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Well y'all? Are we alive? All look good?

I posted previously about our Truma with busted tank and circulation valve due to me not draining and winterizing. I went with suburban due to: 1. Truma will not sell you spare parts. Truma requires you to take their products to one of their authorized dealers. I prefer to fix my own stuff. I'm an engineer as well (structural) and a bit of a control freak. 2. Cost. To have the tank replaced at closest authorized dealer (2.5 hrs away) was $1000. Didn't make much sense to me to spend that much and some other part could fail on a 7 year old water heater. I could buy like 5 suburban water heaters for the cost of one truma. 3. Redundancy: gas and electric vs. gas only 4. Simplicity: There is not much to a tank WH...I pulled out the Truma and took it apart to consider repairing (epoxying the tank and circ valve). Truma is far more complex. 5. Past Experience: Had 6 gallon tanks in past 3 trailers...never had an issue...and I have never drained them for freezing (live in the deep south). The only PRO (for me) that I can think of for the Truma would be the ability to stay in the shower as long as I wanted, but my wife and I can both take a shower on 6 gallons and not have an issue. Thanks!

Our Oliver is parked at Snow Canyon UT SP tonight and for three nights!

MAX, Your comment about how previous "SOB" RV market owners (for example the Aluminum Cloud community) transitioned to the Ollie is an astute observation and sounds spot on. Right, the GA (General Aviation) community has issues itself, but basically pilots don't like engines and planes FAILING in mid-air (on the road so to speak). Many, if not most GA deaths seem to me to be primarily judgment issues that pilots make before or during flights. And yes, some fall apart in mid-air, but minimal in comparison to judgment. I discovered the Ollie riding along on the backs of the experiences of other non-Ollie owners. Plus with the backroom conversations of the mechanics and my experiences working with them. Piece of Shizz was a common mechanical term (not spelled with zz) applied to non-Ollie trailers. The only thought I would add as to price point is that it is all relative. The Ollie has a high price point as a trailer. My gyroplane has a high price point as a certified gyro, and the Newmars also have appropriate high price points for a quality motorhome that has to be built like a commercial truck to carry the living quarters. It just is an issue of matching your usage needs to your pocket book. The one advantage of buying a used quality rv is it will often still be better than a lower quality new rv IMHO. The new lower quality RVs have already started falling apart just being traveled to the RV show (as I observed).

Just to quote myself before the transition….🤣

I admire those that can do most or all of the work on their Oliver. I’ve learned how to do a lot over the years, mostly from knowledgeable friends and owners who were willing to take the time to help and explain (in person, over the phone, in emails, etc). It makes a huge difference when traveling to have confidence in your abilities to fix issues while on the road. The Oliver community excels at helping other owners and sharing information. This latest surge for ALCAN springs is just one example. Lew and the crew at ALCAN are impressed with the Oliver community! Mike

Mosquito Lake State Park in northeast Ohio for the Casitas of Ohio Spring Kick-Off Egg Rally. Three Oliver’s, four Escapes, a couple Scamps, two Cortez, a Trillium, and 20 Casitas. Deb was fiddling with “night mode” on her phone. Next up is a weekend with Tearjerkers and then head to Alabama!

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/events/oliver-owners-rally/

It was for luck! 😉

We purchased our LE2 Ollie used eight years ago with no regrets. We used to let Oliver do some of the maintenance since they were only a day trip from home, plus we enjoy camping in TN, too. We plan to do most of the maintenance on Ollie in the future except for fiberglass and welding repairs. We had aluminum welding done by a local race car shop recently and with a large lake close by, there are plenty of quality boat maintenance facilities for fiberglass repairs. This forum is a valuable resource for repair and upgrade information, too. Many valuable post have been made here that are needed for current and future Ollie owners making DIY repairs or learning more about one of the best campers ever built!

I am sorry if the brevity of my response to @rich.dev's post concerning a CC installation inside a OTT for a ground deployed solar array caused any confusion. It’s my "failure to communicate", a partial quote shamelessly stolen from Captain. In an attempt to clarify my response, my external Furrion solar port is wired with10 AWG wire and a 10A fuse inline on the B+ path to the battery bank and the 10 AWG wire for the B- terminates at a negative busbar prior to a Victron shunt on it's way to the battery bank. If I didn’t have a shunt, the B- would go straight to the battery bank. Mossey

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.

The upgrade from 10" to 12" trailer brakes is huge! Your braking efficiency will improve significantly. Are disc brakes better performance? Yes, better precision. Less maintenance? Yes. Extremely expensive, considering it's for a trailer! Yes!!! You will have new dual 5200 LB axles, new 12" brakes with new bearings, new HD Alcan springs, shocks, wet bolts, U-bolts, etc. basically a new suspension. Very nice! 😂

7000 LB GTWR is enough, as this limit is truly difficult to exceed. Any suspension upgrade is for performance and safety, not additional trailer capacity. I imagine full-timers would go a little over this number. We would have to take everything out of the bed of my TV (spare the full 35-gallon water tank) and load it into the center aisle of the OTT to get over the GTWR. I measured ours during a first trip at 6000 LBS "travel-ready" and a Fresh Tank full. Now after 4 trips it's likely close to 6400 LBS. There aren't enough cubic feet of actual storage space onboard to exceed the limit unless you fill all those little overhead cabinets with GOLD!

Concur 100%, Rodger. Whether working on an Oliver yourself or choosing to have a trained RV technician perform the effort, the Oliver meets a wide range of owner expectations due, IMO, to its superior design, quality materials/systems, and overall "fun factor". Like many owners, we've transitioned to Olivers from the Aluminum Cloud RV community and have never regretted it for a second. Ollie falls into a category similar to the sailboat and GA aircraft owners enjoy - which is basically an overall product quality that is not shared by the "SOB" RV market enjoys as described in the article @Wandering Sagebrush recently posted. If you like traveling with a peace of mind that yields a confidence that you'll get there without worrying about what going to fail next, an Oliver may be perfect solution. Sure, the big Tiffins, Newmars and Provosts may meet that confidence level, but at what price point? What style of camping? More systems - greater probability for failure over time. The OTT keeps systems fairly straight forward to operate, troubleshoot, and repair - not so with what we consider the "General RV Community" of stick-builts. FYI: We've logged north of 5k miles since JAN in our 7 year-old rig without (knock on wood) an issue... just say'n. Additionally, the OTT community on social media is unusually supportive of owners' questions, issues, and trouble shooting efforts. A real family atmosphere and we're proud to be a part of it. Not so true with other brands. So, keep us posted on your path to acquiring what we consider the penultimate in RV'ing, at least for our style of camping and traveling. TWO thumbs up from us, brother! Cheers!

Enjoying Lake Thunderbird SP site 19 near Oklahoma City 30amp full hookup site in Hickory Hill loop.

Unfortunately, the disk kits are the long pole in the tent - out of our price point range... The larger 12" drums will suffice for our needs for some time. The additional/high cost for disks doesn't make up for the benefit gained in braking performance, maintenance, and overall peace of mind, IMO.

My new springs should be here next week. That will make The Outlaw Oliver the oldest trailer to have them retrofitted to. I am excited to get them and although I've never had a problem with my original 5-leaf springs that came with the 5200 pound axles, I'm super confident that the new stronger Alcan springs will be much better.

And do we hear 15 pages?! 🤣 Going once, goin' twice, sold to a future post!

Nice photos and nice park! Looks like a fine time!!!

This subject has been an "interesting read". I started when it was only about 10 pages long... reading all of the opinions and results from the beginning. I want to say thanks to all of you for your hard work and leading the pack on this rather significant upgrade. I'll be watching to learn how you feel after some road testing, but I suspect its going to feel much better. It's definitely on my list of things I want to do before too long. We've got better than 20K on the trailer now and despite "most of the time" on reasonable roads I've hit some hard bumps and such and definitely would like the peace of mind from an upgraded suspension system. I just greased the 16 zerks and noticed the tell-tail marks of the U-bolts hitting the frame on a few occasions. PS- We travel well under the Max of 7k lbs.... until we stop at Costco on the way home where I'm certain we've always exceeded it because the pantry at home was empty.

Four years ago when I was considering buying an RV (I bought a certified gyroplane instead two years ago for the price of a gas Newmar motorhome), Before I bought my plane I spent a lot of time/two years in a lot of trailer and motorhome forums talking with owners and learning through the vicarious experience of others rather suffering the realities by just jumping in. I remember someone accusing me of being a procrastinator and encouraging me to just do it. Well, anyway....bygones. What the writer talks about is barely submerging below the surface of what I learned from others. The upshot was I went out and got an rv maintenance license and an RV electrical specialist license, then put about six months into working at rv dealerships to gain hands-on experience. To cut to the chase, I did that because I had concluded that it was a favorable proposition to 1) do as much of the work for myself as possible, and 2) to focus on quality based on the experience of owner/forum members. Then I ran across a YouTube video of a gyroplane and bought my gyro. Now that I am divorced and have a girlfriend in Thailand, I am considering buying an Ollie. So if I follow through and buy an Ollie this year, it won't be because I went to an RV show and fell in love with a cute floor plan, or decided to be an early adopter. I consider the Ollie to be the kind of trailer a mechanic would buy who actually wants to enjoy traveling. Thumbs up.

I can certainly follow your rationale. We've had 6 gallons, and currently a Girard instantaneous, installed by Oliver 7 (?) years ago. (Their first instantaneous install, before they were authorized by Truma.) It's been so far trouble free, and not hauling 6 extra gallons of water cuts our weight by almost 50 pounds. However, I'd likely go back to a traditional 6 gallon if it failed. We almost never camp with hookups, so "endless hot water" is pretty meaningless for us, though a nice advantage for those who do. Our Girard runs strictly on gas, which is also ok with us, since we rarely have hookups. But, the also electric of a 6 gallon is a plus for those who do. We all have different camping styles. Glad you found what's right for you. PS add yet another engineer to the list of many. I think Oliver attracts the engineering minds because of the quality engineering of the unit. I know that's what sold my husband, the engineer in the family. I'm just the 40 year apprentice. 😃

Ours needs a lube job for sure! It's the last thing we struggle with, when breaking camp. Hmmm? It's been 18 years since I've skied and have since run out of ski wax. We traded our skis in for dirt bikes when we moved to Arizona! Art lives really close to the slopes of Taos NM though...

New campground for 3 nights at Snow Canyon Utah State Park. Got here yesterday, several tight spots in a row with water and electric. Pretty place and everybody we meet is so nice, guests and staff. You can just barely pull through to our site #8 and at first the streetside was 6" low. Using our LevelMatePRO+ we got that number down to 3.5" and the Andersen Levelers took care of the rest. Enjoyed our first night here!

An interesting article… https://www.rvtravel.com/rv-service-centers-readers-speak-out-1154/

Thanks for all your work! John

Thanks for the info and the brush dust warning. Don't you just love these little gremlin issues!!

First campfire breakfast of 2024, on a beautiful western NC Sunday morning.

This whole discussion reminds me of sitting across from Anita when I was "designing" my Oliver. I told her that I wanted a 12 volt port located right next to the 110 port on the curbside. Anita said, "what for" ? I replied that it would be useful for a number of things such as my air pump used for adjusting air pressure in the tires. Anita said, "why don't you simply slide back the window screen and use the 12 volt outlet in the kitchen"? Part of me had to agree that her approach made financial sense. But, I convinced her to place this request on the order and I'd guess that in now going into the 9th year I've actually used that 12 volt outlet maybe 6 times. But, ya simply gotta do what ya gotta do sometimes. Bill

We use Blue Sea Systems components whenever possible - we've had good experience with every BSS product installed on Casablanca, FYI. High quality components, IMO.

Is the girl standard or optional?

Running into some delays. So may not see anything this evening. Still working to move everything over. I will keep y'all posted and do not worry about if you create new topics or replies, I will be doing the database last to ensure none of the data is lost.

I forgot the front jack once some time ago. It was on a couple of legos and an 8” wood block so it slid off with no damage. Glad to hear the Oliver team was so responsive (and compassionate!). Mike

Forum is alive and kicking @ 0243 on 04-27-2024.

@Geronimo John - That's a Phase-3 upgrade for us down the road, amigo. The electric over hydraulic disk brake conversion kit's price point has skyrocketed over the years - a decent setup using the preferred Dexter K71-651-00 1600PSI brake actuator runs north of $1,100/wheel; can you spell, OUCH ? We're thinking the larger 12" drums on the new running gear will meet our braking needs and RV camping style for quite awhile. That said, the disk conversion will still stay on our radar, for sure. OBTW: We never come close to the 7k# max GVWR for our camping style, even in the winter months when carrying more gear. We encourage others to do the same, no matter what suspension upgrades are present. "Roll-On" and have fun out there, All! Cheers!

Wonder how long to tow an Oliver LE-2 coast to coast,maybe 3-4 weeks🤣

Agree, tow vehicle and trailer GVWR should never be exceeded.

I will chime in. The Dexter 5200# never lube axles that Oliver retro fit on our Ollie last Oct, are only the larger 12” drums. To my knowledge I don’t believe they are installing disc brakes. Service just grabs a set of Never Lubes from the plant and installs them at the service center.

As they say, "you win some and lose some." I believe it was all the changes we went through on our trip getting here, but simply stated, we played like cr@p! We started the day losing but, in the end, we won big and had a great time at the tournament! We're thinking next year we'll just come to watch. They had a very short format for us amateur players. No time to get truly warmed up and play well. Long story short, we watched 4 great matches courtside. The best was a with an ATP tennis pro we have followed since he first turned pro as a teenager in 2011. Jack Sock was a recent great US tennis player. His highest ATP world ranking was #2 in doubles, #8 in singles, and he medaled in the 2016 Olympics for the US. He retired from tennis last year and he says his second career in pickleball will be all about having fun! What a great player, humble/polite guy (always takes his hat off when shaking hands at the end of a match) and crowd favorite as he kids with the crowd regularly. The pics will tell the story, but after catching an out ball, and a free Selkirk hat, Chris snapped the picture of me and Jack!

I have sprayed ours regularly through the years. I've used WD-40 (messy) and dry silicone lubricant (much better). Aluminum tends to want to "stick" to itself. I've not thought about using paraffin, but that is a good idea. It might stay on longer than my methods. Give it a shot and let's see how it works.

Valley of Fire was not in the stars for us this trip. We drove into the east entrance today, which should be less busy than the other side from I-15. There was a line of cars and trucks backed up a ways from the entrance gate. After 10 minutes they had only let one car through. Chris and I voted, and we decided to pass until our next time, perhaps on the way back or next year. At least we live relatively close. This is as close as we got! (see pic) Pulled a big shoulder to shoulder U-turn and headed directly to St. George. Love how you can turn with the Oliver sharply without issue. Nice cool breeze this evening. We hit the ball a little to warm up and watched some of our favorite pros practice. High tomorrow forecast is 77 for our tournament play-day (very nice if not too windy). High of only 62, chance of rain forecasted for Friday! Thankful for the cool. Snow Valley should be great next week.

Would somebody please bring my horse back alive? GJ

They will install them in Grand Junction. Shop rate = $125/hr. About two hours.

I ordered a set of springs this morning. I was the second order they had this morning. Lou said they’ve had 4 to 5 orders a week for a while. They now have an Oliver Kit that includes springs, U bolts, shackles and wet bolts. Mike

Mike in Oliver Service had asked for the specs and contact info for the US made springs I had found as he said they were not aware of any US sourced suppliers and would be interested in what I had found. I told him I would send the info once I had them on my trailer. I forwarded the specs and some pics along with Alcan contact info to him today and he said he would pass it along within Oliver.

Good question, John. Due to prior commitments, the process is still underway, worked on it for a couple hours yesterday, plan to finish it up this morning. After speaking with Mike/Alcan, here's a high-level List of Instructions for the leaf spring R&R. 1. Break loose the wheel lug nuts on all wheels; 2. With the OTT connected to the the TV, raise enough that wheels are just high enough to spin and that 4 jack stands can be placed in front and to the rear of the running gear on the OTT frame; 3. Lower OTT onto the jack stands - wheels must still be able to spin; 4. Remove wheels; 5. Pick a side to start. Place a jack stand under front axle about 2 feet inboard of wheel assy. - use a floor jack under the spring plate to raise the axle just enough to adjust the jack stand under the axle, then lower the floor jack so the axle rests on the floor jack. There should be very little tension on the suspension at this point; 6. Remove the lower shock absorber nut and push the shock up and out of the mounting hole on the spring plate, use safety wire to hold lower shock outboard and away from spring plate - helps with aligning the spring plate later on; 7. Remove the 4 U-bolt nuts/washers; 8. Remove the spring plate (at this point - we wire brushed the plate, cleaned with acetone and rattle-canned it with RustOleum, set aside to dry for later); 9. Remove the forward wet bolt from the frame mount - this allows the spring pack to drop; 10. From the Dexter center shackle, remove the corresponding Dexter shackle nuts and the outboard connecting plate - the inboard connecting plate will be removed with the wet-bolts still "press fitted" into the plate. Keep as is and ChemKlean the shackle plates, wet bolts and nuts for later assembly; 11. Throw away the cheap-ass Chinese made spring pack. (OBTW: Our's weighed 10lbs even as compared to the Alcan 5-leaf spring pack of USA steel at 18lbs! We still have the fourth spring to replace today - but the three removed so far were definitely starting to flatten.) 12. Check the centering bolt head on the Alcan spring pack so it fits into the corresponding centering hole in the spring plate. We had to file the corners on a couple of the bolts to get the correct fitment. 13. Insert the "now cleaned" shackle components to the Dexter center shackle assy. Connect Alcan spring pack (this would be the rear-most spring pack bushing for the front axle), bolt on the outboard connecting plate. 14. Check the forward wet bolt after cleaning by connecting your Lock'nLube and squeezing grease through the journal (be sure to do this with all wet-bolts). Thoroughly grease the spring pack brass bushing and wet bolt. Ensure the wet bolt can fit through the brass bushing - tap in gently using a socket over the grease nipple. 15. Lift the forward end of the spring pack and place a floor jack under at mid-point (where the spring plate will be placed in a later step). Lift the Alcan spring pack up to the forward spring mount on the frame. Ensure the centering pin on top of the Alcan spring aligns with the centering hole on the axle's spring pad. 16. Insert the forward wet-bolt by raising/lowering the floor jack and tapping the center shackle fore/aft until the bushing aligns with the mounting holes. This is a step that takes some patience. We had to use an alignment bolt from the outboard side of the mount to get the wet-bolt through from the inboard side. (NOTE: The wet-bolts have splines near the head to keep them from spinning once tightened in the shackle plate - we oriented them so the grease hole on the wet-bolt faced "UP"). 17. Place your U-bolts in place over the axle (we painted ours just to keep the rust down to a minimum - plus it looks way cooler). Place the cleaned and freshly painted spring plate in place. Install new U-bolt washers and nuts - using an "X" pattern, tighten the U-bolt nuts slowly pulling the spring plate up and into position. Use a flashlight to check that the Alcan spring centering bolt is aligning with the centering hole in the spring plate. We tied the lower shock outboard and away to a wheel lug with safety wire to make this alignment easier. 18. Install lower shock to spring plate; 19. Torque all nuts to specs. 20. Move to same side rear assy. and repeat. 21. Move to opposite side and repeat front and rear like steps 1 thru 20 above. There's probably a few extra things I did (removed, inspected, and re-packed wheel bearing, for example) but these are the key steps. Very satisfying procedure. It's worth the peace of mind knowing your running gear is in order! More to report later after complete and test driven. Cheers!

We’ve been up and down the Moki many times over the past 30 years. It’s not nearly as bad as a sharp stick in the eye.

Just a brief hello as I prepare to be without power for about a month. Won't be able to participate in the forum as much, unless I manage from my phone. Black Hills SD, Devils Tower WY, Wapiti campground (west of Cody), West Yellowstone MT, and someplace in the Grand Tetons WY before turning south and east. Many heartfelt thanks to all the great members here for your help, encouragement and advice as I begin this next segment of the journey. I'm thrilled!