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This morning I looked out and had these lights illuminated on the Oliver. They had came on sometime in the night without a tow vehicle hooked up or other input to make it happen. I looked at the schematic in the owner's manual. No clue there for a source of power except maybe at the plug. We had a long soaking rain fall yesterday. I looked at the plug, nothing obvious for water intrusion. I whacked the plug a couple of times on the trailer frame and the lights went out. For prevention I sprayed some WD40 into the plug to displace the moisture and will keep it covered from now on. Darn plugs can be a problem with moisture and or corrosion.

While I do not disagree with any of the above, here is a product that will help keep dirt and rain/snow out of the plug: At about $8.50 it is way expensive for what it is, but it does work. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AMON6HM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I attached a fairly short length of thin elastic cord to mine and when I disconnect from the TV I cap the cord and then place the elastic cord around the front jack. Bill

We have a Ram 2500 4 X 4 as a tow vehicle. While we initially got it to plow a mile long 'drive', it makes a great tow vehicle. The 6.4 engine kinda just cruises going down the road. It will seat 6 people, (3 and a dog) real comfortable. The creature comforts are much greater than in the Mercedes sedan we got, so we didn't have to take the plow off. Sitting up higher, you get better ground clearance, can see further down the road to be able to avoid potential problems, and you can really load it up. I initially put a roll up tonneau cover on it so that I could see behind me. But with the trailer on you can't see out back anyway. Think we will end up putting a cap on so that we can also carry a canoe or a couple of kayaks while camping, or ladders, or material when not. The big standard mirrors let me see down the sides of the trailer without any cumbersome shakey extensions. The only downside is that it is a big vehicle. With the trailer on we park at the back of most lots, and they tell me the extra walking is good for me.

One year plus in our Oliver and going great. Very few problems and none of major consequence. We've put about 6,000 miles on so far and will be headed out on a 2,500 -3,000 miles trip in two weeks. We're headed into fairly rough terrain, lots of gravel roads and possibly pretty wet too. Oliver recommends repacking wheel bearings every 6K. Any one done this themselves - how bad a job is it? How do you get the dust cover off? Or do you advise finding a local brake shop that can do it? Thanks

Pure rain water in theory may be non-conductive. I personally would not try it with a live wire. A raindrop would not have to travel too far to pickup enough impurities to be quite conductive. If there is a chance that water might be able to enter a molded on plug through the cord end, which I would think unlikely, I would rub a little silicone adhesive on it. If the plug in end was dry, I would plug it in repeatedly, to shine the contacts. Then I would put some dielectric grease into the openings,(as a major vehicle manufacturer recommended when addressing the 'trailer disconnect' issue). I would change to an openable plug only as a last resort. There are so many more chances of moisture intrusion with them...

You really need to open up that plug for a look, WD40 is a bandaid fix. Rain water is non-conducting. What most likely caused your problem was corrosive crud building up on the terminals, like the white flowers you see forming on a neglected battery's terminals. You need to clean all the crud out, degrease the connections and then coat them with a product that waterproofs them. I really like liquid electrical tape, but there are a bunch of choices. Also seal the opening where the cable enters, even if it has a good rubber grommet. When the plug is allowed to hang straight down, water can't get into the pins, but it sure can trickle down the cable and seep into the interior. In the bad old days there were plated steel female connectors for the tow vehicle. When those got water into the front side, they caused all sorts of problems when the growing rust from the housing spread to the live wires... fortunately they are now made with a nonconductive liner. I wonder who ever thought steel was an appropriate material for this application...? John Davies Spokane WA

Apparently the short caused a back flow of power from your coach batteries. Probably would not happen again but this is a good example of all the strange and weird things that can happen. Sometimes it makes you want to pull what little hair you may still have on your head completely out.

How many kids? If only a couple, consider a used Land Cruiser 200, they are luscious, capable and tow very well. The 2014s coming off lease are selling for about $40k. Here's mine with Mouse, about an hour ago. https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/towing-with-a-200-series-toyota-land-cruiser.932343/ But since you live at 8400 feet you REALLY need a turbo diesel or gas engine. Unless you want to add a supercharger to a Cruiser.... which is not a problem. Add me to the No Maintenance AGM Battery Club - until the lithium iron batteries get more affordable, these are the best choice. John Davies Spokane WA

Free2Roam, Yes, you may bring your dogs for pick up! However, we do have a policy that states they may not be in the sales office or inside the plant. We have a veterinarian less than a mile down the road that will board them for the day with no charge to you. Just as we are excited to meet you, we are equally excited to meet your fur babies. So, please bring them along. - Phil