Leaderboard

Plan to sandwich 1/8" X 4" neoprene rubber between battery tray rails and fiberglass. Only using two 12V AGM type 27 batteries, so have plenty of room to place 1/8" X 4" UHMW plastic between batteries and tray to protect battery from metal hooks on straps. Secured 1/8 UHMW plastic on each side with one machine screw and tinnerman type nut that will not contact batteries.

Finished up mounting the batteries this afternoon. Couldn’t have done it without the help of fellow Ollie owner, Ken Cvacho, @mountainoliver.

I have a 2KW Champion inverter generator and I can start and run my AC (13,500) with it. I do have Easy Start on my AC. I know that Honda and Yamaha make good generators, but this Champion is lightweight, quiet and reliable. $399 at Tractor Supply. Mike

Received a new battery tray from Oliver. New tray is over 6 pounds heavier than original unit. The battery straps connect in the same fashion on both trays. New unit on right: Old unit: New unit: Same footprint and bolt pattern on both units: New unit top has larger/stronger bearing/slide assemblies:

“To sum up, for long and happy LFP battery life, in order of importance, you should be mindful of the following: Keep the battery temperature under 45 Centigrade (113 deg F), under 30C (86 deg F) if possible – This is by far the most important!! Keep charge and discharge currents under 0.5C (0.2C preferred) Keep battery temperature above 0 Centigrade when discharging if possible – This, and everything below, is nowhere near as important as the first two Do not cycle below 10% – 15% SOC unless you really need to Do not float the battery at 100% SOC if possible Do not charge to 100% SOC if you do not need it” https://www.solacity.com/how-to-keep-lifepo4-lithium-ion-batteries-happy/ Does the Oliver factory lithium option have any features to help cool the batteries, other than having no vents and some insulation inside the compartment door? Any idea how hot the inside of the box gets on a 110 degree day in direct sunshine? Have you considered the importance of keeping that side of the trailer in shade during extreme sunny weather? If you tend to not run the air conditioning, maybe you should consider using it more often, and starting earlier in the day. The onboard battery management system will prevent charging at a certain high temp (135 deg F for Battle Born) but keeping it well below that amount seems to be pretty important. I am working on a powered fan vent system for the box and the two electronics compartments on that side of the trailer. The design of the LE2 box, with two nested cubes and the pantry sitting on top, traps heat like an oven. Venting might also reduce the temp inside the pantry.... I drilled my first set of holes yesterday 😳😳😳 It sure would be nice to have a way to actively chill the batteries, but I can’t imagine any practical way to do that in an RV. John Davies Spokane WA

That descent was what finally caused my wife and I to upgrade to a F350 Diesel.

I have a Ring battery cam I may try to stick up somewhere (since I already have the stuff) and stream to the cloud (requires getting a Ring plan). And yeah, it requires wifi, but the "deterrent" effect of it might even help, some, never know. I have an electric plugin one as well, and the blinking light with night vision may be a little 'disconcerting' at least, to the average criminal. (O/T, most criminals aren't exactly Einsteins. To wit, I used this set up once to catch a creep harassing me at a sticks and bricks residence. Idiot kept coming by in the middle of the night, making threats. Total stranger (drunk, yelling threats, put a small boulder on the hood of my car, and no it wasn't a bad 'hood). The cops came and saw the footage, Lots of it. Kind of a slam dunk. The game is to do your best to not be the low-hanging fruit. I once had neighbors who left their cars unlocked on their driveways and sent panicked emails to everyone in the development (HOA, shudder) about their car "being broken into." I did a lot of eyerolls.

No. I hope to never find out, but pretty darn hot I'll bet! I'd rather be in a blizzard in the Rockies than in the desert at 110F! I'll keep my Ollie shaded in the garage if it's that hot outside. 😃 Cool idea! Can't wait to see how it turns out! While driving the pre-existing vents will keep the compartment "chilled" and for camping in heat I'm thinking maybe I'll first try a small DC fan or set of fans (similar to the nature's head fan) to move air in and out of the pre-existing vents that I have temporarily plugged up for the winter. I need some real life temperature data before I start drilling and venting inside just yet.

I can agree with the champion 2k inverter generator it is a great generator for the cost and reliability. As stated you do need the Easy start option for your Ac unit 2-2200 watt generator works fine.

The Legacy Elite I trailer has two interior 12v ports and one dual USB port located under the cabinets just before you get to the bed. We replaced one of the 12V ports to a dual USB port after we discovered our USB adaptor for the 12V port pulls out easily. I would frequently end up with my phone not charged the next morning.🙁 Perhaps it was just my adapter as the 12v ports have a twist-lock feature that is supposed to reduce this from happening. Can't ever think of a reason we would ever need the 12v port anyway and this allows my wife and I to charge our phones and apple watches (4 USB ports now). Here is a link to what I installed: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086PRHKC1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Installation was very simple as you can access the 12v port via the access hatch within the cabinet. Simply unscrew the holding ring from the back of the 12v port, lower it down to slide off the connectors (make sure you look at the color of the + wire as you will need to hookup correctly on the replacement plug), put the new holding ring onto the wires if you do not use the existing holder, attach the new dual usb plug to the +/- wires correctly, and reinstall into the existing hole. Total time to replace was about 5 min.

Carl, thanks for clearing up my confusion, obviously I was not fully informed. That was great information. I do want to caution that the Anderson is NOT suitable for offroad use. Graded forest roads, small potholes, washboard, no worries. If you remove all the chain tension it will do about as well as a regular ball hitch, but when they are tight they severely limit articulation, and they can put a huge amount of stress on the truck and the trailer frames when the back of the truck drops into a gully or washout. It also has very inadequate ground clearance in those situations. Also, it actually is not very good at weight distribution compared to a traditional hitch with big steel spring bars. It excels at controlling hobby horsing as Bill pointed out, and at controlling sway, which an Oliver does not need. Get a dead weight offroad coupler like the one Overland has, I am sure he will chime in or you can Message him to ask. If necessary you could add rear airbags to level the back under a load, and maybe install better shocks with adjustable dampening. I have the Andersen and I really wish my Land Cruiser could do without it. John Davies Spokane WA

Thanks to all for your thoughts and responses. It is much appreciated. I have already learned so much from this forum. A bit of good news! I made the initial down-payment to lock in our delivery date. Mid October is a long way away but I am still very excited. To bring this thread to a close, I have decided to include the Andersen in my configuration. Since I want to take the Oliver off-road on logging roads and appropriate backroads as well as many mountains passes, I believe the Andersen will give me an additional level of "insurance" to ensure proper weight distribution over these types of roads. Thanks again for all your help! Carl

Greetings! This a common misconception about the Jeep Gladiator. There are multiple references about the Jeep Gladiator having components from the RAM truck. I thought I would share some references here to help clarify. From Cars.com Not Just Some Wrangler With a Bed "Yes, the Gladiator looks like a four-door Wrangler Unlimited with a cargo bed slapped onto the rear end. However, Jeep likes to point out that there is more than meets the eye. Compared with the Wrangler, the Gladiator rides on a longer wheelbase, has added structural reinforcements to boost towing capacity, and has a rear suspension that shares many components with the full-size Ram 1500 pickup truck. Even those traditional Jeep front grille slats are wider than what you find in the Wrangler in an effort to aid with engine cooling." From JeepGladiatorForum.com Rear Suspension Heavily Ram 1500-Inspired It’s immediately clear that the rear suspension setup revealed on this Jeep Gladiator prototype has nothing to do with the JL Wrangler, with a design heavily influenced by the Ram 1500 for handling proper pickup truck duty. The design and component placement looks to be nearly identical between the Ram 1500 and the JT Gladiator, which should calm any fears that Jeep’s upcoming pickup truck will just be a warmed over JL Wrangler with a pickup bed. JT Gladiator Suspension (w/ Coil Springs) Analyzed The Gladiator prototype’s rear design shows healthy control arms along with a panhard rod, and a rear stabilizer bar that leads into stab (or sway) bar end links, just as we see on the Ram 1500. We also see hints of the JT's coil springs (as on the Ram) with no sign of leaf springs. The JT's shock absorber placement also appears to mimic the Ram’s design. A Mix of Wrangler & Ram 1500 DNA It’s interesting to see the path Jeep engineers have taken in transitioning the Wrangler-flavored offering for pickup truck duty. While there’s still plenty of Wrangler DNA to be found in the JT, it’s now abundantly clear that the Gladiator will have a healthy dose of Ram DNA throughout its undercarriage. It likely streamlines the development of the new truck with cost benefits in sharing similar components and engineering solutions that have already been worked out on the coil-sprung Ram trucks. From AdventruaChryslerJeepDogeRam.com Jeep Plus Ram Equals the 2020 Gladiator It’s a mashup of one of the most off-roading capable Jeep vehicles and, well, why don’t we just say it? It’s like Ram and Jeep had an affair, and the Gladiator is their automobile spawn. Plus, there’s just so much to love, because the Jeep Gladiator has the best of both worlds, with Jeep as the dominant genes in this pairing. It is under the Jeep badge name, it’s produced by Jeep manufacturing plants, but the Gladiator also shared a room with the new Ram midsize pickup truck sharing the same body-on-frame design. I hope this helps. Carl

Mike, Looking great!

Much of my wife's family and my oldest son live in phoenix - I think they just experienced a large succession (143) of days 100 plus, and 34 above 110. Not for me....... I head to elevation when we visit. The Oliver lithium package may need a dedicated cooler in that temp set. Now the winter season - perfect.

John, The 14"X21" Morryde 300 pound capacity LE2 battery tray from Oliver cost $195.48 plus $35 for packaging & shipping. Use various size Pelican cases for storage of various items, but they are pricey.

I just stayed with Geico, for now, anyway. They're easy to deal with, and got me a binder already for delivery day. I get tons of discounts from them because of multi-lines and long-term customer, whatever. May shop around later but I didn't think it was too bad for a brand-new Ollie, FT, etc. I did get total replacement cost, made sure they will tow the trailer if that ever comes up, etc. YMMV.

RideandFly: your replacement tray sure looks like it is a better constructed tray than the original. When I replaced my battery tray a couple years ago it was the same replacement tray as the original. Are you going to remain with the AGM batteries or upgrade to the lithium? Currently my Torjan T105 wet cells are in great shape; I have no plans to upgrade to the lithium; at the present time there are to many issues with the lithium.

I have fretted over this same issue. We pick up an Elite 1 in February. After much research (inlcuding some guidance from this forum), I recently traded in a Tacoma for a Tundra. My Tacoma had a tow capacity of 6,400 lbs. it had an advertised payload capacity at or near 1,300 lbs. However, my model (TRD model ) had an actual payload capaity (from my door jam) of only 950 lbs. In my view, that was not enough truck to easily pull the trailer ( with 300-400 lb tongue weight + 300 pound passengers + top for the bed + cargo weight). ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT FACTOR in my decision was my ability to tow without the Andersen. While I think the Tacoma would have pulled the trailer, I would have absolutely needed the Andersen (simply to shift some of the payload to the front axle). With the Tundra, I hope to not need the Andersen (although if I do, its not the end of the world). Therefore, my advice is to check the actual payload capacity from your door jam and also look at the wieght limit for each axle and consider if your rear axle can accomodate the weight of the Elite tongue and bed cargo. Again, I am not the expert on these forums. Just my 2 cents.

Not long enough, probably. They say it will last as long as 18 months, but that’s apparently very highly dependent on the signal strength. I’ve read three days of life in worst conditions while moving. More importantly for storage, however, is that the Spot will simply turn itself off if it can’t find a satellite for too long a period. So, if you’ve stored your trailer somewhere without solar, then you probably won’t have GPS either.

tNo experience with that TV, but here are a few basic AV troubleshooting steps that may help if you haven't already tried these things (long ago I built and installed somewhat complicated interactive A/V systems in museums and at trade shows and got used this troubleshooting dance with A/V components, trying to isolate where problems lay). If there's more than one HDMI input on the TV, you could try moving the input cord from one to the other to try to sort out whether the problem is in the TV or in the cord or the device that's providing the source signal. You would of course have to select that second HDMI input on the TV menu. If you have a computer monitor in your house that takes an HDMI input (and has a speaker, which is not uncommon in later model LCD monitors) you could also bring that into the trailer and swap the HDMI input cable from your trailer's TV to the computer monitor to see whether that HDMI cable/plug is providing a good signal to the TV...

nrvale0, Few years ago our Jensen TV did the same thing. Believe it was the HDMI outlet on our TV in our 2015 LE2. Ran RCA cables from TV to Furrion stereo/DVD player to fix the problem. Now have to choose AV (if I remember correctly) with TV remote instead of HDMI: TV: Furrion unit:

I used the ZF Electronics SRJ24A3HBBNN rocker switches with my porch light swap. They require a 0.787 inch hole and worked perfectly for the job I was doing. The switches push out pretty easily from the backside. Mine have been in service for nearly 2 years with limited usage. I only use the lights for quick trips out with the dogs at night or to grab something out of the truck and very rarely leave the lights on for extended periods. At the price point of about $1.25, I am sure they are all manufactured off shore, no matter where you buy them. Mossey

👍 now you just need the impact to match your battery.

Maybe this was just another brain fart, I seem to be having a whole lot of them lately. “This Victron BMV-712 Battery Monitor with Bluetooth built-in pairs perfectly with our lithium batteries. You can download the free VictronConnect phone app to manage your new battery monitor directly on your phone!” This was posted directly on the Battle Born website, so my assumption was that the text was indeed referring to BB batteries. However, I suspect this is a cut and paste description of the Victron product literature, so “our batteries” probably means “not any other batteries”. https://battlebornbatteries.com/product/victron-bmv-712-battery-monitor-with-bluetooth-built-in/ Wouldn’t you read that meaning if you had not heard otherwise? If it had said “OUR Victron monitor will pair with our Victron batteries”, then that would have been not a all confusing..... The whole lithium situation is riddled with mis-information, missing information, and vague descriptions. There is really no excuse for this being so darned hard to interpret! John Davies Spokane WA

My 4/0 negative battery cable insulation was rubbed flat where my cable gland had failed. I tried to reuse the original gland, but every time I opened and closed the battery tray the gland nut would pop off. So I ordered and install a new gland and the same thing happened again. I finally came to the conclusion that the nylon threads were not holding up to the flex of the 4/0 cable. So I ordered the one below. And let me caution you, it takes three hands and persistence to replace those glands if needed. If you do replace the gland, just remove the small glands since you have already removed the 6 AWG cables. That will simplify the replacement. Mossey

Very sad indeed. We looked at Airstream first when we began our quest for a travel trailer. The quality control issues were very concerning. Once we found out that they were owned by Thor, we ran away FAST. Fortunately for us we discovered Oliver.

In the vast majority of situations you will only be rinsing your black tank after you dump it. Therefore, you will usually be at a campsite that has full hookups including sewer and/or you will be at a regular dump station. In both these circumstances there will be "rinse water" nearby which should be easily accessed via a hose length of 20 feet. While we are on the subject - you might also want to consider a very short length to drinking water hose to use for getting water into your fresh water tank via the "winterization port" at the rear of our Oliver. Something like THIS would do. By attaching one end to the Ollie, the other end placed in a bucket filled with water, and, turning a couple of valves near your water pump, you can draw water into the fresh water tank when there is not a faucet to get water from. Of course you could always use a cut off portion from an old drinking water hose but since you are new to this RV thing you probably don't have and old drinking water hose laying around 😇. Bill

I like the bull dog collar as well nice little insurance when your towing , the rest is only going to stop the amateur thief and make you fell good, still need to do it just to keep people honest. Things we have to do to help society out. Safe travels enjoy and go camping.

I pretty much agree with the insurance thing, since we store our trailer at our home I do not lock the trailer from thief there and when camping in campgrounds I don't there either. I'm not a person who locks up everything with locks, or devices that I have to spend time with, I just use the commonsense method and that is, if you pickup around the campsite and don't invite thieves, you probably won't have a problem. If I worried about everytime I went to Walmart and had to lockup and put up everything, I would spend all my time packing and unpacking. I've been camping for 40 plus years and to date we have lost nothing to a thief, only the raccoons. trainman

mjrendon, The smaller Elite 1 trailer also has a 12v port located in the attic. Post this install, we now have two open 12v ports (1 under cabinet, 1 attic) and 2 dual usb ports. Perhaps we will need the 12v ports for other uses we just haven't come across yet. For now, wife and I are both happy we can now charge our phones/watches at the same time without the need of an adapter.

I have an elte 2 with both USB and 12V connections available in the kitchen and dining areas. but the attic has only 12V (or110). Seems like there is always a need for another USB port and most of the time the 12V ports remain empty.

VIDEO: Burro trailer walk around Interesting article. Their history shows that most of the battle in building these over a long period of time is financial stability. ”In the early ’70s someone in St. Cloud MN manufactured a trailer called the “Cloud”. The Cloud looked very much like the Burro. In the late ’70s the first Burros were produced in Plymouth MN, less than a hundred miles from St. Cloud. Interestingly, the Burro was double-wall construction while the Cloud was apparently single walled. Burro was manufactured in Plymouth MN until the early 80s. Burro re-appeared in Sac City IA and began production in the mid 80s and had a production run until about 1990. Sac City saw the introduction of the 17′ wide body along with the 13′ standard Burros. Apparently the business was poorly managed and investors seized the molds and production equipment. Burro resurfaced in Escondido CA with new molds that were fabricated in Mexico in 1998 or thereabouts. Again because of a variety of factors, Burro went out of business. According to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, the owners ran into significant legal difficulties and seem to have disappeared, along with the molds and equipment.” https://tincantourists.com/wiki/burro-rv/ I think one great thing about the Oliver company is that their bathtub manufacturing and mobile home divisions can stabilize the finances in times of “RV drought”. Stand-alone trailer manufacturers do not have that safety net to fall back on, when people stop buying their trailers. A 17 ft Burro popped up on my local Craigslist, that is what got me started with this topic. https://spokane.craigslist.org/rvs/d/athol-burro-travel-trailer/7250882363.html John Davies Spokane WA

So, I found these mentioned on the Travato website today, then on Amazon. Has anyonectried the "anything keepers" or "everything keepers"? I think the smaller anything would fit under the lip of my tabletop, and store spices, and maybe a remote or two. If we actually liked it, one over the foot of the bed could hold my glasses, book, and perhaps my phone at night? They're a bit pricey, ($30 and $40 on Amazon) but years ago I had an undercabinet knife rack, undercabinet coffee maker, etc. Loved them.

Not for nothing, but I put our paper towel holder over the bed, instead of the cooktop. I had reservations about a big roll of paper over flames.🤔 And, I can use the back burner without concerns . In 13 camping seasons, it hasn't bothered us above the bed.

My sales rep told me that Dometic couldn't meet demand so they switched manufactures. Companies bank on customers not working through the courts so I hope you see it through! A new awning isn't cheap! A demand letter from a lawyer can also save you some time and money.

You can do the same thing by skipping Maverick’s angle pieces, just drill 1/4” holes in the end of the slides, insert bolt and self locking nut in each. Or just one bolt is enough. It is mainly to prevent the rack of batteries from smashing into the door if the latch fails. Which has happened to some here.... But it appears the newer trays have dual latches. John Davies Spokane WA

Mike, just the other day I swapped the Progressive Dynamics charging unit, it was relatively simple but I can offer a few tips. I will make a How To thread with pics. I think we will see more and more owners doing this mod as their “old school” lead acid batteries fail. I emailed Jason last month suggesting that the company issue a technical bullet with official guidance on how this should be done and he forwarded that to somebody. He did tell me that the production department kept no records of which PD units were installed, so an owner must indeed physically remove the cover to check the board. Maybe when enough swaps have been done, we can post a poll to figure out the rough cutoff date for when these lithium ones began to appear from the factory. I also suggested that they could offer an upgrade kit through the Oliver Company Store, for which we have now been impatiently waiting a couple years.... John Davies Spokane WA

The bulldog collar that Mike pictured is a great preventive mischief device. We've had that from pretty much day one. Some kind of device that fills the hitch ball space, like mike's, or even a 2" bearing that John Davies has used, or the proven lock, etc. All are fine. We have something similar, but inferior to Mike's. We have a good insurance policy, as well, and call it done .

I use this bulldog hitch with a disk lock when we’re hooked up and when we’re not. I use this in addition to the above when we’re not hooked up. It was a door prize at a past Oliver rally. Seems to work okay. They are all just deterents!

I always use a relatively inexpensive lock on the bulldog hitch in order to "prevent" someone from casually lifting the lever which closes the hitch around the ball. I had this happen once some twenty years ago while parked in a motel lot and I almost didn't see it before leaving. BoB makes good points above, particularly regarding prevention while traveling. While in storage I use two hitch locks plus a "boot". There are some owners that use devices that can track the Oliver. Good luck. Bill

The recommendation above sounds pretty good if you can get there: lifetime warranty. (And at my age that should work pretty well!) https://suncoastdesigners.com/rv-services/defog/

Your beautiful butterfly is a Western Tiger Swallowtail. Our links to Flickr are : John https://www.flickr.com/photos/156558292@N04/albums/with/72157707734594685 Nancy https://www.flickr.com/photos/137680150@N06/albums NABA (North American Butterfly Association) has a website where we log in butterflies we see daily as do others. We use this database to see actual sites where species occur rather than rely on field guides for locations. The field guide we use is Butterflies of North America by Jeffrey Glassberg to help ID the species. We submit our photos of new species to BAMONA (Butterflies and Moths of North America). We submit bird sightings to ebird by Cornell University. Birders all over the world use ebird so it is a large database with lots of ways to explore the data. It's a great hobby! Check our Solar Darkroom Santa Monica for fantastic photos of California butterflies! David is a great friend who shares CA butterfly locations with us! He's on Facebook, too!

I believe it was John Davies that did a post about first aid kits a number of months ago. Perhaps he will chime in on this topic. Back (way back) when I was a life guard I was jealous of the couple of other guards that got a chance to use their training for CPR. All I ever got was the chance to swim blankets out into the surf in order to provide a cover for those ladies that had lost their tops in the waves 😁. Bill

NCeagle, FYI 110 degrees F outside air temp is not uncommon in summer in much of the West, not just in the SW desert. I try very very hard to avoid those southern deserts in the middle of the year. Moab UT is stunning, but no place to be from July though Sep. I don’t even know how people can live in Phoenix..... You can’t always avoid blistering heat. All you can do is run the AC and bail out to a motel if it gets too hard for you or your pet. John Davies Spokane WA

I had CalMark quote one for me last week. 1280 plus shipping. 😞 I hope their employees saw a similar wage increase...