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I don't know about "consensus" but basically the article in your link reflects old Boy Scout advice from long ago. In the over eight years since I bought Twist I have only left it once due to lightening/storm. Every situation is different, terrain, trees, likely direction of the storm, availability of studier shelter, potential protection for the Ollie and my truck, etc. Certainly one thing in the article that is very important (IMO) is one or two sources of "automatic" weather warning information. I use and app on my "burner" cell phone called "Severe Weather Alerts" and I always carry a NOAA Weather Alert Radio - both have automatic alert features. One additional point - if it is possible and you have a good sense of where/what direction the potential storm may be coming from - point the Ollie with either its front or back towards the storm. Since many of these severe storms also have high winds, the Ollie's aero will help if placed in this orientation. Bill

Go to the Oliver University - From the Oliver Website hit "Home", Resources", "Oliver University". "Travel Trailer Owners Manuals", scroll down to 2022 models, and, then click on "View Manual"(located on the right side of the screen. Next scroll down to page 60 and start reading about water system information. Note that your water valve configuration(s) can be found on page 62. If your accumulator fails then all you should notice is that your water pump will run more often and you might see some "pulsating" of water as it comes out of the faucet. However, unless something has clogged the accumulator there should be no other issues with it. Bill

We worked with both Mike and Lew at Alcan in ordering our 5 spring-packs. Great guys and very helpful. FYI: We decide to reuse our wet bolts as the brass bushings in the spring eyes (albeit very thin) were still intact which left the steel bolts totally serviceable. IMO: The 2k#-rated Alcan spring-packs (or similar 5-spring packs) pair better with the 3.5k# Dexters than the OEM 4 spring-packs...

You have mighty fine taste Art! 👍🏻 Looks like a custom Sargent seat too. This is my 3rd BMW Adventure over the years. I previously owned an 07 and a 15 YM. At 6’3 the ergos of this bike allow for a really comfy day in the saddle. I recently took delivery of this 24 YM on Mar 1st. I ride where the Buffalo still roam here in the Blue Ridge Mtn and foothills. My 15 ADV -riding the devils whip aka route 80 in the Blue Ridge Mtns.

Here’s an interesting article on what to do in a lightning storm. They say metal RV’s are safer than all fiberglass RV’s. They also give some other advice. I’d be interested in what the consensus is on what everyone does during storms. Mike Lightning Storm Precautions

Staying 2nights at Gulpha Gorge CG in Hot Springs NP. Site 12 is a FHU site and good size but with a large downward pitch and sideways roll. Other smaller sites without hookups back onto the creek.

Initially it looked complicated, but after working on the first shade, it was not. Like Mike said, be patient. 🙂

John, as Bill has shown, it can be done. I had two blinds on the kitchen counter for several days as I did the re-stringing thing a couple years ago. One came out fine, the other one I had too tight which made it difficult to raise the lower shade. Had to loosen up the strings a bit, now it’s fine. Just plan some time and be patient! Mike

@Badger Pete, We had the Oliver cargo box and realized we needed to make better use of this storage area. In hindsight, would not have purchased the Oliver cargo box if this was available at the time for many reasons. Here is the custom made enclosed cargo box we upgraded to made by - https://seabiscuitmetaldesigns.com/product/oliver-box/ They are located in Johnson City, Tennessee🇺🇸. They ship anywhere in the lower 48. With lots of room, we keep all of our immediate camp set up gear - chocks, blocks, 30 amp cord, and other various first grab items we need here. David & Kristine Hess owners of SeaBiscut metal designs are just top shelf people. We even toured the Seabiscuitmetaldesigns machine shop where they custom hand craft and produce very well made high quality products. 🇺🇸 David & Kristine Hess will be at this years Oliver owners rally at Lake Guntersville SP and will have their cargo boxes and more on display. Possibly a newly designed rear cargo box for the Oliver as well. Welcome to the forum, we are here to help so ask questions, and Happy Camping! Patriot🇺🇸

For years our MaxxFan 7000K has made a high pitched chirping noise at lower speeds. I had been told that it was due to pulse width modulation speed control so I didn’t try to fix it. My wife can’t hear the noise but it really annoys me. I finally googled and found this video. I cleaned the brush dust out of the motor and now the fan is pretty quiet. Be aware that black dust will come out of the motor when it is disassembled so you might have someone hold something under the motor as you pull it apart.

That's exactly the way you should be doing it, especially if working alone. Seems like you're not getting anywhere sometimes, but it is still more efficient doing each step to completion.

We've had up to 5 Beemers in the stall at one point, D used to ride too. We had an '06 R1150GS ADV (Alpine white/blue) and '08 650GS Thumper for D. We still have the '84 R90/6 (highly modified)... Correct-a-mundo! ...so, we're down to only 2 scooters at this point. 🥲

I actually spoke with the CGI crew at the 2022 Oliver Rally. I think the 24x24” area in the video was likely for demo and side by side comparison photo purposes. The actual application maybe a little larger area. I agree with you it is a time bandit flying solo. I bet your Ollie will look great when you finish.👍🏻

Got some "Box Envy" going on over here... HA!

Steve: Again you are providing a gold mine if great info. THANK YOU! So, with twin cast in place conduit runs, am I correct in thinking that as shown in the above "N9" picture: The left conduit (Street side) is provided for the pre-wired solar system feeds to the attic. The right one,(Curb Side) that runs from the front closet area to the attic feeds attic area miscellaneous electrical needs. I will for sure be up top this summer looking for that dimple. I seem to recall seeing it and wonder "What's dat for?" If so, it marks the "X" on the spot for buried treasure. Made my day! GJ

I made the chore of ‘upper’ washing and hull maintenance much easier and safer by modifying a scaffold. Next go when the gelcoat needs love, I will work in 24”x24” increments within the area of reach for the various stages required to complete the polishing and waxing process from each positioning of the scaffold. Generally two per side and one each end, roof to top of windows. Once around then down on ground for the ‘lower’ reaches. Hopefully this will save a lot of time and energy!

Really didn't think about my elect. cord... I'll start disconnecting. Thanks.

Thanks, Bill. I was just going back to the beginning of this thread from 2017 to find the string description...you saved me some time :) although I think I'll finish the thread for fun...I need to find out if Steve (not pickin' on you Steve :)) is still eating bugs :) :) :)

Woke up thinking about this, so briefly researched and confirmed my recollection regarding the Xantrec Freedom XC 2000 in my unit. ‘All Xantrex Inverter/Chargers incorporate an automatic transfer switch. This switch senses when outside AC Power is present and transfers the load from the inverter to the source of incoming power (shore or generator). The unit also automatically switches from invert mode to charge mode.’ I suspect the ATS in the MP2 serves the same function and that an additional TS is required to run an A/C via the inverter.

You received good advice already on the storage box. This subject has been covered in dozens of threads. I wrote an upgrade thread last fall and have read many others before and a few since. There is a lot to consider here, no quick answer. Study the subject, measure your water flow rate, and ask specific questions. You will get good advice here!

After our last 42 day trip out west we came home with a few best practices. We want our set up gear ready to rock.😊

It's called the Kraken! '13 K1600GT - goes the speed of heat in a heartbeat!

The process is actually not all that tough and now I'm sure that I could do it again fairly quickly - about an hour. My "problem" was that the one side of the repair was done differently than the drawing showed and I didn't recognize that until I finally decided to replace the string that was not broken. Of course part of what made me so determined was the fact that for the sake of a stupid string I was going to have to fork over around $1,000 for a full set of "white" frames! Bill

fYI, justed looked at my axle , i have 6 leaf spring on my 5033 lb. Axle. LEI. July 2022.. just thought i would it out there for LEI owners.. ( very few of us,😁).. All my welds look good also.

My thoughts exactly!

When an Oliver Elite is retired... I am not sure what I will be able to do with ours. The Oliver may outlive both of us and a lucky buyer can make use of it for another decade or more. Then they pass it onto someone else. I like the thought... but an Airstream owner in Cortez, Colorado, retired the trailer, and put it to use. There was a smaller Airstream in the back lot, as well, for staging at Rodeos and Parades. It was stolen several years ago I heard. A stolen 'Silver Bean' will be difficult to pass it off with obvious current... modifications. The sign on the Stolen 'Silver Bean' was great for a 'F350 Silver Bean' opportunity photo. See it over the cab? Geez, get with it. Those without a Sense of Humor are bound to be bored and spend too much time torquing lug nuts. Anyone with an Oliver Elite having a new purpose?

There are two ports on the outside of the trailer. One is labeled for a satellite feed and should be the loose cable in the attic. the other cable is labeled for cable and should be connected to the back side of the tv amplifier along with the cable from the digital hd antenna. (Both connections are behind the cover plate of the tv amplifier. in my trailer those two cables were inadvertently mis labled at the factory. I plugged the CATV onto the satellite drop inpu and it worked. Maybe check that the cables are really connected from the CATV input in the side of the trailer to the amplifier connection behind the cover plate in the attic.

A bit late to the party… I have and will be using a Porter Cable random orbital polisher from the CDory days.

While I used 1.0 mm cord, I believe that .08 mm cord would be closer to the original size and just might be easier to work with. Cord in both sizes can be found on Amazon HERE. Bill

Thanks for the encouragement, Mike. Reckon I'll try to find some replacement string soon as I'm trying to make plans for the Maine rally and maybe someone there has attempted this ... I may need supervision.

I found a bundle of wires tucked away below the street side bed at the juncture of the upper wheel well and battery box against the outer shell. My thought at the time was these wires were part of the solar pre-wire setup.

Yeah, if I was to buy another Beemer, it would be a K1600 for sure! Had an '08 R1200 for several years, commuted around Austin with it. I still have an old K-75c for grins, but the only one I will keep is my '84 Goldwing Standard. Not sure how the K1600 truly rides, but this old Goldwing will outlast and be much more comfortable than any BMW 1200 cc or less, jury out on the K1600.

Well, now that a second blind broke a string, I had better get busy with a new plan (Stan) :) John

If anyone has one of these for sale (at a reasonable cost) and is coming to the Annual Rally - I'd be interested. Bill

Just wait until you see the new ride of another one of our Forum members!

Several OTT owners have removed their OEM front aluminum storage box in favor of a larger enclosed one. Lkely one of them would be glad to offer to sell theirs at a reasonable cost plus shipping. GJ

1. On the bottom surface of the hatch cover over where the pump is, there should be a picture showing the valve configuations for the different uses. The pictures should also be in your Owner's manual 2. Highly unlikely. If I was you, I would check to see if all the plumbing connections are tight with no leaks and none are sucking in air. 3. Should not be a problem. All Oliver's are like that.

Its the "snap" of the rubber gloves that always gave/gives me the "willies". Of course there is always that sly smile on Steve's face when he says things like that!🥺

You're overdue for your followup exam. See you at the Rally..

It is and thankfully Steve provided counseling to help me through it all! 🤪

I placed an Alcan order this morning with Luo for springs, 9/16" u-bolts and nuts.

@rideandfly Bill, A pretty neat video which contains useful polishing steps by the fellas at CGI. I may add another larger buffer to my arsenal. Nothing like a clean and polished up Ollie!

Love it @ScubaRx. When it comes to fabrication, there's always a solution.

I'd just sandwich the cross member with a larger secondary backing plate in between and below with proper hole spacing for the hitch and throuth bolt the whole thing. It would be stronger than the above arraignment and solve the problem of the mis-aligned holes.

Well, pulled my 2021 LEII out of storage on Friday and was able to crawl around underneath it. Looks like I do have 3,500lb axles (D35) on mine and the four leaf springs. All the springs look in good shape with nice bends but, the trailer only has about 2,000 miles on it so far. So as others have mentioned, now the dilemma is putting two 2,000lb springs on a 3,500lb axle. I found a few custom spring makers in Minnesota so, looks like I may try to source some 1,750lb springs somewhere in the state. Details to follow...

GJ - Just remember to add 'Air-Down' to your step-by-step before leaving the 'Barn', if you do 'air-up' once in. I'm following this thread, with great interest and maybe I should have joined the discussion about 9 pages ago. Our (2) rear leaves broke on the 'eye leaf' at the point where the leaf below the eye ended. I believe I saw some similar break points on other pics posted above. We were in the NWT/TUK area so resources were limited. We cobbled together 2 new but different LS's to get us back down to Whitehorse, YT. Image a horse with two worn shoes in fronts, with a loafer & tennis shoe on the rears... But it tracked & pulled straight. OKAY, maybe not that bad, we can smile but not yet laugh about it now. We had all 4 LS's replaced by 'Jacob Industries' (HIGHLY RECOMMEND IF YOU NEED WORK DONE...) the go-to suspension business in Whitehorse YT, last summer to get us home. So we'll probably not be replacing LS's unless we break another on our return adventure to AK this summer. And yes, we now carry 2 (the fronts) LS with new brass bushings if we needed. Our new LS's had some differences in length from what we had from the build, they are rated at 1830 lbs. The ride home from Whitehorse was slow and not 'stiff' at all, but by this time we were on pavement. There is a lot more that ScubaRX & I found out about LS's that are compatible with the the LE2, in research & discussion. Starting with 'where does Oliver source them from' to that sources part numbers & spec's. Even on some of the supposed same universal PN's from different suppliers sometimes there are slight/negligible differences in the A B C D measurements that make it less that totally consistent by supposedly the 'same industry PN' across suppliers. And that was just the 4 leaver's. I have spreadsheets, but this thread is way beyond that point, by going with ALCAN. I actually like the idea of going with 5 leaves, not for load increase (which we will not do), but the fact that the first leaf below the eye, extends to the eye. Snow maybe Wed, after the melt we'll pull SNYSDUP out of the nesting box, and start loading him up, Cause "WE ARE GOING CAMPING". B-Out,

Pete - If you are talking about the "open" storage tray sold by Oliver, then a call or email to Oliver Service will get you the answer you seek. However, if you are talking about a "closed" storage box (i.e. something with a lid, then note that Oliver has never (that I know of) sold such a thing. Closed boxes can be found in a number of places and there are many examples here on the Forum. With reference to your "low pressure" issue - there has recently been a fairly involved thread here on the Forum about this very issue. This thread can be found HERE - (simply left click on the word Here and it will take you to that thread). Bill

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

Promise not to laugh!😂 From my post of October, 2023 above I "finally" got a chance to get back to that shade on the floor of my workshop. No, I'm not completely finished yet - don't want to rush it - but I'm close. In fact, I'm close enough to to let everyone know that it takes between 14.5 and 15 feet of string to complete one side of the whole deal - that is either the night shade OR the day shade. Obviously, both sides would take double that or up to 30 feet of string! That amazed me - where in the world does all that string go? Bill

It's cloudy here today, but here's the best I can capture with a smartphone: