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I like your term "adopted" we are adopting hull #588 LEII. Looking forward to many new adventures. She is expected to arrive on Wednesday of this week.

One thing I haven't seen discussed much is the quietness of the Oliver cabin relative to other RVs. With the double hull and double-glazed windows our Oliver has the quietest cabin of any RV we've owned. For anyone who camps in crowded state parks, you know how loud the neighbors can get, especially on alcohol-fueled weekends. We were very pleased to discover that retreating indoors to sleep, with the windows closed, cuts off most of the noise from sound systems, barking dogs, and partiers. We've also been able to take naps in busy rest areas without being bothered by passing trucks, etc. It works in reverse, too. One evening we were watching an action movie, pretty loud, and I went outside to make sure we weren't bothering the neighbors. Turns out, I couldn't hear the movie outside the trailer. Definitely a selling point Oliver salespeople could mention.

I've never understood why this is not mentioned by Oliver Sales. For me, it is one of the best parts of the Oliver experience. Bill

John, I don’t think there’s any rhyme or reason to why, or when the springs are breaking. They are breaking due to metal fatigue, and or the quality of the steel that they were originally made from.

John, I will be talking to Mike at ALCAN tomorrow (Monday) and ask him about that. My springs are being produced on Wednesday so I'll get this straightened out before they are built. I'll report back tomorrow after I talk to him. The term for our springs is "underslung" (vs overslung).

Dexter may have a suggestion for a better shock for the OTT running gear. I'll check with Mike at ALCON Springs tomorrow - he may have a suggestion as they do a lot of rock crawler suspension mods....

Would be nice to include Disc Brakes with wish list the package.

thank you for your post. I will follow the lead and reduce my 50 to 42 PSI. Mahalo and Aloha, GJ

Yes, lots and lots of good info at your finger tips. Try searching as below. GJ .

In the fine print, they always state to run at the minimum when under the min, and of course do not exceed the maximum. Given you actually keep your Oliver at 6000 LBS, you can run 35 PSI. I would not suggest subtracting tongue weight, since when running at highway speeds the hitch is bouncing up and down and half the time ALL weight is on the trailer wheels. This is why for years, yes YEARS @John E Davies ran his Oliver at 42 PSI, and suggested we all do the same. I've been at 46 PSI last two outings. Those of you still running 50, 60, even 80 PSI, STOP doing that. According to Michelin, 40 PSI is a good number for the Elite II, and when we leave to Casa Grande next week, I'm going with exactly 42 PSI to honor our good friend John E. I wonder if there is some correlation between spring failure and those running the 80 PSI printed on the tire? Or, have these springs failed mainly on those pushing the GTRW? Perhaps, but again the broken cross-section looked like cr@p and some of these leaf springs were not hardened properly. When not hardened properly, steel will bend. These springs should not bend as in the picture above. They should break if over-stressed (over the GTWR), but not bend.

@Jason Foster last year was my first time going to ANY type of rally. I had a great time. I'm a solo-camper and, like you, not too found of crowds. This rally is not really a crowd, more like a sizable group of like-minded folks. LOL. I met a bunch of great new friends. I REALLY enjoyed walking the grounds early in the morning taking photos on the lake. The HUGE lake is super peaceful in both mornings and evenings and the relaxed nature of the group was inviting. I've tried to come out of my shell a bit by simply walking up to folks sitting by their campfire to say hello. Everyone is super warm and friendly. I guess if they weren't they would not show up. LOL I may end up needing to work a bit myself, but I'm an IT guy, so have internet access will travel - well, I'm trying to do that more at least. Trying to get more nerve up to do that more often as I approach retirement. I also kept busy last year helping several folks fixing small, minor issues on their rigs or show them around their new rigs - some new, some previously owned rigs. Some of the big questions I found was about hooking up the rig with the Andersen hitch system, which most folks don't spell correctly. LOL - hopefully I just did - hehe. Hope to see you there. Cheers,

Since my springs are going to be produced on Wednesday, I will contact Mike at ALCAN on Monday morning and ask about this. I'll remind him our springs are "underslung". I'll provide feedback on Monday.

Just my luck. I had a spring fail so I replaced all four just last month I wish I had known about the US made springs then. Oh well I’ve got all new springs now anyway, and I’ll be keeping an eye them.

not in my situation. The ubolts rested on the steel carrier which is bolted to the frame. I could still place my fingers between the tires and the fiberglass flares on both sides. Note: it was my LR spring that failed. Might be different spacing for front failure?

I noticed in the photos of the new springs that they have the center bolt installed in the opposite direction as the original springs have. I think that the round bolt head should be at the top side of the spring so that it can fit into the locating hole in the spring perch that’s welded to the axle. The hex nut will not fit in the location hole. It’s not a big deal, you can turn the bolt around but you’ll need two strong C clamps to hold the springs together before you try to loosen the bolt. I’ve done this before while restoring old cars and rebuilding the springs. Probably the manufacturer should be notified when an order is placed to install the bolt for the axle mounted on top of the springs not under the springs. I’m guessing that they are used to axles being mounted under the springs on jeeps etc. for more ground clearance.

Interesting. ScubaRx, perhaps this information should be passed on to Oliver, along with your prediction that "the 4-Leaf spring packs will continue to fail no matter which axle they are installed with." Consistent with Oliver's goal to produce a premium product, they may wish to consider upgrading to 5-leaf spring packs going forward.

While recently repairing a broken string in one of my shades I noticed "black" areas where the TV had rubbed against the "night" shade during travel. I started trying to clean it with "Simple Green" but that had no effect. So, I got a paper towel and Acetone. Very carefully and lightly I started wiping the black areas of the shade and the marks came off! There was no noticeable change in color or tone - I have the old off-white colored shades. I then wiped the rest of the shade with a damp sponge and light Simple Green. They now look like new. Bill

Grab a Pepsi and get to making your new baby yours. Hopefully you will be able to make it to the Owner's Rally in May. Bill

Yes, HERE's an older post discussing spring over axle lift.

Same here. One was bad so I bought a pair of the same model monroe. Could not find a better shock as nothing cross-references with it. Anyone have a better shock please provide make and part number

When I spoke to Mike at ALCAN, I asked about what happens when a spring breaks. He said generally the broken spring won't come in contact with the ground (which was my worst-case fear) but he said the real concern is if the axle with the broken springs moves into the stabilized axle causing the wheels to hit each other. He said it can l cause severe damage to the wheels, tires and possibly the trailer.

I agree about the axles. I don't think I could recommend putting these springs on a 3500 pound axle. Then the weakest link would be the axles rather than the springs!

I guess I'll check my springs tomorrow when it's dry out. I'm not sure how "good" my 2016 #110 springs are. I still need to install my EZ-Flex suspension kit I have sitting in the box. Need to pick up a new grease gun too. Great info on this thread. Thanks for sharing.

The red clearance lights are required by law. The Oliver sign is not.

One needs to ask, why would a spring set rated for 2,000 pounds fail with just a 1,350 pound load? In light of the heat treatment photo, this clearly is a defective product and we have almost a dozen instances where the Dexter provided axles have failed. This is a life safety issue that OTT would be in the best position to pursue with their supplier. Not to mention, as I suggested above, OTT should be warning their customers of this known issue. Keep in mind that not all OTT owners read every thread. We all would feel terrible if one of our beloved trailers went off a cliff and took out a family due to this defect. MODERATORS: I am asking that you: Make OTT aware of this issue and the frequency for which it appears to have occurred. Strongly suggest that they provide all owners with a Safety Bulletin. And to specially ask owners that have had failed springs to notify them for documentation and further actions with their supplier. Once they have the facts from owners with defective axles, to formally advise Dexter of this issue. GJ

Here are photos of the bottom corners of the sign where the water was coming in

Yes, I came to that same conclusion earlier as well. Combine that with being overloaded would make the failures far more commonplace. GJ

Use the load/pressure chart published for your specific make, model and tire size:

My experience with my 23 LE1 over this winter in Colorado is that it's good unwinterized until single digit Temps. Having trouble with the truma varioheat maintaining stable temperatures when it's that cold and I strongly believe that has to do with the location of the temp sensor being too close to the exterior wall. Once it dropped below 10 degrees I'd get just the hot water side of the bathroom faucet freezing up and then just a few degrees lower the cold side would freeze as well but only the bathroom sink, I never had the kitchen sink freeze and while i never bothered to winterizethe outdoor shower it never ruptured and there's no leaks now so i dont think it ever froze. Now Once the tank got down to about 20% I did lose suction I do not know if that finally froze or if the TLI was just off and it was actually empty, thankfully that was only the day before I left for home so I just made do with my emergency case of bottled water j keep in the truck. Unfortunately I didn't think about investigating that further until I was already back in San antonio and hooked up to my house services. I did have I think 2 days where those bathroom lines froze while it was around 15 but that was during storms with pretty severe wind and they were thawed by the next day.

Never had any interior problems. Our trailer, with water and ready to camp, has always weighed north of 7000 pounds. And, for years we ran 80 psi in all our tires.

We spotted two Olivers at Twin Peaks CG around the first of Feb. Another in Guadalupe Mountain NP & a couple on the road. Total of 5 sighted during our recent 6 week tour of the SW. Galway Girl has popped up near us twice in our travels. Once in Boise when they pulled up alongside us in traffic (could do no more than wave & yell Hi) & once at Fort Warden in Port Townsend (we live a couple blocks from the campground). You guys get around!

CONTACT US Phone: 970-241-2655 Email: sales@alcanspring.com

Oliver spotted at Galveston Island State Park. Nice opportunity to meet and chat with Ed Skigator. Coffee in the morning.

I would start with the dust in the switch scenario mentioned by @Steph and Dud B and @Tom and Doreen. That would be an easy fix. Pop the panel, blow it out with some compressed air and slather the terminals with dielectric grease for good measure. If it is still flickering, dig deeper.

When we were in the early build stage of our Hull #050 back in late 2013, I asked Jim Oliver what he suggested for axles for our new Elite II. We were coming from a 2008 Elite that had a 5200 pound axle with five leaf spring packs under it. He quickly said that he would want the same ones we had on our first trailer. So that's what we went with. The plan at that time was to use 2 x 3500 pound axles with four leaf spring packs on the regular production Elite II's. With the exception of a few trailers built in 2015 with the 5200 pound setup for the reason stated previously by @rideandfly this has been the standard on all production units since the first 2014 models rolled off the line and continued that way through model year 2021. The 2022 to current Elite II models saw a change in their axles. The Elite's axle remained the same as they had always been but, In an effort to streamline production and simplify their inventory, the decision was made to use the same size axles on both the Elite and Elite II trailers. All trailers delivered since 2022 have been supplied with two 5200 pound axles with the Dexter Nev-R- Lube hubs on them. However, they stuck with the 3500 pound 4-Leaf spring packs that have always accompanied the 3500 pound axles rather than the 5-Leaf spring packs that are standard on the 5200 pound axles. Their reasoning is that the stiffer springs would cause a rougher ride and could lead to drawers coming open or cabinet doors opening up while under tow. This why the GVWR remains at 7000 pounds. In addition, Oliver has also changed from 16" wheels with LT tires to 15" wheels with ST tires. There has been some recent owner interest in obtaining the Dexter Nev-R- Lube hubs. This requires a complete axle swap as they are not compatible with the axles all the older trailers (pre-2022) are equipped with. If you are contemplating ditching the OEM 3500 pound axles for the new setups with the higher rated axles, be aware of this spring issue. I can personally attest to knowing of at least 10 spring failures on the 4-Leaf spring packs on both the older trailers and a few that have recently been delivered over the past year or so. All of these springs have broken in exactly the same place. Also, I have never heard of a single failure in any of the trailers that are equipped with the 5200 pound axle with the 5-Leaf spring pack. This includes all the Elites ever built and, to my knowledge, none of the Elites II’s that were originally built with the 5200 pound axles and the 5-Leaf spring packs. My predication is that the 4-Leaf spring packs will continue to fail no matter which axle they are installed with. My advice is if you are changing out your four leaf springs for any reason, consider a stiffer spring that the originals and to purchase and carry with you at least one extra spring pack. If you’re going to Alaska carry two sets. One owner was up around the Arctic Circle when he discovered his were broken. Not the ideal locale for a FUBAR.

My new springs arrived today. I confirmed measurements are correct and that they are the same size as what my E2 had when it shopped from the factory. Should be a direct bolt-in. Here are the specs on the new springs: -Made in USA with USA sourced 5160 spring steel -Bronze eye bushings vs. plastic -2,000lb rating/ea vs. 1,750 (will not change gvwr as axles/bearings remain determining factor) -5 leaves vs, 4 -second leaf extends underneath eye on each end (protecting common break area) -steel, bolted spring keepers (one each end) vs a single, sheet metal band -width = 1.75" -drop = 3” -length (eye-to-eye) = 25.25” The company I sourced them from is ALCAN. They are known for durable offroading springs and have been building custom springs for rock crawlers and overlanding vehicles for decades. Attached below is their contact info. Ask for Mike and tell him you are interested in the 1.75” wide trailer springs like he sold to Lance from Colorado. I will report back when I have them installed, but that may not be for a couple months until after the snow melts up here in the Rockies

I had planned to go to the Oliver rally, but work sidetracked me. If I can break free, I might actually show up. When I say "I", I mean my wife Tina, my dog and the Oliver.

I really don't think you're in the minority. I don't like big crowds either, but I'll admit I do love to be in a big Oliver crowd. All of the Oliver folks that I see as friends are what I consider like-minded. Are you coming to the rally in Guntersville? I'm not a rally type of guy, but this gathering is not like any of the others I've ever attended. No pot luck suppers that likely will leave you with the squirts. No Karaoke night, although I have been known to do John Belushi's rendition of Joe Cocker's cover of the Beatles' With A Little Help From My Friends. Don't Ask. Just a bunch of Oliver-Centric folks getting together to talk, have fun and help each other.

Thanks Everyone for the warm welcome! We are glad to be here. Although we are still figuring out how to use the tools to do proper replies on this forum. Lol.

I vacuum them, then use a damp microfiber towel and wipe them down.

I vacuum the blinds with my dyson, and the brush fabrics tool. I do have one mosquito spot that I've not tried to get rid of. I left it, to remind my husband to not kill mosquitos on the shades. Maybe someday I'll try, but it's been there over ten years....

Using a Swiffer may help remove some of the dust. These blinds are pretty fragile so I would not want to hose them down. You may want to check with the MFG. GJ