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I completely understand where you are coming from. However, coming from a rock crawling and jeeping background I can understand the warranty period for their products as their main business is building custom suspensions for people who will take their 4x4 rigs to places like Moab and do things to them that a teenager wouldn't do to a stolen rental car. Over time and as ALCAN gets more into the RV suspension business, perhaps their RV spring warranty will split from their off-roading line and fall more in line with that which we are used to seeing in our world. Until then and knowing what their rock crawling customers do to their products and that the springs I purchased for my trailer are built with the same raw materials and using the same process as their offroad springs I am confident of my purchase.

Good discussions and points of view regarding this "OTT Spring Issue". What a great group!!! Speaking with Mike, I asked about ALCAN's track record, and can confirm @Patriot's comment that indicated they've never had a set of springs returned. Don't think Dexter can make that claim. But that's not the only reason why we're upgrading our suspension with ALCAN 5-packs. OBSERVATION: There may be a couple "OTT owner" camps here - there are those owners that purchased their rigs new from Oliver and those, like us, that bought used. Those buying new know exactly where their rigs have traveled, they know the level of maintenance performed over the years, and they know what's been broken, replaced, and upgraded. OTOH, those owning 2nd/3rd-hand Olivers have absolutely no clue how their treasured rigs were treated by previous owners, at least we sure don't. That said, especially concerning running gear, we don't take any chances and err to the side of safety. Short of taking our springs to an NDA lab for analysis (not a cheap date, either) - we've decided to go with the ALCAN 5-pack upgrade for peace of mind. For those that choose not to have their springs NDA-inspected, having a spare in the bottom of the tool box might be a prudent action, IMO. Totally agree with @hobo's assessment - $'s well spent. 'Nuf said here.... Cheers!

I absolutely agree. ALCAN is noted for their off-road suspension work and in that environment, things will be tested beyond reasonable expectations and obviously fail occasionally. I can fully appreciate why a business like ALCAN couldn't afford to guarantee their products not to fail over the long term when used for those purposes. The potential liability alone would put them out of business. That said, I fully expect that if any of these springs failed within a few years, Mike would make good on them similarly like Oliver Trailers made good on a serious electrical failure in my trailer well after the warranty period had expired. There are lots of reasons/excuses to not upgrade to the better (costlier) springs but there is one reason I did: and she sits next to me when we're towing our trailer down the highways . Money well spent IMHO.

I'd add in, our 2008 has been very well maintained, and updated, from a wonderful base hull, same as every Oliver since. Outside camping season, our Oliver, along with our boats, gets regular inspections, maintenance, and upgrades as we (and our wallet) deem fit. In the Ollie world, our trailer is a classic. Our sailboat is a classic. Our ski boat is a classic. 58 tr3 is a classic. Our garages are full of "classics." Heck, At this point, I'm one, too. 🙂 our motto is, take care of your stuff, and it takes care of you.

This video is exactly the reason the shop only offers 90 days. The idea behind the 30- or 90-day warranty is for replacement of something not right upon delivery. You would be nuts to own a small business and have guys who drive like this come back after near 5 years of abuse! 🤣 Stop for a minute and try to think from their point of view. Want to spend another $325 ($995-670=$325) for warranty insurance on a $600 leaf spring purchase? Hmmm, WOW not me, are you crazy!?! You can for sure contact an extended warranty company and they will take your $$$ in a heartbeat! Why would you pay 54% MORE than your purchase for such coverage? OMG, just spend another $300 instead and buy another full set of leaf springs. The warranty WILL NOT HELP YOU broken down in Alaska or even 20 miles from home! Please think about what you are saying. This may be a very good supplier for our forum OTT owners. Lot of negativity expressed here (last half dozen posts) re the warranty, and @Mountainman198 and likely all, yes, I bet all of the other OTT owners that have had failed springs have NOT used the warranty they already have. So, if one of these springs fail on you, are you going to file for warranty? Or are you going to do what you need to do, to get back on the road. Uh, the latter. Let's PLEASE get off this trivial subject. BUY the spring or DON'T, it's a free marketplace. I'm happy to see they already have 10+ orders for servicing our OTT Community, and I will certainly buy a set as @MAX Burner did today within the next year (already put $6K into our money-pit OTT in the 8 months since we took possession).

Leaving Jackson Hole to pick up hull 1491 “Carlotta” on Monday the 18th. Furthest east we’ve ever driven! Never had a truck - never had a trailer (actually had a Coleman pop-up many years ago, but was too busy to use it). Doug & Jill

Very good call, IMO. A SHORT RANT: It's always a good thing to get your rig & TV weighed every once in a while - we do our's at the beginning of winter and spring because our load-outs are different for each season. D & I ran into another RV'er (AS type) a couple months ago at Picacho Peak SP in AZ. We discussed GVWR - both trailer and TV. He was new to RV'ing and literally had no clue that GVWR is the maximum loaded weight of the TV (or trailer), as determined by the manufacturer and is placarded on both. He didn't know that the GVWR isn't just the weight of passengers and cargo but also the vehicle itself. I explained that the gross vehicle weight rating is all about safety. So we did a little drill - we located his placarded GVWR sticker on his TV and learned that the "useful cargo load" on his brand new Titan was 1,250lbs. On the back of an envelope we added up the weights of everything the Titan was hauling. You guessed it, with the 2 passengers, his 300# topper, camping gear, and the AS tongue weight of 950 (way over the 9-11% target wt. for a 7200# rig) - he was over his MAX cargo load by an unsafe margin. He said, "Holy crap, I need a bigger truck!" "Yup, or just pay attention to your equipment and respective weights", but that was my "inside voice." We did the same drill for his AS and discovered he was over his GVWR by several hundred pounds. The conversation went into liability issues should he perform an unsuccessful emergency stop while towing with an overloaded rig and TV - subsequently damaging property and/or causing injury. He got the point and was thankful for the conversation. He explained that no one advised him of this information during his recent purchases of the AS and Titan. The dude isn't probably the only one out there on the road without a clue about this basic, yet important topic. Admittedly, preaching to the choir here - but not only should we take this topic seriously but we can also be watchful for those like this guy and get the word out. Wouldn't be surprised if he's converted his Titan into a new 1-Ton diesel by now... HA!

For example

Not fair to compare a small custom shop to Dexter. The $670 total for 4 custom leaf springs and required hardware is extremely fair. They could charge $995 and provide for a warranty. They are likely a small family-owned business and cannot have 5-years of future liability. Your choice 1) Alcan, 2) find another supplier, or 3) buy Dexter springs with 5-year coverage for China junk, that has a high likelihood of failure. Have any of you filed warranty claims on your broken springs? I prefer the promise of craftsmen, and the product looks great in the pics, more HD in all aspects. I'd rather go better quality, less cost and forfeit the warranty. But that's me; one who NEVER pays for extended warranties (a hugely profitable industry). If they are not right, you'll know in 90 days. And from what has been written here re their exceptional CS, they would likely work with you if their work was determined to be at fault.

I agree but it means a lot of maintenance.

“Agree with @Ronbrink and @jd1923: "Old" is not necessarily a bad thing (sometimes).” I agree as well.

Is it my imagination or is there a new main page for the OTT website? I have mixed feelings about hauling around a "luxury travel trailer". Of course it costs enough to be in the luxury category, but the trailer itself is so understated. Not flashy. Not glamorous. Unless you know what you're looking for, you might not see what makes it a luxury trailer. I'm going to be self-conscious now. Lol.

Let's coordinate efforts for sourcing replacement springs. To facilitate, here is a compilation of specification elements presented. This way we can have apple to apple comparisons GJ · Four each replacement spring sets for tandem axle Oliver Trailer. Each with new U-Bolts · Made in USA with USA sourced 5160 spring steel · Brass eye bushings · Wet Bolt Bushing ID = 9/16" · 2,000 lb rating · 5 leaves · 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 · Spring center bolt setup for Under Slung axle. · Width = 1.75" · Drop = 3” · Length (eye-to-eye) = 25.25” Warranty Info:

John: Michelin says inflate to their load table. They also say use a minimum of 35 PSI for our weight. Minimum because we are well under their chart range. So in reality they are saying go with a much lower psi than any of us are using. I started out at 80 from the factory. My first stop was to a gas station where reduced the pressure to 60 psi. Then several years later took it to 55, then to 50. Now with repeated experience and knowledge, I will be at 42 PSI for HY and 30 or less (Depending on road condition/hazards) for off road use. My previous thoughts were highway efficiency (I.E. MPG) was all important. With years of chasing cushions around the cabin, and now this thread topic: I have realized that maybe I saved $20 in fuel each season, but at what cost to my Ollie. Springs and shocks have a purpose. Over inflation hinders their effectiveness and I am guilty of "Ollie Abuse" as a result. My recommendation is to save yourself the 6 year learning curve, and reduce the pounding for your OE2 by going with a somewhat consensus of 40 to 42 PSI for your OE2. +++++++++ All: To cut this off at the pass: Yea, I know that I'm over the Michelin recommendation of 35 psi. Maybe I'm admitting to being somewhat hard headed. But I can assure you that my learning curve continues. Who knows, maybe next year I'll be saying time to move down to 38 PSI. The Japanese call this Kaizen or continues improvement. Yep, I am for sure a work in progress. But my wife says that my progress is moving at a glacial pace.

All good points Max. Just maybe if Alcan gets more orders and sales on board of the Oliver 5 spring pack they will consider increasing their warranty past 90 days. 👍🏻😊 Based on the very low number of leaf spring failures a spare is likely the way forward for us. Especially that we recently had Oliver install the new 5200# never lube axles and all new shocks, springs and EZ flex installed last Oct. The good news is the 2 owners I know of older OLE2s with original Oliver installed 5 leaf packs have never had a failure. You gotta do you! 😊 Cheers and Onward! Patriot🇺🇸

No, but the list of considerations posted for two OE2 flats will sure apply to a set of broken springs as well. Plan ahead and execute the plan.....At least until the first round hits. GJ

Love to meet you one day, get around the campfire and play some guitar! Sounds Great! I usually travel with one, and always on longer trips.😂

If anyone’s custom shop is that good there should be no reason why they can’t stand behind their product 💯% with a very solid 3-5 year warranty. Mike at Alcan told me he has been in business 40 years and they have never had a broken leaf spring returned. A 90 day warranty is honestly laughable on custom suspension leaf springs costing over $700.00. Agree with @CRM stand behind your product if it’s as good as stated. Gotta have some skin in the game and up the warranty. Just an observation.

Take Dexter out of the equation. Having only a 90 day warranty on springs that should last a decade or more is kind of ridiculous. A year at least would be reasonable. I'll probably still buy them but will now wait to see how they hold up for others who have purchased them already. And honestly, I would pay the $995 for 2 sets if they came with a 5 year warranty. It's not about the money, it's about a company standing behind their product. I doubt even a set of Chinese Dexter's would fail that quick.

Roger - What is considered "Good back support" is more often than not determined by the person that is sitting in a particular position and/or surface. I have the "couch" and will be going out to my Oliver's storage as early as tomorrow and I will try to get some measurements for you. In the meantime, I have found that since the couch cushions are at a 90 degree angle from each other they (by themselves) exactly make for a very UN-comfortable sitting position. I've found that a combination of throw pillows plus one of THESE can be used to get a comfortable yet supportive seating position. Bill

Look at it this way - it could have been worse! Imagine that you only just barely put that anode back in the water heater and then were standing right in front of it when someone else turned that water on for you. I bet that you would remember (after a few moments to catch your breath) exactly at what height that anode is located for future reference!😬

I have to admit I had another problem with the pump this morning. Closed the valve to the freshwater tank, opened the bypass valve to the hot water heater and filled the fresh water tank. After the tank was full, I turned on the pump and waited for it to turn off. And waited. And waited. Still running. Tried the faucet - no water. Checked the connection I tightened yesterday - still tight. Decided to walk around the trailer. Opened the door and heard water running. I forgot to put the anode in the water heater. Sigh.

My wife and I have been lurking for awhile, but wanted to join to be able to interact some with y'all 🤗 Both of our kiddos are in college now. And so, of course, we see a window of opportunity opening for new adventures! 💯 We've considered many options including: Class A, Class B, Class C, van conversion, school bus conversion, box truck conversion, minivan conversion, etc.. We are now leaning towards pulling a trailer for the convenience of not having another engine to maintain and the ability to leave the camper behind at campsites for excursions, as well as to be able to use the tow-vehicle as a daily-driver when at home. My wife wants me to build a custom trailer, which sounds like a fun project, but one that would likely take a long time to complete! The LE2 seems to be a good rig. Loving the fiberglass shell. Looked at other fiberglass shell models, including Scamp, Happier Camper, Casita, Bigfoot, Barefoot, and Escape, but there's always something not right: too small, too wide, not tall enough, yada, yada. I'm sure you know how it goes. Please be on the lookout for our posts!

Maybe “Rugged” or “Durable” would be better?

I have sent in a ticket to OTT about the numbers of failures of the 4 leaf Dexter spring sets. So far we have documented the following: ScubaRX Long Duration ≥ 10 these occurred in the past SNY SD UP July 2023 2 Mountain Man 198 Q1 2024 2 Mountain Oliver 2023 2 Stevon Feb 2024 1 For those listed, please PM me with any changes or additional info so I may update. If you have had an OTT Dexter 4 leaf spring failure, please send me a PM with info. I'll update this list as needed. GJ

For the DYIers here are key words for screening your rigs spring status. Thanks Steve! GJ

Welcome. We had a similar dilemma as we approached retirement, coming from a fifth wheel. I liked the idea of a Class B. Fit in regular parking spaces, get up and move without hitching, etc. My wife pointed out the very limited storage. I didn't want a big Class A or C, so we were back to towables. The Oliver checked the boxes of easy towing, less worry about roof leaks (it can still leak, but there's virtually no wood to rot), and robust solar and electrical power. As a bonus, it fits in a lot of campsites the others don't. Good luck with your decision. Being empty nesters really opens up your opportunities.

Update for the Oct 21-24 Texas Oliver Rally. Princess craft and approved dealer for oliver, has agreed to sponsor BBQ dinner for our rally the night of October 23rd. They also plan to have a service tech there to answer any questions. Hopefully we will have good weather but I will be reserving a covered pavilion. Princess Craft has been in contact with Phil from Oliver and he has offered to provide giveaway items for our event as well.

MAX is correct. The panels are wired in series which allows the voltage to get higher earlier in the morning. (Charges sooner) Only downside to this is if one panel gets shaded then they all take a hit but this is such a small area I don't think it will be a factor. I am actually running 390AH of Lithionics. The 13.6 volts was the current battery voltage. (They weren't fully charged) John

This is a pic of these stock white “shark bite” like fittings on our Truma water heater. They are definitely not shark bite fittings, believe they are “John Guest” push to connect fittings. @Toby if you do have these John Guest fittings, the big white knurled like caps can come lose, twist/turn them clockwise to tighten/lock them again, like in below pic.

Thanks. Another good post. With a 2022, recent inspection by Oliver, and our truck place looking when doing the zerks, we are keeping an eye on things before we switch. We run our tires at 55 lbs. Someone posted about running at 45 lbs. I might drop ours to 50 lbs.

Congratulations Doug and Jill on Hull# 1491. Enjoy your delivery day and wishing you all the best in your travels!

Looks good...

RVing is a lot about making these kinds of mistakes, as we all have, and learning from them. OMG, I forgot... (100 things thru the years). It does trouble me when I make the same mistake a second time and many of us have been there, done that! Just as long as it's just a little water, a little this or that...

Congratulations y'all! Safe travels, enjoy!

A beauty Max, Nice work.

@CRM yes, I agree. Mike seems like a super nice guy while speaking with him on the phone yesterday. He is proud of his company and products. Per my notes from yesterday, Mike quoted me $742.68 plus a $75.00 shipping (estimate) to my zip code via UPS. Seems a little bit of a price increase from what @MAX Burner buyers order/receipt quote shows. I presently have a 5 yr or 100k warranty on my new 5200# axles and leaf springs through dexter. I think I will stay in a holding pattern for now.

Finally getting some higher sun angles. All is working well! Pulled in just under 3 KWH the other day. John

Given that the Dexter (EMCO, TexTrail) springs are only $70/pr, I felt my time better spent playing guitar and drinking coffee than documenting and substantiating the claim to Dexter only to possibly be rewarded with another set of their springs.

That's a little disappointing... Even Dexter gives a 5 year limited warranty.

Hey Max, I spoke to Mike at Alcan yesterday and asked him several questions and also what his warranty is on these leaf packs? He said 90 days. Just passing this along for anyone interested in these leaf packs.

Congrats and Welcome from Hull 1182!! We took our IPAD and recorded the delivery for reference because I am lucky to remember last week let alone all the information we went over. Still refer back to it from time to time. You also have the wonderful folks on here who can answer just about any questions or problems that might come up. Safe Travels

Doug and Jill, congratulations! Don't worry about the towing, you'll hardly know the trailer is back there and the trailer tucks right in behind the truck so if your truck can make it trough a narrow spot your trailer will too.

I just had a similar problem in that the pump was running, never shut off and no water. Connected the city water and no leaks. I found that the connection to the filter before the pump was loose and the pump was therefore sucking in air rather than water. Tightened it and the pump is now working fine.

Ever since getting my Oliver I have loved modifying different aspects of it. I have done a bunch of stuff to the electrical system such as going mostly Victron for all components except for the inverter. Here is my latest mod which consisted of building an aluminum rack and adding 3 200 watt Newpowa solar panels for a total of 600 watts onboard. They will feed into a Victron 100/50 SCC. Just got the panels installed today and will be working on the connections tomorrow. I also need to fabricate a bracket for the front panel for a little more security but overall it is very solid. 😛

Nicely played!

Honestly, Oliver should redesign the entire top back. Remove the Oliver sign, move the three red clearance lights to the top of that area, and mount the rearview camera below the clearance lights. The way it's set up now, the red glow from the trolley sign and clearance lights prevents the camera from switching into night mode, basically making it useless after dark. I've had the same camera in previous trailers and it works pretty well in night mode, but not on the Oliver.

This reminds me of trip, might have been our Oliver pick up trip, driving through Texas on the return. Gassed up in Lubbock where it was calm and quite warm but by the time we were on the north end of the city wind picked up noticeably and continued to get much worse. We knew 70-90 mph winds were supposed to be in west TX that day and sure enough it happened. Made it to Palo Duro State Park just outside of Amarillo, pitch dark and temps had gone from mid 80's in Lubbock to 40 ± degrees at Palo Duro and all I had on was a t-shirt, shorts and sandals freezing to death trying to get the gate unlocked in the dark, then setting up the Ollie. There might have been half a dozen locks on the gate chain. The amazing part was the second I shut the door as we were getting settled in you could hear a pin drop. Trudi and looked at each other WTH, howling wind outside but quiet as a church mouse inside. Opened the door again, sure enough still howling wind.

Mountainman198, Just to reinforce what you said above, I also spoke to Mike this morning on the subject of center bolt concern and he advised that his own production department had brought this to his attention after I sent him a picture of my axle and springs late last week. They in fact noted that our trailers had an underspring set up which would require a change in the bolt application. (Apparently, most TTs have oversprung setups.) They had already changed the product production protocols for our trailers before anyone on our side contacted them on the issue. Any YES, anyone ordering springs should specifically mention that they are being put on an Oliver TT. He also provided that "yes, they use a much thicker brass sleeve in their springs than the industry standard. This in no way affects the reuse of our existing bolts. It's just beefier, stronger, and longer lasting than what most use in their products. Relative to "other sources" for springs, he stated that there are no other manufactures of springs in the US that use the quality of metal that they use. (Take that comment for whatever it's worth). I will say this however, If you want the "best" of something, then it is by definition is a "sole source" acquisition (Oliver trailers are a good example of that. ) Finally, Mike commented several times about how impressed he is with the Oliver TT owner community. Thus far, I am very impressed with ALCAN's attention to detail and their customer service. My springs should be installed by the first of next week [18th(ish)] so I'll report back. Paul (2 HOBOS), hull 414 ON A SIDE NOTE: The reason I sent him a picture of our axle assembly last week was that he suggested that perhaps I wanted to consider upgrading the equalizer (point where front and rear springs attach just between the tires) to a MorRyde equalizer which considerably improves the ride. At that juncture I informed him that I had already been in contact with MorRyde and after much back-and-forth data swapping with them, MorRyde determined that their product was not applicable to our trailers since we have an undersprung leaf setup which doesn't allow enough clearance between the top of the axle and the trailer frame for their product use. Mike was confused by that until I sent him a picture of our assembly so he could see what I was talking about. This is the pic that their production folks looked at and immediately realized our trailers were an "underslung" design which caused them to change the bolt setup. Hope this was enlightening.

I thought this was a thread about Steve's Road Trip Chronicles. @shhQuiet 😂