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I am not sure when they stopped offering the mirrored doors. I quite like them because they make the inside seem way bigger than it actually is. Does anyone know at what Hull number this option was ended? I spent three nights at Heyburn State Park, ID, Hawley’s Landing CG, $92 with power and water, with a senior midweek discount taken away and a $10 res fee added. It is about 30 miles south of Coeur d’Alene, next to the wonderful Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes bike trail. I am glad I had power because the trees are packed in there, I rarely even saw a piece of sun. One night I woke up at 2:00 am and could not get back to sleep, so I started playing around with my iPhone 13 Mini, which has amazing night mode. Here are a bunch of shots with various interior lighting on or off. No flash, unedited. The first one is no cabin lights, just various LEDS from the appliances and my box heater (under the table) and HEPA air cleaner (in the bathroom). No lights: Cabinet lights only: Cabinet and puddle lights: The green LED is the cell booster: This is my favorite Hall of Mirrors shot: All lights on - Ouch!: John Davies Spokane WA

While mounting an RV rated bike rack, I removed the stock (small) hitch receiver. As I unbolted it a whole lot of water came out the rectangular beam the 'U' bolts were attached to. It occurred to me that the holes at the top of the 'U' bolts are oversized, and the holes at the bottom were right-sized. The beam was full of water, and I couldn't see a weephole. This trapped water is a concern as I live in Boston and freezing weather is on the way. Thought I would let everyone know.

The first part is debatable, unless you like the look of an aircraft fuselage with oxidized aluminum, hail dents and popped rivets.... I think a clean and polished Ollie is simply stunning outside. And in my experience most casual passerby seem to think so too. Anyway, this is an Ollie forum, you are not supposed to say nice things about other brands 😉 John Davies Spokane WA

Now all I need is the table top. And... a trailer. Only 5+ more months!!

Maybe using a battery powered drill would be a good idea. At 20 volts it would be just a non issue. At 120 volts it would be a "Shocking Experience". 🙂

Ok, Airstream may be the coolest exterior, but Oliver has the coolest interior, by far, as proven by your pix!

I'm sure that Foy would be very happy for you to give him a call about that table top. Both will surely look good in that new Ollie in five months. Bill

Well, it finally happened. Got our first chip in the gelcoat. It's a tiny chip, about the size of the head of a pin, just below the beltline. First question: is it hurting anything (other than my pride)? On a regular trailer I'd be worried about water intrusion, delamination, etc. Second question: Easy fix for a tiny chip?

As Cajun cook Justin Wilson used to say, "I am what dey call a Safety Engineer. I wear a belt wit my suspenders." This is similar to what I do with surge protectors...I use Southwire Surge Guard (Model 34931) at the power pole and have the standard Progressive Industries Electrical Management System (EMS-HW30C). It's a case of we have it, might was well use it logic. We do not use any autoformer or voltage boosting equipment. The stated low voltage limit for the Southwind is 102 VAC, whereas the limit on the Progressive is 104VAC. A couple of weeks ago, we had our first power problems at a camp site. Highly variable voltage that would drop over time as the air conditioning cycled on. No other sites seemed to be having this issue and the park rangers said they knew of no problems. The problem disappeared until the middle of the night after a storm passed. As pole voltage would drop, the Southwind at the pole would trip off before the Progressive, which I found interesting given their low voltage specs. (Of course, I left my voltmeter at the house so I could not investigate this further.) The Progressive was indicating a low voltage event which makes sense. Strange part was when the Southwind at the pole would trip, the inverter (Xantrex Freedom XC 3000) would not transfer over to battery power. I was concerned about impacts of hard power shut-downs that were occurring. Additionally, when pole power would come back up and the Southwind would turn back on, the Progressive delay function would seem to kick in. So even though power was available, we were waiting for the delay function to help save the A/C compressor from short cycling. We ended up using battery power for the rest of the night. Next morning with low voltage still coming and going, I removed the Southwind at the pole thinking maybe it was having some problems. This left us with just the Progressive Industries surge protector. Now, when the power would drop below 104VAC, the Progressive would trip and the Xantrex would switch over to battery flawlessly even with air conditioning running. I have not spent much time trying to figure this out, but given the different limit voltages, surge protectors in series may be a case of too much of a good thing is not always better? We are going back to the same site this weekend and my voltmeter is already packed! The state park has told us the site is now working perfectly so I may not be able to get more info on this.

Those lights are actually air vents, I have a set inside also, into the closet. It eliminates the suction effect when you have the bath fan on and close the door. They are Perko chrome plated brass cabinet vents. I also used them to ventilate the battery box to the inside of the cabin. FYI these were used by Oliver on the battery door on earlier hulls, but I think they may have been discontinued…. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/5301-how-to-lithium-battery-powered-vent-system/ You have sharp eyes😬 John Davies Spokane WA

Dedroll: On second thought here is some Dexter Related info that may save you some time. If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me. GJ Testing Trailer Brake Magnets.docx Timken Bearings and National Seals.docx Dexter Grease Caps.docx

Ditto. I really like their 20V cordless tools. My favorites are the Dewalt Lithium impact driver and their air compressor. My primary uses are: I use a breaker-bar to brake free lug bolts and the Dewalt impact to remove and reinstall and snug them up. With just a 1/4" adapter I would not try to either brake free the lugs or fully tighten them. Hence the use of a breaker-bar and torque wrench to start the removal and then to fully tighten. I use their air compressor to accurately set TV and Ollie tire pressures early in the morning before sun can skew their pressures. For eight tires it takes but a few minutes to remove TP sensors, adjust air and reinstall sensors. Best tool investments I have ever made. GJ

I have a similar concern given our delivery date of November 10. We go by Twin Falls on the return trip to Garden Valley, ID. FWIW, our plan is to take a southern route to Arizona. We will then wait for a weather window, if necessary, to make a run up through Utah on I-15 and southern Idaho on I-84. We figure there are worse things than camping in southern Arizona in November!

Yes - Connect coax cable to campground pedestal and then to "cable" input on the exterior of the Ollie. Then set TV control for "cable" versus "over the air". Then "scan" for channels. Once the scan is done you should be all set and the TV should show you on the screen whatever program is currently on the first channel found. Bill

John ED...just a minor no skin break scratch on shorter person; I don't want my message to overstate...

Those should be stainless, so just whack them off flush AND file them smooth with the nut surface. My guess is that they ran out of the correct bolts and just grabbed longer ones. How in the world did you scratch your leg with rubber caps on them? Did one fall off? They do look too big for the thread diameter. If so, that is two strikes against the tech who did the job... ;( If you don't like the look of the cut-off shanks, you can replace the nuts with cap nuts (with enclosed ends) AKA acorn nuts. I don't know the thread size, most likely this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-4-in-20-Stainless-Steel-Cap-Nut-800281/204274073 John Davies Spokane WA

I really liked the look from the pictures, but when I saw one in person I was simply stunned, absolutely blown away. You will be too. How the heck are you getting it back to Twin Falls in winter? In your shoes I would have it shrink wrapped and shipped on a flatbed. Thanks. John Davies Spokane WA

But it needs to be Off to use cable.

If you have the Winegard Omni Direction Antenna, then you would have the booster switch. Look in the attic for a switch plate with a black button on it that topgun2 indicated. The button needs to be pushed in turn on the booster to get local TV stations. Not sure about how the cable works.

The costs of producing these "colored" Ollies was very expensive - they were not painted and the color was obtained in the same basic manner as the white is obtained. Therefore, the cost of cleaning ALL of the coloring out of the machines and anywhere near the production space was very labor intensive when it came time to switch back to another color. There may have been another color - blue - but I'm not sure that this was painted or produced like the red and black ones and I've only seen a picture of the top outer shell - not the complete trailer. Here is the red one before it was lovingly restored by its current owner. Bill p.s. I found it! Below is a pic of that blue top outer shell.

Most of my holes on the trailer that have pins in them I had to drill out another 100 thousands or so just to get the pins in and out with more ease. The correct size would be, you shouldn't need a hammer, but almost need one, in other words, don't make them too big. trainman

I do not have the Oliver roof TV antenna, I use the King Omni Antenna which is a portable antenna and the coax does plug into the outside cable port. As far as getting cable TV at a park I have not had a problem getting cable just as long as you setup your TV for Cable and not Air in the setup controls. Not sure how the Oliver TV antenna is setup so if there is a switch to switch on/off I do not know. TV setup is something you have to get use to as each time we camp at a different park, there seems to be a different way to do things at each park. P S make sure the parks cable is working and our trailer did come from the factory with the outside cable jacks reversed and I had to switch them to the correct cable. trainman

OMG....Not to be a downer, or impeach your desire for knowledge....but there must be at least 200 pages in this forum that talk about this very issue. My humble recommendations are: A. Kindly provide in your signature your trailer and tow vehicle info. B. Kindly search the forum for this topic. Again no disrespect to you as a new member. GJ

Very cool photos!! Thank you for sharing.

This is quite common, Oliver still hasn’t learned to drill drain holes in each end. The same with the bumper itself….. Please open a Service ticket, if they get enough complaints, maybe they will start doing it. The worst situation is when you drill a hole from underneath and water floods into your electric drill 😳 Are you bolting on a larger one? If so please start a thread about that with pics. John Davies Spokane WA

In the beginning, two Oliver Elites were made that weren’t white. A red one and a black one. The red one is owned by a member of the forum, she has posted quite a bit about her red Oliver. I don’t know where the black one is or who owns it. Mike

On my previous fifth wheel, we went in Indiana at MoRyde to get and independant suspension and disk break installed on the rig. Honestly, disk brake didn’t make a great difference because it is powerred electrictly and the reaction is always to much brake or not enough brake. Its hard to get the right ajustements. And the hydraulic pump and reservoir take a bit of space in compartment. In cold weather, sub zero, braking is harder because of the oil viscosity type. For a small rig like Oliver, i won’t get it for the price and the small difference on braking for a light weigh rig…….

Neither does Bowlus at 5-6 times the price of an LE.

Very TRON! Love the effect of the mirrors

Looks like Halloween came early

Since the charge from the truck must go through the batteries and if the batteries are toast then there is no way for that charge to get to the fridge - or anything else for that matter. Bill

And here’s a very long thread on bearing maintenance that discusses the tools needed and the Timken bearings and seal part numbers: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/5166-dexter-axle-bearings/

Here’s the video from Dexter on bearing maintenance: https://youtu.be/GnH-h3W9XvI

These are circuit breakers for some of your 12 volt items. The backlit labels at the top should be illuminated all the time, the round light should illuminate if the circuit “blows” , and a circuit can be disabled by switching it off (downwards). This is a high quality marine unit. The lights are also a “phantom” electrical drain of about 0.01 amp. You can easily disable the lights for those labels by unplugging a wire. Oliver should never have connected that wire IMHO. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/5405-how-to-disconnect-the-attic-blue-sea-circuit-breaker-backlight-10-milliamp-phantom-drain/ If yours are not lit, somebody disconnected them 😬 And you are correct, there is nothing about it in the owner info packet. I am not sure when they quit using this panel, it was probably a cost saving decision. John Davies Spokane WA

I’ve got a bunch of chips. All is good. I wish mine were the size of a pin head, but most are larger. I may fix them at some point, but right now we’re too busy camping. Mike

1st question - nope, you are good to go. Over time, dirt and grime will tend to collect in those chips and you might notice them more. 2nd question - Kind of like fixing paint chip on a car or truck. I've never been very good at it such that the "touch-up paint" doesn't show. One of the big problems in doing chip fix is getting the correct color - yes all Olivers are white but they are not all the same white. Or, you can wear those chips with pride. Kind of like a hard earned patina. 😉 Bill

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2202-how-to-fix-and-flip-your-blinds/ John Davies Spokane WA

That’s not one of them

If you camp in humid areas where morning dews are common, wait until the trailer and your truck are wet - the bugs have soaked overnight (“hydrated”) and come off a lot more easily in the morning. John Davies Spokane WA

Or throw yours away and install stainless caps over the axle hub nuts: I use this type so I can pop the rubber out to check the condition of the grease. Add a slight skim of clear silicone sealant to each cap before driving it in, so it will not seep oil. Paint the hubs gloss black and it looks fine. This way you can readjust a loose nut without removing the wheel and you can take a more accurate temp reading of the hub... John Davies Spokane WA

I reposted your pic, this forum will not handle HEIC files, you have to change them to a more common format. Rusty water, you need to remove the wheel and see what is going on, it appears to be trapping water and then the hub rusts and the water slings out. It won’t hurt the wheels, short term, IF they are waxed, but you should fix it ASAP. Long term, it can corrode the wheel inside. It sure is ugly, eh? This is just one problem with center caps, mine are long gone. BTW I sure do like those new style wheels. John Davies Spokane WA

Flat tires and wheel bearing failures are the things that can leave you stranded. Waiting many hours or even days for Good Sam or some other roadside assistance isn’t something I care to do. Actually met a couple who were stranded and lived in their 5th wheel trailer for 3 days on the side of I-70 waiting for a replacement wheel bearing. I believe in being prepared Probably not the norm for all Ollie owners but I don’t want to be stranded waiting for help for some issue that I can fix myself. So I carry quite a bit of tools, parts and supplies. A Dewalt portable tool set in a carrying case with full ratchet/socket sets in 1/4”, 3/8” and 1/2” drive sizes, open end wrenches, US and metric Allen bit and torx bit drivers, screw drivers, etc. Misc pliers, wire cutters/strippers, large crescent wrench, hammer. An electrical multi-meter for diagnosing electrical issues. Spare fuses, crimp connectors, etc. Torque wrenches for the lug nuts and axle nuts (different torque ranges needed, one wrench won’t cover both). All the special tools needed as described in earlier posts in this thread for a complete bearing replacement and grease repack if needed, such as a seal puller, drift punches, dead blow mallet, bearing driver set, 1-1/2” socket for the axle nut, grease cap driver tool. Brakeleen for cleaning old grease out. Redline CV-2 Bearing grease to repack the bearings. 4 complete sets of bearings (Timken Set4 and Set17), seals and grease caps, enough to service all 4 wheels if needed. A grease gun with Lucas red-n-tacky grease for the suspension zerk fittings. A large military surplus HUMVEE scissor jack that’s perfect for the Ollie. A few 12” & 18” long pieces of 4”x4” lumber to use for cribbing with the jack to make lifting the Ollie much quicker. A small DC air compressor. And a few other things that I’ve probably forgotten to mention. All kept in toolboxes in the bed of the pickup truck. I just did my annual wheel bearing service (which included replacing the original bearings) took about 4 hours total to do all 4 axles plus grease the suspension Zerk fittings. But I was in no rush. Maybe an extreme for what to carry on the road, but I’m much more comfortable traveling/towing the Ollie knowing I am prepared.

Now that I have the Garmin 890 installed along with the Builtright rack for the dash tray on the Ford (150 or 250), here are a couple of pics. Hardwiring the 12 volt/2 slot USB that used 3M double sided tape to attach to the underside of the Builtright rack was a bit un-nerving but not really difficult - let me know if you want details. With the adjustable RAM mount I can move the GPS to a more comfortable position as compared to my old GPS which actually had to sit up on the dash a bit too far away to make changes on the fly. And, even given the weight of the 890, the RAM mounts hold the screen securely and without vibration. The Garmin 890 is really very nice - it should be for its "sale" price of $400. But, the inclusion of data for campgrounds, dump stations, propane outlets, truck stops, Walmarts, Cracker Barrels, etc., really make this unit much more useful as compared to my old Garmin. The traffic and on the fly fuel price functions of the 890 are obtained via a Garmin app connected to the 890 via bluetooth. I've not had a chance (yet) to test these features. Questions? Bill

Yes, saw it off! I got a deep scratch on my back from that pesky bolt that didn’t have a stopper once and that was enough!