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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01INZ7RY0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Mike

The clips on Mouse were installed incorrectly, like so many of the little nuisance things I have been fixing over time There is a thin, very hard plastic spacer behind each steel clip. The installer drilled a small hole straight through the spacer and the window frame, then drove the screw down. Anybody who has installed two parts together will understand why this is so very wrong. The hole in the spacer MUST be larger than the hole in the window, preferably the same diameter as the outside of the screw threads. With a bigger hole the clip will pull down hard and flat against the frame (into perfect alignment). With a small hole the clip can rest at an angle, which prevents the ears from fully engaging the blind frame, and it holds the frame too far out, so the next clip is also less than fully engaged! The frame comes loose there and can fall off during travel. Once all the clips are ALL lying PERFECTLY flat, you can rotate them or bend the ears outward for extra gripping force, and the frames should stay put. I fixed two at a rest break, while my wife and son watched with amusement, on my last trip and I will redrill them all sometime. I was going to do a "How To: REInstall Your Blinds Properly" thread. Maybe you could do that, take pics, otherwise it might start to look as if I am angry about my trailer..... I'm not, really, I love it, I am just increasingly frustrated that one or two sloppy/incompetent/ untrained/ hungover/ part time/ unsupervised/ rushed/ whatever technicians could have screwed up so many little and seemingly insignificant installations that care and common sense would have prevented. John Davies Spokane WA

Tons of stuff, a drill, bits, 4" angle grinder, 100' extension cord, small shovel, a/c adapters, roll of rebar wire, grease, gloves, plastic gloves, Lysol wipes and...

AKA, how to keep your kitchen gadgets inside the drawers when traveling, where they belong. And to keep from busting the latches away from the wood. The standard Soft Close system is cool but totally hopeless in terms of keeping the drawers closed if there is any weight at all in them. Especially on twisty roads where there are repetitive G loads to the left.... Oliver offers some additional latches that mount behind the drawers but they are flimsy plastic, problematic to install and you lose that lovely Soft Close feature. I chose to install 1 inch nylon webbing and stainless footman loops. I chose black since I knew they would be hard to keep clean, and I preferred high contrast so I could see at a quick glance that they were installed and tight... You may prefer white webbing. All the parts are very high quality and came from Raingler Nets. Qty 2: Footman loop 1 inch PAIR. https://raingler.com/products/footman-mount-set Qty 2: Tie down strap 1 inch x 72 inch, with pvc coated flat hook. https://raingler.com/products/tie-down-strap-with-hook Qty 1: Steel flat hook PAIR, pvc coated. https://raingler.com/collections/hardware-accessories/products/flat-hook-set?variant=23658618433 I did swap the plated screws for stainless, and I waited until I was finished to trim the excess webbing. I ended up removing 20 inches from each. That leaves a short length for grabbing and lets you loosen it up enough to unhook and remove each strap, without having to completely unthread the webbing from the buckle. This also keeps the loose hooks from getting lost. When not towing, I store the two straps in the bottom left drawer, which is my electrical/ junk drawer. They work great, and provide good peace of mind when the roads get interesting. John Davies Spokane WA

I made this because the Owners Manual towing and camping lists are simply lame. This one is set up like an aircraft preflight checklist. Feel free to edit and change as needed, some items may not apply or you may just want to do it differently. Mine is laminated and posted inside the closet door: Click the attachment at the bottom to download the Word file. John Davies Spokane WA OLIVER-TRAILER-CHECKLIST-–.docx

For those of you that have made reservations, if you didn't let them know you were with the Oliver Rally or not sure, please give the campground a call back and confirm. We have the following discounted rates setup with the campground, lodge rooms and cabins. Special Rates Full Hookup RV Campsites – $20 per night Park-Side Lodge Rooms – $94 per night Bluff Side Lodge Rooms – $109 per night Lakeside Cabins – $132 per night For discounted rates, let reservations know you are with the Oliver Travel Trailers Rally (Group Code 7066) Lodge & Room Reservations (256) 571-5440 Camping Reservations (256) 571-5455 Letting them know you are with the Oliver Rally will also help us keep a headcount for meals and other accommodations. Looking forward to it!

Another Mercedes :) Nice choice, the GL's are really hard to beat for comfortable driving. You're going to need this to make the brakes and lights work correctly - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FZTWVE4/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I3M1UBD7YV0VPN&colid=DVETVI1ZF5E8 Then if you bought the 4matic version, you're going to want to fully understand how to engage all 4 wheels for off-road. If it's an older model from 2012 or before then there's a simple button on the dash with a car and skid marks that you push. When the yellow light is on, on the dash, then you're ready to go off-road :) Reed

Now that's funny there, John :) We reversed all of ours the other day so the dark slides up from the bottom for privacy at night. Now we can slide them up at night and leave them open about 6" and see out just fine, but nobody can see what your wearing from the outside anymore. When we removed them, 2 of them had the screws stripped... as usual... and the screws came out with the blinds... then after putting them back on with only 4 hold downs until I fix them... one came down on the road from hell :) but they just land on the bed or on the couch and quickly go back up. I had to realign the hold downs on one when we bought the trailer. Having them all mounted flush and horizontal is the key, and then having them not stripped out helps... It is one nasty road but it cuts off 20 minutes :) The bigger the screw... Lol. Reed

Reed, Thanks again for the assist. Some of this forum is not all that intuitive. Cheers, file:///C:/Users/DIG/AppData/Local/Temp/VisitedStatesMap.jpg

Debbie, As you know from my comments on your blog, we only ordered our Ollie, "Amazing Grace", a couple of weeks ago so we haven't towed yet but when I was researching vehicles (number 2 of travel trailer decisions), we were looking at used Toyota land crusiers and Mercedes GL450. These have lots of room, are very dependable and good for high mileage. We have had pick-ups which didn't make our list at all because for a female, if you aren't at least 5'10" (maybe more), you can't reach anything in it without a ladder so definitely not convenient. As fate would have it, our first day out browsing dealerships (I'd already checked out cargurus and autotrader to check out vehicles and get values), we happened upon a white (nice match) GL450 with no tags or for sale signs but decided to ask about it anyway. Well, a doctor had just traded it that day at this Toyota dealership for a car for his daughter. It had the tow package, looked like a new one, rode like a new one and when the price was right, we were sold. Now some would discourage one from purchasing a Mercedes because of maintenance/service costs (an oil change is like $200 at a dealership) but there are many import shops around to deal with rather than dealers, we have a good one. Bottom line...everything has pros and cons but you know that after all your research into this endeavor. The most important issue, I think, is being comfortable with the "handling" of whatever vehicle you choose and get it sooner than later so you aren't having to get use to towing a trailer at the same time as learning the feel of the tow vehicle. Well, that's all I got on the issue.....BTW, surprised you aren't picking up earlier than October as it looked practically finished 2 weeks ago.

I took all the hubs off and found a slight grease leak in the one brake that was locking prematurely. I cleaned the bearings, drums, and brake assemblies and everything looked OK, with minimal wear. With a couple of exceptions. Both left axle stubs had some sort of black crusty stuff where the seal runs. I've never seen this before, can anyone comment? I cleaned them both up with a red scotchbrite pad: And I decided to buy real seals, not the crap stuff from China that is sold everywhere. These are USA made, obviously better quality (by visual comparison and at the recommendation of my favorite NAPA parts guy). I had to get them from a bearing supply, cost was $4.59 each. I STRONGLY recommend these for your next brake or bearing service; poor quality seals will mess up your brakes after a few thousand miles. I suggest you order four, throw them in the spares kit and use them yourself, or tell the shop to use them instead of another brand. https://www.amazon.com/Timken-473336-Seal/dp/B001544U88/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503898998&sr=8-1&keywords=Timken+473336 I used Redline Cv2 grease in the bearings, removed the adjusters and lubed the threads with silver antiseize, and sprayed a liquid grease on the cams, magnet pivots and self-adjuster cable guides. I hate drum brakes, they are such a pain to work on. Hopefully they will work right now.... for a while at least. John Davies Spokane WA

Hi, as we get ready to take our first extended trip I was wanting to know what you experienced Oliver owners have in your tool box. thanks in advance.

Forgot to mention a small pick and a small shovel go in the truck plastic box. A Ram headlight adjusting tool in the door pocket and a set of gloves behind the seat. ????

Go to your Main Profile page, hit the edit gear under your pic/edit profile, scroll to the bottom to “Forum Signature”. You can click the question mark telling you to click the text tab but the tab is on the far right next to the Visual tab. Once in the text tab you can insert the pic Here's a guide, I had pics in here somewhere for it but... http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/map-in-signature-block/

I have a large tool bag behind the seat of my truck all the time with general tools like mechanics stuff and electrical stuff. It also has teflon tape, electrical tape, bailing wire, ohm meter, 12 volt probe tester, fuses, various pliers and screw drivers. Then, inside Ollie I have a junk drawer with tools that will be used on Ollie during the trip, like electrical polarity tester, 6 in one screwdriver, batteries, etc. In the compartment over the microwave I have a small bubble level that I set on the sink counter for leveling. It's a round one about 2 1/2" in diameter that reads in all directions with a center bubble. Then there is a large plastic box that goes into the truck with stuff, like a small shovel and pick, a roll of 1/8" paracord, a serpentine belt, 1/2" ratchet with sockets for the suspension nuts, fuel filter and wheel lugs, fuel filters, screw jack and handle, a 12 volt air compressor, WD 40 and a tubeless tire plug kit. I like to carry a small tube of grease so I can put a dab on the ball once in a while. The WD 40 gets sprayed on the step mechanism, the bulldog hitch clamp, the 7 pin plug and the rear bumper pins. Plus, it's great for cutting heavy grease that may get on my hands. I also always have a spray bottle filled with Windex for washing hands at the gas station and general cleaning. I also always carry a long and heavy gauge set of jumper cables. On the last trip I used these to charge Ollie's batteries instead of my generator and it worked better than the generator. So I'm thinking when I get the large inverter installed, I'll just leave the genny at home. Then in the rear side compartment I have a large plastic box with the water hoses and a smaller box with the regulator, pressure gauge, various water adapters, extra hose washers and some ball type bungee cords. The truck door pocket, the dresser drawer, the junk drawer and the overhead rear compartment all have flashlights. I always have numerous flashlights wherever I go. And a tape measure lives in the door pocket too. In the overhead rear inside compartment I have 120 volt household extension cords, a small cigarette lighter style inverter, a splitter, computer and phone charger cords, HDMI cord and large flashlight. The truck glove compartment has a couple of tire gauges. I have three modified jack stands that are used under the leveling jacks and the front jack. The two rear ones have a welded flat plate on top and the third one has a pipe that accepts the front jack round tube. There are a few blocks for cases where I need something under the tires or if the front jack stand is too high. And finally, I always have a Swiss Army Knife in my pocket.

A plug in electrical tester, that can trip a GFI. (Checks open ground, any power, reversed polarity,etc.). A 30-15, 15-30 adapters and an extension cord. Tape measure, adjust wrench, hammer, various screwdrivers, electrical and duct tape, and some zip ties. A slip joint pliers that can tighten water hoses is handy too. A couple bungee cords of various lengths, and a couple lengths of small rope to hang various things from, (make them bright so you don't leave them when you pull out. A jackknife. A piece of paper and a pencil, so you can list the tools you wish you had, and to list those to take out because you never use.

We just got the small door magnets. On Command strips hold one on the bottom of the door and one on the side under the dinette seat. They work well and not very noticeable at all. Mike