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We made it back to town. Minor damage. We were lucky that we didn't receive anywhere near what they were predicting. It was an adventure. Hubby ended up being made commander of Texas State Guard as he wasn't called in because of evacuation status. JellyBean became headquarters! Lol. We had shore power, a laptop, and hot spots from the phones. Daughter is currently deployed to Houston as part of National Guard.

Regarding the Ford Transit and weight distribution hitches--I tow with a 2015 VW Toureg TDI and VW doesn't recommend the use of a WDH. I've towed with the standard bulldog hitch for almost 2 years and I've never had any issues or problems with my setup. I have a highly adjustable ball mount that allows me to fine-tune the ball height and tongue weight. I've towed the Ollie with the TDI over 13,000 miles. I've towed in the mountains, desert, in high winds, etc. and have never felt insecure or unsafe. I typically tow at 55 to 65 mph on two lane highways depending on road conditions and 65 mph or a little higher on interstate highways.

I started finding stray hardware in my overhead cabinets, I took a closer look and found this: The holes are sized for a number 8 screw. The installed hardware is a number 4 FINE thread screw with a number 6 COARSE thead plain nut run down it. Whoever did this had his head in a very strange place indeed. The plain nuts rattle loose and the screws fall out. Then your expensive door can bang open and break out the hinge screws or worse. Simply unbelieveable! Here are the 8-32 x 3/4 stainless panhead screws and nylock (self locking) nuts that I installed. The washers are optional: For most of the latch plates I was able to get them to adjust back far enough to eliminate play. Some ran out of adjustment (probably the reason the too-small screws were installed) so for those I ground part of the head off the screws and also filed the slots in the brackets a little longer, so I could get more travel back.. I also checked and tightened as needed all the hinge screws. Please check your hardware, let us know here if you find the wrong size installed. Thanks, John Davies Spokane WA

We dodged most of it too. We have our son and family here since their neighborhood is under water. We also have their good friends here who also managed to get out at the last minute. 4 adults, 3 little kids and 3 big dogs. It's a party! They've got some great stories about neighbors helping neighbors. It's hard to imagine what is happening just 3 hours away. Mike

Dave, I want my brakes to be able to lock, even if I keep them set below that point. In the beginning, they would not lock at the max setting of "10". For a while I wanted the larger 5200 lb axles because of the larger brakes that come with them. Mine have gotten gradually more aggressive as the miles add up. I first ran at a setting of "10", then "7" for a while. Now, after about 4,000 miles, they are set at "5.5". I like them to be a bit more aggressive than the truck brakes so I can feel them come on. And I can at this setting when I touch the brakes. I don't really want the truck stopping the trailer, but want them working together with the trailer pulling back just a bit. This theory also will help if the trailer ever begins to sway. Just touch the brakes and it should straighten right out if it is trying to pull back. And, of course the proper way to deal with that is to apply the trailer brakes manually. Fortunately, Ollie is extremely stable. I test them on every outing to make sure where I stand with them. On my dirt drive I can see if they are all willing to lock up at about the same amount of brake pressure by watching them in the side mirrors. Then a hard stop on pavement without quite skidding is what I'm looking for, while being strong enough to really help on a downgrade or an emergency stop. On our last trip I began noticing they were skidding sometimes as I stopped and that is when I went from "7" to "5.5". This position will skid easily in the dirt, so sometimes I'll back off a bit off road, but not generally. I don't really care if it skids at 5 or 10 MPH going downhill in the dirt. It just takes some load off the truck. The rain or snow is a different story and I wish the trailer brakes were antilock. There is no good compromise in poor traction conditions, so I just reduce the setting to where the trailer won't push me too hard, and yet won't lock up and slide sideways on a curve. That is a tricky balance that will never be right. The trailer could easily jackknife the truck in that situation. I also have engine braking and that gets the majority of the highway descent duty. It too, must be used cautiously as it can generate about 128 Horsepower in braking force at the rear wheels only (in 2WD) and in slippery conditions on a winding road, especially pulling a trailer, can jacknife the truck. This is because the trailer brakes are not on at the time the engine brake is and the trailer is pushing hard. I find it comforting to feel the trailer pulling back and I don't mind those brakes working hard. I don't even mind the additional tire wear from occasional skidding, as I think the tires will time out before they wear out. My truck brakes get a lot more miles overall than the trailer brakes too, so using the trailer brakes aggressively is fine. I have a couple of downgrades where I used to be able to make the brakes fade on another trailer I have with the same brakes Ollie has. With my newer Ram, with engine braking, it never happens, but I sort of have a feel for how much they can take before getting weak. I'm perfectly happy to use Ollie's brakes to their full capacity. Safety is the most important to me and rebuilding trailer brakes is no big deal. I am surprised at how long they took to break-in. Seems like a strange situation where they are constantly changing for 4,000 miles. But overall I'm pleased with them now that they are working like I expected them too.

I see a lot discussion about the cons of the Anderson hitch as related to wear on the ball. Has anyone installed a different WD system with good results?

With a HD truck you do not need any kind of WD hitch, period. With just about any light duty pickup or SUV you need one since the suspension and payload is too soft to handle the tongue weight and the dynamic loads. I pulled Mouse 3300 miles with a simple ball hitch, behind my Ram 3500. My new TV is a 2013 Land Cruiser and there is no way it can handle the trailer without WD. It all depends on what you are pulling it with, and which model trailer. I think my 200 would pull an Elite I just fine without WD, with the addition of airbags and adjustable shocks. Finally, you don't need sway control with an Oliver. John Davies Spokane WA

There was a user, in NY who used to tow with a Nissan NV3500 seemed like a good pairing. http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/members/35189-albums1553-picture8661.jpg http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f80/sold-oliver-legacy-elite-23-6-2015-a-72113.html On this one, check out post 21 http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f51/our-2015-recently-purchased-new-oliver-legacy-elite-trailer-69638-2.html

Raspy, Yes! Your brakes are set up just as I would like mine to be. But this is not the case for me. Just came back from a test drive and still the brakes are anemic. Reading an article at E-Trailer, they mentioned a current check (amperage) to test the magnets. My P3 controller has this test function. It came out at 6.7 amps which is below the range they gave for 12" drums, which is between 7.5 and 8.2 Amps. So maybe I have bad magnets.... I think I'm heading to the mechanics shop as this is getting beyond my knowledge. We'll see where this goes. Dave

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01INZ7RY0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Mike

Disk Brakes are sweet. But it's not all good. They are an expensive item and much more complicated. The electric over hydraulic control system with all new hydraulic lines run to the wheels, for instance. The installation of the hydraulic unit on the trailer somewhere. And the difficulty in getting replacement parts quickly and easily if needed. If you think you are going to recover the cost because you'll be getting better mileage, your only fooling yourself. Drum brakes, set up properly don't drag and if they dragged enough to cost mileage they would quickly burn up. Disk brakes do drag, but still not enough to cause a problem. Slight looseness in the bearings will cause much more drag with disks than with drums, so bearing maintenance is more important. In order to remove the hub to grease the bearings the caliper has to also be removed, which is an additional step, and it must be torqued properly when going back together. My drum brakes work very well now that they are broken in and I'm happy with them. Again, the simplicity, low cost, ease of getting parts and the ability for anyone to work on them are important factors for a travel trailer that could find itself anywhere. One area of improvement though is the ability to have anti-lock. If the new disk setup you choose has anti-lock, it would be a big safety improvement in bad weather, but again, even more complicated, with a computer to manage the system. Also, disks work better in reverse than electric drum brakes do, but that's not big factor in by world. I'm gonna stick with my drums even though they are an old fashioned and imperfect design.