Leaderboard

For me and everyone who owns an OTT E2, the issue is the 2 in BD coupler comes in 5k and 7k versions. They look identical except for a small gusset at the neck welded internally. During the build of Hull 308, a 5k coupler was used on my E2 by mistake and it failed while on vacation with my family. Again, they look identical but the rating is shown on top of the ball end of the coupler. Everyone with an E2 needs to check theirs to make sure it is a 7k version and not a 5K. Best, Mike

Dang it! There goes my chance at a almost free 2-5/16" Bulldog upgrade. Mossey

Now that we know that the coupler was basically misused (not user error) and repeatedly overloaded by almost 2000 pounds, I’m sure that the Bulldog folks will not provide any sort of warranty replacement. They may however be interested in knowing that their product held up for so long under adverse conditions. This is purely an Oliver oops moment in which everyone is extremely fortunate that nobody was hurt. Oliver may have some input on this issue.

So a 5000# BD hitch was installed where a 7000# BD hitch should have been installed. Sounds like the cause of failure/issue has been identified. I have not heard or read where any 7000# BD hitch has failed on an Oliver LEll. That said, all owners would be wise to periodically inspect their hitches for proper the weight rating and serviceability especially if you purchased an older preowned Oliver. Other than this I will continue towing with 💯 complete confidence in my present 7000# rated BD hitch. I feel sure Oliver will address this issue with any owners IF they have a 5000# BD on their LEll and make it right. Again, glad you and your family are safe.

Just as a suggestion, Oliver should use the 7,000 pound version for all of the trailers. There’d be no chance of mixing up the couplers and very little to no cost difference in the grand scheme of things. I have never heard of any of the Oliver couplers failing but…..

Blocks or boards are an important and necessary to reduce wear, damage or destruction of your jacks. The wear part has two components. First, is you don't use them as much every time you change camp sites. Less use = less wear. Secondly having the jacks on some sort of blocking reduces the lever arm of the jack to resist lateral movement and the trailer as a result will feel more steady. But MOST importantly is what happens during an OOPs (Driving off with a jack down). On multiple occasions I have seen owners of all experience levels execute the death of a jack by OOPs. If on concrete, it will kill the jack. On softer ground, the jack plate likely will dig in and kill the jack. Either way the odds are you will have a deceased jack. This can be a real PITA. But, with something between the jack and the ground, preferable at least 5" or more high, another engineering concept comes to the rescue. And that concept is called slip. In engineering, slip is a sliding displacement along a plane of one part of a system relative to the rest of the system under the action of shearing forces—that is, forces acting parallel to that plane. To greatly reduce OOPs damage to our jacks we need to add something between them and the ground to take advantage of the slip plane concept. I call thick ones blocks. Thin ones made of sections of lumber I call boards. Blocks can be purchased in lots of different sizes and materials. If I were going to go with a single block for each jack, I personally like TopGuns! Cheap, strong, and not hard to replace. Not as pretty as the Anderson's, but they are way less expensive. Blocks are also most optimal if all of your camp sites are RV Park level. But, alas we are generally boondockers and our camp sites come in all forms of not level. This is one reason why we carry a milk crate full of 2" X 6" X 11" sections of treated boards for our OE2. Here are some of the operational advantages of boards: Comparatively they are real inexpensive. Lose one and you carry on. Should long term storage bring termite damage to the bottom board of the stack, I toss a single board. The others are still useable. I can toss them around with zero worries. I can use more of less of my board sections as needed to offset unlevel camp sites. For real soft ground, I can stack two flat on the ground (side to side) and another on top 90 degrees perpendicular to them to create a double size footprint. They make great axle spacers should you have two flats or break a spring! For reasonably level camp sites, I stack three of them on top of each other to maximize height and (MOST IMPORTANTLY) to create more slip planes of safety for our jacks from an OOPs. Yes, I am also a member of the OTT Jack Drop Club. Good news is when OOPsing, you hear it thud and stop, With three jack drops in six years I have had no jack damage. So whether you use blocks or board sections either way: Slip Planes Saves Jacks! GJ

As one might guess - this re-stringing project has not been very high on my "to-do" list over the winter. Unfortunately, it is getting very close to 2024 camping season and that shade has now been taken apart and put back together about 5 times - all without success. I USED to be fairly proud of my ability to follow directions/drawings but Steve's "sharp stick in the eye" must have done me in. Anyway - I contacted the company that makes the shade - Auto-Motion Shades - and they sent me the diagrams below. Certainly @rideandfly 's drawings are good - but - these (at least for me) are better. Hope they help! Bill Note that in the drawing of the cord layout, the screen portion of the window is at the top while the nightshade portion is at the bottom. CordLayout TPS-720 Cord Layout.pdfCordLayout TPS-720 Cord Layout.pdfCordLayout TPS-720 Cord Layout.pdfCordLayout TPS-720 Cord Layout.pdf

Good advice! I was able to pan in on a pic to confirm my BD. Also noticed your 5K is Hitch Class 3 (lll), whereas the 7K is Class 4 (lV).

Congradulations Take you time at the factory and during your travels Stay at the Oliver Campground and checkout all equipment on the Ollie until you have run out of questions. Safe travels

Congratulations! I'm so happy for you, and thrilled that you were able to tour my sweet Oliver when I was out in Jackson last fall. I look forward to seeing more posts of your adventures. All the best wishes for you on the road! Toni

Dave Phelps post got me to thinking. After taking a “Deeper Dive” into this rabbit hole, I have to admit that my salt water/ocean air hypothesis may be all wet. Full disclosure: I am not a metallurgist but with my slide rule, I can still do some structural analysis. But in this case, I think the below interpretation may hold some water. So, this certainly is NOT an official analysis of the cause of the failure. Just the musings of a member of the OTT Rabbit Hole Investigator Team. 😊 As stated in the initial report, the top metal of the Bull Dog (BD) was still somewhat intact after failure. Had this metal also failed, we would be having a discussion about safety chains (Again). But fortunately, that was not the case and there were no injuries. Thank the Lord. Also as reported, and from the below inverted picture, we can see older damaged metal (Rusted), and at time of collapse damaged metal (Shiny white metal). This photo shows us that both sides were well compromised long before the failure event. CURB SIDE OF BD STREET SIDE OF BD But, as evident from the photo from the street side looking at the side of the BD, the street side was predominantly ripped apart during the failure event. Whereas the curb side was damaged long enough in the past to be fully rusted. TV END OF BD OLLIE END OF BD So paraphrasing Dave P's. musing: With or without the horizontal gusset how could this disparity in damage to the side metals happen? But first, let’s “Dig” into what the purpose of "The Gussett" is and likely why BD added it to their 2" couplers. Here is what they look like: The gusset is located near the juncture of the BD round pipe and U-shaped metal attached to Ollie. I believe that the purpose of a horizontal structural member (I.E. Gusset) is to reinforce the round to “U” shaped metals junction from being damaged by side horizontal loads. From the posts, it appears that older BD 2" couplings did not have this reinforcing structural member. I suspect after some lateral failures the design was beefed up to resist lateral loads by adding this gusset. When a box, round or square tube is lateral stressed by an impact load, the impacted side will go into compression and the opposite side will be stressed by tension. So historically for all BD couplers, with or without the gusset, what is the most likely event that would cause side wall cracks with such a disparity as seen above? I think a side impact load. And how would our OE2’s likely incur such an event? By a backing jackknife event where the Oliver aluminum box strikes the bumper thereby bending the BD laterally. So, as a member of the TV dented bumper owners group, I’ll be under my BullDog with a flashlight FOR SURE. For extra points, which bumper would also been damaged? Your thoughts? Geronimo John

Yes. It is identical to the 2-5/16" Bulldog coupler mounted on our Hull #1291 by Oliver during manufacturing. See photo below. I didn't know it when ordering, but there was little chance that a 2-5/16" coupler would be confused with a 2" coupler rated for only 5K lbs. Another reason I like to overbuild.

wow. Yep to both! Glad we got that figured out! GJ

Or - do as I do - I use both if possible.😉 Bill

Yes, Ravelco can be installed on late model push button start Super Duty Trucks.

Very informative video, thank you for sharing that. It sounds like Tucker from service may have not been completely familiar with Olivers, he may have been speaking more generically about other travel trailers they've done installs on. When I told him I had an Oliver he seemed familiar with it but his familiarity may have just been due to there being so many of us ordering springs recently that the name struck a bell, I'm just guessing. In any event, after watching this video I'm thinking I'll stick with the dexter flex already installed and just upgrade to the new Made in USA springs.

Ours "sags" if we're not level. (2008) Even the long piano hinge can't compensate for that. Can't say that that is your issue. May be something else. Best of luck. What year is your trailer?

I’m glad to know there are others in this group! I dented my bumper on my first trip 7 months ago on my way home with my new to me 2021 LE1, turning too sharply on a Hipcamp lawn. I’d never towed before that trip and had no idea I could do that!! Thanks @Geronimo John! Will check my bulldog for cracks!

Greetings All, I've been away from my computer and the forum for a few months, while soaking up the mild Florida winter sun and playing with amateur radio. This year I plan to bring my radio with me, so I hope I make contacts with some other Oliver hams out there. It looks like I'm seeing most of the usual suspects here in the forum -- just a couple of hours on here, and I'm already psyched up for the next camping adventure. I'm glad I spent time perusing the forum, too, because I learned something new, as usual! This year I'm heading back to the Rockies but I'm traveling through Texas to see family on the way. I'll be missing the Solar Eclipse party out there, but I'll be passing through a couple of weeks later. I'll keep my eyes peeled for Olivers on the road. All the Best!

You should send this to Oliver immediately, as well as filing an NHTSA report. There could be other Olivers out there with the wrong couplers. A recall notice should be issued for all Oliver E2 owners to check their couplers and OTT should replace any others that might be found. The NHTSA is important because OTT may not have contact information for some older trailers that have been resold.

It appears to me that Oliver owes you reimbursement for your replacement coupler. I recommend you submit a service ticket. Oliver has acted responsibly when advised of manufacturing errors in the past.

We received ours on Wednesday - concur with the above assessments, well worth the price point... IMO Cheers!

This was put in to use our last trip and we loved it, especially the kids. No more picking up heavy 3 gallon containers for drinking water. Faucet magnetically attaches to base and can be turned or moved. Easy 1, 2 tap On/Off. Easy to clean and store easier than other water containers we have used. As much as I would like to just use on board storage H20 it never seems to taste great despite keeping it clean and tank treated. We added a 10 ft tube to make it easier to place where we want it. It came with a very short one. You can just use the connector from it for the new, longer tubing. Links below: https://a.co/d/8Toxx09 https://a.co/d/iH6ZA6w https://a.co/d/gpyMZqu

I only had this problem at one campground. It happened repeatedly throughout the weekend and never since. Later when reviewing the campground info it seemed to imply it only had 20 amp service on the 30 amp side. I didn’t think that was possible, but the error never happened again at any other campgrounds. Interestingly I’m headed back there in a month and will see what happens.

@Mark Meadows FYI, I see there is a dealer in Utah. Not sure if that is closer to you than Oregon. A list fo dealers is on the Oliver web site.

With most of us having a substantial amount of money wrapped up in our TVs, I thought this gentleman’s testimony in his short YouTube vid might be of interest. If anyone is using a faraday pouch for your fob or iPhones please post up with what you’re using. Due to the larger size of my TV fob I opted for this pouch. I will post up my review when I receive it. I am interested in our groups thoughts, suggestions and ideas. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H1C21O2?SubscriptionId=AKIAIBX4MGJBG42TO3NQ&tag=productsbestrv144763-20&asc_source=google&asc_campaign=077&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbestreviews.com%2Fbest-key-fob-faraday-bag&#customerReviews

Thanks for all the information. This got me to take a closer look at our 2 5/16 BD. Built a bit differently than the 7K. No gusset but more of the tubing inside. Would not rate the welds at "great". Is this similar to other's with 2 5/16?

It looks different but it is raised not stamped.

We were going to, but it would have put us over our GVWR with our golf cart in the rear garage.

Does Oliver still use a piano hinge on the door?

I just submitted a ticket through service online to make them aware. I explained what happened with pics. I will post when I hear from them.

I just visually inspected my 2" Bulldog Hitch and it appears solid. Even though our Ollie is a LE1, It has a 7000 lbs capacity rated coupler and It has the gusset which seems to be adequately welded (visually). I am thankful for this thread to make me do this inspection and I'll be keeping an eye on it and how this issue gets resolved.

It's interesting that this condition made it through all the Quality Control checks performed during the build process. OTT may need to validate employee training associated with the BD install process, review their QC checklists, and at least brief employees regarding @rideadeuce's bullet-dodging experience. 100% concur w/@Rivernerd's assessment - there's certainly a reimbursement on the radar screen for repair costs, IMO.

We used to carry a big wooden mallet to get the whale tail to behave - now, we've transitioned to simply back-off both nuts to the end of the threads, which lengthens the chains to the MAX, easily connect and pin the whale tail, then tighten the nuts with a dedicated ratchet & Anderson socket enough to expose 7 - 8 threads on both sides. Less of a PITA and NO more mallet!

FYI: We've made arrangements with Colin/CGI to have Casablanca Glidecoated after the Owner's rally in MAY... They're going to apply our new front-end graphic as part of the deal. Can't wait! Posted this before, but some owners may have missed it - temporarily stuck on after removing the OTT graphic: Until we get the CGI treatment - we're running "bald" with no nose art... Cheers!

It is funny you posted about this water pump, we were in REI yesterday and I saw it on display. It caught my attention because the below picture is what we use at home. I find that these bottles of water are readily available while traveling. Mossey

Great looking rig, @Dennis and Melissa: You're looking like us! ...but where's your puppy? HA!

I have never heard of this. My understanding has alway been that you don't need to start thinking about a WDS until what you are pulling begins to outweigh the PV. I know that WDS does not increase the trucks towing capacity or reduce tongue weight and that if your truck and trailer are level and the weight is evenly distributed over the axles everything handles well. Sway bars and WDS are dealbreakers for me, not needing them is one of the reasons I love my Oliver so much and stay away from single axle and longer TTs Thanks for the discussion. It is necessary to remain vigilant about safely. Best, Mike

Perhaps another possible safety margin could be further securing the OTT to the TV with the tension chains and whale tail in the event the BD coupler snaps off completely - the Anderson tension chains would add another connection in addition to the safety chains/cables. Just a thought...

There is a ton of discussion on this and related topics here on the Forum. Don't be fooled - in virtually any situation the Oliver Travel Trailers do NOT sway. But, this is NOT the purpose of the Andersen weight distribution hitch (for the most part) with regards to Olivers. ALL 1/2 ton trucks that I'm aware of REQUIRE a weight distribution hitch. Yes, I know, your Tundra pulls your Ollie without any problem. Well, so does my Ford F-150 and it has a rated towing capacity of north of 12,000 pounds. But, Ford requires the weight distribution hitch for any hitch ball load over 500 pounds. I'm no engineer but I'm certain that there are other factors involved like braking, frame construction, steering, etc.. And, if you drive without a weight distribution hitch and are in an accident then it is likely that some well paid lawyer will investigate to try to determine exactly what your tongue weight was when you had that accident regardless of it being a factor in the accident or not. Certainly I would not want to risk my financial stability on a bet of being 15 pounds under or (over) the general 500 pound weight on the hitch ball number. There are also additional benefits of the Andersen - reduced porpoising/bouncing for one, and, perhaps additional safety margins for another. Yes, the Andersen is not cheap nor is it always "easy" to hookup and it does take a couple of additional minutes to make sure that it is ready to go. I doubt that the lack of an Andersen had much to do with what happened to your Bulldog one way or the other. However, the Andersen is still worth very serious consideration. Bill

@Mountainman198 you are correct, when I saw the 3500lbs rating I just assumed its the axle rating. But I googled it and yes D52 means 5200lbs, thanks for the clarification! 😉

Please correct me of I am wrong, but the suspension arrives to Oliver as an assembly and is rated as the assembly (springs plus axles) and given the lower of the two of axle rating or spring rating. It appears you have D52 (5200lb) axles with 3500 lb springs which as an assembly are correctly rated at 3500 lbs.

For many of us, that's plenty cold. Our much older 2008 is good into nighttime temps of high teens, if daytime is warmer. I'm with you. I'll leave intended winter camping to others. If and when we ever get lithium, I'll make sure I have heating for the batteries. I'm good with good blankets.

Review as promised: Mission Darkness I just received and tested this faraday keyfob shield/pouch, it works as advertised. I could not unlock my truck or car door with each of the respective fobs in the pouch. The pouch appears durable and very well made from a ballistic nylon. It also has a robust nylon loop which allows for a key ring to be attached. When I lock my door on my TV or our car from the inside door armrest console I don’t use the fob. When unlocking my truck I can use the push button code on the door pillar by passing the fob. On our car we can use the physical key and not the fob to unlock the door keeping the fob signal protected. I guess at the end of the day its only $15 to protect the fob signal. I am all in for risk mitigation. 😊 For times such as these. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H1C21O2?SubscriptionId=AKIAIBX4MGJBG42TO3NQ&tag=productsbestrv144763-20&asc_source=google&asc_campaign=077&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbestreviews.com%2Fbest-key-fob-faraday-bag&#customerReviews

Another thing I learned from this project - trying to feed the string through those little holes in the shade material is something that only a seamstress could do. Therefore, before even starting - simply take about 3 inches of the string and let it soak for a couple of hours in some varnish. Then let it dry and you have a reasonably stiff end to the string that makes threading it much easier. Bill

Having pulled an 8’ 6” wide Airstream across the Columbia River via the 9’ 4.75” wide lanes of the Hood River bridge, a trailer that size is something I don’t ever want to own again. The pucker factor of the experience is one I don’t want to re-experience. Even my 9’ 6” wide barn doors were enough to terrify me when there was snow on the ground. All that said, a slightly larger Oliver would be appealing. Something roughly 7’ 6” wide, and 25’ long. I don’t need a dry bath, but would like a bit more storage, a longer bunk, and most of all, a wider aisle.

We have two Champion 2200 watt dual fuel inverter/generators, with the Paralink kit. Together, operating from one propane tank with a splitter, they provide enough power to run our Truma Aventa air conditioner, or recharge our Lithionics batteries in a few hours. Why two? Weight. I am an old guy with bilateral torn rotator cuffs and a bad back. I can lift one 2200 watt unit in and out of my pickup bed without risking further injury. The 4500 watt unit, at 97 lbs., weighs too much for me.

You can use a small generator to charge your lithium batteries through the 30 amp shoreline cord but you'll have to change a setting on your Xantrex converter if your generator only has a 15 amp outlet. The default setting on the Xantrex will attempt to pull up to 25 amps, which will trip the breaker on your generator. You can change setting 28 to 15 amps (or less) when you're charging with a small generator. Note that the little genny will work hard making those 15 amps. I might choose 5 or 10 amps so the generator doesn't work so hard (and loud). I don't know about connecting a generator 12v DC output to the external solar connector. You'd have to make sure you're within the wiring limits. The good news is, the solar panels do a great job. If you aren't running the A/C off the batteries, and you have decent weather, you probably won't need the generator much.

When we purchased our 2019 Ram Crew Cab Pickup we were given around $10,500 off of list price which included dealer discounts and all the factory discounts that were offered at the time. I will also like to say here that most manufactures of this size of pickups were all offering big saving on new vehicles at the same time. At todays prices I can still get about what I paid for it and it is in perfect shape and only having 18,000 miles on it, but to trade up to a different truck is unreasonable in today market. I have found out that purchasing just about anything today is out of the question and if you can even find what you might want, good luck. Just try to buy an new Kubota Tractor, Polaris Ranger, or a Jeep Wrangler at a reasonable price and that's if you can even find one to buy. I guess we just need to keep our "TOY" money and be happy with what we got, probably not the worst thing, for sure. trainman

Bugeyedriver towed his Elite for a number of years and for a bunch of miles with a Tacoma before trading it for an F-150 Ford. But as ScubaRx says, you will be more comfortable, safer and have easier towing with a 1/2 ton vehicle. Bill