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Our Ollie is the first trailer we've owned. Moreover, the truck we pull it with is the first truck we've ever owned. As luck would have it, on our very first trip, having just picked up the trailer from Hohenwald, we were rerouted off of the highway due to construction. After a few miles we came across a beautiful covered bridge. 9 ft. I had no choice but to perform a "3 point" turn. Right in front of someone's driveway. After my 3rd or 4th (very clumsy) attempt, a car pulled up behind me. Of course, it was the owner of the driveway. And I was blocking her way. 🤪 She was extremely understanding, even complimenting us on the pretty trailer. Thank God for nice people. Another couple of tries and we got turned around. She smiled and waved us on our way. In about 20K miles of towing since then, we have not encountered a single low bridge. P.S. I am a little better at 3 pt turns now. 😁

One lane, three mile long, dead road (unknown to us) deep in the back woods of West Virginia. Sharp fall offs on both sides of the road and absolutely no possible way to turn the truck and trailer around. Front hitch on the truck. I wouldn’t go anywhere without it.

Hello everyone, I bought a new converter (PD4045CSV) and installed it this afternoon. Now everything is working as they should and batteries are charging. this was an easy do-it myself project. When I removed the old converter it appears as though a resistor (R24) came unsoldered (see photo). I wonder if I were to resolver the resistor in place, if I would then have an operable spare. Next project will be to replace the shocks and the repack the wheel bears and we will be ready to hit the road. Ron

I have hull 806, a 2021 LE2. A couple of years ago my Girard awing unfurled on its own while I was preparing the trailer to leave our campsite. I had to manually crank it closed and tie it off to keep it closed. I eventually took the trailer to the Girard Red Bay Al service center to have it repaired. They said the motor brake failed and replaced the motor...about $1k, if memory serves me right (warranty expired). I now keep the awning strapped tight when traveling...similar to the picture in Mr Jim's post. I was very lucky it failed while at the campsite and not 60 minutes later at 60mph. Here is what was happening when it failed.....the awing was fully deployed and working fine. Preparing the trailer to leave, I retracted the awning. It did not close all the way...about 2 inches short. I then deployed it fully again with no problem and retracted it. Again it stopped about 2 inches short. I then started to deploy it again when it suddenly "let go". It self deployed about 10 times faster than normal and "slammed to a stop" at full deployment. At that point the awning would not move in or out with the motor. I thumbed through the Girard instructions and learned how to manually crank it in. I would advise everyone with this type awning to apply a strap when not in use. I have a piece of tape on the inside switch to remind me to remove the strap before deployment. Be careful out there! Steve

And for the LE I owners, 9'2" is pretty accurate per the specs. The only thing we have had to back out of is a Chick-fil-a drive through and for that we only needed a couple more inches of clearance. 🙂

I just love happy endings! GJ

Anyone with the Suburban hot water tank should check their power connections annually. Had I checked I could have caught the issue before the meltdown. I’m sure it’s been going on for years. One screw is all that is holding the cover on. Mike

@jd1923 and everyone, thanks for the tire information. I've updated my text-base tables to include the ST235/80R16, from my January 20th post above. I was amazed at the weight capacity as such low pressure. Hopefully the text-base tables are also more search-friendly. I'm still an Michelin LT lover, with the 16", but in 8 to 10 more years if I have not changed them out again, I will certainly consider putting on good ST tires, 16 inch. The old Goodyear Marathon ST tires used to be garbage from what I heard, but they have since fixed them with the Endurance. Not sure what years they were referred to as "China bombs". Since the Endurance started production in 2017 (research indicates), they've been much better. I run my tires at around 50 PSI travel temps.

Sounds like a new inspection item to put on my list. Thanks all for sharing.

We are looking to identify all of our options for increasing amp hours available when boondocking. We are in the Ollie I with the specs in our signature below. We have found that during the winter months (minimal solar efficiency even on sunny days) we get a maximum of 2 days out of our 260 AH Lithionics bank. We don't try to conserve, so we have a small ice maker going most of the time, use the microwave frequently, etc. We recently added DC-DC charging so if we are traveling frequently there are no issues. We are back to full charge by the next stop. But when we are stationary for 3 or more days we would like not to have to worry about running out of capacity. So these are the options I have identified for expanding capacity while stationary during winter or cloudy weather. Are there others we should consider? Thanks in advance! Add a portable panel(s) to more efficiently capture solar Replace the 260AH lithionics with batteries with a similar footprint but higher capacity Find a way to add another lithionics battery to our bank (Is there a way to do this? There is no enough room in our tray where the 2 batteries sit.) Use the DC-DC charging system to charge while idling (this has been a little unreliable so I have been researching why that is) Add a standalone power source to be used as reserve such as a 2000W Jackery power station Try to conserve while boondocking (probably not going to happen) Carry a generator (this option is a distant last) Thoughts!

We have the 640A/h Lithionics batteries, and in addition to the 400W of solar on the roof, I have three 200W folding panels. While 1000W of solar sounds like a lot, you'll quickly realize that (at least here in the eastern US) the roof panels are frequently shaded, the portable panels are sometimes a nuisance to move around, and that even on a perfect sunny day and constantly moving the panels, it would take 8-10 hours to completely recharge a battery from zero. The only time I've gone this route was in the heavily wooded Adirondacks last year when we were seven days without any hookups, and I don't have DC-DC charging. I only had two panels then, and the only AC we used was the microwave occasionally and the coffee maker once a day. Mid day, there were times that with 800W of panels exposed, I was getting less than 100W into the batteries. Driving home and one rainy night in a Harvest Host, we arrived at the house with somewhere around 46% state of charge. I thought that was pretty great! We didn't try to conserve power use. We just didn't need much. The biggest power draw was out fridge/freezer in the truck, which I had plugged into an Anderson Powepole outlet on the trailer.

Not sure of the full dimensions of your space in LE1 but you may want to check out some of the 300AH mini batteries like this one from Renogy. Renogy 300AH Mini Core They claim a much smaller footprint ...but be aware,,,this model doesn't have self heating for cold temp charging, but they do have low and high temp cutoffs for protection. List prices are currently $879 direct. Here are Epoch Dimensions Just an idea of others:

I'm not sure what vintage the old unit was? However, I recall that there was some question whether it was an AGM only battery charger. So if your new replacement has charge profiles for both AGM and Lithium and you want to retain the lithium option - then it's not worth keeping as a spare. Besides, no telling if the resistor is the only issue. Glad you're whole again! Geoff

I'd prefer not having another maintenance item, but thanks to Mike, next time our Oliver is home for service I will certainly open this junction box, remove all wire nuts and electrical tape, strip wires down to good copper, or replace wiring if necessary, and use butt connectors! Wire nuts and Wago connectors are not automotive grade! I've never used Wago products and likely never will. Wire nuts are for 120VAC residential solid-core wires. Wire nuts will not hold stranded wire effectively! Butt connectors are designed for stranded wire in automotive 12VDC systems to hold properly with movement/vibration. Another No-No is using ScotchLoks to add a wire. When I need to connect a third wire, I use a butt connector one size larger. Fold the wire to double thinkness on the side that has one wire. I had a boss years ago who said during a team meeting, "Anybody using ScotchLoks in installations will no longer be working for us!" OTT uses them often too and I remove them as needed. 😒

We have a 2022 elite II and this is something all together different than the awning opening while driving. We found out totally by accident that if the awning switch is left on the key fob for our truck activates the awning when you lock or unlock the doors the. This isn't normally a problem because the awning switch is not left on but it almost caused a divorce because we kept blaming each other for activating the awning when it was the key fob all along. Its always and adventure

Maybe it's my long-bed, long wheelbase truck, but I do believe it's the nature of the Oliver EII. It sure takes a long stretch of road just to straighten out TV and TT after it's been cocked from a turn. The only 3-pt turns I'm doing is where I can back into a driveway, a side road or field with short brush! Our truck is also 2WD, so in any maneuver, I must always keep the rear truck tires on solid ground. 😎 We travel FS roads all the time and use the Motor Vehicle Use Maps as a guide which they have for most AZ National Forests and other western states. These maps show road kind and size and mark where dispersed camping is available (see Prescott NF example). No drive-thru fast food lanes for us when camping! We travel to get away from all that! 🤣 When traveling up some FS road, we (Chris too) keep our eyes out for turn-around opportunities while thinking how far we would have to back up if the road ahead became impassable! Not the Oliver, but towing a similar-size dual-axle trailer, once I had to reverse over 3 miles on a road in North Texas, when the thunderstorm had turned the road ahead into a huge lake. At least, it was a straight paved road, but it was pouring so hard, near impossible to see out of the sideview mirrors. A major sigh of relief when we finally got to a crossroad! Yeah, the thrill of camping in the back country of "The West!" Prescott NF MVUM Front.pdf

I would think your best bet are the first two options. You can replace your current batteries and significantly increase your amp hours. I just replaced three 100ah batteries with two 300ah batteries, doubling our amp hours but using less space. An additional panel is easy to do also. We carried a generator for years, and used it when the weather was non-solar. They are a pain and I don’t like that option either. We also carry a Jackery 1000, but it is for Starlink power when we’re off the grid. Mike

Was 2005, our family moving from VA to AZ. I purchased a race car trailer, since it was the largest cargo trailer I could find used locally. Had a 26' cargo box, a 31' trailer and when packed with all of our family belongings to move west, it weighed 14K LBS, towed behind a new 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins 5.9! It had a 24' awning. We made it all the way to New Mexico. Boy-oh-boy is NM the sand storm and WIND state! Towing down I-40, looking at my sideview mirror while towing at 60 MPH, I could see the entire awning like a gullwing sail flapping in the wind and pulled over ASAP! All I could do, to get back on the road, was to rope tie it up on the rear end of the awning (the front had held). Sold the trailer a few weeks later, after moving into our new/current home. Before that, I deleted the awning, made it look like it never had one! 😎 If something was to happen to our Oliver awning, I would delete it as well. We've used it 4 times in 150 overnights. I've already deleted a few unused rooftop items, and would do so again. Our Fiamma closes on the front end and is always 1" short on the rear end from closing. We also have a safety strap! (look closely top-left)

Mike, I have been thinking about moving from LT to ST tires next year, just a thought for now. Thanks, Bill

Bill, we’ve got the same spare tire issue you had, 16” wheel with a lower profile tire than what’s on the trailer. In fact, I still have the original spare tire, probably should change it out. I’m thinking I’ll go to ST tires from the LTs I have now. We swapped out the original BF Goodrich tires after about 6 years and have had these Cooper AT3 LT tires for the last 4 years. Mike

I found myself on one of those small back roads one time, a couple of years ago, and could see about 1/2 mile ahead a very low overpass. While I had my specs for my Oliver etched in my brain, I decided it was time to get out and measure, since I had never done that. Just to be sure! Everything worked out, but that narrow road condition with a low overpass and no place to turn around is not a comfortable place to find oneself.

John, thanks. I’m using 2/0 cables. I asked the Epoch guy and he said 2/0 or bigger. I also have some longer M8 bolts that I ordered just in case. The bolts that came with the batteries work fine. I’m happy with the upgrade!

Mike, very happy for you, on your 600 Ah upgrade! It looks like you used the bolts that came with the Epochs on all 4 posts. I found when the 4/0 lugs were doubled up that the OEM bolts only had a few threads to hold on. Yours might be fine, depends on the thickness of the lugs, but on two I used M8 bolts 5mm longer (see pic).

Battle Borns gone. Epoch’s installed. Hold down straps aren’t on yet.

Agree with Ray, We will likely replace with Cooper Discoverer HT3 LT225/75R16 if they are still available when we are due. We will likely replace our original tires next Spring. Our current set has served us well.