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So excited to join the Oliver family. We have been looking for awhile and found Hull 464! Loving it so far. Have you all named your Olivers? We are trying to come up with an original name but we are stumped!

Well the excitement is beginning to build. I've been accumulating all the sundry useful items a few folks have shared for life in our Ollie. I know we want to keep it simple and light, but there are certain necessities that make setting up, function and safety easy to achieve and just make life comfortable. The best news is we were talking about this being the week for production to begin on Hull 1373, and just a couple hours later Josh White sent the email notifying us of production start. Woohoo!

Thanks to all for the "hearty welcome" to the Oliver family. We look forward to meeting y'all on the road... PLEASE NOTE CORRECTION: Our hull number is #226 not my typo-ed "#225" posted earlier. Anyhow, we collected our rig on Saturday in Roswell, NM... It was just all so "Alien" to me, ha! It's a perfect rig for us - Magnus, in particular, loves it (WOOF!). Even in moderate to high crosswind conditions, it towed fantastically with the Anderson WDH behind the Tundra for the 175-mile run back home yesterday afternoon. Here's what our "new-to-us" #226 looks like:

Just a bit of a fun and perhaps motivational story. In 2017, I was going through an incredibly difficult divorce from a man I had only been married to for two years. Turned out that he had some very mean and troublesome issues. I found myself in a very broken state; sad, defeated, embarrassed. So, what did I do? I set my mind to save for a school bus, that I would convert into my home. While in the "saving the cash" phase, I bought a toy school bus that sat on my desk, for a constant reminder as to why I was working so hard. I bought that bus. I converted that bus. I lived in that bus for 3.5 years. I am back in a house for now. That bus? That bus will be sold soon and will be the down payment for my new dream; an Oliver! 🙂 So, I had to buy a new toy. It's definitely not an exact replica, but it is working just fine! Tentative plan is to buy the truck in April and pull the trigger on my Ollie order between June and September. I learned in my school bus journey that best laid plans don't always work out but dreams DO come true when you just don't give up!

I don't normally name vehicles, campers, motorcycles, etc. But - one morning prior to taking delivery my wife and I were sitting at the breakfast table and she said that I have to name the Oliver. I said "why" and she (three times in a row) said "because". Well, after that third time My "husband alarm bells went off" and I (finally) realized that she was actually trying to tell me something - "duh". So, I said, "OK, what should I name it". She replied, "Twist". Well, it took me about 30 seconds of sitting there with a more than usual dumb look on my face before I figured it out.

Enjoying winter camping in my Oliver, snowmobiling every weekend.

Well... "Ollie" works for us (and I'm sure for many others 😁) Charlie

Thanks, Martin - nice looking rig, brother! Here's our new rig after just getting it over the weekend:

My husband built out the van as a camper van. It has a queen bed, solar and lithium battery, and a pull out kitchen. But....no real bathroom! And no standing room.This was our maiden voyage with the Oliver but it seems like it will be a great tow vehicle. It is also a V10. It is really nice to be able to pull out the kitchen and cook but also to be able to be comfortable for the night.

Towing with a full size van. Nice. Our second tow vehicle was a Ford E350 7-seater with the V10. Awesome tow vehicle. We went cross-country with it and our 27' travel trailer. Had to switch to pickups when we changed to fifth wheels, but I wish I had that van today. Congrats on your new Ollie.

@Ollie-Haus, I agree.. I don't think Oliver would ever put you on the road with marginal tires. Like us, they do a lot of research. We've run on st tires for 15 years. We like them, and are happy. LT is great, but we feel solid with st. Never felt compelled to change up the original. We can spend days discussing the differences.... Gone are the days of the Goodyear marathons/explodathonans. Life, and tires, evolve. Just no cheap wacko tires, and we're all good.

Congrats and welcome to the Oliver family! We most often call ours Ollie, but have call it numerous names, Olive, The Camper, Olly Oop, Muhammad “Ollie”.🤷🏻‍♀️😂

It took me a few minutes but what a FANTASTIC name!

Thanks! Yours is beautiful as well! Maybe we will meet up one of these days. We plan to use our Ollie for out west travels!

Glad that things went well. You might want to contact Oliver to let them know that you (or Magnus) are the new owner so that you will be notified in the unlikely event of a recall or service notice. Enjoy the heck out of it! Bill

We've done a few thousand miles of mid winter towing with our '21 Elite 2. Mostly with an F150 with 3 peak stamped tires, so they are solid in the snow. There is a lot of weight which helps traction but it's spread out over a large area and 8 tires which hurts traction. Have had a couple of minor straight line slides but never had the trailer sway or side slip. Generally, the trailering necessitates extra caution on compacted, shallow snow. The weight seems to help it out pretty good in deep stuff but, your chances of the trailer slipping increases for sure. Given a day with black ice or light snow over ice, I'd opt for sitting it out. For the most part, if the pavement is covered, we're in 4wd and taking it slow. We have but have never deployed tire cables for both Oliver and the Ford. They would probably make for very secure driving but are a pain in the butt to use and not really up to covering lots of ground. Really an emergency option.

That’s cold! I had to put another log in my stove after looking at your picture. We winter camp and have been out in 20 deg. with Lite snow with no problems. It’s the wind at those temp that makes it bad. Seems like the older we get the more we like the 3 season camping. Really enjoy being outside. I wouldn’t want to winter camp in any other camper but our Oliver. Stay warm and have some fun.

Sounds like you have a good plan to reach your new goals. Hard work and saving money always will pay off in the long run in life. Good luck! Definitely paint that trailer white and use a sharpie for the Oliver name.

I actually looked for one of the 3D Ollies however the cheapest I found was for $30! This was $5. LOL! I might paint it white. 🙂

Nice - but - You could up the ante by getting rid of that "tin" RV and getting yourself one of THESE

Many of the newer tow vehicles are able to monitor trailer TPMS on the dash with the truck's tires simultaneously. Our F350 was ordered with the trailer TPMS package. Once the Ollie arrives, I will install and program them to the truck for a full view of all tires. With the change to 5200# axles on the 2023 LE2's, they have switched back to 15" ST tires from the factory. I'm okay with it. The key to ST's or any tire for that matter is stay away from the Chinese knock off tire bombs and watch your pressures. Also a lot of RV trailers run very close if not over the load ratings of the supplied tires and axles once loaded for the road. Oliver doesn't have that problem.

EDIT: see related thread - https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/6812-check-your-rear-jack-mount-hardware-bottom-frame-bolts-were-1-turn-loose/ I serviced the two rear gearboxes and then to my dismay the right one refused to go up or down under a load - STUCK. I use the emergency crank tool to see what was going on, using the square shaft on top of the gearbox, and it was really really tight, something was binding for sure, so I removed the three Allen screws and lifted off the gearbox. And tried to turn the lower screw part using the other end of the tool. FAIL - it is too short to clear the surrounding fiberglass bed support, it would only move about 170 degrees. I said some very bad words, and I am glad I did not have to deal with a failed gearbox in the boonies, I would have been stuck. I needed a short length of heavy steel tubing with a 1/2” inside diameter so I could make an extension. I found that a 3/8” MPT pipe nipple works perfectly. Unfortunately that size is hard to find and about double the price of a more common 1/2” MPT nipple. Here is what the end of the tool looks like, the part that drives the lower jackscrew, under the motor unit. I used a 3/8” MPT x 6” nipple, the longest I could find at Home Depot. Drill out the internal burrs and the long seam weld using a 1/2” drill bit and cut off the threaded ends. Cut the tool in the center of the straight part and insert each piece into the nipple 1”. Drill and install two 5/16” roll pins and trm any excess material so you don’t cut yourself using the modified tool. It is a very snug fit, I considered adding epoxy but that isn’t needed. NOTE I turned the end 90 degrees from the original orientation, so the tool will lie completely flat in a galley drawer without gouging the drawer bottom. I was able to free up the lower part by turning it back and forth to get the jack working properly. THEN I found the true cause, the support bolts that go through the trailer frame were super loose. I turned all four (two per side) one full turn before they tightened to 43 ft lbs. Now both jacks run much better under a load. I started a service ticket and will make a new thread about the loose bolts. I hope a few owners will look at their tool and measure the part with the pin in it. If it is 5 inches, it will be useless in an emergency. I am curious to know if everybody has a disfunctional tool like mine. John Davies Spokane WA

We call ours “the trailer” or “the camper”. We’re so creative…. Mike

Thanks. Actually, its funny watching peoples faces while they think about it. This is especially so for English teachers. Bill

I'm sure that some of you already know, but, Airstream did (at one time) make fiberglass (laminated) campers. These pictures are of a 1992 model that is currently owned by a couple that are interested in moving up to an Oliver. Interestingly, while this Airstream has laminated fiberglass sides, the roof is aluminum. Bill

I'm with TopGun on this. We just got back from a trip in Quebec. Not to get into gory details but we've opened the entire basement up to heated airflow and done other mods to assure all the pex lines are kept above 50 degrees even when it's below 0. Our water system still froze in specific spots most notably where they are in contact with the existing reflectix insulation which seems to do OK with radiational heat loss but not so good in conductive situations. I suspect the tanks sitting directly on a single layer of reflectix against the bottom of the trailer, would be super susceptible to freezing. Water froze inside our exterior ports (city, winterization and fresh water) even though we had them insulated nicely with sealed foam tubes. As to the Truma, the unit works perfectly as long as the lines feeding it water don't freeze and ours did. You can't drive with the Truma on as the wind can blow out it's pilot light. You can either buy the anti-freeze kit or can opt to just winterize that unit. Super easy to do and you use little water but, we found, water dripping off the unit can fill in the slots that the little access door sits in and we then had to use a hair drier (don't ask) to melt it free. As suggested above, travel with water and big body wipes till temps are reliably no lower than the mid 20s. Can survive a night of a bit lower if it gets above freezing in the day but otherwise the risk is not worth the consequence. We use a 7 gallon container w/spigot (Walmart) plus two one gallon, soft sided "canteens" from amazon (all BPA free), body wipes and "waterless shampoo" which works for a week. Any longer, we find a spa, gym or rec center where we can access a shower. We opted for the composting toilet so no water wasted on flushing. Clean dishes in a small pop open sink (Amazon) which fits in the sink and spray clean with a tiny half gallon garden sprayer with a light bleach mix. Works great. Not ideal for a "4 season" camper should be but absolutely doable. Have a great trip.

Good choice of tow vehicles with your 2022 Tundra. It has about 500 lbs. greater payload capacity than our 2019 Tundra, which is still adequate to tow our Hull #1291. We are getting along fine, but that extra 500 lbs. of payload will be nice to have.

Back in our Airstream days we would do an annual run to Quartzite in JAN. Our friends owned a FG "Squarestream" trailer '92-ish in absolutely mint condition. Very rare and unique rigs. They owned it new from the factory. Interesting.

We just got back from two week in Quebec. Was -15 one night and lots of overnights around 0. Aside from burning a 30lb LP tank every 3-4 days, was plenty warm. In spite of lots of mods to drive temps in entire garage to mid 50s on those nights, the water system froze up - when it was just above 10 degrees out. Turns out reflectix is decent at minimizing radiational heat loss but really not great at radiational heat loss so even in the warmish areas, where a pex line is up against exterior insulation, it will freeze. Luckily, no damage done. We parked for a few nights by a none-too-fancy, stick built, stock 25' class c RV. Had for-real pink board house insulation and matts of stuff that was similar to our reflectix but was thicker sheet plastic between the foil. They had no problem with their water systems on the -15 night. Had lots of useful take aways from the experience.

The biggest concern that keeps me from towing our Elite II during the winter is road safety. I have towed my much lighter raft trailer on snowy roads a couple of times, with sometimes scary results. No accidents, but some close calls. So, I gave up towing it until the roads are no longer snow-covered or icy in the spring. Have any of you more veteran Oliver owners experienced loss of traction, fishtailing or loss of control on snow-covered roads? Any issues climbing hills on snow-covered roads while towing an Elite II?

I almost took mine to Cannon mountain skiing last week end but I decided for the two nights it wasn’t worth getting salt all over it. But it’s coming out for April, it’s the first time I will have another few days to go someplace. Bill

If you choose ST tires, stick with the Goodyears, although I also had good luck with Maxxis on 3 trailers. There are lots of off-brand ST tires on the market, commonly referred to as "China-bombs" by other RVers. Most have a reputation for poor quality and many people have reported catastrophic blowouts and tread separations.

Great advice! Glad you caught it before you got under way. Do you use a TPMS? Let me know where you find a deal! Mossey

These suggestions are not specific to the Legacy Elite, but are relatively easy to implement and sometimes overlooked. 1. Do you have the Truma water heater? Does it include the antifreeze kit? If so, be sure to install the antifreeze filter before leaving home, and switch the Truma control over to antifreeze mode during daytime driving. When parked, keep the Truma water heater on Comfort mode, which will burn more propane, but will provide an additional margin of safety from freezing. 2. Also, remove the shower head from the outside wash station, pull the shower hose inside the trailer, re-install the shower head inside the hull, and place the head/hose assembly inboard from the hull. As this is an area that gets little heat from the furnace, I would also place a couple of layers of Reflectix-type insulation along the inside of the hull where that outside wash station is installed.

Kirk, we’ve had two water softeners. The first was an 8,000 grain unit that we used for a couple of years. It was heavy and had to be carried in the truck. It did do a good job. I found a very small one, just 3,200 grain that would fit upright in the basement and was not heavy at all. The big one is now used for truck/trailer washing and the small one goes with us camping. You can see it on Amazon HERE. It’s worked well for us. Mike

Our AGM’s were 60+ pounds. I replaced them with 3 Battle Borns. So we went from about 260 pounds to less than 100.

That's the reason I tend to think in terms of sizing for maximum trailer weight and then add in a good margin. It's easy for folks to get fixated on the trailer weight and what you will add into the trailer, but other gear loaded in the truck, passengers pets and misc. is significant in the overall load equation. I just like to have plenty of truck and not have to carry a calculator. With that I mean if you have say 3000 lbs of payload capacity on the truck and a tow capacity of say >12000 lbs, it's good to know how much you weigh total but your margins with and LE2 are substantial, and you don't have to worry about whether tanks are full or if you bought an item, say a grill or bike or something and have to worry about capacities. With plenty of truck you also know you are traveling with plenty of braking capacity, thinking mountains. For what it's worth BTW, it was explained to us on our last plant tour that Oliver is building the LE2 now with the same 5K axles as the LE1 uses. This is for cost and logistics/supplier streamlining. The LE2 still has the same load sticker on the side, but you do have increased actual axle capacity with two 5K axles under the trailer. Just a more robust and heavier undercarriage in this configuration. This works well with my thinking of having more than we need. Many RVs are built to be at axle capacity with full holding tanks and almost no margin for gear at all. Oliver is not doing this to say the least. With the trucks you are looking at you will have a lot of capacity beyond the Oliver. It's good to know where you stand but that will be the extent of your towing worries.

THAT Oliver is going to look great in THAT Ollie house - especially with THAT pup keeping an eye on it. Welcome to the Family! BIll

I’m with BIll on this one. It depends. When I towed with 1500’s and the slope isn’t too steep it probably would hold everything at a stop. With a my current 2500 and torque at 900+ I’m not sure. The trailer wheels may not turn but the truck/trailer may not stay stationary. When I adjust the gain I don’t ever go for tire skids on pavement. Gravel, yes. On pavement I judge the amount of drag when I apply the controller and go from there - you learn to feel where it should be. I routinely apply the trailer brakes first thing when we start out in the morning to ensure the grab is enough and to work any moisture out. Mike

Hello Steve! How exciting to have placed your order! And up coming retirement. I will be placing my order this year also. My retirement is still a few years away but I absolutely love the RV lifestyle. TV shopping these next few weeks. Test drove a Ford 2500 today! Good luck on your coming adventures!

Once you get the "gain" properly set on the trailer brake controller (on a deserted, straight and level section of road), you don't have to touch the brake controller lever for normal braking. You just put your foot on the brake pedal, and the trailer brake controller applies the trailer brakes at the same time your tow vehicle applies the tow vehicle brakes. You can feel the difference in braking power once you get the gain properly set. And, you can feel the trailer brakes stopping the trailer, independent of the truck braking system. Setting the gain is a trial and error process, which is why you do it on an empty section of straight, level road. Start by setting the gain to #5 out of 10. Get the rig up to about 25 mph and then stop it using the brake pedal. If the trailer brakes "grab," reduce the gain to 4 and try again. If you can't feel the trailer brake engaging at all, increase the gain to 6, and try again. After 5-10 minutes, you should be able to get the gain set to where the trailer brakes engage to about the same extent that the truck brakes do, so they work as a team to stop the whole rig as a unit. As well explained by John Davies above, you may need to use the manual lever on the trailer brake controller to engage the trailer brakes independent of the truck brakes, but those situations are not common. As he notes, manually engaging he trailer brake lever is an effective way to stop trailer sway, but Oliver's don't sway! For nearly all driving conditions, once you get the gain properly set, you should not need to use the manual lever for normal braking. But, the settings do change as your brake shoes wear in, so at the beginning of every long trip, I engage the brakes on an empty road close to home to verify that I can feel the trailer brakes engaging, as they did when I initially set the gain. If not, I adjust until they engage smoothly with the truck brakes, then proceed with the trip.

Lots of good advice on brake controllers given, but be sure you are seeing the big picture. As several folks here have mentioned, it is illegal to tow your trailer with your truck, and you are exposed to liability in the event of an accident. Your insurance may not protect you. Before you modify your truck with a brake controller, you should evaluate the entire truck for towing capability, as just adding a brake controller may not be all you need to tow a 6000 lb trailer with >500 lb tongue weight. This includes payload, tow capacity, axle ratio, hitch load ratings, 7-pin connection, and the anti-sway compatibility with Andersen WDH. I might be overlooking something, but you get my point. It’s not difficult to figure this stuff out yourself, and if you do, you will that much more familiar with your tow vehicle and towing in general. Your initial idea of selling or trading the truck for an appropriate TV is worth looking into, and you might consider another brand in a 3/4 or 1 ton capacity.

Thanks everyone for such an awesome welcome!!! I can NOT wait to see everyone out on the road!!!

Steve Welcome to the Oliver family. You made a great decision in following through with your order. Soon you will need to decide on colors and other options just prior to Oliver starting your build. Since you live in the south, I would suggest that your consider the Truma AC package. It is a lot quieter than the standard AC unit.

The Wonder Egg has new shoes! Tires - Maxxis 8008 Plus ST205/75R15 / Max load: 2150 LBS at 65psi, 2040 at 60psi / Tread depth 9/32" / 8 PLY Wheels - Raceline 870 Element Wheels Size: 15 X 6 bolt pattern 6 X 5.5. / Load rating: 2830 LBS

Michelin stopped making the tire. Papa Bean counter had nothing to do with it. Bill

Mine had a regular split lock washer and a flat washer under the nut - the other end of the bolt has a carriage head that fits into a square hole in the upper jack mount. I think the whole area shifts around when you are running them on uneven ground. Maybe the aluminum frame “settles”, I dunno. You need to be able to tighten these in the future, loctite prevents that. I don’t think it is dangerous, but it is unpleasant if your jack locks up. With regular checks and retightening it should not be a problem. I am anxious to see if the Ollie engineers will comment or do anything like a bulletin. John Davies Spokane WA

This is a picture from the production line when mine was hatched. Looks like 43 is the number for four each Jack Mount Bolts.

Bill, I am very happy with these “Rock Stoppers” they are made by Livelymachine.com and are designed Super Duty specific. I don’t know if they fabricate Rock Stoppers for other trucks. I can report they work excellent and protect the front of our Ollie and keep it clean. If anyone has questions PM me.

My son is a computer game programmer and they recently got into 3D printing. Here is what arrived for Christmas...... It was a total surprise. The $5 bill is for scale. The hull is exactly 6” long, the LE2 hull is 18’, so this makes the model 1:32 scale. There are lots of truck models in this size, my Land Cruiser 200 would be 5.9” long at this scale. ..... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Toyota-Land-Cruiser-4x4-1-32-Scale-200-VX-Wagon-SUV-Diecast-Model-Mini-4wd-Car-/362667098231 And this is what the model looked like before final trim “processing”, I have NO clue how that is done. They were not able to find an actual data file online, they did this completely from scratch using photos. They are willing to share the print file if somebody wants to try this at home. They are thinking about dividing the build into layers, so you could print the tires, frame and hull in different colors and then join them.... but it would not be too difficult to prime and paint the all white version. And no, they do not want to start mass producing these. That would be something for the much rumored, never seen Ollie Store in Hohenwald. Happy Holidays. John Davies Spokane WA EDIT: FILES AND BASIC 3D PRINT INSTRUCTIONS. NO GUARANTEES, THIS IS NOT PLUG AND PLAY EASY. If you cannot download these files directly from this thread, let me know and I will try another method. Thanks to my son Ian! oliver legacy elite 2 trailer davies.stl oliver legacy elite 2 trailer davies.3mf “Provided as is - this shouldn't be too hard of a print, but you'll probably want to have a basic handle on printing. The print specifics below are what I used to print it. They're not required, but might serve as a starting point. Print specifics: Printer: Original Prusa i3 MK3S, 0.4mm nozzle Slicer: PrusaSlicer 2.2 Filament: 1.75mm Prusament PLA (stock profile in PrusaSlicer) Perimeters: 3 Layer Height: 0.1mm Infill: Gyroid, 5% Supports: On Raft: 2 layers (not necessary, just makes it a bit easier to get the tires round) Model print scale: 850% (~200mm x 66mm x 82mm) Total filament (including supports): 143g/48m If you slice it yourself, you'll probably want to put support blockers in the wheel wells - cleaning supports out of there is a pain. This will require some postprocessing - mostly just removing supports from small gaps. If your printer isn't precise enough, or if you're printing with a larger layer height, you may want to do some sanding to get the curves more fluid.” I. D.