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Very interesting, thanks! Here's a link to the procedure: Anderson maintenance.

100% concur with @Mountainman198 Lance's assessment. We pushed through the 10K mile after getting home from the Q last month, logging 10,236 miles since replacing the OEM springs in March 2024 and 7,215 since installing the D52 "Nev-R-Lubes" last MAY. The most noticeable towing attribute after the undercarriage upgrades is the reduction of "porpoising" at slow speeds over relatively rough terrain. Side to side "rocking" seems noticeably less as well. Ride height is measured at approx 1/2" as Lance noted above. We're checking our shocks later this week prior to our next trip (Owner's rally) -- it should be interesting to see if the OEM shocks (replaced with new last MAY w/axles) have any life left in them. Thanks for the report, Lance! See you down the road! Best,

The reprint of the Andersen WD Anti-Sway Hitch instructions doesn’t say much if anything regarding periodic maintenance. Though ours has been fine for most of three seasons with no real issues or noise. I did notice that the force put on the ball & taper through the coupler and the “whale tale” looked to be causing wear that I would think was fairly predictable. After all, the friction material is only “plastic” and I’d guess the tongue weight and the force of the WD chains - and heat from friction - are going to take their toll. Anyway, my thinking is that three seasons (long seasons!) are too long to go between periodic maintenance. I had purchased a spare friction material sleeve and a few other bits that I thought would be likely replacement items, so I had it ready. My plan was to disassemble the unit and replace the friction material and reverse the ball to equalize the wear. What I found when I took it apart was a bit more than I expected. The plastic friction material was worn thin - practically all the way through - where you’d expect - forward at the top and rearward at the bottom. Unfortunately, there had already been some metal to metal contact between the cone and the housing at both the top and bottom ends. I also found the most forward screw holding the top plate on was bent. Not sure it that was a result of wear or force, or from original assembly. Anyway, pointing out that there really ought to be some guidance as to recommend replacement of the friction material to catch it before metal gets to metal. I got mine back together, but not really happy with it, so I ordered a replacement to the tune of about $300 by the time you roll tax into the equation. I didn’t see a lot of posts about the Andersen WD hitch, so just curious who else may have run into the same issue I did.

BTW - I found this to be a pretty convincing test and endorsement of the SmartPlug from a marine electrician. https://marinehowto.com/shore-power-cords-smartplug-vs-1938/ Also - folks that have been around a while and remember when cars had real chrome bumpers, mirrors, and door handles will likely remember that not just boats are subject to corrosion from sea air. Just finished a circuit through the whole of Florida (it was cold…) and I saw some campground toilet and urinal flush valves that had pretty much every bit of the chrome eaten away. That was a first for me, but a good indicator that RVers who hang out in coastal areas need to be aware of corrosion!

Tucumcari makes a great spot to stop. Before and after attached - our first fiberglass trailer (Happier Camper HC-1) and our “last” fiberglass trailer (Reset 2.0 LE II #1364)

That makes sense about cable wear. The 90 by the pull handle is large radius which should not be an issue. Mine has an issue at the waste valve in that they mounted it vertically right near the wall of the dinette seat causing an 180 to 200 degree turn. I can’t yet see a way around this turn with a major plumbing change. Hope the new cable will improve the action, Problem solved, yes. Like to see a pic off your switch installation Val. Thx

Hey, Bill -- slow down, brother. If you don't, you'll eventually just die tired! HA!

Water test went well. I filled the black tank at least half full. Filled the bathroom sink until there was 3" on the floor. Ran several gallons down the kitchen sink. Let everything sit for a couple hours, not a drop anywhere and the height of water in the bathroom floor held without change. All three valves are now renewed. New seals on the black. New valve, seals and pull cable on the gray. Motorized valve on the 1 1/2" gray line from the bathroom. Having an electric switch is amazing! Though I still had the batteries disconnected during the test, so I used the pull handle to manually open the drain. Reinstalled our inverter and connected the batteries and all is good! Pulling the gray waste valve open is feather light with new valve and pull cable. The 144" cable for the black tank waste valve was delayed twice by the USPS, go figure. Leaving today, so this last part will have to wait. For the long black cable an easy way to run it is to first remove the old inner cable. Then cut the old cable sheath at the area under the streetside bed. Insert the new cable through the outside opening and feed it into the sheath and use electrical tape to keep them together. Then detach the old sheath from the waste valve and pull it through from there. This way it will run exactly where the old cable was with minimal effort and neck strain! Another 20-30 minutes of work for me when we return from our short trip. I found that silicone grease on the cables did not help at all, in fact it added to the resistance, making it more difficult to pull and push. On the new cable, I greased the pistons on both ends but not the cable itself. I don't imagine that any of you would be looking forward to doing this work! For me, I'm so happy this is in my past and with no worries for the next many years. 😂

Anything in life worth having is worth working for. — Andrew Carnegie

As always... we really appreciate all the information available on the Forum! We only turn ours on when we need hot water, and then turn it off afterwards (including the outside power switch). The only exception to the above is when it drops below freezing overnight. Then we leave it on in "ECO" mode until morning or whenever we leave the camper for the day.

10,000 mile update on Alcan springs: A year had passed since my dreaded roadside leaf spring break and 10,000 miles are on the Ollie with Alcan springs underneath so I thought I would provide my update. Ride height - rear bumper rides approx 1/2” higher than stock Ride performance - first 500 miles seemed a bit stiffer than stock with a few more items from counter and beds on the floor but the springs settled-in after that and there is no observed difference inside the trailer now (no additional stuff found fallen to the floor). Trailer tracks the same as stock, however visible jouncing (up and down) and side to side (roll) are observed to be less pronounced than stock. I also noticed when doing annual bearing maintenance that the spring shackles no longer invert when both wheels on the same side are jacked off the ground. Overall impression - had I known that a heavier capacity, 5-leaf spring, made in the US with US steel and featuring a design with the second leaf which extended all the way under each spring eye was available sooner I would have swapped sooner, just as I had previously done with solid stainless lug nuts and US made Timken bearings. No regrets on the upgrade from stock springs.

Easier said than done. If you do happen to find a good one - hang on to them with all your might. Good luck! Bill

We pulled into a campground for the night in Ft. Stockton Texas, I started to unhitch and noticed that the front jack foot was loose. I tightened it and checked the other two. The rear ones were tight. I checked them all right after we purchased our trailer in 2017 and haven’t thought about them since. Probably something to check periodically and will add some blue loctite to each bolt. Probably not good to lose one, at least I’d hate to run over one.

We just picked up our new Oliver Elite ll on Saturday Feb. 8, 2025 at Evans & Son RV in Petersburg, IN. Rained most of the way home to Tennessee, but it towed like a dream. Such a difference from our previous RV.

Last week during some unusually cold south Texas weather we ran both of our 30 lb tanks to completely empty. We took them to a nearby U-Haul for refill while the temperatures were still in the low 20's. We were charged for volume (16.9 gallons), not weight of propane. After getting them home, as the weather warmed, we noticed a faint smell of the gas odorant. We found that the pressure relief valves were bleeding off propane. We had a serious fire hazard. A little online research suggested that based on volume, tanks are sometimes overfilled in cold weather. Liquid propane is denser at low temperatures, so more (by weight) can be filled in colder temperatures before the Overfill Protection Device (OPD) shuts off the flow. There are also recommendations for the entire valve to be replaced whenever the pressure relief has popped. We took the tanks to Propane Depot, a specialty supplier. They weighed the tanks. One weighed 65 lb and the other 66 lb. The tare weight for our tanks is 25.5 lb each. Neither should have weighed more than about 55.5 lb when full. They had been overfilled by about 20% of their rated capacity. Texas regulations state "containers of less than 101 pounds LP-gas capacity shall be filled by weight only", so this rule was not observed when the tanks were refilled. After bleeding off the excess, the guys at Propane Depot checked the pressure relief and the tanks were no longer leaking. They didn't think the temperature had been cold enough to explain the extreme overfill so the OPD is suspect, though it seems odd to have failed on both our tanks. The propane guys said they only refill by weight and never depend on the OPD. We plan on replacing the valves before the next refill anyway. The takeaway is to make sure the tanks are weighed before and after being refilled. The filled tank shouldn't weigh more than its rated capacity plus its tare weight. Stay safe, Steve

Thanks for the link Tom & Doreen! I had hoped that my maintenance would be so straightforward, but, it appears that I should have done it sooner. Then again, four years pulling a Casita is just a mite different than an Ollie LEII! I wonder why the Casita would even need a WD hitch…. Prolly for the sway control. Also - I want through the Andersen hitch instructions front to back and back to front. “Maintenance” isn’t really addressed. Oh sure, they say use a bit of lube on the chain tensioning nuts. (I use “Never-Seize” on the threads as well as the thrust face of the washer. Zero galling and a LOT less force to load the WD!) Anderson DOES mention not to use any lube on the ball, lest it contaminate the friction material sleeve. I’ve read some folks doing that, but hey, it’s your trailer! Do what makes you happy. Really too bad one has to look to YouTube and not an Andersen source to get intel on maintenance…

Steens Moutain sounds amazing. I am guessing inaccessible in mid-April when we plan to visit? What other must-sees will be unavailable at that time?

But - I'm running as fast as I can! And, now you tell me that all this running is for nothing?

I plan to just turn off the Truma aquago every night and turn it back on in the morning. John

I'm not sure what I'd do if I were in this situation other than try to stay in very close contact with the folks in Oliver Service and I'm sure that I'd be just a frustrated as you must be. From what I know, Oliver is doing all it can - they simply can't get enough of the units quickly enough. Hopefully, Truma can get its production ramped up. Bill

Lost my front one last year on the way up to TN. We were in Nashville, were leaving the trailer at CGI Detailing, went to put the front jack down and saw that the foot had departed. My immediate concern was the potential for causing damage, injury, and general mayhem behind me after spitting out a fairly good chunk of metal at high speed on a crowded freeway. Secondarily, did a thorough inspection of the underside to make sure it hadn't put a hole in the fiberglass, much to our relief it had not. Popped over to Oliver since I was in Nashville to pick up a replacement and applied blue Loctite to hopefully avoid any future incidents. Now part of my regular inspection, both front and back. Sounds like this is a recurring event that necessitates repeated close inspection.

We lived in Washington state for 26 years before moving to Colorado. I also agree with EurekaJ's comments. There is so much to see and do in the PNW! I hope you are allowing lots of time. If you have flexibility, I might suggest you plan for September as the crowds are a little less and the weather is still spectacular. After Labor Day, you may find it a little easier to find availability and a little more elbow room. The Oregon coast is really special with amazing places I would put on your list (from South to North) - (these are just a few) Cape Kiwanda - hike up the sand dunes on the North side of Pacific Beach for unbelievable views, especially at sunset. Cape Mears Lighthouse Oswald West State Park - from the parking lot, take the paved trail under 101 highway to Short Sand Beach Cannon Beach/Haystack Rock - great beach town, Haystack Rock is an Oregon icon. Ecola State Park - Drive all the way out to Indian Beach for fantastic views and scenery As a side-note, the coast of Washington is really not worth visiting except from Klaloch north into the NP. I might follow EurekaJs suggestion of visiting Fort Steven's at the mouth of the Columbia River and then heading east back to I-5 and from there up to Rainier NP. While in Olympic NP, make sure to take the drive up to Hurricane Ridge. I would plan to do this in the evening. All the tourists head down the mountain around 5pm but it's still light until almost 10pm that time of year. When the crowds are gone in the evening, the wildlife comes out. I've seen marmot, bears, fox and deer. Drive along the ridge to the end parking lot and take the short hiking trail for incredible views across to Mt. Olympus and the whole Olympic range. Go early or late for Rainier NP as well. It can be an absolute zoo around the visitor centers and nearby trails mid-day. Mt. Rainier is considerably more stunning in the early morning light or at sunset. I would recommend the Paradise visitor center area on the South side over the Sunrise visitor center on the North side. If you are a hiker, one of my very favorite hikes, ever, is Pinnacle Saddle. https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/pinnacle-saddle If you are going all the way up to North Cascades NP, you might also consider a side trip out to the San Juan Islands. You could leave your trailer and take the ferry across from Anacortes. The ferry ride is beautiful and you could get lucky and see the resident Orca whales or take a whale watching boat from San Juan Island. I've rambeled on enough. Hope this is of some help and happy answer questions if I can...

I'll repost this picture to illustrate the purpose of the recall. The recall is for water heater burner assemblies manufactured in the date range of the recall. Those burner assemblies only had the two END burners crimped to the frame. (See below pix.) The result is after many miles of vibration or less on rough roads, the burner tubes are susceptible to falling out out of the frame. When that happens, gas from the feed orfice that is no longer aligned with a burner tube pumps gas directly into the burner chamber. On ignition you'll hear an explosive (whoosh/pop) type of ignition. Most commonly that ignition also blows out the burner...and then the unit recycles as it try's again to light the heater. Owners of units in the recall range should carefully listen and watch for unusual ignition events...which is a sign that a burner tube has fallen off the frame. All new units being manufactured have ALL the burner tubes crimped in place. The recalled units are replaced with newer burners with all the burners crimped to the frame. Oliver is getting units from Truma but at a rate of 10-15/month...so patience is required for repairs. Follow instructions in the Oliver Recall to get your unit repaired. They can only send replacement burners to qualified repair centers. For the curious, here's a pix of an actual "ignition event" when a burner tube has fallen off: As you see the flame is rather large and extends outside the burn chamber.

We plan to turn our water heater off every night and turn it back on in the morning until the warranty work is done. Most likely the water heater will work fine. If it doesn't, then at least we don't waste months waiting for the repair and have a fire while sleeping. Hopefully you let Oliver know if your unit was one that needed the new burner assembly so you're at least in line. John

About 5 miles west of Flagstaff Hwy 66 merges into I-40. Next place you can pick it up is 7 miles west of Ash Fork AZ and 18 miles on US 66 takes you to Seligman AZ. Next town is Peach Springs AZ. If you want a great side trip you can take Diamond Creek Rd, Indian Route 6 a 22 mile dirt road, and drive to the Colorado River at the very bottom of the Grand Canyon! We have not done this trip yet, but plan to do it this winter. Ash Fork btw is just 47 miles due north of our home up AZ-89. I've watched a few videos on this. They drive large school buses down there to pick up people from rafting expeditions, so no reason a solid truck with Oliver in tow could not make it. There are several campsites near the bottom too! You need a Hualapai Indian Reservation travel permit which you can get in town. The road should be fine during the winter. During spring you’d cross running water in the Peach Springs Wash in a few places and the road could get real. This stretch of Hwy 66 circles NE and later SW ending up in Kingman AZ. It’s a beautiful drive that has the look of Route 66 before there were Interstates!

I definitely want a picture of me/us standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see!