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I re-plumbed the entire rear end of the trailer. I straightened out some lines and rerouted others so that they are neater than they were when our trailer was built in 2014. While I was at it, I put electric valves, that are controlled with a switch in the basement, in both the hot and cold lines going to the outdoor shower. I also ran an airline, that can be controlled with a valve in the basement, to these two valves so that the plumbing of the entire trailer can be blown free of water. The airlines also run to both wheelwells where an air fitting is available for airing up the tires. This entire air system can be supplied via the onboard compressor mounted in the back of the Silverado.

This summer I experienced my GM Silverado's engine braking -- it was the first time that I recognized what it was doing, and it is fantastic. I'm glad you had the tools to measure temperature and the knowledge to recognize what was happening, and what to do @jd1923

Two of these 1/2" Sharkbite valves with drains (one for hot, one for cold) plus a PVC pipe cutter, should be all that is needed. Depending on how much room you find around the Pex lines, I recommend making just one cut and trying to insert the Sharkbite fitting on both sides of that cut. If there is room, that is best. If some of the Pex must be cut out because there is not room otherwise, cut no more than 1/2 the length of the new valve out of the Pex pipe, to ensure enough Pex remains for insertion into both ends of the Sharkbite fitting. FWIW, when we camped with Hull #1291 with outside ambient temps of 9 degrees F, the lowest temp in the bottom of the hull was near the outside faucet. So, be sure there is no water left in the flexible hose to the shower handle as well.

A change in vehicle type, but not in looks; truck vs van. 2012 Chevrolet 1500 Silverado 4x4, 144” wheelbase. 2019 GMC 2500 Savana Cargo Van, 135” wheelbase.

Pictures from "Top of the World." The first picture does not do it justice. This drop in person looked like if you were driving at 50 MPH right on the edge of the Grand Canyon, OMG my heart was pumping! Final pic is the truck runaway just prior to a tunnel through the mountain. US HWY 60 descending to Superior Arizona.

Colter bay RV park. Grand Tetons.

Both of my GM TVs (Chevy Silverado 1500 and GMC Savana 2500) are gassers equipped with the Tow/Haul feature; selects a lower gear for better engine braking effect and optimizes transmission shifting. They also have Manual mode, especially beneficial when going uphill or down a steep slope. I always engage Tow/Haul when trailering the Oliver and have used the Manual mode on occasion with the Silverado when towing in mountainous areas, but nothing too extreme; works great in lessening actual use of the vehicle’s brakes to ‘slow the go’! Something I noticed different with the Savana in the hills encountered on our most recent travel into Texas Hill Country, was the very apparent and effective downshifting of its 6-speed transmission when slowing for a stop, as well as down grade at speed. Could be that it is basically a commercial vehicle designed for carrying and handling heavy loads under adverse conditions. The hefty front and rear disc brakes, 12.8” and 13” rotors respectively, was another bonus; I rarely had to manually engage the brake controller, especially for quick stops at sudden traffic light changes. Because my wife has ‘extreme anxiety’ with thought of “those cliffside roads” that @jd1923 mentioned, I may never experience his described encounter; but then our GPS Navigation has taken us down many a path of uncertainty, don’t ya know!

Not much downshifting on an older 4-speed automatic where 4th is overdrive. The Dodge has an OD OFF button on the shifter which I use always on uphill grades 55 MPH or less and did so on this steep downhill. And yes, had it in 2nd gear some. Until this stretch of road, I wondered if I truly needed one. @DavePhelps the older diesel pickup trucks did not have this feature, mine being a 2001. Only Class-As and commercial trucks had them back in the day. I believe Ford/GM/Dodge added them to diesel pickups over the last 10-15 years. I've had this on my upgrade list for a while: C44075 Direct Mount 4 inch PRXB Exhaust Brake Kit w Max Flow Design for 1998.5 -2002 Cummins 5.9L (pacbrake.com) Please keep in mind the point of the warning here. Of course, make sure your braking systems are in good maintenance but check your brake controller settings. I had not realized this setting should be adjusted as Dave and Mike had suggested/written above. Thank you. I cannot afford a late model Super Duty 350 Diesel though my Ram 2500 is a lot more truck than many Oliver Owners towing with 1500 series gasoline engine trucks. Trailer brakes are very important even with an engine brake. @Patriot owns a truck that can tow a 35' fifth-wheel or pull a triple-axle toy-hauler loaded with two full-dress Harleys! Would love to have one, but that's not in the cards for us. I had also upgraded the front brakes on my truck to larger 3rd Gen brakes designed for a heavier pickup with greater GVWR. Otherwise, do not travel this kind of road. The roadside warning was intended to 18-wheelers though next time instead of going for it, facing my fears, I should pick another road. Wow though what a drive, what beauty! I realized the brake fade soon enough, stopped, measured temps, chilled for 30 minutes, walked the dog. Increased the gain much higher and continued winding slowly down the mountain, 20 MPH average through this section of road. BTW, there is a stretch of road, in an area called "Top of the World" on US HWY 60 between Miami and Superior AZ that is one of the most breathtaking drives we've ever done including many in UT and CO. That was our next day on our way home. Always glad to be home and what a great trip we had taking 3 1/2 weeks just to roam what is otherwise a 2-day drive each way!

On our recent trip Western loop traveling over the 10% grade on Teton Pass from Victor Idaho to Jackson Hole Wy 5 different times we let our 6.7 V8 diesel engine brake work its magic. I am happy to report it worked flawlessly and I rarely if ever had to use our truck or trailer brakes. I will give Ford credit, they nailed it on their diesel engine braking tech with the new 10 speed transmission. (Edit - We would not have been comfortable traversing the Teton Pass with any other TV). This thread is a good reminder to check your braking systems for sure. Glad you made home safely @jd1923.

I suspect you were, but we're you downshifting, going down the mountain?

I check my gain on a regular basis, a habit I got in to with the smaller half ton trucks I towed my Oliver with. The last 4 years with our 2500, the big 6.7L Cummins does most of the braking.

During our stay at Davis Mountains SP our friends from Ruidoso called inviting us back, an offer we could not refuse! Decided to visit Silver City NM another time. This time we backed into their driveway and had two nights in a king bed. Did a day trip to Capitan NM and the Smokey Bear Park/Museum.” Pickleball in the mornings and Tuesday nights playing Crokinole at Downshift Brewing Co.

Thanks for reminding me to turn on the battery heater under my three Lithionics batteries for the winter! Our local forecast is for temps well below freezing starting tomorrow night.

I have found that the built in battery heaters in my lithionic batteries will also a cause a difference between SOC readings on my Victron Shunt and my Lithionics app. Power use for the internal battery heaters does not register on the Victron. Not sure if it has been cold enough at your location to trigger the heaters.

I was really surprised on the trip over to get an average of 13.5 mpg from Clear Lake to Austin (with some city traffic), then 12.2 on rest of the trip to Inks Lake SP doing hills. That's better mileage than the 5.3L in the Silverado, especially since more power and being a heavier vehicle. Liking the upgrade!

We are home safe now though I ran into quite a learning situation on our final stretch home. We spent the night at Rockhound SP near Deming NM and the next night was Roper Lake SP near Safford AZ. The normal route would be to take I-10 to US HWY 191 for a 2 1/2 hour drive. We've driven that route as well as US HWY 70 from Lordsburg to Safford. We really wanted to see Silver City and take a scenic route (see map) adding another hour to the drive. Heading NM on US HWY 180 out of Silver City we turned left on US HWY 78. Perhaps I should have heeded the warning at the turn, "Not Recommended for Truckers, Steep Downhill Grades." We had traveled up over 9000 ft in the White Mountains of AZ and all through Lincoln Co NM climbing and descending 1000s of feet in altitude without concern. What a beautiful drive and HWY 78 was not one of those cliffside roads, not scary with safe shoulders. There was a section after entering AZ that first climbed much higher and then it must have dropped 2500 FT in just a few miles, OMG! Zoom in to see the road (second pic). Much of the incline is behind the mountain and cannot even be seen and we are miles away when we stopped. After we got more than halfway down, I felt the upgrade HD brakes on our Dodge Ram start to fail. I have felt this before, so I knew what it was, from driving the heavy old cars of the 50s that would overheat and fade. The speed limit was marked at 30 MPH with many curve warnings at 20 MPH. I never exceeded 25 MPH regardless my brakes overheated. I have an infrared heat measurement gun. Parts of the discs were at 360F and the caliper holder on the right side was the hottest just over 400F. I was thinking why? We sat there for 30 minutes until all temp reading were down to 160F. (See 3rd pic for side view where we stopped.) I realized the truck was breaking for the trailer that the trailer brakes were not engaging hard enough for the extremely steep grade. The gain was fine for driving around town but should be increased for highway speeds and what I've learned now is that it should be increased more for declining steep grades. Thought I should write this up, so others do not get into a similar or worse situation. Maybe there are better controllers? Mine has a digital readout, numbers getting larger as the brakes are depressed harder. As they were the numbers only got up to 20 or so. After I increased the gain, the numbers were reading well over 40. I have never driven down such a mountain road with all the steep up and downs we have in the Rockies!

We didn't have to worry much in the rolling hills of Central Texas, elevation 1200-1800 FT max. The descent on AZ HWY 78 was over 3000 FT in about 15 miles. What caught me by surprise is that we had climbed to 9300 FT and descended the White Mountains of AZ and over 8000 in Lincoln Co NM, no issues. This drop in elevation in such a short length of road was extreme. Check out the sign in my first picture. Ever see a grade warning this steep? Twice we have wanted to visit Tonto Natural Bridge near Payson AZ. Both times I was towing. We did not realize the road to this park was so steep. This sign was at the exit of a turn-around area they had for us towing travel trailers! We passed on this visit not having time to disconnect and honestly, I did not want to attempt this descent even without the Oliver! Interstates and US highways have 6-8% grade max when speeds are >55 MPH. They did not have grade signs on AZ HWY 78 though I'm certain it was at least 10% in some stretches. Maybe Tonto Natural Bridge another time. It's only 2 hours from home.