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This is so cool, we are located in a great big empty field at the end of a dead end dirt road, half a mile from the downwind end of the runway, we can hear the band playing, and we are kicked back in our recliners, under the shade of the awning, with the spotting scope and binoculars handy. I have the generator ready in case it gets blistering hot and we need to run the AC, but right now there is a light breeze and it is about 80 degrees. Also have earplugs but I suspect they will not be needed, since most of the afterburner stuff will be further away. The show starts in half an hour. Pics to follow, I hope to get a pic of Mouse with looping smoke trails above. Or maybe a Thunderbird doing a knife edge turn.... I love this trailer. We are learning that we don't have to camp overnight to enjoy using it as a mobile club house. We will head out late afternoon and be home in 20 minutes. Woohoo! John Davies Spokane WA

Hi Everyone, I had this great idea.... Put the Dinette area in bunk mode to use as a couch. We never really use the dinette seating. It's not the most comfortable, so if we are relaxing inside we sit on the bunks, but that gets old so I figured let's try the new configuration. I quickly found that you are most likely NOT going to be able to remove the post by hand. There are 3 tongues that fit under the floor bracket that attach the post to the floor. You have to loosen the black flange and then rotate the post holding the table. Very difficult if not impossible to do by hand. Finally figured it would be best to use a strap wrench. $9 and a home depot trip later and I was able to get the post removed. I used the strap wrench on the flange first and then on the post itself. A rubber mallet and some blue language were also employed. :-) Pictures attached.... Comment appreciated... So far we like it this way and will probably leave it in this configuration. Safe Travels, Scotty

We had to move a little since all the action was half a mile south. We ended up in a perfect spot. A Hornet went right over us at about 500 feet agl, flat out, that was glorious. The sound of freedom! Here is my wife Jac in position.. John Davies Spokane WA

Just his past week I saw a Coach House Platinum II . What a great looking unit. If and when I need to change from towing to driving my home away this brand will get a closer look. We just returned from the best trip ever. Dry camping at Mount Pisgah on the BRP. This trip was everything our previous trip there should have been. The Trailer, and tow vehicle performed perfectly and my new Andersen wdh made hitching up so easy. More on that in another post for those of you who remember my rants against Andersen when we had the Ollie. Solar was great when the sun was out and my Honda 2000i took up the slack on cloudy days. AC was never needed because the highest temp was only 74 during our stay. For now the AS has extended my camping years and for that I am grateful.

Looks interesting. I could see it being towed behind a class A or C for use when camping.

Rubbing a little paraffin wax on those tabs will make them rotate out a lot easier. Plus I don't think the tabs need to be fully twisted on to do their job if you also lock down the black collar. We like to eat outside as well but when it's blowing and snowing we like our dinette! Dave

Bollinger of NY introduced their very cool, very trail ready ev this week, to coincide with the Tesla 3. The future is sneaking up on us With the massive torque and acceleration of evs, we just now have to figure out charging, In the current config, the Bollinger b1 Is a nonstarter as a TV. Time will make a difference. PS.. it looks so cool. I'd be tempted as a local 4x4 vehicle. Not as tow. We are on an exciting primetime era with evs. Battery power will increase. You can be sure if that https://electrek.co/2017/07/27/bollinger-all-electric-truck-b1/

Someday soon, we will have a thread on " how do I charge my ev tow on solar." Sherry

Glad you got it working, Scotty! I know what a relief it is. As much as Ford touts its trailer towing capabilities, it boggles the mind that they won't incorporate the circuitry of the Tow Ready into their F-150s and have ignored the numerous complaints they have received on the issue. (Google "Ford F-150 trailer disconnect" and you'll get an earful, so to speak.) Between that and the terrible nav system installed on the 2015 (compared to the system on my 2010 F-150, which was excellent), I may be looking elsewhere the next time I need a new TV. I don't know how the Ford 2016-2017 nav systems stack up, but Nav Systems in general might be an interesting new thread.

!!All right then!! Good idea to get access through the tank gauge opening. Note to Oliver: As far as I know, the National Electric Code requires access to all connections. It also requires that a switch or receptacle needs enough extra wire to be pulled out of its box at least 6" for maintenance or repair/replacement. There should be an access port inside the hidden compartment and don't skimp on your wire! Glad you're up and running again! Dave

Success at last! For those interested and for anyone who runs across the same issue here goes. The fast tab connectors had indeed come loose from the pump switch located under the pantry. I removed the 4 screws holding the backing plate for the battery, water, gray water & black water gauge which provided just enough light and access but only if you have very small hands. Effectively when the Oliver crew terminated these wires to the switch they provide absolutely no slack at all, and in fact those wires were pulled quite tight and in the large harness with a bunch of other wires. The weight of the harness with tight wires pulled them from their connections. I re-terminated all three of the double pole switch wires with two foot long extensions of 12 AWG wiring. Tested the system before reinstalling the entire enchilada and it all worked fine. Hopefully no one else has to go through this because it is a major PITA to accomplish. I did not have to drill any holes either in the battery box or hidden compartment either, however it would have provided far better access to do so from the compartment. As Dave pointed out one can wiggle the switch out of its socket with a putty knife and flat head screw driver, but start with the putty knife first. The bathroom switch comes out much easier just wiggling and pulling with your fingers. And oddly enough they provided plenty of slack with the bathroom switch. I'm attaching a few relevant photos for future reference. Hope this helps. The first image is provides the size of the cut out hole once the plate is removed for the battery, water etc gauge. Its small, the second image shows correct wiring for the switch, note the purple wire is always in the middle, and the gray & brown wire to the outside terminals. It matters not which terminal the gray and brown wires are attached to, same for the bath switch which is the 3rd image.

Problem Solved! - At least for the last 700 miles I have come to believe that the solution for this problem may be different from truck to truck. We have (as a group) tried a lot of different solutions and some have worked for others but not for me. So, here is a quick run down on how I got to problem solved with some info that may prove useful to current or future sufferers of the dreaded disconnect message. So, in the order that seems best, here they are: 1.) Selecting Electric over Hydraulic brakes - I am not sure if this will solve the problem. What I am sure of is that the reduced braking on the trailer was not safe. I did a 25 mph brake test on a level road using both the Electric and the Electric over Hydraulic setting and the latter scared the heck out of me. Low speed and level ground and I could feel the reduced braking... A LOT! I changed the setting back and will never use that setting again. So, scratch this one off your list. I am towing an LE2 and the difference may be less with the single axle Ollie 2.) SSM 45508 / SSM 45803 update - This one was interesting. This SSM says to update the trailer brake controller to version 98.02 or higher. This is for trucks built before 11/04/2015. My truck was built after this, but I was pretty explicit with the dealer that I wanted this update without regard to mfg. date. The dealer did the upgrade for me "on the house." Upon clarification I learned Ford was not going to pay for the upgrade because my truck was made after the specified date. But the dealer took care of me. So, if you are going to get this update, you need to be specific with the dealer on the issue. Don't accept the "your truck has all the updates it needs" line. (Thanks JBM!) All that being said.... the update by itself has not fixed the problem. I still get disconnect warnings unless I use ....... 3. The Mighty Tow Ready 20142 - After determining that the update did not fix the problem I connected the Tow Ready adapter (Thank you David!) and this has apparently solved the issue. We just finished a 700 mile round trip and had no disconnect issues when using the Tow Ready. In fact, I left the Tow Ready plugged into the truck but NOT pulling the trailer, and the F-150 told me the trailer was connected. You can get this on Amazon for under $25. Conclusion: The Tow Ready really does work. It plugs in between the truck and the trailer pigtail. It is secure and only adds about 4" to the length of the cable. Locking tabs were secure and I did not need any straps to secure the Tow Ready. If you find that it does not work for you, I would suggest you get the version 98.02 update and try it again. My thanks to everyone for the assistance in getting this problem solved. It has been over a year and very frustrating and distracting. Returning from the Spring Fling in May I was on 287 approaching the Tappan Zee Bridge at night in the RAIN... and the disconnect thing was going off repeatedly. It was not fun. Thanks again everyone. If I can help anyone with this or any other issue I would be most happy to return the favor, or pay it forward. Scotty

Just in case anyone is headed to the Cape Hatteras/Outer Banks area, please be advised. 10,000 vacationers ordered off island. http://time.com/4877991/outer-banks-north-carolina-power-outage/

That's great Reed. I'm really glad this whole idea of the pick-up tube has worked. Really nice work, and I truly hope Oliver carries this forward, because it really is an important design issue. I have access "obstacles" in my Elite that you don't have in your Elite 2. My hot water tank pretty much covers the back end of my fresh water tank. So in order to spin weld a fitting on the top of the FWT, I need to first remove the HWT! ughh. I am still hoping that somehow I can insert a bent tube inside the original outflow fitting, and letting it rest on the tank bottom. I'm waiting to hear what Oliver comes up with. What was the pipe dope you used? Not seen that before but I'll get some when I dive into this. Thanks again for bringing this all to light again. Dave

I'm resurrecting your older thread Dave since now the problem has been resolved :) Reed Pick up tube installation videos -

Highway 20 goes through the southern edge of Fort Robinson. Traffic? There are more people shopping at your local WalMart daily, than vehicles driving through the Fort in a month! An Indian Pow Wow is held every year which brings many Sioux and Cheyenne to the west of the Fort. Could get the kids a bit concerned, as these are real Indians but there for the celebrations. Fort Laramie, Wyoming is another Indian Fort from the 19th Century with ruins. Laramie, Wyoming has what is left of Fort Saunders on the south side of town. Homes are built around the ruins. The fort's dump is on the east side of the road and in the 1970's you could find 1860's pottery ink bowls and bottles! If you like crowds and the main street of tourist vendor's... this is not for you. Wide open country where the climate can change every 24 hours. July is the hottest. Before and afterwards... your guess of climate changes quickly when traveling above 4,500 feet elevation. Follow the Oregon Trail through Wyoming. Open camping on BLM are to be found everywhere. The Oregon, Mormon, Pony Express is marked with easy to find monuments. "You are not only playing Frontiersman... You ARE living it!"

Don't check with Pete..... Check with Bosker, he really runs things in that rig! :-) I have an appointment with Ford on Monday July 10. Trip scheduled for July 22-30. Will be taking the towready , Foil hat, and any damn other thing I can think of. Will report. Thanks guys, Scotty

You might want to check with Pete (Bugeyedriver). I've seen him wearing foil hats from time to time. I don't think it has affected his brakes but I'm told it allows him to receive reruns of 'The Twilight Zone' even when they're not on the air.

Yesterday Ford updated my brake controller module in accordance with their latest service bulletin. I changed the trailer brake setting back to 'electric brakes' and had a chance to test it out today. I'm happy to report that the brakes now work as intended and no more troublesome "Trailer Disconnected" messages! Yay!

I have been dreaming about owning an Ollie for years. I've always imagined Cesky Terriers running & jumping & chasing various things across the sides of an Oliver!! Such fun! Thanks so much for sharing your creativity! It's awesome! Kayrae51 Hoping to be an Oliver owner soon!

Highway 20 is a great route! I know the route in Nebraska very well. I can also recommend highway 2 through the Sandhills of Nebraska. In addition to Fort Robinson on Highway 2 in NE, don't miss the Peppermill Steakhouse in Valentine, canoeing the Niobrara River east of Valentine, the Museum of the Fur Trade near Chadron, NE, the Mari Sandoz (Old Jules, Son of a Gambling Man, Crazy Horse) in Chadron, the Bowring Ranch State Historical Park near Merriman, NE and many more interesting places. In response to an earlier question about the proximity of the highway to the campground at Fort Robinson State Park, I can respond. I camped there about a month ago. There are two separate camping areas: Soldier Creek and Red Cloud. I camped in the Red Cloud area which is more distant from the highway.