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On my way to do a little fishin I stopped at Chris' Camp in Spearfish, SD. At checkin a worker at the park excitedly told me that there was another one of "dem" campers that he'd never seen before right here in the camp. He insisted that I hop into his gold cart so he could show me and we drove to site 74 but nobody was home. Hopefully we'll get a chance to have a mini-rally later! Bill

Been packing all of our trailer bearings with Redline CV-2 Full Synthetic grease for a few years, we have four trailers including Ollie, no bearing issues.

My 2016 came with BF Goodrich light truck tires. Then they went to Michelin. The current tire is made by Cooper, which I used to replace my 5 year old BF Goodrich’s. Oliver has a good track record on tires, all have been good. Mike

I have noticed a fair amount of flex and movement while set up, when moving around in the Oliver. Rear stabilizers are down, tires not lifted off the ground, but the frame is lifted about 6 inches. The front flexes more than the rear, but both front and rear flex is fairly significant. is this normal? #828

I use these if we’re going to be set up for more than a few days. Just snugged up so as to reduce movement not to support the weight of the trailer.

Good tips above. We use these EAZ LIFT 48860 Telescopic Jack stabilizers if we feel the need up front. Sometimes we don't need them, a lot depends upon the specific campsite. They are shown on the Oliver Trailer Outfitters list on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2mAAgPO Craig - Hull 505

Type the "@" symbol, then without spaces, start typing the username. Click on the name when it fills in below. Everything will turn blue. @Townesw

Ran into @ScottyGS Hull 145 in Bowman ND yesterday.

Here's a pretty easy project for owners of the Nature's Head toilet - a step to make the seat a more reasonable height. It's a slightly modified version of this new step from Squatty Potty. Since it's wood, it looks a lot better than the original plastic one, and also makes it pretty easy to modify. I wanted something that wouldn't take up most of the floor, so that we could leave it out and not have to worry about where to store it, so I scribed and cut notches on the legs to match the floor offset. That way it sits flush against the toilet and leaves plenty of room. As a bonus, the factory cutout matches the front of the Nature's Head pretty well without any modification. The legs do fold, so you could use it right out of the box if you wanted, and would be relatively easy to store - or just tip it up against the toilet. But making the notches and resealing it was a simple task and I kind of like that it looks a bit custom. It's polyurethaned and the hardware is chromed, so I suppose you could leave it out when showering, but it's easy enough to just prop it up behind the shower curtain so I'm sure that's what we'll do. I wish it were stained a bit darker to match the shower mat, but I wasn't concerned enough about it to bother with the sanding and staining. For a quick, two hour project, I think it turned out pretty well, and ended up just about the perfect height.

Hello, we are Mike and Sue Mroz from NC. Both of us will be retired next year. We are looking forward to realizing one of our long-time goals: to travel the 49 states and Canada. We will not become full-timers but we expect to spend a lot of time camping including some boondocking. While we have never owned an RV, we have done a good bit of tent and cabin camping. Having no ownership experience in RVs, after much discussion we decided on getting a relatively small two-axle travel trailer. Requiring quality, we focused on Airstream. Eventually fiberglass caught our attention and shortly afterward we discovered Oliver. After much research including a lot of time studying the Oliver forum and university, and a factory tour, we decided on an Elite II twin. We ordered in October and will pick up hull #850 on 7/21. Looking forward to becoming part of the Oliver community! It’s a pleasure to read the very informative forum. Almost feels like we know the regulars. Looking forward to meeting you!

Yikes, that's quite a story. I once found a missing lug nut on my truck after getting the tires rotated, so I always check the torques now whenever I've had a wheel removed. An owner lost a trailer wheel a few years ago the same way. Scary. Another Discount Tire story - they gave me a free tire just last year. I'd gotten new ones, and had asked them to place one of the old tires in the bed of the truck to use as a second spare. But the guy in the shop accidentally grabbed a tire that had been taken off a truck in the next bay and none of us realized it until I came back two days later to have the tire mounted on a new rim and it wouldn't fit. So with no hesitation, they ordered a brand new $300 tire for me.

LongStride, If we are off an inch or two side to side, I use the rear jacks to level the trailer with the Andersen Jack Blocks under each jack. I also use them to raise the wheels off the ground to remove the tires. I raise the tires off of the ground, place jack stands under the frame where Oliver identifies the jack points and lower the frame onto the jack stands. Andrew

It's been a much debated subject over the years. Originally, Oliver called them jacks and they were fine with owners lifting the tires off the ground if needed. (I've done that many times.). But there was a bit of a design issue with the earlier trailers in that the bracket to carry the jack was made of welded aluminum plates. A few brackets failed at the welds, which is obviously potentially pretty dangerous. They changed the bracket design to a steel angle, but also changed their tune on using the jacks as jacks. They became stabilizers and the tires stay on the ground. Except for a dwindling number of us rebels who throw caution to the wind. For me, I'm good with one set of tires off the ground, provided the slope of the site isn't crazy. But never both sets, since the jacks aren't really designed for lateral loads.

We level Ollie with Camco leveling wedges under wheels first, put TV in neutral and center on Camco Blocks, next disconnect from TV, level with front jack, and last let rear jacks down to stabilize Ollie.

John, More movement in the front of the trailer, when you are moving around, is normal. It really isn't caused by frame flex as much as the front of the trailer is only supported by one jack on the tongue and it is almost in the center. The jack itself flexes some that causes movement. There are a few things you can do to minimize the movement, if it bothers you. 1. Make sure the all of the jacks have a firm base to sit on. We use the Andersen Jack Blocks. Amazon.com: Andersen Hitches Trailer Jack Block with Magnets, 1 in Pack: Automotive They create a very solid base for the jacks to sit on and the jacks don't have to extend as far. 2. Extend the jacks a little as possible. The less they are extended, the more rigid they are. 3. Use and X-Caulk or what we use a Fast-way One Step wheel caulk, to stabilize the tires and reduce forward and backward movement. Amazon.com: Fastway ONESTEP Wheel Chock Double Pack for Tandem Axle Trailers and RVs-16 Inches to 24 Inches Long-Qty 2: Automotive 4. Get some sort of portable stabilizers, to place under the frame, near the front of the trailer, on both sides. I hope this helps you. Andrew

Thanks @SeaDawg . So easy a caveman can do it!

What do you mean by comparable? Phil Wood waterproof grease has been around for decades, the recipe is secret but it is petroleum based. It is used on bicycle ball and roller bearings mostly, where it excels at staying put in extreme conditions (doesn’t wash out). CV-2 is a full synthetic, I think it is better but the main reason I would choose it over PW is you can’t buy that grease in containers larger than 3 ounces. Plus the price per ounce of of PW is way way higher. BTW I carry my hitch spares and tools in a steel ammo can, there is a 3 ounce tube of Phil Wood grease at the very top, I put a smear on the ball every other time I connect. I do like it. I also carry a can of brake cleaner to remove it from the ball and my finger…. John Davies Spokane WA

Going to make some out of rubber and post photos & details here, just in case someone else needs to make some for the upper window slots.

Yes, yours are plugs. I have nothing like that on mine. I could see making some sort of foam plugs, from a length of pipe insulation, if you just want to plug the holes.

Took a few more photos. Using my Bifocals took a close look, mine are plugs. Looks like around 1 3/16" wide where plug fits into slots.

I am glad you are excited about your new Ollie, and it will certainly go into tighter campgrounds with less worry about dragging against trees, or against cars in a crowded urban parking lot, or along smooth groomed gravel roads, but I hope that statement was hyperbole, because the LE2 is in no way “trail rated”, in spite of the off-road adventures advertising, which I believe is more than a little deceptive. The baby Ollie OTH could be a decent off-roader with some inexpensive upgrades….. John Davies Spokane WA

We bought a Weber 1200 and did the mod to allow it to work off the Oliver QC. We also got a Camp Chef stove and put a 3/8 inch 1/4 inch QC male flared fitting on it to connect to the Oliver QC. I do enjoy like using QC connections front and rear.

Welcome to the "family". As you have already gathered, there are really no strangers here. You can ask questions, and you can expect many different answers, some may actually be correct. Welcome from Maine, and hull #211...

We spent a few nights up at Bear Den. We really enjoyed the 2800’ elevation and much cooler sleeping weather and of course camp fires and great food.

This screwdriver. I think it's the perfect utility drawer screwdriver that will cover 90% of your needs - for when you don't want to go dig out the toolbox. Compact, but pops out to a usable length, and has a good selection of quality German bits, which lock in place so they don't fall out. I keep one in the trailer, one in the center console of the truck, and one in the junk drawer at the house.

Another point to remember is that bearing don't have a recommended change interval. Don't just assume because they have 12,000 miles on them they're shot. The number one cause of trailer bearing failures is infrequent use and the subsequent corrosion or pitting that can occur due to grease contaminated by condensation/moisture forming inside the hub. Routine inspection and repacking, or more frequent supplanting of old grease, are the accepted ways to extend bearing life.

We learned SO MUCH just by attending the U of O while awaiting our trip to the factory. I still go back and review the info, even now that we have the Manuals.

Matt, I’ve used Boerne RV Service and was happy with their work. Boerne RV Service, 125 Industrial Drive, Boerne, TX 78006