Leaderboard

Here's my research from last night, I am not an electronic tech or engineer. We camp the majority of time with shore power and occasionally on the Blue Ridge Parkway without shore power using a 100W suitcase solar panel and 2000W gen-set for power. We do not have factory installed solar panel charging system on hull #75 LE2. Asked BattleBorn last night about charging with the new Progressive Dynamics PD4045LICSV (Lithium) charging section I installed yesterday in Ollie's PD 4045 converter and possible damage to the TV charging system while charging the new BattleBorn 100AH LifePO4 lithium battery in Ollie. Here's BattleBorn's reply to my question last night: "Yes, you can charge our battery with the PD4045LICSV. You can also charge the battery using the seven pin connection via the seven pin connection with no issues. The length of the cable is so long and the size is so small that you will see about a 5-10 amp charge being delivered to the battery." https://battlebornbatteries.com/product/progressive-dynamics-45-amp-replacement-converter-section-for-pd4045li-lithium-series-electronic-power-center/ Progressive Dynamics PD4045 operators manual for charging Lithium LifePO4 batteries with BMS system from "General Operation" section: "The optional OUTPUT MODE SWITCH sets the converter output to either a constant 14.6VDC with the Charge Wizard® disabled (switch in ‘LI’ position) or a nominal 13.6VDC with full Charge Wizard® function (switch in ‘LA’ position). ‘LI’ mode is intended for use with lithium batteries with a BMS requiring a constant converter output. ‘LA’ mode is intended for use with lead/acid batteries where the Charge Wizard®will optimize battery charging." "PD4045/60L‐ The full rated load is available for load, battery charging or both. When functioning as a regulated battery charger the converter has a nominal voltage output of 14.6 VDC. The system is designed to sense voltage on the battery and will taper the charging current as the battery becomes charged."\ https://www.progressivedyn.com/wp-content/uploads/Support/manuals/110145-English.pdf PD4045 while installing Lithium charging section yesterday: Replaced two 12V AGM group 27 batteries with one BattleBorn 100AH LifePO4 lithium battery yesterday. Mounted the Renogy Voyager 20A solar charger with LifePO4 charge profile setting in the battery compartment with one BattelBorn battery. Seen up to 6 amps of charging current with 35' of 10/2 cable between the 100W Renogy suitcase solar panel and charge controller using a 10A Furrion solar port on Ollie.

Yep. Alaska is just a tiny little hamlet. That is why the wildlife look so big in comparison. 😜

I'm in agreement, that there is a real need for a drop and go LI upgrade. You can in fact do a drop in LI's if you have the PD4060 with LI setting in your Oliver and be down the road pretty quickly. I planned to do that as well but I decided after research to upgrade to a smart charger/inverter along with the new LI batteries. Backdrop: Trailer manufacturers (including Oliver) are shifting rapidly away from the older "CONVERTER" technology as typical from Progressive Dynamics to newer Smart Charger/Inverters as they provide more benefits to customers and programmable profiles for Lead Acid, AGM and Lithium's which all can have different profiles. They are also looking at newer trailer control and wiring schemas to have touch control centers for all loads, batteries, solar etc. The benefits to the customers are single points of control for the multiple systems, and for the Trailer Mfrs a reduction in the time to integrate and wire up the trailer systems. My current hull 505 (2019 EII): has a PC charge converter and a separate 2000W Prosine Inverter My Load Center is from Progressive Dynamics, is the PD4000 line, and under the dinette seat. (Covers off the load center) That power center includes the AC Breakers, about half the DC Fuses and the the PD converter model PD4060K which has a charge wizard for Lead Acid/AGM battery charging and and a built in Lithium Setting Switch. That LI Switch on the PD Converter when set, outputs a constant 14.6 v, but is NOT a smart charger by any means. I also have a separate Xantrex ProWatt 2000 pure-sine inverter. Battery Shopping : As I shopped for batteries I started with Battleborn support and learned a few things about LI battery charge profiles. They are different for each chemistry, and each battery manufacturer and each battery management system (BMS) has it's own specific charge profile that is "BEST" for battery cycle life. Battleborn said their products will work well with the Progressive Dynamics Converters that have the Lithium Setting, but they said at the end that the ideal setup is to have a SMART charger with a customer settable Lithium Charge profile. They encouraged me to consider upgrading my charger if I had the budget and space to a smart charger....but said the LI setting would work. Smart Charger ? to PD: My next call was Progressive Dynamics Support to find out if they had a newer LI smart profile converter that would plug into the PD4000 load center...no joy. Speaking with Andy (Svc Mgr) at Progressive Dynamics I learned that the PD Converter units on LI setting outputs a constant 14.6V to the batteries. Andy said they do not have an available LI specific smart charge wizard from PD for the basic converters in the PD4000 load center. A smart LI wizard would drop from 14.6 bulk charge back to a LI Specific float voltage around 13.4. Andy said while they don't have a plug in converter with smart lithium profiles yet. He closed by saying the PD 4060 unit works to bulk charge Lithium you may not be Optimally Charging and delivering the longest life for the new LI battery. Oliver's newer choice - Inverter Charger combos: What I also learned, is that in the newer inverter/chargers Oliver is using like the Xantrex XC 2000 or XC 3000 , (or Victron Inverter Chargers) they include a smart programmable battery charger specifically designed to be able to set a lithium profile to exactly match whichever battery specs are provided by the Battery Manufacturer. This charger replaces the former PD4060 converter section. In the 2021 and newer trailers Oliver no longer uses PD4000 energy center. Oliver has moved ahead to the newer technology of smart inverter chargers. The Benefit of these smart inverter/chargers are much longer battery life for the Lithiums while also delivering inverted power to the trailer. Summary: So while I know I could do a simple drop in of Battleborn's into the Oliver with the PD 4060 Converters set to LI and add the "victron smart shunt" , I found that the end result will be a LI battery pair with a somewhat reduced overall life. Finally when I then spoke with Lithionics directly about my upgrade, they said they would prefer that I upgrade to a smart charger and away from the PD4060 converter as they don't meet the charge profile that would provide the longest useful life of the Lithionics batteries. Hope that's interesting to those who are following this thread. Craig

One of the features we like about the EL2 Twin Bed layout is the ability to sit in the "Stateroom" and enjoy the 180 degree views through the windows while having something to eat or drink. Of course you need a table to do this, i.e. a Lagna Table is one solution. We decided to try another approach, but will keep the Lagna Table option as a Backup alternative. The attached picture shows the prototype (not the final finished model.) I wanted to try this idea to see if it was feasible before I committed to more expensive wood etc. Our plans are to add a "Nautical Theme" to our Oliver, i.e. Teak Table Tops with Compass Roses etc. This pictures shows our inexpensive Pull Out Table made out of 1/2 inch plywood with Teak Trim. So far it has exceeded our expectations, although maybe a little small to have a meal at.

Interesting - was it supply chain issues or engineering design considerations? In any case - I have decided I'm going - Li -- just as soon as I can get 600 amp hours in a 12 cubic inch box, at a cost below $500. I figure that will happen - oh - say 2025 or so. Moore's law in battery storage - one can hope. RB

UPDATE: Some initial findings / observations on the cooling capability of the Houghton unit. I have been testing a new ventilation system for my battery compartment and part of that testing involved heavy use of the Houghton AC. It cools the Ollie great in my opinion, although I ripped out the super loud Dometic before I had a baseline to compare to. Here's some data that shows the outside temp (near 90F) and the AC cooled inside temp. The trailer is in my metal garage, so shaded heat... I had the Houghton set at 68F initially, which keeps the cabin at 72F (cabin is always ~4F warmer than setting). At 1:00 PM, when things outside were really heating up, I turned the Houghton down to 60F (the minimum cool setting) and it was able to bring the Ollie cabin down to 67F and hold it there. I think the differential of ~23F cooler in the cabin is admirable. At 7:00PM I set the Houghton temp to 66F and it held the temp steady at 70F. The unit does cycle a lot just like the Dometic did - I think that's the way these units work and may also be related to the location of the AC within the Ollie - towards the rear right next to the MaxxAir fan is not ideal according to installation instructions. On another note, I'm not very happy with the Butyl I used to seal the unit to the roof. I checked the bolts and they were VERY loose from settling in the heat, so I tightened them up and a bunch of brutal Butyl oozed out. I'm worried I may have overtightened now and have to water test again. If this continues, I have the foam gasket @SeaDawgused ready to install. I played around with the heat as well and while it works I think of it as a backup to the propane furnace. I tried the dehumidification setting as well but couldn't get a drop of water out of the Oliver with it. Not sure if / how it works yet.

I became an expert at our Sailing Club, for my ability to bring back to life the most neglected Fiberglass Sailboat imaginable! It has been my experience that the most important ingredient is often the most overlooked and it free. Any guesses? It simply Elbow Grease! Your best defence in keeping your Oliver looking like new is to keep it Clean, I mean really cleaned, then Waxed and Polished with a Power Buffer. In extreme cases Wet Sanding maybe required before various levels of Rubbing Compound and then Waxing/Polishing. It called Detailing!

Hi @SeaDawg, I'm not using the Dometic thermostat for the Houghton - just the remote. The cycling is probably normal because it does it most (every 6 minutes or so) when it's "maintaining" a temperature. If I turn it down to cool the trailer, it cycles much less and cools the trailer down quickly. I trust the thermometers I'm using, but that 67F felt like 55F with the fan on and the AC running. It was too cold and that was good news! I'll have to play around with the dehumidifier function a bit more once the humidity gets bad here in NC. The manual says to set the mode on dehumidify and then set the temperature 1 degree cooler than the room temp. I just noticed when I tried that my sensors humidity didn't move much but it wasn't super humid to start with. I spent the past few hours removing the butyl and putting on the foam seal. I like it better already as I was able to get the bolts correctly torqued and the foam is 1/2 compressed. I did use the spare foam to build support pads in the back and level it off too. Hope this works better. I don't think the butyl was leaking, but it was getting too messy and I thought it would eventually fail. Maybe the way I put the butyl on (too much?) or the weight of the unit pressing down on the butyl in the recent heat made room for too much settling. All I've ever used butyl for before are windows, so this was new to me. Glad we have options.

requiring Duragloss application

If you have 14.4.2, you'll have the latest Safari. There's a couple of things you could do that might help Jason pinpoint the problem. 1. Go to the settings app and scroll down to Safari. Then click on Content Blockers, turn off any that are there and then check to see if you still get the email. You might get it the first time you revisit the site, but hopefully the next time you won't. If that works, you can turn all the content blockers back on, then visit the site and tap on the AA to the left of the website name and then tap on website settings. Turn off Use Content Blockers. (You'll see the same command on the initial pull down, but that's a temporary setting, while the one under Website Settings is permanent. Doing that will apply the setting only to this website so that your content blockers will still work everywhere else. 2. Verify that the Address/Search field in Safari has a white background and not black. If it's black, then you're in private browsing mode, and that will always make the website think that you're on a new device. To get out of private mode, tap on the double box at the bottom right, then tap Private to disable it.

For anyone camping where violent weather can happen, this is a very handy reference. It also has some stunning pictures and diagrams. They are high res, zoom in on that page and they look great. Here is a low res screen capture: Weather Spotter’s Field Guide I downloaded it and saved it to my Books application. Go to the file and rename it so that you can find it later, the actual file name is bizarre. FYI a Weather Spotter is a trained observer who sends in reports of violent weather; if I lived in a more remote area I would sign up. There are already plenty of spotters in my area. https://www.weather.gov/otx/Spotter_Resource_Page John Davies Spokane WA

After years of talking about it, we are finally ready to head north, depending on whether or not Canada opens up her borders to US visitors. We plan to spend four weeks on the road and more or less haul @ss up there just after Labor Day, 2000 miles/ 40 hours from Spokane WA to Tok, AK ... And then drive these Alaska routes as shown by the arrows. Weather permitting, we can hang out a few days here and there to wait for photo opportunities (no rain, sun breaks). Drive the Denali Hwy (gravel) westbound, to see Mount Denali in all its glory, plus elk, caribou, birds, etc. My wife is eager to do nature, northern lights, and time lapse photography. The caribou hunting season will be over by August, so hopefully there will be no crowds of hunters along that road. YouTube Denali Hwy and Denali NP Then to Denali NP for a few days, loop south and back east to visit the Kennecott Copper Mine via the McCarthy Road (more gravel - we would like to park the trailer for that section) and then to Valdez. YouTube McCarthy, Kennecott Mine, fast forward to 9:00 minutes, very cool Then back up to Tok and turn right for Canada. That south central AK loop with side trips will be about 1400 miles. Then slowly work our way home through BC and Alberta by the eastern route, hopefully missing the crowds at Jasper and Banff, and any early snow in the passes. We might detour to Prince Rupert going north, if the weather is good, we do want to see the ocean, but I am guessing Valdez will provide better views and whales and such.... We have no desire to deal with crowds, cruise ships, helicopter flights, tour buses or Anchorage. We want dark skies, star gazing, northern lights, solitude and wildlife. No hookups needed, nor do we even need established campgrounds. DNR ones are fine (Geezer Pass). Any and all advice about places to see and stay will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, John Davies Spokane WA

Paul and I have done a lot of work on both the Oliver and the boat this winter. We looked at the calendar, and realized we're just a few (6?) weeks out from the beginning of our usual camping season. We still have to install new ac, sort camping gear, get fogged windows repaired. Wash , clean, and wax the trailer. Time is getting short. At least, at the rate we work these days. Are you ready? What's on your list? Oh, and we are soooo ready to pull the trailer out of the sideyard.

We picked up our camper on Friday of last week (March 19th 2021), and after a fairly long day of questions, tutorials, etc we set out on the Natchez Trace for our first night at Davey Crockett, followed by heading back north to where we are now, and will stay until Easter. Thanks to everyone who has answered my questions over the past year or so. Every one of your answers has helped my wife and I (and our dog valentine) get to this point and we love our camper so far.

Ok. I took a brief cruise through one of the dometic thermostat manuals, and it only shows a differential adjustment available in furnace settings, not cooling, anyway. And it's only adjustable by one degree. If we experience the same short cycling, I'll look for the "room temperarature sensor" in the Houghton and see if moving it a bit makes a difference. I kind of remember seeing something that looked like a temp probe in the ceiling, before we buttoned up the adu/indoor unit. Now that it's over a month ago, I wish I'd taken more photos. There's nothing in my manual in the parts explosion for the temp sensor, other than a notation on the wiring diagram, that I can see.

I just found this video on the Houghton dehumidifier function. It doesn't really explain the mystery fully, but it's short and interesting. https://youtu.be/-ZtMvVrSbsU

Thanks for all the comments so far. We have altered our plans, we will take five weeks instead of three, leaving around August 1. This depends on the Canadian borders opening up, it is possible that they will remain closed through September or beyond☹️. If they don’t open, we will explore the US West and try again for Alaska next year. We considered flying up and renting, but that has its own issues, and leaving “Mouse” behind seemed like a horrible thing to do to him. I want an “Ollie under the Northern lights” picture.... Related thread: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/5408-alaska-if-you-figure-just-the-drivable-places-it-isnt-that-big John Davies Spokane WA

Everybody says Alaska is huge. If you look at all the land, including the southwest and southeast peninsulas, it is indeed vast. HOWEVER, for the average visitor who does not plan to fly all over it, the part with roads is what is important. It's hard to load your Ollie into a floatplane... 😉 Here is a scan of the 2021 Alaska Milepost map of that southeast corner, I cut and pasted the mileage scale onto it for reference. The only significant road north of that section is the Dalton Highway, 414 miles of heavily travelled (by semi trucks) gravel to Prudhoe Bay. Not many tourists venture that far. Here is Montana, sized to the same scale as the Alaska one: They may not come through with accurate sizes, so I placed AK beside MT, and captured them together: They are pretty much identical, so don't be fooled by the "Alaska is so big" warning. It is the getting there that takes so darned long. I plan to visit AK in the late summer, but if the borders do not open up I will just go explore more of Montana. John Davies Spokane WA

Oh, yes it is! Visiting from the states, you need to look at the whole picture. That includes traveling one of several routes through BC and the Yukon before you set foot in Alaska. There is also a great deal of off-pavement exploring to be done on AK roads that can be quite good. I have made the trip eight times and do not feel I have scratched the surface of all that can be seen and done in Alaska.

I switched my vehicles' cabin filters to K&N Washable Cabin Filters. Also purchased their spray kit for cleaning. These filters are great! Really help filter the allergens, too. They last a long time.

I was referring more to Bill's problem with it loosening up over time. In your case, if the sleeve is moving freely with nothing inserted, then either something is jamming one of the three ball bearings, or something is preventing the male end from inserting fully - most likely the latter. I'd try blowing out the female end or getting a strong headlamp and peeking inside to see if something's in there. If you don't see anything obvious then maybe just try pushing harder - use your strength pushing the male end in rather than pulling on the sleeve. Possible of course that you just have a bad connector. It's got to happen. You could use a little oil on a swab to free the ball bearings if that's the case, but I'd be careful spraying anything into the connector. An incompatible lubricant could degrade the seal. Just FYI, don't expect anything in your bumper to stay clean - I don't think Oliver designed it specifically to pull in dust, but they stumbled upon a good solution regardless.

I wouldn't overthink it. Your batteries aren't that sensitive.

Ray and Susan - the pix John is posting are of things likely not in your trailer either because he's added them or they from the earlier model year EII's. Earlier models up through 2019 had a Progressive Dynamics 4000 Energy Center under our Dinette Seat. (PD4000 Energy Center under dinette seat, but with Cover OFF) - The PD4000 unit housed AC Breakers, SOME DC fuses (but not all) and the power Converter that charges our batteries. The rest of the DC Fuses were in a small fuse box in the attic next to the surge protector display. In the newer models like yours they switched to a new set of energy panels for AC Breakers and DC Fuses (all in one convenient place under the dinette) as shown in your pix. They also changed to either a 2000 W or 3000 W combined Xantrex inverter/charger...which is able to be programmed for a charge profile for Lithium Batteries from a variety of vendors. So looking at some of our posts for other pre 2020 unit pictures could be a bit confusing if you are thinking your missing some new or special feature. Craig

Another thought for the simple installation. I installed Battle Born batteries before ever camping in our new trailer. I keep the AC breaker to the converter/charger off at all times and charge the batteries almost exclusively from solar. I have only used the converter/charger to charge the batteries twice, when we camped in full shade for more than six days. When I did, I turned the breaker to the converter/charger on and charged from a generator, until the batteries were at about 100% and then turned it off. I can’t imagine this very infrequent use of the converter/charger will have any negative impact on the batteries. I must say I like keeping it as simple as possible and rarely even carry the generator. Andrew

Introduction: I will start by saying hello I'm Pat from Joliet, IL. Thank You for this forum and the opportunity to meet all of you someday. I do not fully own an Oliver, but I will soon pick up an LE II on July 19th. A little about myself, I am a divorced Dad that raised three beautiful young ladies. I spent most of my life working on things that fly and just retiring from a 37-year aviation career. During that time, I have had an opportunity to work on some iconic machines. P51 Mustangs, TBM's, A4's, AD1 Skyraders, F86's, and all of today's modern aircraft from DC9's to 747's. I have also worked on Outlaw sprint cars, Drag cars, both super gas and alcohol burners, and off-road race cars. The list goes on. I am also a lifelong camper with canoe trips to BWCA, backpacking Alaska 10 times, to just tromping the Midwest woods. As I got older and had a family, I moved up to a pop up then to a teardrop(empty nester), and now the cats meow an Oliver. In retirement, I hope to meander around the US, Mexico, and Canada with my dog Phoebe and my camera creating art in my home on wheels. I hope to meet all of you in a camp somewhere, sip some wine or a good whiskey, heck any adult beverage, and trade stories. See you soon "Swamp" IE Pat Marsh Joliet, IL

I agree that Battleborn is probably the better choice for a simple install. There was likely a good reason that Oliver only used LifeBlue for a year. With that in mind, I think the most minimal install would be the batteries and a new monitor. For a battery monitor, the new smart shunt from Victron is easy to install and probably the best you can buy. You don’t have to add a bus bar, just take everything that’s attached to the battery negative and attach that to the shunt itself. Then a single cable from there to the battery. Use their app to monitor the battery just like you would with the LifeBlue. Then change the settings on your charger and solar charge controllers to lithium like you said. BTW, a single 200Ah lithium will give you 160 usable amp hours, so you’d be reducing your capacity vs your AGMs. Personally, I don’t see the point of doing anything less than 300.

I just sent out an email to our heads of company about this. @JRK have you already put in support ticket to our services department?

Replaced two Group 27 100AH 12V AGM batteries with one 100AH BattleBorn Lithium yesterday. Installing a PDI board with Lithium setting and changing Renogy solar charging profile to Lithium today. We only have a 100W suitcase Renogy Solar Panel. Believe I have the same question, if I don't charge with the TV, will the rest of the set up work without issues? Thanks,

Thanks for sharing that, jrk. DeLonghi used a similar process a few months ago when my mom's portable ac/heat unit for her Florida room quit working. I did basic troubleshooting with them on the phone, sent a photo of the error code, then I sent them a photo of the cut cord and serial number plate. They sent a new unit, FedEx freight. No need to box or return the old one. Hardest part was cutting the very heavy guage cord with my sidecutters. There are still companies out there that care. I agree. Behooves us to give them a big thumbs up.

Happy Easter everyone! Bill

leaving natures blend

ET TU Oliver?

Duran Duran stalked

We left Hohenwald with our LEII n the 21st, by the time we got to Lubbock, TX we noticed one of the quick links was stretched just like this. Being rookies we headed to the nearby Camping World to see if they could help us, they did not have the same size quick link available, but we found some at Home Depot. Our guess is that the link was not screwed together properly when we picked up. When we called Oliver that morning they said they had never heard of that happening before...hmmmm...

Yes - it should be easier to get to this filter. Once you get over the nerves involved with those "crunching" sounds as you hope and pray that you are not actually cracking/breaking pieces of the dashboard, the process isn't really that hard - about 10 minutes start to finish. Bill

I've changed the filter on my F150 and didn't see anything like that. No idea. Also no idea why Ford makes it so difficult to get to that filter.

a.k.a. Ollie Rally

Terrified rodeo clown

Spray the slot with WD-40, work the step in and out a few times and you will be amazed how smoothly it works. Aluminum has a tendency to "stick" to itself when it is dry.

The double live album with this on it is incredible and still in my playlists. “Mercenary Territory” and “Spanish Moon” on same live album are amazing!

Having spent about a month and a week running around BC, Yukon, and AK in 2016 - being in a hurry is not advisable. There is just to much cool stuff to do, see, experience, and catching the Great One - without cloud cover may take time. We didn't have Ollie then. I will tell you - put something on the front surfaces for protection - regardless of the stone stomper - you have been warned. Sept is a little late - but you know what your doing. In Canada - in the outback - BC/Yukon - consider 1/2 tank of fuel as empty - you never know if the next planned fuel source is open. Crowds were not an issue - Denali will need a rez - well in Sept ?? not sure. Great hiking - Bears are and were an issue - we had to change plans a few times........ carry bear spray and a 44 mag. Valdez was a cool place, Homer, a little less - fishing was good for my wife. We did a week on the Talkeetna river - WW trip through the gorge - flew in on a puddle jumper - landed on a sandbar- was really out there. We used 'The Milepost" guide - lot of info - you will just have to pare down what you want to see. When we do this again - n the Ollie - we will spend much more time in BC and Yukon. RB

On the drive home from delivery, I noticed that the Oliver rear light was being intermittent. At a forum suggestion, I checked the buss bars beneath the small dinette seat for a loose wire, and found that the inverter had broken loose from its mount. Only the top two screws had been installed. The bottom two screws had not been placed (or there were no screw holes in the mounting plate indicating that). The inverter was able to flop about in the compartment, banging into the circuit breaker and bouncing on the buss bar. The intermittent problem probably has been identified. The mounting plate was plastic - probably resin? The plastic plate is glued or affixed to the interior, inside seat wall. I would prefer to put a bolt through the mounting plate with a fender washer or similar on the back, but do not see how I would be able to do that. One screw stripped out, probably after the stress from the other screw caused the fracture - or the other way round. My question is suggestions on how to best replace and mount the inverter. If all four screws are in place, it probably would stay put. The recommendation was for #8x1/2" screws. Thanks, John

My 2017 Ford F-150 only has 31,000 miles on it. But, I decided that it was time to replace the cabin air filter and with temperatures in the mid to high 70 yesterday it was just about the perfect day to do this small job. After watching several YouTube videos on the subject, I got out my automobile trim removal tools and a 7mm socket and got to work. Perhaps because this was the first time various parts of the dashboard had been removed it seemed to take a bit more force than I expected to get the trim to "pop" loose. But all went as planned until I removed the old air filter and found this: My first thought was that a rodent was building a nest. But there are no signs of droppings, chew marks or any other of the usual rodent calling cards. In addition, there is no sign of any of this type of "insulation" material anywhere near the dash. My best guess is that it has been there since the truck was built. Given the dirt roads I've been down and the general environments I've camped in, I'm a bit surprised that this filter wasn't even dirtier, but, I'm still very glad that I replaced it. Bill

When I was using a Toyota Sequoia as my TV, I needed all seven threads on the Anderson chains to level things out. During year two, I approached a parts store entrance where there was a significant grade change from the road. At less than 5 MPH, when my TV went nose higher, I heard noise from the trailer that caused me to stop. I saw that the Anderson chains were really really really tight. I gave them the 245 pound bounce test, they did not move at all. I backed out of the driveway, and loosened the Anderson chain nuts 4 threads and tried again. I stopped at the same place and did another bounce test. This time they could be moved just a bit. To get into the driveway, I had to loosen them to full slack. Point is that a quick grade change will increase or decrease your Anderson chain tension. If your chains are set real tight, and you add to their load a grade change, it can be enough to damage your quick link(s).