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Hello everyone! I have been lurking on here for a bit waiting for my chance to finally post. 🙂 I have been waiting until my Oliver was whole again! While I was waiting and watching there were even some posts about my Ollie in its previous incarnation. It was hard to hold my tongue 😜 LE hill #25 is a trailer once more! Some of you may be disappointed that she is no longer a monster adventure rig, but I am over the moon now that I can tow her. It was quite the odyssey to collect all of the pieces and find the right person to set things right, but she is back together and our adventures together have begun!

Great episode, Steve!

I, for one, was thrilled to see this trailer resurrected and restored to its original beautiful self. Personally, I thought that the prior owner made a terrible mistake and created something akin to a mud fence. No disappointment here, good work...

Can't help you with this one. Our TV is an SUV with a back hatch. But the pathfinder back door does not even come close to the box with our setup.

I believe both John Davies and Max Burner previously posted their steps in making this mod. Here is the link to Max Burners project

Is this what you are looking for? https://1up-usa.com/product/led-light-bar-license-plate-holder

Here ya go, eye candy!

Actually, this whole thread has been very helpful and we are very grateful for all the information. Thank you all! We just got home late last night with Hull#1665 right behind us. Lots of learning to do but we are enjoying g the resources here and on YouTube.

After spending considerable time and money to get our Oliver cleaned, stripped, buffed and ceramic coated, and all exterior trim painted or replaced, I figured is was time protect our major investment! Our TV had bolt-on 12x18" rubber mud flaps which were not nearly wide nor long enough to adequately protect the Oliver. On our camping trip last summer, we hit some mud in the grasslands of North Dakota and the entire lower front and rear bottom of the Oliver were packed with MUD! The TV is most important, to protect the Oliver front, so I started there. I looked for mud flaps that would fit and soon decided to get stock material that could be cut to size. I purchased this product. It's a poly non-rubber material 0.15" thick. It could be a little thicker but I like how it holds its shape and position, not flopping around like rubber. I purchased this huge 24x36" set made for semi-trucks so I had enough material to cut both TV and TT mud flaps! All for only $19! You could find better material but so far so good and now that I have worked this project, replacing the material in the future would be easy enough! 😎 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XRHB7GH/?th=1 I removed the original mud flaps, used them as a template and I added 3" in both length and width (1 1/2" wider inside and out). On the curbside, I had to make a large oval cut-out the the tailpipe. Because the new flaps are wider I cut a curve on top to blend the flap the the truck body (see pics).

It took a couple days labor, but I take my time and enjoy the work! $50 in parts for both truck and trailer, you can't beat it. 😎

Time to repeat for the other side! Common thinking and my first thought was that I could turn the template upside and trace the mirrored view for the other side. Good thing I thought to measure twice. I positioned the cardboard stencil made for the right side and found I had to drill the holes about 5/16" lower for the left side. Who knows why except that only OTT could do so! Was a simple fix to adjust the drill hole placement, and otherwise the pattern flipped over was identical. Pictures show the streetside and how the jack fits with Andersen blocks, and the view from the rear showing both mud flaps (bumper off for polishing). Boy, I used to hate cleaning the road tar, grease and grime from under there! No more, just pressure wash the mud flaps! 😎

I cut the base of each rear stabilizer jack to have one flat edge. This allows more room for the flap to arc rearward while towing and so the flap material is not always hitting the same point on the arced edge. I don't believe the strength of the part was reduced much and these parts are readily available. I already have one spare! Use a 10" steel cutting blade on a chop saw and this is quite a strong piece of metal. By the time it cut through it had melted a ring into the plastic plate below. Filed the edges smooth on my bench grinder and steel brush. I may hit the open edge with spray paint later. So, the right side is done and I'm very happy with it! 😎 Several views to follow...

Next step; cut stock for the Oliver flaps. The stock was 24x36" so I cut every flap sideways making them all 24" long to start. I cut the Oliver 13 1/2" wide to stick out 1" beyond the tires and I made the area under the mounting bracket a 13 1/2" square which made the mud flaps sit 4" off the ground. It's too difficult to work with the full length of stock when cutting a pattern to fit around the curved body of the Oliver. So I cut a piece of cardboard 13 1/2" wide like the flap and 10 1/2" tall, the measurement from bottom of bracket to the top. I drilled the 3 mounting holes into the cardboard for alignment. I used the little curvy tool (stocking stuffer from Chris a few years back), took a few measurements and started to cut away at the cardboard making the opening longer and wider. I wanted at least 1/4" clearance above the fender and 1/2" below, so not to touch and to allow for cleaning the fiberglass. Another cut to follow the pattern of the inside wall until the cardboard was perfect. Then traced it onto the poly stock and cut some with a razor-knife and the sideways tin snips worked very well. Used razor blades, a grater block and files to clean up the edges, and voila! 😎 Afterwards, I traced the finished mud flap onto graph paper so I can share my template with our Oliver friends who would like to copy the design!

I understand most of you have good mud flaps on your TV, but on your Oliver? @John E Davies installed some on his Mouse back in 2018! Craig @Galway Girl did a similar installation more recently and maybe there are others. In the designs I've seen, the mud flaps were mounted behind stabilizer jacks where there is a frame cross-member, an easy place to bolt a horizontal mount. I was not happy with this design as it does not protect the full underbody behind the wheel, nor does it protect the stabilizer jacks from taking mud. My goal was to install a mud flap between the rear tire and the jack, but there’s only about 3-4" or space! I realized that with a fitting 90 bracket I could use a frame bolt for support. I removed the 3” carriage bolt that holds the rear of the steel suspension subassembly to the main aluminum frame. I purchased #5 ½” bolts, 3 ½” long to be a ½” longer allowing for the 0.4” depth the the HD counter bracket. After an hour and a half searching Amazon, I found these which turned out to be perfect! I got the 6x10” brackets, where the 10” length ends just inside the width of the wheels. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095NRB6N4/?th=1 I used the stabilizer jack to get the rear axle up on a jack stand (placed under the plate centered between the leaf spring U-bolts). Then I removed the wheel and the base of the jack stand to allow for ample work space. Each side of the brackets has 3 predrilled bolt holes. On the 10” length, they’re perfect to mount the flap. On the 6” length, I got lucky! The center hole is just in the right spot to mount to the frame bolt. I drilled the center hole wider to ½” and bolted it in place tight enough to hold the angle. Then I used a digital caliper to get the bracket perfectly level to the frame. I used a 5/16” drill bit, the size of the existing holes, to scare a center, then switched to a ¼” drill bit which is the correct size for a 5/16”-18 tap. Drill through both the steel sub-assembly and the aluminum frame. I used a little cutting oil to make the drilling and tapping go easier. Then added Grade-8 5/16” bolts which I had on hand with blue thread-locker. The ½” bolt has a Nyloc nut. Torqued them down by feel with ratcheting wrenches and this HD bracket ain't going nowhere!

Did you check out Rock Tamers? We have their net between the flaps to provide full coverage.