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@Galileo, you may want to see the new 2026 ramcharger when it (finally) goes on sale later this year. It's a phev, but the gasser 3.6 pentastar V6 engine is strictly an onboard generator, not part of the drivetrain. Although it is gas vs diesel, it's a bit like what you described, and makes a lot of sense, to me. Charge while driving from the fossil fuel motor, and reduce the range anxiety. I'll be interested in seeing talks towing test when they finally get their hands on one. Even if range is cut in half by towing, you'd still get 300 miles or so between charging (or, just filling the gas tank). Best of both worlds, if it works as stated. https://www.ramtrucks.com/electric/ram-1500-ramcharger.html#overview

Thanks for your kind words @GaRambler, I hope to get to a rally and meet other Oli owners too!! You folks with the Starlink Mini may also be interested in this compact, self-contained Starlink power supply. It gives the Mini extra portability so you can take it to the campsite of an internet-needy friend, or hiking, or a remote picnic. It uses six common 18650 rechargeable batteries that will power the Mini for several hours. This DIY “StarSled Go” was cleverly designed by @Everlanders using a 3D-printed case and electronic components from AliExpress. It has a power switch, voltage meter, and built-in BMS/equalizing charger. The case can be printed for a couple of dollars’ worth of filament, and parts are so ridiculously cheap that I built extras for fun and gifts. Message me if you’re interested in one. Cheers, Geoff

Here's a Dexter video about the label and they mention the number etched into the axle. I called Dexter with the SN etched into one of our axles and they emailed a build sheet from that number.

As I mentioned, I prefer not to add displays where unnecessary. This is the readout on my Epoch app today. The app is free to download. I’m presently using 1.8A as she sits. It’s snowing this afternoon, and I rarely plug into shore power, so no sun no charging. Our Victron inverter/charger takes 1A on standby which I leave on 24x7. We also keep outside Courtesy Lights on (0.3A) and parasitic draw another 0.5A. This app is all you really need and perhaps Xantrex and/or Zamp apps. Love the apps! You cannot read a mounted display while towing or sitting at home.

Good thought to buy now. This sale will likely repeat, but most often it is 10% OFF. I have worked a complete upgrade of our Oliver to Victron but will keep this simple. Two 300AH Epoch Essentials fit nicely fit (see pic). Only one 460AH will fit so upgrade possibilities are limited. Unless you're ever considering an inverter upgrade to run A/C for a few hours on inverter, you are correct in thinking 460AH is all you need and double the usable AH in what you have presently in lead acid batteries. All you need to do is: 1) Install the new batteries in the battery bay. A cut-off switch is preferred by some who park their Oliver in covered storage. I prefer to not add extra connections. I go without and merely remove the negative battery cable when necessary. 2) You need to reconfigure (software setup) both your Xantrex and Zamp SC for LiFePO4 batteries. This is usually simple yet tedious. There are others here who have done so. I have not owned either product but worked the same for our Victron and Blue Sky chargers. 3) I was not aware that the "460aH V2 battery comes with a nice wired remote state-of-charge display monitor." My Epoch Essentials 300AH batteries did not. I can see battery State-of-Charge (SOC) % and +/- Amp usage in both my Victron and Epoch Bluetooth Apps. I use no displays, so nothing is installed into the walls of our inner hull. Hope this helps! Best wishes, JD

Good thinking.

The houghton IS a great unit. But if they have not gone back to their SET 1 configuration with a remote thermostat and where the fan shuts down when the compressor shuts off then that is a significant concern for most owners. WHY? Most owners will not want to risk making the two mods to fix these SET 2 issues. Once the mods are made, then I still feel that the HOUGHTON 13.5 k unit is GREAT. It however does not have a condensate drain system as of last week when I I checked. But the larger 15K does. That said, I think the 15K unit is oversized for even hot weather use and would not recommend it as such. Also check the height difference. The 13,5 is a reduction over the Dometic OEM on most OE2's.

John, Our stickers look almost the same with (Hull 293) the 6339056 number listed. Just checking to see if you happen to notice that the numbers etched on the Axle tubes are exactly the same. Sadly, I was not able to secure both stickers as the trailer has traveled many miles and I was lucky to get the one. I did take your advice on writing the Nuera contact to see if I could get a configuration listing and perhaps an answer to the dual L/N numbers on both axles. Thanks again for all your input.

With the 15% off sale that just started on Epoc lithium batteries, I'm considering upgrading my AGMs in my 2020 LEII now rather than waiting on their inevitible decline. I'm not an engineer or and electrician so I'd like to follow the "keep it simple" principle and do it myself. I know there have been several threads here about lithium upgrades and most seem to be extensive with new Victron equipment. It seems I could keep all of my current system and simply replace the batteries and reprogram my inverter and solar charger...I think... I have the Xantrex Freedom XC 2000W and Zamp ZS-30A solar controller I'm considering either a single 460aH V2 or two of the 300aH Essential batteries from Epoch. So can I ask the advice of the incredible brain-trust here --? I think 460aH seems enough for what we do but would the two 300aH be worth the extra cost and still be easy to install/manage without additional equipment? I don't have a battery disconnect switch in my 2020 LEII so the built-in on/off switch on the 460aH battery is appealing and I wouldn't need a smart shunt...is that correct? The 460aH V2 battery comes with a nice wired remote state-of-charge display monitor. Has anyone installed this in your Oliver and where/how did you do it? Any other considerations or modifications that I would/should consider still under the "keep it simple" principle? Appologize for yet another lithium upgrade post - but I thought this may be valuable to many other owners with aging AGMs like me. Thanks in advance for your advice!

We have a Cybertruck in our neighborhood, drove by it this morning. It is larger in person than I thought it was. LOLOHO just did a 20 minute video on it, Sean is on the wait list and wants to try it towing his 25’ Airstream. It’s a good video if you’re interested in the Tesla truck. I’m not there yet, too much camping in the west where even gas stations can be hard to find! Mike

Very slick! With Apps - you don’t have to cut new holes! Only one I’m using so far is the LevelMate Pro+ - but it’s a huge timesaver while setting up!

Dunno why the mfrs of RV air conditioners haven’t included the features that even cheapo window units have. Though sometimes I like a fan running all the time just for circulation sake, most of the time I want the fan to shut off. That said, I want the fan to run until the evaporator coils have equalized in temperature before the fan shuts down. I forget what they called that setting on my last window units, but it was nice. If/when the fan and compressor shut down at the same time, you have all that nice cold just wasted there in the housing. May as well blow it out into the area you’re trying to cool, right? I think a lot of folks buy too many BTUs and it’s counterproductive from what I’ve read. If you cool the room (trailer) too quickly, you don’t move enough if the room air across the evaporator coils to adequately dehumidify the air. That’s (more than) half the battle in making interiors comfortable when it’s hot and humid. As I understand it, there’s a new generation of high efficiency a/c’s that use another method of reducing humidity.

The milage increase would be insignificant. The Honda is less than 1% of the horsepower of a Tesla and Energy conservation law states “energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can only be transformed from one form to another.” As Tesla owners, we love the performance and safety aspects of it, and it's defiantly energy efficient. However, I’d never consider one for travel trailer tow vehicle because of the range and charging challenges. I’ll stick with the 2500 RAM.

The Oliver is made to carry this weight, up to 7,000 LBS and several members here have upgraded axles/brakes and leaf springs to carry 10,400 LBS. Hate to play engineer on you, but 600 LBS is 72 gallons of water. I carry that much weight in water but you can't (32G FWT, 6G, 3G plumbing and 35G in our extra FWT in the truck bed). That's 76 gallons which comes to 633 LBS and I have calculate I can carry this weight and have 1300 LBS available GVW between our Oliver at 6500 LBS and another 800 LBS we could put in our truck bed. Say you filled your FWT and primed the plumbing, you'd have 35 gallons on board. Use some of it and if some is in the gray or black tanks (unless compost) matters not. I see you have on-demand hot water. This is under 300 LBS. Half fill the tank for 150 LBS. If you run into bad weather you can stop-over for a night or two. If you break down, you can live in your trailer while waiting for a roadside repair. You may learn to 'roll' differently at some point. Full of water and batteries charge, we can live in relative luxury for 5 days until the gray needs dumping and over 10 for the black and our batteries will never be low unless I was to run A/C for a few hours. About a dozen Oliver owners dry-camped the Q this winter. @rich.dev was out there for months w/o hook-ups! Living out West you're not enjoying camping if only staying at campsites! 🤣

Everyone rolls a little differently. After well over 100K miles and 9 years our Oliver does just fine riding with a full FWT, haven’t noticed any disagreeable handling or behavior even when we also have some liquid in the other two tanks. I prefer the flexibility of having fresh water in any situation and sometimes you just can’t dump and so it is not something I’m concerned with. We’ve had to camp in areas we hadn’t planned with no water available. It’s nice to just turn on the tap and have water flow. YMMV. Mike

I used to be a “tech” guy back when Oracle 7 and Windows 7 were state of the art. Listening to you guys banter back and forth is making me feel like the caveman in those insurance commercials…. 😥 Guess I’ll just take my Orbic hotspot and slink off into a corner….

No, sloshing “water” around in the black tank is probably a good thing. But as I mentioned, we rarely put anything that needs sloshing in our black tank. Just how we roll. I try to baby our systems as much as possible. Aside from not caring to tote around water to get stale and start growing things, my major reason is the 600 plus pounds you’re starting, stopping, and supporting with your RV and TV suspension. The Oliver is heavy enough without having water taking up half the carrying capacity of the trailer. Yeah, I -suppose- if we got to a campground that was supposed to have potable water, but didn’t, we’d be unable to flush the toilet or wash dishes, but we always have drinking water. That, and I keep a lightweight, collapsible 5 gallon water “jug” handy. I was only tempted to use it once. Opted instead for a l-o-n-g potable water hose to squirt a few gallons into the FWT. IF we have full hookups, I dump before leaving the site - because I like the nose of the trailer as high as possible to get good drainage. But we never use the site sewer “real-time”. If no sewer connection, we hit the dump station before hitting the road. (That’s the way turkey vultures do it - vomit before departure to reduce takeoff weight!)

Eh, this thread was still active just 5 months ago, so maybe it’s not dead yet. When selecting our new TV, we did consider an EV for about a microsecond. That was before we knew the range was SO much less while towing. Anyway, previous to the Ollie and towing - aside from an hauling occasional farm trailer a few miles with a 2000 Ford Ranger (with 340,000 on the clock) our daily driver was a 2017 Prius. I really liked that car. The rural mileage was phenomenal - 60 mpg - and even highway (not a hybrid’s forte) was almost 50 mpg. The tech in an eight year old car was better than in my 2025 GMC. I always thought the typical hybrid drive system is overly complicated - driving the wheels with the ICE and/or electric. But was also very impressed with how simple the electronic CVT is. No clutches in there like a conventional ICE trans. The motor/generator working with/against the ICE provides all the ratios needed. That said, I think a much more efficient “hybrid” system would be one like the diesel/electric locomotives use. One where the diesel engines run at a constant (efficient) speed and serves solely to spin generators. That would leave the drivetrain very simple as it is in a full EV. I would think a dedicated shade tree mechanic with just enough knowledge to make him dangerous could concoct something like this with an F150 lightening, Rivian, or (yuck) a Cyberttuck. Slap a Honda 2200EUi or two in the bed and see what kind of mileage increase can be obtained. Generators could be charging the HV battery at stop lights, and -may- even be able to supply all the power needed at cruise when power demands of accelerating to cruising speed drops off. The battery is still there to do the heavy lifting (hailing) of getting the truck and trailer up to cruising speed.

We always travel with a full FWT for the same reasons John mentions. We also travel sometimes with some degree of fullness in both the black and gray tanks if we were at a spot where we couldn’t dump. I figure a little sloshing around in the black tank while driving isn’t a bad thing. If we can dump before leaving we do, but it’s not something I worry about. Mike

With the Atmos, the foam strip supplied to support/level the aft is the same density as that used around the roof cutout, which supports the weight of the unit.

I think you’ve got a handle on that. We generally don’t go more than 4 hours between camping stops.Its just our model. We don’t get fatigued or arrive after dark. So though we -have- had to stop for a toilet break once in a while - we try for highway rest stops - or the good old gas stations. To save weight, we don’t tanker water or waste around in any tanks. We always dump tanks before leaving a campground. That, and we use the facilities at the campground for everything except midnight trips. That said, there’s generally a gallon or two sloshing around in the FWT to flush the toilet if need be. If there’s not, urine still goes down. I think we’ve only put “solids” into the holding tank once or twice in three years. Never any paper. With an R/O system with a tank, there’s always a tankful available for a drink of water or to make coffee or tea even between city water hookups. The few times we camp without a city water hookup, I put a few gallons in the FWT before setting up. Haven’t been to a campground yet that doesn’t have a potable water tap. We're not -really- “full time”. We do crash every couple of months with friends and relatives. That, and we store away our camper for 3-4 months a year for European travel and spending Christmas with family. I don’t especially enjoy spending the $20 or $30 for the pink anti-freeze, but it’s cheaper than buying a pump, accumulator, or valves. Certainly less work than finding split pipes and fixing them. My dad used to “blow out” the lines on the old ‘73 mini motorhome - but it had a LOT simpler water system. I guess you’d need to make sure your air pressure stays below 50psi to avoid blowing out a line or damaging something. You just reminded me of one MORE line I neglected to winterize. Then again, if I’m sucking antifreeze in through the boondocking port, I did it without realizing it. 😋

About 99.9% of the time yes. However one owner's was not. I believe one of his axles had been replaced before his ownership. So if you are the only owner, then you would most likely be about 99.9% yes.

Oh my. I was afraid that was the case. Thank you for the mug shots! Wow it looks like the underworld Bad Rabbits are replicating like rabbits. Fortunately we have Crazy Horse to handle those underworld guys. Even if his disguise has been revealed by a video of Galileo's Society Entrance Ceremony video, I think we are all OK. GJ

One of our cats - “Mascot” didn’t appreciate being left inside while my wife and I cooked and sat by the campfire outside. He launched himself at the screen door and managed to unlatch it. His momentum carried him out onto the ground. He looked around, freaked, and then took off into the woods. Lake Vermilion Underground SP - Northers Minnesota. After two hours of me crashing through the underbrush - being able to SEE him but not get a hand on him, we had to face the fact that we weren’t getting him back - and had to leave in the morning to leave the state. Just on a whim, I left the tailgate open on the truck. I didn’t really think that he’d go in there. Luckily, at some point he calmed down and realized he was in the great outdoors without his food bowl. Early the next morning I checked the back of the truck and sure enough, he was tucked w-a-y up at the front of the truck bed. I closed the tailgate on him and fished him out 20 minutes later. He’s escaped at least two more times - but opted to hide under the truck and climb up onto the exhaust system. Luckily, he hasn’t fried himself yet. We’re trying to get him acclimated to a harness, but as most any cat owner can tell you, they turn into meatloafs and refuse to move when you harness them. I guess they get used to it eventually.

I guess I was thinking some kind of durable plastic material (HDPE, LDPE?) cut or milled to shape and “glued” to the room with RTV or some other sealant would be required. “Foam” is a kind of vague term. Could be squishy, compressible foam, or could be rigid. (I’d assume rigid would make more sense.)

Colorado National Monument

I’m on the outside looking in here, so feel free to tell me to take a hike. Pretty sure the “high” amperage figure(s) being tossed around are starting amps, not running amps. We’ve had out trailer plugged in to a friend’s very old, very iffy 15/20 amp circuit with our stock 30 amp cable, a 30-20 amp adapter, and a 100’ 12 ga extension (yeah, not one of my prouder moments) and tried out the A/C (Dometic) JUST to see if it would work. We have the soft-start option. I watched the LED display on the power monitor, and it spiked at about 12-13 amps for a moment when the compressor kicked in, then settled down to about 6 amps or so and worked fine. The voltage stayed above about 114, so no serious concerns about frying things. That’s not a situation I’d feel comfortable running under for any length of time. More of just an experiment. The only time we’ve had the power monitor call things off and shut the whole show down was at a campground that swore they had good power, but my Multimeter said it was barely over 100v open circuit. BTW - I had one of those old Skil 77 work drive circular saws. It did NOT like running on that 100’ extension - even if it was 12ga. I now have a 10ga one - but sold the saw.

We would highly recommend Colorado National Monument (beautiful) as @Mike and Carol mentioned and we drove through Grand Mesa National Forest. We enjoyed Powder Horn and took the ski lift to the top of the mountain and had lunch there. Ski lifts are fun! We also drove out to the (4) corners…meh…it was ok. The KOA in GJ was close and convenient to Alcan so we opted to camp there. You certainly could stay at James M Robb, but you will need to do some research and see if they have availability. They did not have openings when we scheduled with Alcan.

Another good option in the Grand Junction area is James M Robb State Park in Fruita, just outside (west) of Grand Junction. It’s also just a couple of miles outside of Colorado Monument, a must see if you are in the area. Mike

Ralph, When we had our 5 leaf pack installed by Lew and his team at Alcan it took them approx 2.5 hrs and the team did a great job. We got there first thing in morning and all of my expectations were ✅ off. It was worth every cent to have it done professionally and done right. We dropped off our Oliver and went and had an excellent breakfast in Grand Junction at Cafe Sol, gotta go hungry! 😋 We actually camped here the night before- https://koa.com/campgrounds/grand-junction/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp maybe 15-20 min from Alcan with traffic. Cafe Sol…we ate here during our 2023 trip and again as noted in 24 while having the 5 leaf pack installed. Great coffee and we let the forks fly!! 😄 Patriot🇺🇸

Pretty sure I’ve measured the Dometic Penguin A/C at 70+ dB on LOW fan. To watch television, you have to have it at 90+ volume. Not good for one’s ears. For comparison, Honda 2200EUi generator is 58 Db…. Anyway, I think this horse is -thoroughly- dead. ”Dis-MOUNT!” (oh, and I think my Stihl MS362C-M is quieter FYI 😋 )

Congratulations on the "semi-retirement" - the only thing better is the "full-retirement"! The rest of your post is above my pay grade but it sounds like ya did good. Bill

Good questions. Roger on doing the springs and shocks. I did so myself as they were 6 seasons used. That said, none of them were blown. Amazingly considering other owners experience with them. Why change the EZ Flex? I had several motivators. A. First, our first season with our OE2, the center bolt walked 95% out of the flange. Only explanation that made sense for a brand new trailer was that during the assembly of the frame process, the center bolt of the EZ Flex had been spun from the head. This caused some wear on the supporting arm bolt bores. B. So there certainly was debris in the lubricated channel. Casting doubt. C. Over time, the seals on the unit leaked grease and when doing so cast further doubt about what condition the bearing surfaces. Especially with heavy use and and lots of miles each summer. D. So, the last thing I wanted to have was a road side break down from the EZ Flex when I could have done it with the shocks and springs. E. Especially when it was so convenient to do so. GJ

Thought I saw one near Sunriver, OR but it turned out to be just a shiny dumpster!

And here is the replacement part number that Oliver service gave me to replace my original springs

Naturally batteries included.

The reason I posted this is because a lot of us like to discuss new technology. There’s no suggestion that this would apply to the construction of an Oliver, it’s about a potential tow vehicle. I have no personal experience in working with steel or stainless steel as you do, I’m just going by the Tesla information that their truck panels are a special alloy that can’t be handled like normal SS. Mike

Cyber Truck? No thanks, not where we live.

It's already happened with model x suvs towing trailers, though not ten stalls. Some of the newer Tesla charging stations have spots for vehicle plus trailer, but neither in my county are set up that way. Otherwise, trailer has to be dropped, and reconnected. Another time consuming operation. All the stations in my county are busy, except at odd times. Evs have been quite well received, here. Both superchargers are at WAWA stations. Always busy, when we've been there. Things will change. They always do. Towing, without adequate battery capacity, will remain an issue, until things develop and change. My great grandfather had one of the first "horseless carriages" in his county. In spring rain mud, he had to use the farm horses to drag the motorcar out the long muddy drive. Still drove it to town, though. Stubborn pioneer spirit, I guess. And wanted a better life for his family. We'll get there, eventually, with compromises, and research and development. That said, my gasser Silverado is soon celebrating birthday 17. They'll be around awhile.