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Upgraded to the ALCAN springs and have been very happy with them on the road. No more worries about one snapping in half. Matter of fact, I upgraded the leaf springs on the Tundra. Awesome upgrade as well. https://dobinsonusa.com/products/dobinsons-rear-leaf-springs-pair-for-toyota-tundra-2007-to-2019-l59-121-r/

Interesting take on this topic above. Noise while camping is not what I want. The Dometic AC and Fridge did work fairly well (AC better than the 3-way fridge) and parts were easily sourced but after 6 years of use I have upgraded both and have been using the Atmos and Nova Kool for almost a year. And I will say, there is no comparison in how well they work and how well the Dometic equipment worked. Dometic fridge was very finicky. Had to be level. Had to load it days in advance. Would not stay cool if load more than 75% capacity. Did not cool well off of battery 12v power and used a lot more energy to do it. Constantly had to monitor in cab to make sure steaks weren’t getting ruined. Temps were constantly above 40 degrees while traveling. Nova Kool - let’s just say I have quit monitoring the temps in cab. I have not had to adjust temps much, mostly to turn down because it got too cold. Dometic AC was loud and used a ton of energy. The Atmos can run twice as long on our battery bank (AC or Heat) set at 70 and you can have a conversation while getting ready for bed. No comparison, It would suck to have to go back. When camping the less I have to worry about something working properly the better. If I don’t hear it, even better!

A 20 lb steel tank weighs around 17lbs and holds around 4.6 gal propane. Propane weighs 4.2 lbs per gallon. 4.6 x 4.2 = 19.3 lbs total: 36.3 lbs The only reason to upgrade to AL is if you want to carry as much propane as possible with the least amount of weight. Think boondocking on a riverbed in Alaska. A 30 lb aluminum tank weighs the same as a 20 lb steel tank.

There is also a slightly reduced risk of an accident that might be caused by a spark. Aluminum doesn't spark as easily as a steel tank. Bill

John, Another lock option which is a little more difficult to get a bite on with a bolt cutters. If nothing else makes it more difficult. Not seeing many reports of batteries being stolen at least from Olivers, I suppose it is a peace of mind especially for those that keep their Oliver in a storage facility away from home. https://www.amazon.com/BRINKS-173-80051-Stainless-Resettable-Combination/ Hello to Wendy! David

For the most part - Jason (W) makes and/or posts these types of posts by copying them from other sources. Therefore, the specific brands, models, and other details contained in any specific post of this sort is not necessarily Oliver specific and are generally meant for "general" reminders or "general" information. In this specific example - we are being reminded to change the batteries in our installed safety devices - no matter which devices they really are. Bill

Finally got around to switching out our LP tanks for aluminum ones. 17 lbs vs 25 lbs. Supposedly holds 8 gallons of propane. We shall see. Had to make a custom tank mount due to bottom ring being too large for the steel tank mount. Made it out of HDPE 3/4 in bottom and top half with cutouts (9 9/16 in circle) was 1/2 in thick. Slight modification to center rod and large wing nut to secure tanks. Rod I used was 36 in. Needs to be long enough go through frame. Used my hand held router with a Jasper circle jig. Worked great. Very happy with the results. Couple inches to spare height wise with fiberglass shell back on. One of the last vestiges of steel removed from the Oliver. https://flameking.com/product/ysn330-copy/ Pre-purged vacuum ready for filling with propane 12x12x26.5 in 17 lbs 7-8 gallons OPD valve 3

I appreciate your sentiment. I simply cannot repair or have the mental acuity I had when I was 80 year of age. I purchase those repairs and maintenance until they will no longer fit my budget. Then I must no longer enjoy the Oliver and the joy it brings to my quality of life. I had to make the same decision when I no longer could sail as a result of manual dexterity. Thank God I have the where-with-all to cover maintenance and other costs associated with my Oliver..

🥶 You've had more snow in one day than we have had all winter (so far).

Yep, AI will only allow the young to be lazier than how they've been brought up! Teaching my class this week, one new student logged into the Zoom meeting with an AI interpreter of some kind. I'm willing to bet, that she by counting on technology, will learn and retain far less than the average student! Give me a break! "Just Say No" when anything pops up on your screen! I've never noticed anything colored green on the tank selector. Am I missing something or perhaps our older hull is different. I turn it left until the first tank is empty or near empty as shown on our Mopeka sensor, then I switch to the RH tank. Never noticed a color, or maybe I'm colorblind!

Stihl 026 - the old numbering system. I wasn’t using chain saws back then. Bought the farm in 2008. (And sold it in 2021). My saws were all the “MS” numbering. The MS362C-M was my “big” saw. A pair of MS250’s and an older MS180CB were the everyday saws. Sure, when you open them up they scream. At idle, they purr. (That’s when the Dometic A/C would be louder!)

I don’t think it’s so much “tight” as it is some kind of galvanic corrosion from dissimilar metals. They basically “weld” themselves into place. Very true! In my stint in maintenance management, I learned a new term: “maintenance induced failure”. Whether that’s from improper maintenance procedures that cause damage (think AA191) or a situation like JD mentions above. If you’re not going to clean out ALL the dirt - including the dirt opening the gearbox likely introduces into the unit - then you’re mostly just going through the motions.

Thankful we've not had these issues with our Dometic and do not want a replacement. We're not going to a compressor fridge until somebody designs one with a decent-sized freezer. Our freezer is full width of the unit, holds two short trays of ice front-to-back in one corner, will fit 2 steaks, 2 large chops, an lb of bacon, even a qt of ice cream which is keeps cold for days and more stuff at times! Why do the new fridges have freezers with about 40% of this capacity? I also do not want 6 SF of our truck bed taken up with an external fridge/freezer. We use that for a water tank for boondocking. We start our fridge the day before leaving. Most food should be put in cold or frozen but we make a new tray of large ice cubes overnight NP. Least two weeks out our Ruuvi most often read 1F in the freezer and 34F in the fridge. Full length drip tray works as it should, seeing the drip-drip-drip under the hull. We have the Beech Lane external fan but did not need it on these trips which got to a dry 80F in the afternoons and always below 50F overnight. We set ours on #4 of the 5 cold settings. Chris is a great cook too and we fill the fridge to capacity at each grocery stop on the road. It runs using 8AH on 12VDC on average, a little more when very hot out. We do not use LP while driving but have found that the Dometic runs best, stays coldest on LP. We would miss AC/DC/LP alternatives. Usually our rooftop solar runs the fridge with near zero net loss of battery SOC. All is good, knock on wood we get another 10 years! 🤣 Now that Dometic Penguin II A/C, loud as a 2-stroke chainsaw, is an awful piece of JUNK! Blows too loud even on low fan. It cools slowly and is an inefficient power drain! We have NEVER run it overnight since I could not sleep and TG out west it cools down at night. You can't even run it while watching TV except if using noise-cancelling headphones for your audio connection. We've found the interior of the Oliver to be extremely quiet with windows closed alone, nothing running inside. I like quiet, and I'm not somebody that believes in producing "white noise." We're making a long trip to Minnesota and points between during June (don't fool yourself thinking the northern Midwest is always cool during the summer). Sure, cooler than most summer days in the SE, NOLA or Texas, but for example one Memorial Day holiday in Chicago it was a high of 62F on the Thursday before and 98F and HUMID all day on Saturday! We're hoping to have the Atmos A/C installed prior to this trip. Whisper quiet per what @Ronbrink showed us at the Texas Rally and very efficient. Can't wait to see how long we can run it using 50% SOC of our 600AH LiFePO4! I figure almost twice as long as the Dometic which is not even practical on inverted AC power.

Maybe a political protest? Though NO mechanical device is completely foolproof and inherently safe, I’d tend to trust Honda before some of the Harbor Freight fly-by-night brands out there. I had a no-name discount store open-frame generator for a season. It kept my freezers going during a week-long power outage, but I wouldn’t trust it as far as I could throw it. I suppose if one were gonna design and install a ventilation/cooling system in an enclosed box on the front of the Ollie, they may as well go whole-hawg and design a system that monitors CO, temperature, etc and shuts down the gen and triggers the fire suppression system if parameters were exceeded. I wonder if folks in motor homes with built-in Onan or Generac generators running -inside- the body of their RVs give it so much thought….

Excited to be a new Oliver owner. I have a lot to learn about my LE II and am sure this forum will be valuable in that process. Hope to meet some of you somewhere down the road.

Me too. My point exactly..... For the last 59 27 years we share the same procedure. Off, Disconnect, Reconnect, On, Bleed line. But I did not want to contradict another owner as I have no idea how his regulator works. But AI says........ CRAZY HORSE Fact Check: REVISED: OPV's were only introduced in 1998.

Nit picking response is: Yep for the rears. For the front mine has three bolts. Both would require you to remove the jack foot so that the tube below the hull can be pulled up thru the hull for removal of the whole thing. Same idea for the front one. But your point is spot on. Having a work bench with a vice AND proper impact tools is the best way. GJ

Share and Enjoy !0Shares0 0 It has been our tradition that just after the holidays, usually the first week in January, that we put new batteries in our travel trailer detectors and test them. However a decision that Betty and I made about a year ago came home to rest with us during the wee hours of the morning. It was a kind of innocent thing, we were at the local dollar store and we purchased new replacement batteries for our detectors. However they were all out of the brand name, longer lasting type, that we normally purchase. Yep, we did it, we picked up some inexpensive “bargain brand” batteries. And, we got one of those “penny wise, pound foolish” lessons that life can give us. We were awaken from our sleep around three AM by a sharp “chirp” signal from a detector who’s battery was failing a little early. The detector’s design is such that it will give warning to prevent a failure without warning. A not so subtle warning about cheeping out when dealing with safety equipment ! Here is a look at this year’s replacement battery’s, ready for installation day. Our CO2 detector was the “chirping culprit” and we robbed a used battery from another source so we could finish up the night while protected. Here is a look at our smoke detector. It also uses a nine volt battery that we change annually at the same time. Our propane detector is mounted near the floor as are most, and does not use a battery. But, instead is hard wired into the trailer’s twelve volt system. While we are at it we change out the batteries in our indoor/outdoor thermometer and basement sending units. Share and Enjoy !0Shares0 0 The post Safety Detectors appeared first on Oliver Travel Trailers. Read the Full Article

So, it does fold up, right? Most of them I've seen, including build your own, fold up. Our home, our boat, and our Oliver are powered by solar. A solar oven is a natural choice, for many of us. Even if for just perfect days .

You're reading my mind...will do :)

Agreed, I locked my tanks and battery tray because the time it took was to drill a couple holes and as you can see in my picture, I used old padlocks from years past. I did spend on duplicate keys since I like Chris and I to each have a full sett of keys! 😂

Worthington Industries lists a 30# steel tank at 23.3 lbs tare weight (empty) and a 30# aluminum tank at 16.5 lbs Tare weight. 6.8 lb difference x 2 tanks = 13.6 lbs Sorry I didn't check a 20 vs a 30. Bill

John, I know you will do your research on this, after your dive please post up your info. I feel sure others would like to know. My initial thought is the weight difference may not be enough to justify the added expense of aluminum tanks at least for me. Another reason we opted to roll with a 1 ton diesel truck. Safe Travels! CAMP, CAMP, CAMP!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🫡

I wondered a little about if there would be enough room with a round lock, it might be tight. 5 years in and we have AGM’s and we only use the exterior hatch lock. I suppose if I had Lithiums I might consider a lock on the tray. This all sorta falls into the bucket of LP tanks and spare locks, I have never heard of either of these items being stolen at least from an Oliver owner here or on the FB owners forum. But if it allows an owner peace of mind, I say MOD ON! 👍🏻🤠 Lock’em UP!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸

There may not be enough room for this style preferred lock. @johnwen check for clearance on any lock you chose before you drill. My padlock just made the clearance and the round style may not. If it does clear the side wall it may protrude outward keeping the battery door from closing. Has anybody installed this style of round shackle-protected lock?

Think of it as a sun-powered crock pot. Anything you’d cook in the oven or stovetop is fair game. I find it best for large cuts of meat that require “low and slow” cooking to be their best are good candidates. Pot roast, pork shoulder roast, corned beef, I’ve even done pork ribs. So long as it’s a clear, sunny day it’s powered up. Cloudy days aren’t good. Windy days can be a challenge, but still workable. Doesn’t matter much what the ambient temperature is. You can do bread and cookies and other such things as well. We’ve decided be bread and brownies. In remote areas where people don’t have clean water, they use these to “pasteurize” water. They DO require that you attend to them - changing the azimuth and elevation of the oven as the sun “moves” (we do know it’s really the earth moving, right? 😋) This is more of a factor early and late in the day than midday. We find it to be a fun addition to our cooking methods and would be great for boondockers!

The two that go thru the frame.

You can effortlessly take the entire rear jack out in 10 minutes by removing only two bolts. I’ve done both of mine several times each. Then you can take the jack to the shop and work on any part of it. If anyone at the rally is interested, I will be happy to show you how it’s done.

Thanks Galileo and everyone - I learned a lot :). The indicator switch turned out to be the clue - I just had to keep closing and opening the tank valve until it showed green - and now I know to open slowly and am prepared for the next time 🙂

I don’t trust AI interpretations. Seems like everybody is trying to ram AI down your throat. Google returns an AI “synopsis” ahead of actual search hits, Yahoo Mail was summarizing my emails. I shut that off. Fully half the time it was getting it wrong - often exactly wrong. AI just grabs web content. That could be from sponsored sites, or crowdsourced sites that may or may not even be correct. I tend to skip right over the AI summary, blow past the sponsored sites, and scroll down to a source that at least sounds objective and reliable. (I had to turn off the valve, AND remove and reattach the POL connector to get the tank selector to show green. )

Something about this line of posts drove me to go back and check Jason's video about servicing our jacks. His video clearly shows the use of two different greases: The first is the connection point between the head unit and the foot jack leg unit. It depicts the red Mystic grease used on the suspension. Further into the video it shows the Mobilith white grease for the gear box: As dmtaylor 2 reported, removal of the three set screws can be difficult. If you find this to be the case, consider getting and using an impact tool. Many old motorcycle mechanics still have and use one of these: But even just mildly impacting the case with a Hand Impact tool can cause this: So I recommend using one of these: To get all three screws out, you'll likely need to remove the jack to frame mounting bolts. And that is a PITA for the two rear jacks. But that is far better than this: GJ .

Some heaters, maybe all have a feature that will stop further attempts to ignite after a certain number of failed attempts. Our is three. If this happens it can often be reset by turning the heat off and then back on.

We used to run our jacks up until they clicked, until one jack wouldn’t reseat and I had to use the manual handle. That was in the first couple of months back in 2016. Since then we run them up to about an inch of shaft showing. It takes two to do that, or one checking a couple of times. Mike

I considered the CV-2 grease but chose to stay with white lithium. The real issue was in trying to remove the motor head to grease the drive pin as per OTT. The 3 set screws were impossible to remove. That is the only way the second yearly maintenance procedure can be performed.

Congratulations. I looked for different shocks and couldn't find them. Next time I will try Bulldogs. :)_

Galileo: Smart move with the manual raise/lower crank handle. For the "jammed in full -up position"; I have retract our Barkers until they click the clutch. Then I reverse them down momentary to ensure that they are not stored under tension. To do so, we only need to lower them just a tad. Then when we want to lower the jacks, they are not jammed each time....and eventually they are not stuck. Barker uses a white Monolith grease. As such, it appears that your 2019 trailer likely had been serviced, as you mention, with red grease. Likely using John D.'s DIY post which says use CV-2. This could be a reason your disassembly was so difficult. Doing the exhaustive cleaning necessary without a commercial parts washer and a total disassembly is why I did not follow JD's suggestion to use CV-2 for the jacks. Mixing greases is bad. I figured that the extra cost of the Amazon Mobilith SHC 460 Grease was no where near the PITA and my time to convert. I suspect that after your experience, you would agree. Glad you were able to get yours fixed, and sorry for the trouble and expense it caused.

Congrats on the new Oliver, and a successful and long maiden voyage! With strong winds like that, it’s nice to have a heavy, rounded Ollie rather than a lightweight, boxy trailer!

That was lucky! 4-5 weeks ahead I looked at both parks plus ALL of the Maricopa Regional Parks. There was not a single night available for the week of Feb 24th, in any local park between Prescott and Tucson. Then two weeks out a Thursday night at Catalina opened up and I grabbed it. A few days later the Monday night opened at Lost Dutchman. That was our first night out and I like when the first day is less driving, Lost Dutchman being half the distance to Catalina from our home. Then a week before Catalina had a Wednesday opening so we got 2 nights, at two different sites of course. I wondered, what would they do for a flood? Our visit to Catalina SP was OK, not great. After the first night we moved to the new site at noon and had the day to investigate. I wanted to see the town of Oracle AZ and drive into the north end of Coronado NF to take the back route up to Mt. Lemmon. We got a few miles past Oracle and there was an obvious Temperature Inversion. All of the dust from the dry conditions of the valleys were trapped so that we were driving through a huge cloud of dust! After sneezing a couple of times and the look of things we abandoned our trip. You could not see through the haze at all, not a single view of Santa Catalina Mountains while climbing up! One reason for your visit was to meet friends who had recently purchased a home in nearby SaddleBrooke Ranch. We played pickleball with them and others in the community on two evenings and had a great time. Dinner at their home the first night and a good strong hot shower the next morning! Drove up to Wickenburg for our last night, taking a detour around Phoenix to Gila Bend, Buckeye and up. We often prefer driving the back way up Hwy 89 to Prescott vs. I-17 (currently on a 5-year construction plan to widen it). This picture was taken from Constellation Park (found on Campendium $10/night) looking down at the town of Wickenburg. There was one site left available at 5PM! It was a short and sweet trip and we're back home today for the day of rest!

We like the looks of the SeaBiscuit strange box. Yeah, a little pricey, but tempting. First major trip out - I lugged the Honda 2200eu (I think) along with us in the truck bed. Never used it once. I was thinking of the SeaBiscuit locking box for the generator - but figured it probably wouldn’t be worth the investment based on that non-usage. Our OEM Oliver storage basket is only used for picking up firewood when entering a CG, bag of garbage heading to the dump station, or staging my blocks, chocks, Andersen WD wrench, and San-T-flush hose. I never traveled with anything in it. Though I know it will likely reap howls of disapproval, I had been thinking that a locking SeaBiscuit box here would be a great place to have a -running- generator. Properly modified with large vents and fan for cooling and combustion air AND a suitable system for moving exhaust away from the trailer. Yeah, that’s the part that will make the hair stand up on the back of your head. That said, every generator-equipped motor home I’ve ever seen just routes the exhaust to the edge of the vehicle. Wonder if there’s any history of CO deaths for those guys. (Like I said guys - I’m not doing this - just brainstorming!) Of course, best practice is keep your running generator FAR from your RV. Unfortunately, the Honda generators seem to have “Steal Me!” stenciled on the side, so unless I’m sitting outside watching it - I’d never even be using it.

🤘

She shows the water "disappearing" as it gets "combined chemically" with the Ethanol Shield. I don't find this unbelievable in that for years there have been products that you pour into your gas tank to rid the tank/gas of water. If you watch her video(s) she shows that the water settles to the bottom of the glass as it would in your tank and/or gas can. This means that it will stay there (for the most part) because water doesn't mix well with gas. This is where the Ethanol Shield comes in - it chemically combines with the water such that it is then drawn into the carburetor/engine so that it is burned during combustion. Make sense? As jd1923 points out, some products (like Sta-bil) really do not advertise that they do anything with water in the tank. They are products that primarily prevent gas from becoming "stale" very quickly and forming a "varnish". So, her comparison of Ethanol Shield versus Sta-bil is a bit unfair IMO. Bill

Managed to complete the job, as well as running the ford remote camera cable through the channel on the edge of the frame and greasing the zerks on the street side. It warmed up nicely yesterday, until the second part of the article air mass came through in the afternoon :-). Glad I did it though, the front street side shock fell apart in my hand. No piston movement at all. The remaining three all were various degrees of bad - wither compressed with one finger push or limited force. Compared to the new ones you could definitely feel the difference. Road testing Reset 2.0 after putting everything back together showed a distinct reduction in “wallow” on the uneven roads in our neighborhood. Two more projects off the whiteboard…

Jamesgang, Thanks! Updated: 2010 LE2 #45 SC 50.5" D52 Original axle capacity 2014 LE2 #50 SC 50" D52 Original axle capacity & Alcan spring & Disc Brake upgrades 2015 LE2 #75 SC 50” D52 Original axle capacity 2016 LE2 #110 SC 50” D35 Original axle capacity (Gathered from Wayfinder's posts) 2016 LE2 #113 SC 50 “ D35 Original axle capacity 2016 LE2 #159 SC 50.5” D52 Upgraded axle capacity 2017 LE2 #193 SC 50.5" D35 Original axle capacity 2017 LE2 #208 SC 50.5" D35 Original axle capacity 2017 LE2 #226 SC 50.5” D52 Upgraded axle capacity & Alcan springs 2020 LE2 #579 SC 50.5" D35 Original axle capacity 2021 LE2 #898 SC 50.5" D35 Original axle capacity & Alcan springs upgrade 2023 LE2 #1386 SC 50.5" D52 Original axle capacity Please me know if information needs to be added/changed for a hull # and can also add additional campers including LE1's.

Is it really a CO2 or just a CO detector?

We also have a Honda EU2200 in the bed of our F-150. When we need the generator, I remove it from the truck. It sets on the ground outside of our trailer or truck for "Just in Case" bad things that happen. Having it run in your TV or Tongue Box has several problems. One is that up front you have no line of sight to see a fire. At least if you put the generator on the ground and to the street side, if it cooks off, you have a chance of seeing the fire ball directly. Now I have never heard of a Honda generator "Self-Immolating"..... but if ours does, we will not be exiting the trailer about 4 feet from the fire. With it on the street side we at least could have an opportunity to see the fire ball and exit the trailer on the curb side. I would then grab the cord and disconnect it from the generator. Then use our awning crank as a hook to move the burning generator away from our Ollie. Or it could just sit in a box in the box at the front of Ollie and maybe the auto fire extinguishing system will overcome the leaking gasoline fire. Or if you run it in the TV bed, and it has a "problem", you would have a great excuse to buy a new TV. But then, what are the odds? Maybe something to really think about I suspect. 🙂 Safety John

Just the one that will kill you.