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Long install post- I decided it was a gorgeous sunny North Carolina day and just a good day to install the new tinted glass and blind I ordered from Zarcor. I made this a stand alone post as this window install was a bit different from other installs I have read about here. It appears the Lippert now uses a sealant on the exterior window frame which adheres the frame to the door frame opening. They also use a similar sealant on the interior of the exterior frame, which holds the glass FIRMLY in place inside the window. I could not remove the old opaque glass from the old frame. I decided since this really appears to be a one time use sealant that purchasing a new exterior frame would be required. Reusing the old frame and compromised sealant was not an option for me. You will see where the sealant on the old frame came off after removal from the Ollie window door cut out or frame. Some of the old sealant came off on the old opaque window. I was glad I had purchased a new frame through Zarcor to do the install. The new frame was $28 plus shipping. Once I removed the old frame and opaque glass, the install was pretty straightforward. The new window frames use what appears to be a ratchet mechanism which once both frames are sealed together they lock into place. No more rope caulk or screws to tighten down when you sandwich the new window interior and exterior frames together. Zarcor sends (16) little plastic tabs (pics) that release the frames from each other. Without these tabs you cannot remove the frames. Below are a few photos to help describe the process. It’s not terribly difficult; just take your time and read the instructions. We are really happy with this mod and like the idea of seeing who is knock knock knocking on our Ollie’s door. $175.00 for this mod including shipping from Zarcor. The staff at Zarcor made this mod seamless by answering all questions I had before moving forward. Just really great folks to do business with in San Antonio,Texas. This is a fairly easy window mod and I would highly recommend it if you prefer being able to see who is knocking at your door. Take your time and remember be gentle as your working with plastic and glass. link - https://www.zarcor.com/rv_products/rv-door-window-kit/ (16) tabs provided by Zarcor to remove existing frame. You insert equally around slots on the exterior of the interior frame edge. You will see the slots. Ratchet mechanism that holds frames together. Likely to speed up window/door plant assembly production cut costs. After removing the interior frame, a thin bladed puddy knife can be used to separate seal. Old frame and compromised sealant - Another photo of old exterior frame after removal- Throughly clean off old sealant off door frame- Installed new frame, and tinted glass, my bride was a tremendous help with an extra set of hands 🙌 👍🏻. The blind install was again pretty straight forward and it works great! It attaches with several small Velcro tabs. The blind can be operated with the interior screen door closed, just slide screen door plastic opening for access. Finished exterior - we like the way this tinted window matches the rest of our glass. The contrast of the tint vs natural light -

Interesting comments. I agree that the forum would benefit from having a FAQ section of some sort to answer common questions. I think that in itself would/should cut down on a lot of the repetitive discussion. I've felt for a while that a simple list of links to Important Topics could be easily maintained once it's set up, and would serve the purpose of a FAQ probably better than a FAQ itself could. Perhaps a separate one for each forum area. I've just been too lazy to create one myself, and uneager to suggest it since that's just an invitation for the assignment. 🙃 But I don't think that segregating the forum in any way is advisable. I think all you have to do is look back at the number of topics that each of us participated in before putting down our own deposits, and that should be evidence enough to halt that discussion. At the end of the day, if you don't want to read whether or not someone can tow their trailer with two mules and a large dog, you don't have to click on it. (A: Inadvisable on mountain passes.) Since I don't follow the Facebook stuff, I have to admit that Russell's post might as well be written in Aramaic, since I don't understand a single sentence of it. But I gather that there's drama somewhere on Facebook? I won't pretend to be shocked.

For those that use FB, Oliver has made an interesting announcement on that platform. . Soon to be posted here - on the forum. I won't front run Mat Duncan. I know many have left the FB - for many reasons- not all political!!! Regardless of why - I redid my presence there - to reflect minimum contact- in order to keep up with a few boating groups that are important to my sporting life. My point here - Oliver web masters - FB does not reflect the current favor of discerning Oliver owners - hmmm. Well ok, those of us with different opinions.😁 Thank You All. RB Edit - See - no diatribe on the corruption of culture and misplaced influence - Ha - Rather than being the product - here on the forum - we are actually a tiny dotted line on a distant arm of the Oliver org chart - sort of distant cousins ....

Thank you Mike! 👍🏻

Not scientific but, I have covered the return air vent and did not find any significant change In the volume of air or sound coming from the furnace nor did the sound of the fan change. My wife sleeps above the furnace and could not hear any difference in the sound volume or characteristics, while lying on the bed. Andrew

Good install job! Looks very similar to what I did a few years ago. Ours has operated flawlessly. It is very easy to open and close the blind without opening the door. The slider is accessible through the sliding panel for the door handle.

5 ounces of imbalance is not good, but it is actually acceptable for a heavy LT tire if it can be corrected with weights. A hopping wheel and tire will also wear out that shock absorber and the wheel bearings much faster. Did you have them check the spare? Even if you don’t rotate it wth the others, it would be good to know it was OK for a (possibly long term) emergency. https://blog.tirerack.com/blog/make-driving-fun-2/how-many-wheel-weights-are-too-many- The Cooper tire is about 32 pounds, the wheel is maybe 30 pounds? 62 pounds total, so 1% would be 0.62 pounds, or about 10 ounces of weights allowed, maximum. Who says math is no fun? If it took more than that amount, I would have them dismount and reposition the tire. If that won’t fix it, there is most likely something wrong with the tire itself. John Davies Spokane WA

Follow-up on the results of getting my tires balanced: So I took my Ollie (#676, October 2020 with the Cooper tires) to get the tires balanced this morning. The outcome was three of the tires were pretty good and only needed about an ounce, but the street-side rear needed a whopping 5 ounces. Probably explains why I was seeing a lot of issues with screws coming loose.

Probably my smaller Elite, but I think the Elite II might require oxen. An Anderson yoke?

Classifieds should be open to all, I agree. As long as it doesn’t start to be overwhelmed with non-Ollie related stuff, like “seeking a new home for my cockatiel”...😬 that sort of thing should be dumped by a moderator. John Davies Spokane WA

FrankC: interesting slant on the issue. I must admit - at times I shared several of your thoughts - and I usually tack back to - maximum participation - protected as much as possible from the scammers and evil doers. Here - I must give credit - to the team- of one? = J Walmsley. An excellent job sir. Whether here or elsewhere - people need to learn how to post safely. Although I have been known to mutter under my breath - RTFM - (Read the Fruitful Manual - no?) In the end this forum is a perk of Oliver ownership - current and future - and thus I am bound by a decorum of be nice.... Let the SOB'ers drool and stew - the overall feedback here is positive, fruitful, and entertaining. I appreciate moderator tolerance and Oliver's support. Let them all in - at FB expense.... RB JD's comment prompted me to add - I often learn something when knowledgeable Oliverites answer mundane, banal, or simple questions - I remain a let them all in - the water is fine.

I agree wholeheartedly. There seems to have been a huge increase of “new shopper” and “simply curious” threads and comments, which is NOT a bad thing! It was bound to happen as these wonderful trailers become less of a mystery to the general public - last year the “is that was some kind of Casita?” question I kept getting was replaced by “is that an Oliver?” There should also be FAQ threads stickied at the top of each sub-forum to collect some basic information, because Search is a problem. I still can’t find stuff! There should be a Bookmarks page accessed at each member’s page where that member can add links to a thread he started or to a specific comment in another member’s thread. I managed to create my own locked (no comments) page with the help of moderators, for my How To articles, but this should be easy for everyone to do. But OTH I would love to be able to operate inside a more protected layer, a sub-forum where those newcomers do not totally dominate the conversation by asking about fabric choices, delivery day, full timing, off topic, or general RV subjects that can be answered with a simple YouTube search. Make this protected Owners Forum readable by everybody, so the knowledge is shared, but only actual or ex-owners can start a thread and post comments there. Newbies would still be free to ask or comment directly by using Messages. Please, please! John Davies Spokane WA

I'd like to see a forum page and/or Facebook page option that limited members to actual current verified Oliver owners for discussion of mods, experiences, problem solving, etc. I still think that both this forum and the Facebook page have many members that are just trolling (Airstream owners? 🙂), or scammers looking for personal info, because a lot of people, despite cautions, still will list their personal phone numbers or e-mail addresses in their posts. I do give a lot of credit to the Oliver owners for their patience in answering the endless repetitive questions from potential owners and newbies. "Is the Oliver better than Airstream?", "Can I tow the Oliver with a 1976 Ford Pinto?", "Should I get the composting toilet?", "How do I winterize?", etc. I belong to a few other FB pages and web forums for various pieces of musical gear/recording studio equipment, and the users are merciless when a newbie asks a question about something covered in the manual or a topic that's been discussed endlessly. RTFM is a very common response. 🙂

Jim/John, I was camping in Zion when I read John’s original post on the subject and thought what a good idea to reduce the furnace’s sound level. The furnace was on (27 degrees out!) and I grabbed my pillow and just covered the intake. To my suprise, there was little/no appreciable change in the sound level, air volume output or the sound from the fan, suggesting no load change. Andrew

That is good to know, thanks, what did you cover the grill cutout with? Cardboard? I was thinking that a 5/16” piece of HDPE plastic, with sound insulation inside it, cut to fit the hole shape, plus insulation in the rest of that vertical inside wall, would significantly lower the sound level. I would also add rubber seals around the outside to stop any leakage. Just covering the hole isn’t enough, it needs some acoustic sound baffling, like that stereo mat stuff you glue inside your car doors. But it needs to be able to stop high frequency sound, not those deep low frequency vibrations. John Davies Spokane WA

If it makes you feel better, do that, but the “bad” one isn’t really bad. 😬 I personally would not bother. John Davies Spokane WA

In the old days of tailgate chains we sometimes used bicycle inner tubes to quieten rattle and prevent paint damage. I'm unsure if one or two short layers of tubing would fit this without a detrimental effect....or if it would eliminate the noise in this situation.

Pat, I found the grease to be very messy and really didn’t make any lasting improvement. I would not use grease again. Flipping the side of the frame the chain brackets are attached made a much bigger and lasting improvement. Andrew

1. The Payload capacity of our GL 450 is 1312 Lbs, minus 600 lbs Tongue Weight, minus 60 lbs Andersen Hitch, Minus 450 lbs occupants = 202 lbs for miscellaneous stuff. I need to go on a Diet. 2. I've always wanted a Tongue Weight Scale so I actually know what the weights are. 3. As a retired Heavy Duty Truck Sales Engineer & Service Manager for 50 years, I can't stress the importance of proper Tongue Weight and Weight Distribution as it relates to the Safe Operation of a Vehicle/Travel Trailer combination!! Your TW should be within 10-15% of the Trailer's Weight! Anything above or below this can induce SWAY or other serious Handling and Mechanical problems! 4. It is my intention to set-up our TV/Trailer Combination by the "Book," while taking accurate measurements along the way to make sure I will be operating within all Specifications and Guidelines of my TV! 5. BTW, I have contacted Andersen Hitch today to ask them about their Weight Distribution Characteristics of their Hitch and they claim as much as 30% weight Transfer to the Front Axle of the Tow Vehicle, that means 180 lbs off the rear of the TV and on the Front Axle of the TV. When I take the actual measurements I hope I find that this is the case.

Thanks @John E Davies . . . . . Yes to both of these . . . . Search is mostly hit and miss for me and Bookmarks would be great. The closest I can come to a bookmark is to "follow" a topic.

The best boss I ever had shared this advice with me, "Talk to your people ever day. And listen. You can learn something every day, from anyone. The newest and least experienced guy in your group may just have a new insight or a great idea." I tried to follow that advice. And, I still do. Personally, I welcome the questions from new members, even if the question has been asked before. I don't mind looking up old threads, and adding links, either. Some people don't have the same skills, or time, that others do. I also very much appreciate the input from older members, who are so generous and kind with their responses, time, experience, and expertise. All if this is why, in my opinion, we have the best forum. It's welcoming, and interesting. And quite often fun. I will open a discussion on FAQ on the moderators' forum. Maybe a group of pinned topics could be helpful. We'll see. Sherry

1. The Payload capacity of our GL 450 is 1312 Lbs, minus 600 lbs Tongue Weight, minus 50 lbs Andersen Hitch, Minus 450 lbs occupants = 212 lbs for miscellaneous stuff. 2. I've always wanted a Tongue Weight Scale so I understand exactly what is going on! 3. As a retired Heavy Duty Truck Sales Engineer & Service Manager for 50 years, I can't stress the importance of proper Tongue Weight and Weight Distribution as it relates to the Safe Operation of a Vehicle/Travel Trailer combination!! Your TW should be within 10-15% of the Trailer's Weight! Anything above or below this can induce SWAY and other serious Handling and Mechanical problems! 4. It is my intention to set-up our TV/Trailer Combination by the "Book," while taking accurate measurements along the way to make sure I will, be operating within all Specifications and Guidelines! 5. BTW, I have contacted Andersen Hitch to ask them about their Weight Distribution characteristics etc, I'll let you know.

Can you?...😳...hahaha... now thats a interesting topic... Do I need a Anderson hitch....

John: Your idea has merrit. I was able to find my 2018 Oliver this past December by having access to the forum Classified section. It would be a shame for non-Oliver owners to be shut out to the Classified section and would limit how present owners can sell their Olivers after they no longer want to own. The forum is an excellant tool to be able to maintain your Oliver and how things operate. I only wish it had a spell check function. RB is correct that people need to read their Owner's manual (paper copies or on the Oliver University forum page) before asking questions.

We opted for no microwave; our Breville Mini-Smart toaster oven fits in the cabinet with a bit of room left over. Regarding the outlet: it is in the cabinet above the microwave. When you order the oven deletion, Oliver finishes the inside of the cabinet with fiberglass, but there is no cord port to access the outlet; you have to get to it from the overhead cabinet. I don't think it would be hard to put an access port in, if you aren't opposed to drilling in your new Oliver! I am afraid to use the toaster oven inside the cabinet since it puts out quite a bit of heat. We set ours up on either the twin bed nightstand or on top of the stove (if it isn't being used). You could also set it on the dinette table. When better weather arrives, we will use the oven outside so as not to warm up the interior of the trailer. I purchased a silicone heat mat for under the oven to protect the counter. I also got one to place under our induction burner. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RNKFXRU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Well, I would have guessed wrong! (wouldn't be the first time). I thought, since it was the remote panel that wasn't working, that the Bluetooth Remote Panel firmware would be what I need. As soon as I have my tax work compiled (almost there) I'll talk with OTT before attempting the update . . . . . Fingers crossed and all that jazz 😳

FYI That particular unit operates at 1800 watts/ 120 VAC (15 amps!!!), so it should only be used on a shared 20 amp circuit (12 or 10 AWG wire), or at a minimum on its own 15 amp dedicated circuit (14 AWG wire), with its own 15A circuit breaker and NO other outlets. Even then, it might cause the breaker to nuisance trip. It would require rewiring the Ollie. Running one extra 12AWG cable to that location would not be a big deal, but replacing all the existing wires with a larger size would be, indeed! There are empty spots on the breaker panel, so it should be doable.... You should run this by Oliver Service, to get their advice and blessing. I suspect they will tell you to not do it. A typical large microwave is 1200 watts, a great BIG difference! BTW, it you want to use that Airfryer off the batteries and inverter, it will be a true Battery Killer. Be sure to get the lithium package, or alternatively make a big placard and tape it to the unit: "Shore Power Only!" John Davies Spokane WA

Well my build sheet is submitted! Thanks to everyone for sharing all your experiences. This forum has been a tremendous resource- much appreciated. I did decide to go with LE II. Two primary reasons. The LE I was just too short. I would be constantly grazing ceiling with my head. Secondly I just kept coming back to how much more practical floor plan was for my needs. Look forward to picking up in May!

May will be a good time to pick up your new Ollie. That’s when we picked ours up and had a nice leisurely trip home. Maybe you can stop by the non-rally in Lake Guntersville and meet some other owners. You’d get lots of help if there were any issues!! Mike

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do and that is what is right for you. While I don't think that I'm as tall as you and therefore didn't worry about grazing my head, I thought that for my style of camping - use a site as a base and then explore or fish from there - the Elite II was better suited for me too. I've found that I was correct. The II is wonderful and rather luxurious for one person (from a space standpoint) while still more than acceptable when there are more than just me. Now, sit back, relax and let the excitement build for that day when you get to see all of that build sheet come to life. Bill

That is a cool article, but don’t fall for the trap of using WHITE PVC pipe for the frame. Lots of RVers choose that because of its low cost, but it does not withstand UV exposure, so prolongued sunlight makes it very brittle. Instead use grey plastic electrical conduit, it is fine for prolongued UV exposure and it has about the same strength, I prefer the Schedule 80 over the thinner Sch 40. It is tougher and much more rigid for use where you want it to support a load, for which it was never intended....! John Davies Spokane WA

Hi, Fritz. I came across this blog post on diy window awnings using pvc pipe and big command hooks. https://wackypup.blogspot.com/2017/06/easy-pvc-awnings-for-your-camper-fully.html?m=1

You want the first one - make sure it's version 1.06.

We did the same. My local guy is honest. He stocks metal stems, but told me mine were fine to reinstall.

John, Those would look good on Ollie. We keep Ollie on pavement 99% of the time. If we were going camping off pavement more, would seriously consider the AT3 XLT.

Last I checked, Oliver removed the microwave delete option on the 2022 build sheets.

Yep, Same plan for our Ollie, replacing original BFG Commercial with Cooper Discoverer AT3 and balancing, too!

A couple of weeks ago I was told (I think) that the dimensions are 20" wide, 14" deep, and 12" high. These are a bit different than the dimensions listed above (although perhaps I wrote them down incorrectly, or perhaps what I was given was very approximate). We too are skipping the microwave; a small toaster oven and/or small Instant Pot (for oatmeal, soup/stew, and perhaps fresh bread) will be more useful for us (at least when plugged in to shore power). Apparently Oliver is discontinuing the option for omitting the microwave, as only about 10% of buyers have chosen to do so. Hopefully there will be an outlet, or at least an outlet that can be reached fairly easily. The cabinet door, I was told, hinges on the bottom.

If that works for you, it's certainly a less time consuming option than what I was thinking about. I was actually thinking more along the lines of programming "winter settings" through the customization settings. I don't know what volts 50, 60 or 80 per cent is on your lifepo4 battery, but Lifeblue should be able to give you a chart. And work with Xantrex to give you proper settings. If you set up charging through custom settings to keep the battery at 60, or 70, or 80, thru the winter, you'd have to change all the settings in the spring, or whenever you decided to go camping. Tesla cars allow this topend limit change easily on a touch screen, but then, they're Tesla. My Tesla home Powerwall battery backup allows me to change per centage of discharge allowed easily, but not the top end. Again, it's Tesla. I've thought about asking why I can't control the top end, which always charges to 100 per cent, but then I think their engineers know a lot more than I do about that battery chemistry. 😀 and, I have a really long warranty.

FWIW as this is not the exact same problem as most are having with the Xantrex XCPro 3000. I noticed that I was getting the “20” warning code several days after delivery of my new OTT. Long story short, my issue became no charging of the batteries from shore power. I tried checking all the Xantrex switches, the breakers, the cables, etc. to no avail. I finally downloaded the Xantrex Bluetooth app off their website, and after pairing, went to the settings menu and noticed that there was a switch pertaining to charging from the tow vehicle which was on “auto on” . I thought that’s odd because that can’t be done as my tow vehicle is not set up for that. So I turned this switch in the app to off and lo and behold my batteries finally started charging from shore power. The Xantrex did cut off by itself after the batteries were fully charged. Maybe next week after the weather warms up I can put the system through a discharge/charge cycle or two to see if there are continued issues with the Xantrex.

I gotta say we couldn't be happier with our 2020 Ram 1500 Ecodiesel Longhorn with Anderson WDH and air suspension. The WDH is no big deal at all. We don't even notice our 2018 Ollie LEII behind us. And, as others have noted, driving without the trailer around town is a very pleasant ride. We were getting 18 mpg towing on the flat roads of Florida. They seemed to be paired extremely well but we are close to maxing out on payload capacity. When checking in at a State park campground, there was a car that kept circling us taking pictures. Despite being convinced otherwise, my wife assured me that they weren't taking pictures of me 😁.