Leaderboard

Some things need to be said. I am no tire expert but I can see at most a $500 savings per trailer using these tires. Offset that with the negative publicity, and now having to manage customers who order a new trailer and specify what brand of tire will be on it.... I don't see the benefit. The money does not move the profit margin needle all that much. Plus... how can you boast of a "Best in Class" trailer and put these tires on it. Unless I am mistaken, Oliver sells every trailer it can make in a given production year. Maintaining a healthy profit margin is important but at what cost? To my knowledge there was no official communication on the spring failure issue. Huge miss. There are other things too. Oliver has built not only a wonderful trailer but has "over the top" brand loyalty from it's products owners. I feel that sometimes we are reluctant to discuss the companies shortfalls. Maybe that is a mistake. Maybe Oliver is not getting the feedback it needs to hear because we are loyal owners. Even now I am thinking... should I hit "submit reply" or not. How does a company with such awesome brand loyalty loose it? Gradually.... and then all at once. I hope not.

Sorry for being so negative. We truly love our Oliver. China tires on an Oliver really got me.

We're using this.... but it has a hard time turning around when it hits the end of the aisle. The dog stays off the floor when it's running..... Scotty

Though it's never become unplugged, I decided to check my fridge plug to see if it was still a tight fit in the outlet. Looked under the sink and nothing there... Ends up they installed mine in the fridge enclosure and assessable from the bottomed outside vent. Still tight!

The real issue is payload capacity, which for a Lexus GX460 is 1,140 lbs. The tongue weight of an Oliver Elite II with any gear at all will be around 600 lbs. Add a passenger or two and some gear in your Lexus and you will exceed max payload. I wouldn't do it.

Hey all, I purchased a 2022 legacy elite 2 last summer hull number 1018. So far I have used it about 40 nights and have made a few small adjustments to make it as comfortable as possible. The reason for my post is i would like to go to a rally or do a tour with some other owners but have noticed a majority of other ollie owners are significantly older than i am. My vision would be to tour Wyoming, Montana, or Utah and make stops centered around mountain biking, dirt biking, rock climbing, hiking, and kayaking/fishing. I guess this is a feeler to see how many of us would be interested in something like that. I hope everyone has a good week and those on the road have safe travels.

I guess that you've never actually met ScottyGS!

Welcome to the community!! You'll find a wealth of knowledge here on the forum. There is an Oliver National Rally this fall, details of which can be found here. The demographics do tend to show a greater number of older folks most likely due to the fact that these trailers are fairly pricy and that they are favored as a "couples trailer", not so much for families. Lately I think that's changing a bit though with younger folks buying in.

I wouldn't do it as others have stated. You will wear out that Lexus out in no time not to mention the safety factor or lack of it. You also might be surprised at just how luxurious and nice to drive new trucks are these days.

1 more than a 1fer? 😁

I wouldn’t. I’m towing with a 2021 200 Land Cruiser with the 5.7 V8, and it is just adequate. Merging is sometimes scary, and Appalachian hills require my 8-speed to run in 4th often. Tongue weight can be 600 plus pounds, and I’m already at cargo capacity with two rows of seats removed. I don’t think the GX has my 1450 pound cargo capacity. Most will advise that you need a 3/4 or one ton diesel pickup, but a few of us pull with large body on frame SUVs.

I don’t think I missed your point, I’m just not buying what you’re selling. Our 6v batteries don’t have fill caps. Nor do they even have covers you can pry out to get to the cells. (Trust me, I looked.) Rather, they have the “Delco Eye” (magic eye, whatever) that is a combination hydrometer and electrolyte level indicator. It’s the mark of a maintence-free flooded cell battery. Short of overcharging these batteries, they’re designed not to need watering for the life of the battery due to removing antimony from the lead and using calcium instead to reduce gassing and electrolyte loss. I even had distilled water ready to service the batteries. I was a bit disappointed that there was no way to do that - but - I got over it and finally stopped carrying that jug of distilled water. And yes, as a former mechanic, I’m well aware that old cars had 6 volt batteries, generators rather than alternators. I even know why neither of those is true today. Anyway - we’re happy with our antique 6v old technology batteries. I guess it’s a good thing that we still have the freedom to choose our own style of camping and to choose what we each consider “good” places to camp. We -like- campgrounds with 30 amp power and water. We also like campgrounds with showers - and laundry when we can get it. We can always hike out to experience the ticks and chiggers if we feel the need. BTDT. “Boondocking” isn’t our style. If it were, we would have opted for the (at the time) expensive lithium package and probably solar. Frankly, I don’t think the sleek, low-drag fiberglass shape of the Oliver is well suited to solar panels. Perhaps when flexible solar panels that can conform to the curves of the roof are perfected, I’ll reconsider that option. Anyway, there’s no reason for us to equip our trailer with capacity we’ll never use.

Not all Chinese tires are created equal. On my flat bed trailer (17,000 lbs gvwr) I have a Chinese brand with a good reputation and in that particular size and load rating, thats about all you can get. But the China bomb tires are real thing and careful, thorough research is essential. If the new Oliver tires are on that bomb list, it would really be a sad day. Basically i would not take the trailer off the lot until a swap was made.

Saw an olie on 295 in ME today with ME number pate LAND HO just curious ?

As with most things, I'm sure this is true. However, I believe in the acronym "Anything But China" (ABC) whenever possible. Often, China is the only choice. Current management is changing that now, if you know what I mean! 😎 For 30 years, I've purchased a lot of tires from Tire Rack. I can understand the draw to Discount Tire because they are everywhere you may need them on the road, but I find them over-priced and difficult customer service. Tire Rack includes a 2-year Road Hazard and include installation in your purchase and choose a local shop, ship them there and get a contracted installation rate. The other thing I like about Tire Rack is they are the only company that lists "Country of Origin" at the bottom of the Specs tab for every tire they sell. @John Dorrer if your friend with the new Oliver is still in the market for tires, I strongly suggest these at this price! (EDIT: these do not come in 15" so will only work for older Olivers with 16" wheels.) Michelin Agilis CrossClimate LT225/75R16 These had MSRP of $260 each but are discontinued for the new version, on closeout for $189. I have these tires on our Oliver because it came that way. These are great tires for the Oliver, designed as a high mileage commercial van tire. I've towed our trailer about 300 miles on rocky Arizona dirt roads. The rocks on our roads are sharp. I know this because once I got a 4" cut into a rear dirt bike tire. We have about 18K miles in the last 2 years, and I have no idea how many miles prior owner(s) towed and the tread and sidewalls look like new with DOT codes 2420 (6 years old). They are Michelin, and according to Tire Rack, Made in the USA! Anybody need new Oliver tires?

However, the GX and the Elite I would be a fantastic combination! Luxury on either side end of the hitch.

For anyone that’s considered an induction hot plate, you can get the popular and very effective Duxtop single burner $100 today. This is about as good a price you’ll get on this item. https://a.co/d/00yjwMea If you need a very good quality induction skillet, we’ve found the Greenpan ceramic to be a top choice for non-stick ceramic with no teflon in the coating. https://a.co/d/0d7MmpY3

I guess they located the receptacle there for the earlier units. I think it makes more sense. That way the power cord doesn’t have to pass through and walls and all the wiring is in one spot. WHY they changed that is an interesting question. Perhaps someone was worried about moisture or corrosion?

Removed Ollie's spare tire housing again and firmly pulled across one area of tire tread to see if the spare tire had complete contact against the fiberglass hull. It moved a little, not as easily as @Dirt Duff tire. The wing nut was causing friction against the wheel, I thought the spare tire was tight contacting the fiberglass hull completely with the 225/75R/15 spare tire. Believe the same thing was happening with the original 215/60R/16 spare tire, too. Both tires were contacting the fiberglass hull previously in areas, but not completely. Cleaned the area on our camper where the spare tire contacts the fiberglass hull and installed four 3 1/4" diameter 1/4" thick door knob pads for the tire to contact like @Hokieman did on his spare tire. With two nuts still on the stud and four 1/4" thick doorknob pads installed on the hull for the spare tire to contact when tightening down the wing nut, the tire contacts all four pads with clearance left between the wingnut and two nuts. I'm keeping two nuts on the mount stud, but in some cases there could be contact between the second nut and wingnut on other Oliver spare tire installations like it would be on @jd1923 trailer, possibly due to small variations of wing nuts, mounts, wheels and tires. Really like the plastic disc @Townesw installed for the wingnut to contact when the wingnut is tightened against the wheel.

We are in the area as well (north Idaho). All for hiking. I had my go at mountain biking Moab a few years back, and that is when I realized I was not really a mountain biker (slickrock kicked my butt) 😄 We are on the younger side of ownership as well (pre-retirement but hitting empty-nester years).

I concur! @Ollie-Haus showed me this product last year and we bought two, one for home and one for the Oliver. We use the one at home every day and the other on every trip. They are usually $130, so this New price is very good. I purchased both of ours Amazon Used Like New for $80 each on Amazon. They both came in new condition.

Good example Ron! Most of us want more capacity but I wasn't even trying to upsell. My point was to spend the same dollar for the same low Ah capacity but choose modern lithium technology because it makes good sense to do so! Lose 200 LBS weight, take half the space, get twice the life in charge cycles, 3 times the warranty. And btw, LA batteries are somewhat dangerous, towing with sulfuric acid! But I'm with you, Ron! We cool our Oliver while towing, so the cabin is cool during fuel and lunch stops, no hook-ups there. I'm also not trying to convince anybody to change their camping style, but for us, we don't use public bathrooms anymore, because we have all the comforts of home in our Oliver. We travel batteries and fresh tanks full. With 900 Ah in battery capacity, we can run our A/C for 3-5 days weather depending, and with and an extra 35-gal fresh water in the TV we can last over a week including water for showers. But that's us, not trying to sell. Even if you spend every night at a campground with hookups, what if you run into weather or a roadside breakdown? Having extra water and battery capacity sure would help. And my friend @johnwen had his LA batteries fail when he unknowingly ran out of LP and the fridge had switched to DC. If he had made his 600 Ah Lithium upgrade prior to this issue, their fridge would have run another 3-4 days on battery keeping the food cold. I tried, but the OP is determined. What would you choose?

Welcome @carpenter! While I do like to mountain bike and road bike as well, hike etc and live reasonably close to you in MT. We are up here in Bozeman so feel free to stop in for a visit, just understand I doubt I could keep up with you mountain bike at my ripe old age. Just did a 14 mile ride yesterday and my 4 month old new replacement knee is feeling it today. LOL. Good luck with your adventures.

Concur with @Steve Morris above. You will likely be running on the ragged edge of capacity, if your vehicle is properly equipped. On flat land with no wind and no possibility of any adverse conditions or emergency maneuvers it may “feel safe” and adequate, but you’ll soon learn that it’s marginal at best in most conditions and inadequate in some situations. Best advice is very well equipped 1/2 ton truck or better. For the price of a well equipped half ton you can get a 3/4 ton and pull the camper with ease and safety and everything else is a wash.

Looks like two Olivers in the photo.

Our 2022 came from the factory with a zip tie routed under the fridge receptacle to tie down the fridge plug. No-one at the factory actually attached that zip tie, so the plug popped out, but at least it was there so I could finish the job and secure the plug. 🙄 It's been fine ever since.

In another recent video he shows build quality of popular lower-end batteries. He even jokingly said something like, “I hope I don’t get sued”. LOL BB is dead due to their decisions in this matter. No other reason. They just don’t know they’re dead yet. “Dead man walking”. Time to move on to better things.

That’s our preference, as well. However, I choose to replace the four 6v Trojan T-105 225Ah batteries with LFPs three years ago for the specific purpose of being able to run the air conditioner off the house batteries. In doing so, lost half the weight and gained double the usable Ahs. When in transit to and from a destination and making stops along the way to rest, eat meals, shop, and do unplanned repairs and maintenance; I find comfort in a ‘cool retreat’ at these times. I can even pre-cool the Oliver prior to a planned stop, as deemed necessary. As @jd1923 emphasized, the DC-DC charger will quickly bring the house batteries to a respectable SOC upon arrival at a destination. This is how we roll and very pleased with the LFP upgrade.

It was.

I totally agree. During my intense cleaning this winter. I removed the bumper and slid the tracks around to get things clean. That was one of the first things I noticed that it was a leak point. Secondly the stopper clamps down enough on the track that it would probably that it would stop the flow of water out the weep holes. I have thought about leaving the stopper out and plugging the hole with chalk.

Yep, you wrote "6V batteries" and most still have the fill caps! AGM is "maintenance free" yet glorified LA. You know in the early 50s and before, every American automobile used a 6V battery. 🤣 I guess you missed my point, but I'll give it one more try... In 2019, I upgraded a Class C with solar, inverter and three 100 Ah AGM batteries. AGM (LA) was the right choice then. I paid about $800 for 300 Ah (150 usable). The alternative was two 100 Ah Battleborn batteries which many Oliver Owners in the day purchased. This would have been about $2,400 which came to 3x the cost. This is not true anymore. You can buy cheaper LiFePO4 brands, but two of these Epoch 105s come to $1000, Four quality AGM batteries will cost about the same. LiFePO4 is warrantied for 11 years while the Gold model on any LA battery is warrantied for 3 years. Epoch Batteries 12V 105Ah Essential Series LiFePO4 Battery — Renewable Outdoors Two of these have very close to the same usable Ahs as 4 LA. These weigh 22 LBS each so you could also lose 200 LBS in the battery bay and have enough room besides for a good size toolbox! 😎 You'll have trouble finding another Oliver owner who would be the defense of a future purchase of lead-acid house batteries. But it's certainly OK if you want to be the one. Just trying to help. 😎

I think when I reinstalled my 30amp power cord, that's when it tripped that breaker. If it trips again, I'll install a different kind of breaker and locate it somewhere I can get to it easier. Like I said, I wish the manufacture whould atleast have a diagram of where all their circut breakers are located instead of us spending all kinds on time digging around. Be nice.

What makes it a 2fer?

I watched the OTT video on the 2027 model. It turned my stomach in disappointment. Can't stand the BLACK framed windows that look like eyesores to the interior. But worse than that... What educated buyer cares about fancy options when the basics are substandard? OTT is making design changes in their Hohenwald bubble when all they need to do is read a few threads on the forum they provide! It is a lot of reading, but OTT Management please start by reading the 37-page thread "Made in USA Leaf Springs." Dexter 1750 LB springs have been failing forever and they still mount them? Ten years ago, they mounted Michelin LT Agilis tires on 16" HD rims, now you get ST tires on 15" rims, and more recently some China Cr@p tires? 🤣 They should lose OPTIFUSE breakers and source something with quality. Lose Xantrex over the much-preferred Victron products. I'll give them one good choice in dropping Truma! All Jason talked about was the solar awning, made by another manufacturer, just bolted on by OTT. He said it works better in the morning, facing the sun, but then I'd have to get my tired butt up and out to erect it. You'd also have to think about sun direction when parking in addition to leveling! What if the level spot has no sun exposure in that direction? We've only used our awning 5-6 times in 3 years. They could put 600W solar on the roof with a directional mechanism. Now that would be useful! Why after 10+ years are they still mounting switches, fuses, breakers and water valves under the beds. I fixed all that after the fact, but it would be better if they would do the right things from the start! 😎 Why are there over 40K posts in the Mechanical & Technical Tips and Ollie Modifications forums alone? Better design would lead to less need for maintenance and modification of our hulls.

This was sensible on a cost basis 5 years ago and before. LiFePO4 batteries used to be expensive. Today you get far more usable Ah/$ going with LiFePO4 batteries over 4 "golf cart batteries!" Watering batteries doesn't have to be a thing anymore, OMG! 🤣 But what do I know? I really dislike connecting to shore power. With our recent upgrades, we travel for weeks without the need to plug in! Our DC-DC charger alone allows us to produce more Ahs in 5 hours towing than you have in your entire system after being plugged in all night, and that's if your batteries were brand new. Really, take a good look at LiFePO4 today! You'll save money outright on an Ah/$ basis. When you figure 10-year vs. 5-year life, the savings truly double! Lead acid only belongs in the tow vehicle as a starter battery, not anymore for deep-cycle storage.

I think I’ve seen the tie-wrap trick somewhere - perhaps even on the fridge plug. If that’s where I saw it, then it slipped off. I suppose that’s one band-aid that stands a chance of working. On the battery charger outlet/plug, if there’s room I could use a couple of the adhesive tie-wrap mounts to provide a place to anchor the tie-wraps. Still, the only permanent, craftsmanlike repair is to cut off the plugs and hard wire the devices. I suppose that will void the warranty - but at 4-5 years old - I doubt there’s much warranty left if any.

New Will Prowse YouTube Video is out. I can't get it loaded. Here is the YouTube post page.

Update: Water pump switch has been fixed. I was in Hohenwald for a furnace and water heater issue so I had them troubleshoot and fix as we are still under warranty. The issue ended up being a loose connector on the Seelevel switch. Mike and the Oliver service department were great in addressing all of our issues.

Absolutely! Several Ollie owners do. In fact - as long as you are thinking about getting a spare sensor for the Ollie, why not get two - one for your tow vehicle too. Sure does make checking the tire pressure in both those spares a bunch easier. Bill

Though I’ve cleaned and dried out the hole where this screw/bumper go, and re-installed it with some sealant, I won’t know until the next rain if it fixes the problem. Upon looking closely at the window, I discovered that the center muntin (divider between the fixed and moveable window) is held in place by screws through the bottom - and I assume - top of the window frame. It’s just as likely that the screw in the bottom of the window frame is a source for the leak as this number. If that turns out to be the case, the whole window will likely need to come out to remove, clean, seal, and re-install the window. That should be fun (not).

It's possible a dealer swapped the tires out. I've heard of dealers doing that sort of thing. Example: The sale of some other brand trailer they have on the lot is held up because the customer doesn't want the Castle Rock tires. There's the unsold Oliver over there with brand new Goodyears in the same size. Problem solved!