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Although I do not have a Norcold, with my refig it cools down faster when running on propane.

I put many a mile in our Sprinter - other than glow plugs that seemed to need attention every 20K miles it was a fantastic vehicle. I towed a tandem axel trailer loaded down with dirt bikes several times with no issues. I would think an Elite would not be an issue. The Oliver tows very well, and the Sprinter diesel was very good in the torque department, as JD advised try towing with yours and make a determination. I do miss our Sprinter. RB

It’s a 1-1/2” hex nut on my 2019 Oliver, with a retainer clip on the nut, not a cotter pin. If you have an older Oliver that has the old style wheel bearings that require grease re-packing you will need the socket and a torque wrench to properly service the wheel bearings. After repacking the bearings with grease, the nut must be torqued to 50 ft-lbs to properly seat the bearings, then backed off to just finger tight. So as mentioned above you don’t need the socket to remove the nut since it should only be finger tight in use, but you do need the socket to properly re-install the nut. Here’s a good video from Dexter (the axle manufacturer). https://youtu.be/GnH-h3W9XvI

Hi Steve and Cindy, A couple of things I've noticed on our Norcold, when it starts struggling I check to see if there is any ice build on the fins below the freezer. If so, you'll need to defrost. Another thing that helps us is to remove the top outside vent grill to help exhaust the heat. Our fan runs a lot of the time but when you get in the mid to upper 90's it can get overwhelmed with the heat build up on the top of the fridge, so removing the grill for a while helps us out. We have the same problem when it gets to 100...the fridge will be in the very low 40's range. Good luck John

Camping in the 100 degree weather is tough on you, and the fridge, and the ac. Does your manual show you how to adjust the thermistor?, (that thingy that slides on a fin, and tells the fridge how cold it is, and when to turn on?) in our old 2008 norcold, we could slide it up or down to adjust the sensing. I don't know about the new ones. It's also possible that the thermistor is bad (though unlikely, in such a new trailer.) I'd add a clip on fan to the outside vent, set up to exhaust, and see if I could increase the exhaust flow. A small battery operated fan inside the fridge could move cold air around better, as well. Are you running the fridge on gas, or electric? Gas is most efficient, as @dewdev noted. I know it seems counter intuitive, but the flame works way better at "absorbing" heat than 120 electric. 12v is dismal.

We had a 3500 MB Airstream Sprinter - we never towed with it - it had a 5k tow rating. My concern would not be the power of the sprinter - but its wind issues are a problem without towing. If you select the shorter E towed by a 2500 - I'd think there may be little problem if using an Anderson hitch. If you select the longer E2, I'd give some serious thought about wind issues. Charlie

Sorry, just saw this. I am very happy with the work they did! I left it in Tallahassee for 3 weeks, but that was my choice because I was going to Kentucky to help with the tornado damage with Sister Corps. Anyway, the ceramic coating makes washing the trailer a snap. It is pricy ($3500).

Looks like I have some black stuff sprayed on the ground stud. Another easy task on my list, check this out and improve this ground connection as needed.

SteveCr, you can definitely add additional grounds there, you just have to be sure to remove all the black stuff down to bare smooth metal. FYI you should not have more than 4 per stud, if you need more, add another stud with a big jumper cable to it, or else a bus bar. Do not be like this boat: Yikes. John Davies Spokane WA

Another good video by Jason on drawer removal listed here- https://olivertraveltrailers.com/travel-trailers/videos/

These drawers are not at all intuitive when it comes to taking them out of the galley cabinet. It is dead easy if you pretend that you are a simpleton and don't over think things... . Stand over the end of the open drawer, reach under the sides at the very front with both hands. Put your fingers underneath on the inner edge of the orange release thingies and squeeze, move your fingers toward your palms. The latches will release and you can lift the drawer up and out, away from the slides, which will probably spring back out of sight. That is the "self closing" feature at work. Here is what is going on: The drawer is held to the latch assembly by two TINY SHORT screws. They are known to strip out the soft wood. Sometimes you will find the drawer lying up by the bathroom door with spatulas and other stuff scattered everywhere. Tighten them gently, they will move! If they are stripped, install longer ones. FYI this is a six year old drawer, Oliver may have altered these parts. For example, mine don't have the inner safety latches. Note that you might want to wear disposable gloves. EDIT: one member installed 1” long screws, driven into new holes at an angle, and found that to be a very solid way to do this. Here is the end of the slide, showing the opening that catches the latch. THIS IS SO VERY COOL! I just discovered it after all these years.... On the bottom of each slide, about 5 inches in from the end, is a tiny pin that sticks down. When reinstalling the drawer, you can use it to pull the slide outwards until it clicks into the latch. It keeps your fingers away from the grease too. Finally, you can flip each drawer and lay a thin bead of wood glue around the joint between the bottom and the sides and let it sit overnight. It will dry almost clear, so don't worry about minor mistakes. Plus nobody but you will ever know. I do not recommend gluing the inside of the drawers, that will show and it also has some sort of protective clear coat, so the glue might not stick. This thread is very much related: ... https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2151-how-to-galley-drawer-travel-straps/ John Davies Spokane WA

Great comments and thank you for the welcome! I think I can make the payload, but maybe I'm being short-sighted not trying a 250. I agree regarding the garage comments, and I already have a buyer for my house so we are skipping the realtor and reducing the price. My assistant loves my house and adored my late hubby, so it would mean a lot to me for her and her family to be here. My family is on the east coast and my job (working with farmers) means I am usually working somewhere away from home, so I know selling is the right decision regardless. But not until the end of the year. I am hoping to get used to the truck before I hitch a trailer. My husband was 6'3" did construction and LOVED big trucks. Not that same for me. But he is smiling reading the recommendations on the posts:) Isn't there an insurance issue with larger trucks, since they are deemed commercial? I was trying to avoid that as well. I could take out a loan and go newer, but I'll be in the Rivian in a year or so, and would want to get back my investment on the resale of the prior TV. I appreciate the sentiment SeaDawg - I once could double clutch and so funny new rigs are all automatic. It's a lost art.... And yes, CNC, I'm good with gas over diesel right now. I'll check out the Ram. sigh...just a lot to think about! And thank you John - is the Anderson hitch really that much of a pain? It sounds like it. PS. No dogs, likely 2 cats but one has kidney disease and I'm not sure of her timeline.

We had the same problem - a crew cab truck would not fit in our garage. We ended up with a 2021 Ram 1500 eHemi DUAL cab - same as other's extended cab. The pedals are adjustable. The gas V8 Hemi engine is plenty powerful. We average about 14 mpg. We use the factory tow/haul option and we have pulled our E2 more than 5000 miles without an Anderson hitch. We had no sway problems - BUT we just added the pesking hitch (as John calls it) because of porpoising on overpasses, etc. Charlie

I did notice on our last trip (boondocked...propane only) that I needed to adjust the temperature setting throughout the day, depending on ambient temp. I have a SensorPush as well, so I could tell whether I needed to make it colder or warmer. It was annoying, but I never had to push it above setting 6, except when my husband put a bottle of white wine in to "chill". SMH. Temps were in the high 80s or low 90s for a few days, and the camper was in direct sun. I would call Oliver and see what they have to say.

Welcome to the forum. How exactly will you use the Ollie, do you in fact plan to Full Time? That can really affect your TV choice, because the more “stuff” you want to bring, the more likely you will run into that nasty payload limitation that all half ton (1500 class) and big SUVs have. For a pickup, you have to include the weight of any accessories you add such as a bed liner, canopy or hard tonneau cover. It can add up to 250 pounds…. If you won’t have a travel partner, it makes it easier to deal with. More people equals more stuff….. One factor is the Andersen hitch, which is 100% required for the bigger trailer with the light duty trucks. It works quite well but it adds a whole lot of complexity to hitching and unhitching, and sometimes it will make you swear and kick dirt if the parts are not aligned perfectly. A heavy duty truck solves a lot of problems, including that sometimes pesky Andersen, because you simply don’t need it. And your payload is so much greater, you don’t have to fret about every little thing adding up. The Ram 2500s are very nice, they drive well and the interiors are very car-like. They do indeed sit high, but running boards or an electric stowaway side step will deal with that. I can’t help with pricing, the used vehicle market is insane and unpredictable. At the very least, consider a HD truck, maybe drive a RAM 2500 to see if it suits. Your choice of power depends on how many miles you plan to tow. A lot of members have and love their diesel trucks, but out of warranty they can be a financial heartache. I personally would suggest a powerful gas engine. If you haven’t spent time in the Towing forum, do some reading there. Look for a complete tow package, and as many “driver aids” as you can, they all help to make towing easier. Edit, did you mean 228”, because that is only 19 feet and there are a whole lot of good choices that are longer. It is going to seriously limit your search! I would not buy a truck just so it can fit in the garage, if the house is going to be sold! Just park it outside. John Davies Spokane WA

The castle nut should never be tight enough to not be able to be removed by hand. But, I believe a 1-3/16” will work.

Thank you for the reply and great idea on the u-haul rental. Our sprinter is the high roof with a max 500 lb tongue weight. Jimmy.

One of the things I learned from my woodworking boss was to treat both sides of any panel the same way. If for some reason you wanted to finish the bottoms with polyurethane you should do both sides the same way. Otherwise you might get warping as humidity increases i don’t think it would add much of any strength to the drawer assembly though with I think was John’s goal with the glue (I question how much that adds also but I don’t see a harm in it)

I have done (0) nothing to my drawers in 15 seasons. Just saying. The format is what it is.

Are you referring to the yellow wire connected to the right end of the ground Buss bar? That cable does not look large enough to be a 4/0 cable which has an O.D. of 13/16". One of Katjo’s pictures showed a 4/0 x 5/16" lug connected to the frame ground, which prompted my question. Mossey

Thank you😃

Don, I don’t have a rear cargo carrier, but if I were to consider one, your design looks great. Well done sir! -David

2021 LE2 , Hull 806 On mine, the top of the ground stud is also covered with the black soft sealant. I take this to indicate to not add any other grounds to this primary ground point. None of the other ground points have it.

Well picked up Hull 1144, 14 June 2022, very impressed by overall build quality in light of how many trailers they are building per week! very few minor problems that i managed to fix my self. Been almost a year in wait but worth the wait!

Not really, with respect to the effects of longer term humidity, at least that's my understanding from my woodworking days (where we used a lot of spray on polyurethane and still paid attention to things like attaching table tops to aprons in such a way as to allow for expansion/contraction of solid wood tops). But that's a bit academic IMO, because as I noted (and is described numerically at the link I shared) plywood does not expand/contract very much with changes in humidity. It would help a bit with any spills or leaks as long as you catch them reasonably quickly.

Mine has the black coating on the chassis ground. 2019 Hull 461. Haven’t had any electrical/ground issues at all. But not sure why Oliver feels that coating is needed on the chassis ground stud since the entire ground bus bar right next to it is exposed.

Case in point, consider Jason spent 2 hours via phone helping to resolve a non-warranty situation for a second owner.

STAR BRITE Liquid Electrical Tape - 4 FL Oz Can With Applicator Brush Cap - Protective, Airtight, Waterproof, Flexible, Dielectric Coating - Indoor & Outdoor Use John, I see it comes in clear also. Do you use clear on the 7 pin plug to seal out water? Do you use it anywhere else? John

Here are a few photos. The photos that you see of the bolt, wires, nut and the silver metal plate below it were covered with an insulated black tar type coating from the factory, this was causing a bad ground connection. The bolt you see has been changed, the original was welded and it was a HORRIBLE weld with spatter all over the screw it was barely able to make a good ground connection!! There is also a bolt that goes through to the main trailer frame connecting that silver metal plate that you see. this completes the correct and secure ground!!

On the glue or no glue - I would expect the drawer bottom to be dimensionally stable since it's a thin sheet of plywood, which has grain of the separate ply layers going in perpendicular directions. There is very little movement with changing humidity along the length of grain - it happens more so across/perpendicular to the grain - so plywood is kind of frozen in each dimension by the criss-crossing grain (it will have nonzero movement, but so small as to be generally not a consideration in typical joinery like this). Similarly, the front and sides of the drawer have their grain going parallel to the slots in which the drawer bottom fits. So I wouldn't expect those sides or the front to expand or contract significantly along the length of that slit. It's been a while since I built any drawers or otherwise joined ply into solid wood as is happening here, so I remain open to some solid explanation for why what John suggests would cause a problem, but based on what I recall my woodworking boss teaching me about designing joinery to handle wood movement (c. 1981-82), I think this should be OK. One reference I just found which has a decent explanation of wood movement with respect to grain direction edited to add: this is different from the case of a solid wood (ie not plywood) door panel that’s held by channels in the rails and stiles of the door, because the solid wood panel will expand and contract in the Direction that’s perpendicular to the wood grain and so needs room to expand into those grooves during high humidity (and enough width to not come out of the groove in low humidity) and if glued in place will tend to split after a few expansion/contraction cycles. Btw at the wood shop where I worked we often made tables with solid wood framed tops with plywood inserts that were well glued to the frames. Sometimes we covered the plywood with tile, sometimes with laminate (Formica or a cousin). This would be similar structurally to gluing the drawer bottoms to the front back and sides, at least from the perspective of response to changing humidity…

For reference, we have a 2015 LE2 and our drawer release is the black "handle" shown in the drawer slide photo below. Those handles had to be moved either up or down for the release to happen so the drawer could be pulled all the way out. AND the black handle on each side moved in opposite direction of other side. So if I pulled the left handle up then I pushed the right handle down.

I cannot comment directly, but I recently met a Colorado guy in remote NW Nevada at a hot springs, he had a recent Winnebago Revel 4x4 camper, He was all over our LE2, he said that he wanted to get an Elite to pull behind the Revel. He seemed very knowledgeable about RVs in general. So I don’t think it would be a problem as long as you are aware of tongue weight limitations and don’t fill the TV with ammo and anvils…..😬 What are the payload specs for your particular Sprinter? Which roof? Have you considered borrowing or renting a 5000 pound trailer to tow for a weekend? Even a U-haul loaded with two yards of beauty bark would work as a test mule. I think it would answer all your questions in the space of a few miles, especially if you live near any serious grades. And welcome to the forum. John Davies Spokane WA

I’ll never think of a bottle jack the same way after this thread!

Imelda - Here on the Forum there are numerous threads concerning wheel bearings. It is fairly well recognized that Timken bearings are about the best out there but there is some difficulty in making sure that you actually do get the Timken bearings that you pay for. I'd suggest typing "Timken" in the search box and start reading. If you are not as concerned about the quality of the bearings that you will be using or you simply want to make sure that you have an extra set with you on the road in the event something unfortunate happens then you can purchase something like the bearings below: Bill

That is an important consideration, definitely. In this case I am not concerned since the drawer sides and bottoms are both made from wood. If they were different materials, then definitely do not glue. I think this is one of those situations where you have to decide whether you want the bottom to bow down and perhaps fall out of a groove, or stay in place and possibly crack. If an owner is concerned, he can Google “floating drawer bottom”, do some reading in the woodworkers forums, and decide for himself. BTW, I live in, and generally camp in, an arid part of the country, so prolonged high humidly or dramatic moisture changes is rarely a worry. And a couple of my drawers are quite heavily loaded, they are not all filled with plastic utensils or lightweight personal items. Thanks very much for the comment. John Davies Spokane WA

John, Useful advice on dealing with the drawer releases. However, I suggest NOT glueing the bottoms of the drawers to the sides. The drawer bottoms typically rest in a groove in the drawer frame and are purposely NOT glued to permit movement of the wood as temperature and more importantly, humidity vary.

Here is a pic from that other thread showing how the screws can pull out of the front part of the drawer. John Davies Spokane WA