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I've commented in a few different threads about my experience towing with my 2021 Chevy Silverado 1500 3.0L diesel. In 2.5 years, it now has 32K miles and about 5k towing my LEII. I thought I would post a follow-up that may be helpful for anyone considering the GM half-ton diesel as a tow vehicle. After owning Toyotas for almost 20 years, I have to say I was hesitant about the reliability of a GM product -- but it's been great so far. PROS: Power/torque more than adequate for towing an LEII. I just returned from a trip that took me over Loveland Pass, Rabbit Ears Pass and Berthoud Pass in Colorado. The diesel engine has absolutely no problem and no stress getting up and over. No noticable loss of power at high altitude and no high-RPM downshift that can happen with a gasoline engine. Fuel economy has been very good. I average 17 mpg while towing and the truck gets around 30 mpg in highway driving when not towing. In Colorado, diesel is now a little less expensive than regular again (yay!) but a year ago it was more per gallon so that wiped out any significant savings. 10 speed transmission is super smooth Automatic engine brake is fantastic on the long downhill runs. It's very reassuring to have it kick-in automatically and only touch the brakes a few times. I've always felt stable and in-control - even rolling all the way down Loveland pass at speed with traffic! GM trailer tow package and 360 degree camera package is excellent. It recognizes and remembers my trailer. It checks and notifies me of a wiring fault (I still check my lights/brakes manually). I purchased and self-installed the GM accessory trailer rear-view camera and it works extremely well. The live-motion back-up guidelines are super helpful (see photos). The truck monitors the TPMS sensors in my Oliver tires (had the GM sensors installed) and it displays on the dashboard screen. Comfortable and quiet ride both while towing and when being used as my daily-driver. You can barely tell its a diesel engine as there is almost no "clack" sound No problems in 32k miles so far CONS: Payload is around 1500 lbs (like all half-ton trucks) and that could be limiting for longer trips and taking more "stuff" Have to use the WD hitch (like all half-ton trucks). I find the Anderson WD hitch to be a hassle - but one that I can live with to be safe and legal. Squat from trailer tounge weight was not bad but a little more than I liked. I added Roadmaster Active Suspension (RAS) and this reduced squat by about an inch without any noticible effect on ride quality. Have to mess with adding DEF fluid. When towing, it uses a lot of DEF and the guage is not very accurate. Best to top off before leaving and/or put an extra 2.5g of DEF in the bed to minimize anxiety about it. Maintenance may be a little more expensive. I only trust the dealer to do the work as independent shops may not be familiar with the 3.0L Duramax. Oil changes cost $120 every 6K to 7K miles. Overall, I'm very pleased with my decision to buy the truck as my TV and as my daily-driver. I would buy this truck again and defintely get the 3.0 diesel over the 5.3 or 6.2 gas engines. If I were more of a full-timer in towing, I would consider spending the extra for a 3/4-ton. This would be primarily so that I had more payload and to avoid the WD hitch. Hope this may be helpful for anyone considering the GM half-ton diesel truck.

Happy to report that I have installed the Dometic FreshJet air conditioner on my Oliver this week. The install was fairly easy only taking a couple hours for two of us to complete. I rigged up a 3 to 1 pulley system in my workshop to lift up and remove the old noisey Penguin model. The new FreshJet is significantly lighter than the old unit, and a friend and I were able to stand on some scaffolding and lift it up and onto the Oliver. The wiring connections were easy to complete using the existing thermostat control box. I purchased the FreshJet 3 Series from RV Parts Country; $896.00 plus $124.00 shipping. So far my wife and I are happy with the performance of the FreshJet, it quickly brought down the indoor temperature and humidity on a hot Tennessee summer day. Best of all is the difference in the sound levels between the old and new units (69db versus 52db). Many thanks to @RoadLotus for researching the FreshJet and making everyone aware of this quiet AC option for the Oliver.

It was quite painful to sell, but this was the correct move at this stage in my life. For privacy I won’t say who bought it, but he is a member and if he wants to announce it, that will be on his dime. I emptied out the RV bay for the first time in six years, washed the floor using a push broom and Dawn detergent, and lots of water, and moved my LC200 over to that spot. I now have a vast area to park a vehicle or do workshop type projects, and my wife now has a big corner dedicated to gardening, with two big workbenches, power, light and pegboard. A happy wife is a happy me… Plus I have even more room for my indoor 10 meter airgun range. We will continue to travel and explore the back country at times, but we will stay primarily in motels or B&Bs. But if we encounter a splendid isolated pull-off overlooking a great vista, we can pop the Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon and rough it for a few nights. It takes about a minute to crank up, and three minutes to put back down. It is pretty darn crude compared to an Ollie, but it is a simply stunning tent. I was really afraid that there would be a big mpg hit from the tent, like with the Yakima RocketBox Carbonite Low, but I was delighted to discover that I got 16 mpgs going to the dealer with bare round bars, and 17 coming back, and no noise at all at 72 mph. That is good mileage for a Land Cruiser with LT tires, they are gas hogs. It’s way better than the 10-12 I got towing “Mouse” at 62 mph. I may install wimpy Geolander AT G015 tires after our next big trip, they will save 52 (!) pounds of rotating mass and I expect to gain another couple of mpgs. They are great “tweener” tires for an Outback, RAV4 or LC200 that isn’t doing lots of rocky stuff. I have had two sets already on other vehicles and I am impressed. We plan to attend the Total Solar Eclipse rally in Fredericksburg next April, but we will be forced to sleep in the ground due to stupid CG rules. If anyone wants a dirt cheap big heavy Eureka! tent and fly in fine condition, come by and talk to me on Tuesday morning after the crowds have departed. After the eclipse, we will head home via the Utah parks and hopefully spend a few nights on the delightful White Rim Road in Canyonlands NP. I will continue to hang out here on the forum, but my posting will be dramatically reduced. The members here feel very much like family, I can’t just go away. John Davies Spokane WA

I am blessed to have purchased "Mouse" 2017 Elite II previously owned by John Davies. Twin Bed configuration.

I agree with you comments. Have the 3.0L Diesel in my 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4, CarbonPro. The motor has plenty of power. I think the 3.0L Diesel would handle 3/4 ton. I am very happy with my truck. 19,500 miles 4600 miles towing LEII 15 mpg w/heavy foot The GM TPMS is a plus.

Congratulations to you, and the new owner. They got a phenomenal trailer. Just a thought. We've airbnb'd it, and cabin camped, around Europe , Scandinavia, and South America, and some places in US and Canada. Just a thought. It will be different, but, hey, you don't have to maintain the airbnb's. (I will admit to fixing minor things, like dripping faucets and loose toilet seats in some.. lol.) Maybe time to explore other venues. Enjoy the next chapter, and the freedom afforded by your wife's retirement. I know neither of you will be just "sitting around." (Your tent is amazing.) I'm very glad you plan to hang around, even if on a limited basis.. Your posts have helped so many people.... more than you'll ever know.

John, I'm glad you sold your trailer and I hope that your future plans work out. It's good to know you plan to hang out here and help to answer technical questions. Hasta la vista!

Congrats on your sale! Enjoy and best wishes on all your future endeavors.

Best wishes, John, enjoy your future adventures!! Thank you for all you've done for this forum and we look forward to hearing from you again!

Congrats on the sale! Best of luck with your future travels, please keep us up to date here…. Mike

We feel the same way about you.

Just did the poll.. last August at Yellowstone, Madison CG. Big hail storm, it lasted about 10 to 15 mins. We were worried, just picked up our Ollie in July. Marble size hail. No damage to truck or camper.. I don’t want to go through that again…. The OILLIE held up great..

@MAX BurnerNice setup! Do you have the automatic bed step on your Tundra and if so do the Rock Tamers interfere with it? Any issues with the sensors?

Still won’t work after NO. It requires answers for all. Just eliminate the first question entirely. We really don’t need to see how many owners never had an event happen. Add another question with repair cost ranges. John Davies Spokane WA

Ferryland peninsula a drive down a single lane dirt road and a 25 minute walk gets you to the lighthouse, these pictures are from the field you park in.

Great information for folks thinking about this truck for a LE2 tow vehicle. Nice looking rigs, too!

All you have to do to experience this same range in a fuel based vehicle is just put about 12 gallons in at each fill up. The only difference is that filling up this way will only take about 5 minutes.

Fall creek falls is a nice state park. Rugby is a interesting small town

We have stayed at the Hampton Inn in Franklin a couple of times when visiting Hohenwald, and it worked out well for us... Local tourist attractions are very personal choices. We have enjoyed the following: Cascade Hollow Distilling Co (home of George Dickel Tennessee Whisky). Small outfit, a little different from the Bourbon Distilleries in KY (have also toured several of those). Tasting afterwards. Tour guide was great 🙂 Kentucky Cooperage (ISC) tour, Lebanon KY - barrel making. Note the time zone change when driving there from Franklin. Mammoth Cave NP (as a day trip out of Franklin.) Nashville (Broadway) - we just did our own walking tour up & down Broadway, nice lunch with live music in one of the honky tonks (Rippy's in our case) Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum - Nashville, just off Broadway "Historic RCA Studio B" tour (runs out of the Country Music Hall of Fame... kind of run down, but interesting if you're an avid Elvis fan or interested in country music history National Corvette Museum (this is where the sink hole opened up & damaged several corvettes back in 2014 Natchez Trace - historic/peaceful/scenic drive as far as you want to go. There's also a few historic buildings with interpretive signs near the Meriwether Lewis Campground. You can walk on a section of the original Natchez Trace

Butter Pot Provincial Park is a huge park with nice camping spots but only parts of the park have cell service and there isn’t water or power at any of the sites.

I got this idea from a social media posting, but here's a quick mod that makes the "secret compartment" below the Pantry easier to access: 1. Pulled off VELCRO from cabinet. 2. Installed a couple 8" drawer slides from Amazon: 3. Replaced the VELCRO onto the drawer slides: 4. One and done, can't even tell the difference; except for the convenience factor - time for a cold one. Cheers! A & D

(Apologies if this post is redundant - second try at posting. We tried posting this earlier and couldn't find it thereafter, trying again now.) Please complete the attached poll regarding Oliver Hail Damage Assessment...

Question # 2 also allows multiple answers. Plus, shouldn't the first question be whether you've ever been affected by hail? With a Y/N answer. Because if it's "no", you don't need to continue.

Here is a good FAQ off their website which may help answer some of your questions. 😊 I use XPEL Ceramic Boost after I finish washing the Ollie, truck or car. https://www.xpel.com/faq

Me, either. In fact, I wouldn't tow with a vehicle WITHOUT a tow package. Probably good to leave it in the poll as a reminder of its importance?

The first thing I did, as an upgrade our new-to-us Oliver, was to upgrade the A/V system. The prior owner recently replaced the original lame corner-mounted 24" TV (TV means television in this post, not tow vehicle) with an Insignia smart TV running the Amazon Fire TV OS. OK, it was an upgrade, since it was then capable to stream from Amazon, Netflix and other services. But come-on, the TV was ugly and BLACK, 4" deep, had a ginormous black 1 1/2" wire harness, etc. I could go on-and-on! (see pic) I have never watched TV on a 24" screen, and do not plan to do so going forward. We enjoy TV and watching movies and I not going to start squinting to watch a low-rez 24" TV. I'm thinking 32" hi-rez would be perfect in this space! 🙂 First thing I did was to realize and test all the accessories we have in the new Oliver. Like the Weingard Sat dish upgrade, nice! The Furrion radio audio system, can play CDs, DVDs, but not Blu-ray. OMG, I looked at Amazon and other providers to replace this head unit, and still today, now that Blu-ray has been around for 16 years, you cannot replace this system, with a wall mounted unit, that also plays Blu-ray. In our beautiful Oliver, view of the rear living space, let me ask you, what stands out as being out of place? It's of course the BLACK, UGLY TV!!!

That might be another question to add to your poll. 😀 Obviously, more force when driving. I'm sure most folks would pull into shelter, if possible, if a weather alert were issued. I was very glad we weren't there. It looked like snow on the ground, it was so thick.

Got 'em in there per your request, @SeaDawg. Thanks, good catch! Cheers!

@Tom and Doreen: Thanks T & D! We don't have the auto bed step option, FYI. The only issues with the sensors are when the OTT is disconnected, the hitch/Rocktammers are still attached, and the TV is backing up - we have to remember to disengage the Rear Obstacle Alert and the Rear Crossing Track Alert; both of which will scream at the TV occupants and apply brakes automatically if not disengaged because the truck is sensing an incoming obstacle. We also must disengage these alerts when the hitch/Rocktammers are replaced with the bikes/rack. No biggie, IMO. Cheers!

Edited the 1st question - the Poll should be good to go.

We're lov'n our's too! If we decide to take a gravel road, it will usually be the exception and not the rule - and if so, it will be done very, very slowly.

I totally agree. And, if, on the slim chance Airstream did, and it followed the same stream as the Nest purchase, there would likely be a bunch of great folks in Chilliwack without jobs in a year or two. (They've tried fiberglass over the years, even before NEST. ) My bet is, they stay in their lane, this time. https://www.airstream.com/blog/nest-isnt-airstreams-first-foray-into-fiberglass/ (The Nest was the only foray into fiberglass, under Thor ownership. ) My hope for Escape, and their employees, is that a local Canadian company buys them out. There's room for all of us in the market.

Congrats on your new Oliver! I hope you were able to take the tour while you were in Hohenwald. Patriot🇺🇸

I forgot to take photos with the bikes on the rack. Here it is empty. The bikes seemed very solid watching on the rear view camera.

Hello Eric, We previously owned a AS Nest and we loved it for short getaways but quickly found it to be too small for longer trips. We decided to go larger and put a deposit down on a 20fb Flying Cloud. A few days after we placed our deposit an Oliver Elite II came up for sale very close to our home. Once we actually went and looked at the Oliver we were immediately sold, I fell in love with the white clean interior and the quality was noticeably superior to the AS. We cancelled our order for the Airstream and bought the Oliver. Zero regrets!

Agreed 100%, wish we had the option of a manual awning!

Lol…we were also looking to downsize to a 23CB or 23 flying cloud with twin beds, but then we saw an Oliver on YouTube, we loved the “sterile” clean look, and of course when we saw one in person it was a no brainer. Have you looked at one in person? @SeaDawg maybe move this to an existing or new “Oliver wannabe” thread?

@rich.dev: 100% concur. After owning a 31- and then a 25-foot AS since 2007, there's no doubt the overall OTT quality is hands-down better.

Welcome, we went from a 2016 AS 26RBT (twin beds) to a 2023 LEII. I absolutely loved the layout of the 26RBT, but I have to say the quality of the Oliver is much better!

Ellison area

Dungeon Provincial Park

I agree that the tvs are kind of a "black eye." It's why I've refused over the many years to have a TV in the living room or bedroom. Plus, I believe the living room is for conversation. Any light in the bedroom is disturbing to me. When our original little Jensen dies, we probably just won't replace it. We never use it. Other folks love tv , and for you, the white and thin unit is a terrific upgrade. Enjoy!

Hey JD, thank you for these ideas. I will say, I have read so many of your upgrade posts, some amazing work! Thank you for sharing and I will study your work in the months and years to come, as we get to know our Oliver better. As far as warning labels, they're not of interest to me. The insurance industry and Federal Government have dummied down America, to make everything idiot-proof, with WARNINGS! I have already taken my heat gun to several labels (use a little Goo-B-Gone after), the one by the smoke detector, those by the cooktop, other labels outside are soon to go. The visual noise removed, all clean white fiberglass. Thanks for the sound quality app. I will show it to my son who is a sound engineer. Perhaps he can run the test. More to come soon on this post, as I have time not working. I will add a post re adding the Dish receiver, configuring the Weingard Satellite, and adding a rack in the attic for multiple A/V input sources. My final post will be to show how I made this TV monitor fold up to the attic ceiling, being out of the way of the rear view and emergency exit window. It's not a simple push mechanism, what OTT uses on their smaller 24" TV, but given the thin profile of this TV, you will hardly see it when folded, all parts white! Thanks for reading!

Background: Using @John E Davies's modification (HOW TO: Connect a STANDARD SAE 4 pin harness (or 4 pin with backup lights) to your OLIVER FACTORY 7 pin wire), May 15, 2022); as inspiration, we installed the same LED light bar (Amazon $90) on the bumper to compensate for blocking the tail lights when carrying cargo/bikes. Our application for the light bar is for a permanently mounted fixture and not removable when the 2" carrier assembly is disconnected from the bumper. Others have mounted it to the carrier assembly exclusively - we decided to have the light bar function with or w/o the carrier attached to Casablanca - so, it gets mounted to the bumper in our case. Process Description: The light bar is shipped with a 4-Pin harness and male/female plugs and a separate (16AWG white) wire for the backup light feature. First thing we did after receiving the light bar was to connect it to the factory 4-Pin female plug on the TV to function check the assembly. It is a 2-row multi-color light bar (red, orange, and white) which illuminate depending upon the driver's input. Basically, marker, L/R, brake, warning, and back-up lighting features are present. Function check proved successful - we didn't want to get too far down the installation path and find out we've received a bad unit from Amazon (been there, done that...). The light bar comes with metal clips as well as a 3M-type adhesive strip for mounting. We decided to mount the bar about 1/3 down from the top of the bumper using the 3M strip for best observation/view from those following behind. Determining the routing for the power harness was interesting and somewhat different than John's "How To" procedure. First off, we learned that the wire colors from the light bar were non-industry standard going into the provided 4-Pin plug, but coming out of the opposite 4-Pin plug the colors were standardized. Furthermore, as you may know, and as John described, the 2017 OTT 7-Pin wire colors are non-industry standard either. We needed to make a wire color/function matrix for what would be 5 Anderson Power Pole connections in the bowels of the TT because we would not be using the light bar provided 4-Pin connector. Power runs from the OTT 7-Pin harness located on the street side under the garage floor; left-rear most area just outboard from the waste water dump mast. The light bar electrical harness will pass through the left-rear bulkhead in the proximity of the small round red reflector left of the spare tire cover. Through a Blue Sea Systems Cable Clam (Amazon $23), the harness passes through the aluminum diamond plate deck into the waste water hose compartment, then through the bumper to the light bar. Removing the black mat, 3 floor panel wood screws and removing the floor panel exposes waste water dump mast, red/blue/clear PEX lines, and several split combed electrical harness as shown above. Also above, note the sacrificial wood piece placed on bulkhead to avoid an incidental perforation of water & electrical targets in the vicinity of where hull penetrations will be drilled from outside. We removed the small red reflector, cleaned off residue from its adhesive and prepared the drill site with blue painter's tape. The 4-piece Blue Sea Cable Clam (rubber gasket, base, grommet, and compression cover) requires a cable penetration hole and 4 mounting holes for the base. Carefully measuring, marking, drilling the holes places the Clam where the reflector used to reside. Cable penetrations were then drilled in the diamond plate deck and on both sides of the bumper - wiring harness was double heat-shrinked and grommeted at each penetration to avoid chaffing. Once the "power run" penetrations were made good, we connected the 4 non-standard LED bar wires to a corresponding set of standard 4-Pin wires using Anderson Power Poles which make for a clean connection bus. Finding and isolating the non-standard 7-Pin wires within the OTT harness was next. As John described in his "How To" post, there are 3 buses easily accessible, one each for back-up, ground, and marker lights. The L (red) & R (brown) are found in the same split comb as they exit and head for their respective light assemblies. The Anderson connectors are convenient in the manner in which they can be attached "side-by-side" - used for years in the HAM radio community, they provide a positive connection even when coupling different gauge wires; which was the case here: Penetrations were chamfered smooth and the harness was "double heat-shrinked" and grommeted at penetrations to avoid chaffing. (Unknown why this pic insists on rotating itself....!) Function checked light bar - all good, zip-tied 7-Pin harness, replaced split loom, screwed in garage floor panel, placed mat in position, closed garage hatch and got a cold one. I'm happy with this mod - D likes it, too with an enthusiastic "thumbs-up"! "Ravel-ON!" Cheers, A & D

Very nice and clean install! I was thinking of a similar setup to replace the terrible original equipment 24" LED Jensen I had, but the cheapskate in me decide to use a spare TV I had laying around instead.. Mounted a rail system so my 34" TV would sit behind the front face of the attic when folded up but then still be able to slide all the way back to the window when in the down position. Was thinking about a permanent mount back by the window like you have but didn't want to block the emergency exit. With the thinness of your monitor it doesn't look like you'll have that issue in the folded up position.. If I could find a similar monitor with a tuner I might be swayed into stealing your design! Track Mounted TV

A few pics of the TV install to follow. When I first installed it and connected to the Internet, the movie Fletch was streaming on the Samsung network! 1985 OMG! Then pic with TV off and soundbar installed. Next pic shows the slim profile and a final pic shows the Samsung network, and notice the HDMI input, currently no HDMI input powered up. The TV can swivel left and right and front and back. Pushing the TV back gives the best viewing angle when lying in bed.

I purchased a Samsung TV and soundbar. I wanted Samsung, South Korean made, running their Tizen OS, not the TCL/Roku TV I had years ago (is China watching?). Not the Sony TV I have in my living room, running Android, Google owned. And, it was the only white 32" TV monitor I could find! Samsung HD 32” TV monitor white (monitor means no TV tuner, no antenna input): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B89L2WNV?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details SAMSUNG HW-S61B 5.0ch All-in-One Wireless Soundbar w/Dolby Atmos, Alexa, Bluetooth: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09X61YYJB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I like that Amazon sells used electronics and parts. Generally, when items are marked in like new or good condition, another customer opened it and returned it, perhaps damaged the packaging. If not working, just return it. The TV new was $500 plus tax, now it's listed at $400 new, I paid $328 with tax, in used like-new condition. The soundbar was $182 and the TV, soundbar and mount total came to $550.

Those RV'ers entering into the camping community during the C-19 debacle are no longer interested in camping saturating the used market by selling their 2-year old rigs - softening the pre-owned market and driving down first-time RV buyers, IMO.

Thanks for the photos! Beautiful! Are you traveling on to L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site? That's definitely on my bucket list.

I think what we really need are EV’s pulling travel trailers that are self-powered. If the EV’s were also self-driving, equipped with 360 degree 8K cameras and connected to the internet via satellite uplinks we could preprogram our route into the nav system and just stay home and watch the trip on our phones.