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I have been very unhappy with the Dexter leaf springs. I have towed my trailer 15-20,000 miles since purchase in 2021, 99% of the time on pavement. Last year 2 of the leaf springs broke and were replaced along with the shocks, since they bent the shaft on the shock when the leaf springs broke. This year I had another leaf spring break. I contacted Oliver and they told me they are now using Alcan leaf springs, starting with the 2027 models. I am thinking that's because they have had a lot of problems with the Dexter leaf springs. Reading through this thread it seems like many have had problems with the Dexter leaf springs. I have ordered Alcan leaf springs so we will see how they do when I get them installed.

I looked over my footage, not worth uploading. I was holding the camera, there’s too much camera shaking from holding it to be useful. Second it’s not long enough, you’d need an hour of watching the footage to see it, and ideally you’re also seeing the road too. In other words, ideally you’d be watching it while driving. It’s not something that jumps out at you, it’s not obvious as first glance. Initially I was thinking “move along, there’s nothing to see here”. But after 45 minutes or so of watching a story emerged which I wrote about above. It took that long to see the pattern, which I’d characterize as … Trust your suspension. Baby it, inspect it, religiously do your maintenance and inspections. It’s doing its job but is taking a hell of a beating. After this I’m going to religiously inspect before every drive. Upgrade it with the best components you can (Alcan) Factory suspension is clearly undersprung (Alcan) And now I am going to carry all these Dexter parts as spares on the road Trust your trailer, don’t underinflate your tires The Oliver is built like a tank - that’s why we bought it right? As detailed above the aircraft carrier is the best description. I’ve seen other suspension drive videos with conventional trailers and you can see them rattling and moving. In fact there are RV tech videos talking about the need for those panels to move relative to each other, ideally with a good angle bracket covering the edge. The Oliver is nothing like this from frame to body. Nothing is meant to move, it’s stiff like crazy, and from what I can see at best only very high band/high frequency vibrations make it through. But in a fiberglass four body trailer like this they’ll just damp themselves away. Avoid porpoising as best you can All the shaking going on inside the trailer? It’s that. Comparing that from the side mirrors to the underbody cam was night and day. Clear that any internal trouble comes from that Somewhat related, I had my Anderson installed from the factory. They recommended slightly slack chains. It’s bothered me ever since, how could these possible be doing any weight distribution? Didn’t get any response here about it but consulted Gemini which was clear that the chains need to be tensioned for WD to occur. So this trip I tried it, lifted the truck back end a couple inches, tightened the chains and then lowered. End result was the truck towed a bit better. I run a heavy trailer with a 700 lb tongue.

Towed it back home after a trip. The following observations are preliminary pending what I see after I install the Alcan. They’re not scientific or measured in any way, but my impression from watching the trail cam for an hour over a variety of road conditions. Having said that I’m pretty confident of the patterns I’m seeing. I’ll try and post good video captures before/after so you can make up your own minds (I got some video from this trip but I really need a phone mount), but for now here are my impressions … Suspension Run, don’t walk and get yourself set up with a set of Alcan 5 leaf! For reference I started as an Alcan skeptic to agnostic, now I’m a raving convert. The stock suspension is undersprung, I’m convinced of it. Confident I’m seeing that the springs have too little travel and bottom out too quickly. After this I can’t unsee it, just sitting there parked they’re too compressed. Alcan’s assessment that for this trailer you need five leaves is 100% accurate, and for an engineer to say that is as strong an endorsement I can make. The stock suspension works, that’s the best I can say, but they’re not performing as they can (or should). I’m really curious to see the Alcan’s in action but I have no doubt it’ll be better than this. Five springs? All the way. Tire Pressure Stop underinflating your tires! Its ruining milage and stressing your tires. It’s perfectly clear the suspension is doing what it’s supposed to do and absorbing the bumps and rattles. Whatever makes it through that doesn’t matter and there’s little you can do about it anyhow. This is most obvious on hard, quick impulse hits like going over a pothole. That suspension is getting brutalized! But it’s taking it, I can see it rattling around like crazy but I’m not seeing an ounce of rattle making it to the hard mounted camera. Think of it this way, imagine a 7 thousand pound weight going down the road. Lots of mass and momentum right? Hard to get it to move out of a straight line according to Newton, correct? But it’s got a spring connecting it to the road which is designed to move and quickly. What I see is 100% clear - the trailer plows ahead like an aircraft carrier that doesn’t care one bit about the road, while the suspension is getting beat to hell. By the way I’m able to judge the trailer vibration I think by how ‘steady cam’ it is, and compared to the road/lines/etc as a reference. Basically it looks like an actual steady cam, while the suspension is rattling away and moving all over the place, while the trailer just isn’t seeing it. If you see stuff getting knocked around inside it’s the porpoising. That’s the biggest trailer movement I could see, with a little minor waddle, but road rumble isn’t making it up there much as far as I can tell. Tank drain Kind of an interesting one. I opened the fresh drain valve and it continued to drain intermittently for over an hour, from 30%. Going from a stop would always get a gusher. Anyhow FWIW - feel free to keep your Dexter’s and low pressure, but I wouldn’t touch it after seeing it in the real world.

I am challenged enough coming up with dinner ideas at home, let alone camping! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! We are heading to southern Utah next week and I will definitely be making this. Any more recipes you can share?

Apologies in advance for those who already read our post on the subject, but here's a "Reader's Digest" version of what our conversion finally ended up like... 1. We mounted the POE injector (converts 12vDC to 44vDC for dishy), DC-to-DC converter, 3rd party mini travel router, and wiring in the closet (the second DC-DC converter is for the Camera): 2. Power Switch for SL kit and Security Camera located on bulkhead above closet door: 3. Communication (Ethernet) Cable penetrates closet bulkhead (adjacent to bathroom), drops down under vanity, exits hull via a Blue Seas Clam along with DC-DC charger cables and OEM 12vDC cable (pls. ignore the knucklehead in the pic): 4. The SL Cable is routed forward into the "dog house" and exits via a "weather proof" (term use lightly) 4-pair connector: NOTE: Normally, we would mount the dishy on top of the flag pole which you'll see the mount for above, but today we've been informed by Ranger Rick that flood warnings exist on the TN River and we may need to "Exit Stage Right (like Yogi would say)" rather quickly, so dishy is mounted in it's travel box and placed on a picnic table for a rapid departure, if needed: This post is coming to you via our 12vDC Dishy kit, FYI... Good luck with your's! Feel free to PM us anytime regarding details not covered in this or our previous posting on the project. Cheers!

For SL users and potential users - there's literally a dozen or so ways to convert SL to a 12vDC kit. Pick one that meets your camping style and you're comfortable with - you'll never look back. We converted ours earlier this year and still have the capability of using the original SL router and cable should we need to use it at home or elsewhere on 120vAC - just left us with another option. We didn't have to take any OEM equipment apart, except for cutting the ethernet cable and installing CAT V plugs on either end (piece of cake, BTW). There's definitely a power saving advantage by converting over to DC - we figured 20 - 25% less power than running it on AC. FYI: this message is coming to you via our kit running directly off our Battle Borns from the middle of TN somewhere! Roll-On, regardless...

Someone posted this in another thread: https://www.trioflatmount.com/shop/p/gen3-12vconversion I ordered one to give it a shot since it plugs into the Starlink router and you either hardwire it or wire on a 12v cigarette lighter plug. Pricey little bugger but I really hate soldering electronic stuff and it seemed more reasonable than other options.

Can't speak for East/Midwest US - but, FYI; Starlink is the "BOMB" in the Rockies... just say'n