educational and full of networking with other RV owners and enthusiasts, as much as possible. Regarding making reservations for specific campsites I have requested that the campground reconsider their policy on no reservations for specific sites. I will update everyone when I receive more information. coy

Laps wrote: Same here and I completely agree. I have a 2014 Ram 3500 SRW and drive it everywhere. At 78,000 miles I've had no trouble with it. It tows my Ollie effortlessly and is heavy enough to be completely stable. Best vehicle I've ever had. One of the best features while towing is the standard engine brake the Cummins comes with. Excellent in the mountains! It will descend long grades without touching the brakes.

We want a pickup truck for a TV ( we currently drive two pickups), so waiting to see all the 2017 model changes to make our final decision. Would like to be able to take a motorcycle in the back of the pickup and install racks to transport Kayaks, too. My main focus is on gas powered pickups, but will not rule out diesel powered pickups. Understand the idea about towing the Ollie with a van or class B, could even put a motorcycle in the back of the van, but in the end we will go with a pickup truck. Debbie likes pickups, too!

So now I am thinking about a standard cargo van for a tow vehicle. The GMC or Chevy 2500 can be built with a 6.0 V8 or even a diesel. It has a 10000 lb. towing capacity. The attraction is that one can customize it to any degree so I would add some ergonomic recliners, a big screen TV, roof air, cassette potty, beer fridge, and call it the Family room...a place to relax and watch TV, read, etc. Then retire to the Ollie for sleep. We just returned from a trip to Dallas without Ollie and it would have been great to have some creature comforts on board. My thought is as long as we must have a tow vehicle why not make it part of the living experience.

We were poised to purchase a Ram 1500 Ecodiesel in anticipation of our May delivery in Tennessee-a beautiful vehicle. Our towing experience is limited and a number of family members and friends (all lifetime truck owners and outdoor enthusiasts) were adamant about the limitations of light duty trucks. After doing the payload math, inclusive of tongue weight and all of the items we intended to travel with, we were rapidly approaching the upper limits of the tow vehicle. The majority of our outings are in the western U.S. with some elevation challenges that impact horse power and torque. We opted for the bigger truck and are pleased that we did. Driving out loaded for the 2000+ miles from CA to TN our mpg was 20.5 . On our return trip, with our proud possession in tow, we made 15.5 mpg without incident and our Oliver was barely noticeable from behind the wheel. BTW-John's numbers on Ram pricing were spot on in March when we purchased and may be better as the new models are released.

I have an '06 Ram 3500. It is powerful and capable, but it rides much worse than the newer "Gen 4" trucks when unladen. The new 2500 with coil springs or airbags in back would be worth considering if someone wanted to step up from a 1500. They ride _really_ nice empty but can still handle a heavy tongue weight. The 6.2 Hemi engine is great for towing if you want to stay clear of a diesel. I recently drove a new 2016 Power Wagon with the 6.2 and it was plenty nice, though it didn't have any real low end grunt, compared to my Cummins 5.9.... The gas engine likes to rev. To the O.P. ... Ram is having huge discounts on 2016 models right now. The 2017s are coming this Fall. If you can't find a HD Laramie for $11,000 off MSRP you are not trying. It's a really good time to buy a new truck at a great discount. I've been watching these trucks in Idaho: .... http://www.dennisdillonchryslerjeepdodge.com/all-inventory/index.htm?search=Power+wagon&saveFacetState=true&compositeType=&year=2016&make=Ram&model=2500&bodyStyle=&internetPrice=&listingConfigId=AUTO-new%2CAUTO-used&showSelections=true&showInvTotals=false&quick=true&showReset=false&showSubmit=true&searchLinkText=SEARCH&dependencies=model%3Amake%2Ccity%3Aprovince%2Ccity%3Astate&facetbrowseGridUnit=BLANK&facetbrowse=true&suppressAllConditions=compliant&showRadius=false&lastFacetInteracted= John Davies Spokane WA

I bought a Dodge Ram 3500 (SRW) new in March 2012 and have presently 40,000 miles on it. It is by far and away the best vehicle, whether it be car, truck or SUV, that I've owned. I'm currently getting 16.5 mpg city and 21 mpg highway. Have had zero issues. Once I reach the 5 year mark I'll be deleting the DPF system, only for better fuel economy and somewhat better power response. It is overkill for pulling an Oliver TT but for me I just plain enjoy driving it everywhere.

Do your research really well before deciding. There have been a number of complete engine failures: http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2016/3/28/Why-New-Ecodiesel-Owners-Need-To-Beware-Of-Engine-Failure-7732734/ but OTH they have produced a WHOLE lot of these engines worldwide, and I think they are a good design. OTH I would never own a modern diesel without buying an extended warranty for at least the drivetrain and emissions systems. The emissions are so darned complex and failure prone that you will surely have expensive failures. If you get all the Ram extras like the cool air ride suspension, be sure to get a bumper to bumper warranty. There are a lot of complicated and interconnected systems in a high end Ram, like active grill shutters. That is how they get the stellar mileage. It makes the truck more prone to nuisance problems. Diesels do not make good commuters in stop and go traffic. They need to work hard to be efficient. Steady highway driving is fine. Towing is finer. Stop and go fills up the particle filter (DPF) and requires lots of regenerations to burn them off, which kill your fuel economy. If you think your driving pattern fits a diesel and you want the wonderful torque, this would be a good choice IMHO. The new Titan XD will do a better job with more power and a better reputation for reliability, but it's 5.0 V8 is a new design that has yet to build a record in the real world. I suggest that you drive one of those and the Ram back to back before deciding. The Ram will pull an Oliver without a sweat, but the Titan will do it more effortlessly, while using a little bit more fuel... Personally, I would pick a Cummins engine any day, over any other brand. They are brilliant. In regards to towing capacity, remember that the tongue weight is added to your trucks payload. It is often impossible to tow a max weight trailer without overloading a light duty truck, after you have added all your other stuff in the bed along with passengers and accessories. There is a tow test where the guys used a Power Wagon to haul a max payload up the Ike Gauntlet, but they could not actually use the max amount because the soft springs of the PW would not carry enough payload. Same with a Ram 1500 and a heavy trailer. Be sure you can also load your people and stuff in the truck! I would NEVER attempt to tow over 7000 pounds with a Ram Ecodiesel, unless it was a short trip on flat terrain. That is too much weight for a light duty truck to be safe and reliable. 10,000 pounds? No way Jose! But the Titan could do it. John Davies Spokane WA