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I repack original bearings and replace seals every two years on our Ollie's original 5200lb axles, we don't tow Ollie as many miles as Mike & Carol. Bearing repack gives me the opportunity to inspect brakes, drums, bearings and races. I try not to let trailer hubs get hot while towing by using engine braking towing down mountain grades. Here's two videos by Trailer Smith, Dexter Nev-R Lube and Bearing Buddy VS. EZ Lube-What's The Difference:

We only have a couple of thousand or so miles on ours and so far absolutely no issues. I typically stop every couple of hours to check bearing and brake temperatures and the temperature is more consistent than with the older bearings. I do carry two spare bearings and the tools to replace them myself anywhere. The bearings are easily accessible at most any auto parts store as they were used on the 2010 PT Cruiser front wheels. I believe that they were also used on many various foreign cars as well. Obtaining them is probably not the issue rather it would be finding someone competent and with the tools to replace them without damaging them.

Thanks for posting those. Have a number of his videos but not the one with the bearing buddy what ever that is.

I never had a FB account until 5 years ago when a boss decided it was an easy way to curcimvent manage rules dealing with unions. So she posted al sort of changes happening at work on a private FB Group. The Hospital also had thier own FB group which was part info, part PR propaganda. I changed departments and removed them. I do use Marketplace, sometimes good/ many times bad (still on craigslist). I have been on the FB Oliver group. There is not a lot of structure to FB and does not lend intensely to the structure our forums does. The only thing that is real positive for the Oliver FB group is that it is the really the only way to list an Oliver for sale or parts for sale to people that are truly interested in Olivers since Oliver made regulation changes to the Forum.

There is an excellent YouTube tutorial by the Trailer Smith illustrating the difference between never lube, easy lube and traditional bearings. I would encourage you to look up this video as he tears each one apart and explains his takes in depth. I also like the Husky pad, keep three of them around and one always comes with me on trips.

Is the trailer level? When we park, we level and keep the front 1/2"+ higher. This allows full usage of the FWT and our heads are just higher than our feet in bed. If the front is a couple inches low, water from the kitchen drain would flow forward.

If you extend it, you have a safety net.

No issue on ours

The Nev-R Lube bearings work like a pair of conical bearings pressed into a case to keep the grease in on a "permanent" basis (expect on average a 5-year life). You cannot pack these bearings with new grease to prolong their life. As far as bearing maintenance, I already wrote a post showing removal and replacement:

What I just posted in John's Facebook group for Oliver Owners. This does not require a lot of discussion. WARNING: Fake Facebook groups cropping up everywhere! Folks, we have a growing disturbing problem with Facebook (FB) groups, especially, because you are reading this, in regards to owning an Oliver. You may have noticed at least one or two new Oliver-related FB groups crop up lately. From the very first picture posted, from the Oliver group that has the word "Community" in it, there are suspicious postings & members. Now the more legit people who join these fake groups will make the group look more and more legit itself. Our information is being collected, I promise you. I'm not usually an overly suspicious person, but as an active Information Technology (IT) guy who also supports cyber security, I'm seeing more obvious signs of trouble. Even a dumb monkey like me can start to see the issues. Now, I just left that "Oliver Community" group just last night after I had seen enough AI generated material and started to smell bad actors. You can ask any AI out there this question and read for yourself why and how and why this is happening. Just ask it something like this: Are there fake facebook groups being created to collect information on us? I usually have not cared about what is collected on me, as big American businesses are notorious about collecting info. These fake groups are not maintained by American businesses, I promise you that. I have no stake, nor real loyalty, to this group we are in right now. I am not an admin, and frankly, I was once kicked out of the group for a misunderstanding on my part. I was later asked to rejoin due to my loyalty to the OTT owners in general. That's it. I'm sure this will be received like politics. We will be split down the middle 50/50 or at least split 33/33/33. Just be VERY safe out there in this mucky world of social media we have created. This group is managed by real good people. We may not always understand why they do what they do, but that is because you are not trying to keep bad actors out of a private group. It's a fulltime job these days. Some forums of the world have to block entire countries due to the issues developing now. Be safe and "you do you", but you've been warned.

Update. We got the Sierra EV last August, and picked up the Oliver at the factory in March. You can read a trip report here of our 6k mile trip https://www.fiberglassrv.com/threads/meet-sparky-the-electric-oliver.2190937/ There were some sharp opinions here about EV's, you can read the details over there that it far exceeded my expectations. Zero problems. We drove for hours through wilderness with no infrastructure and boondocked - not an issue (somebody here had some weird theory about that). Even I had trouble believing how well it worked in these conditions, in fact it liked the (slower speed) backcountry better than, say I40 in a windstorm. It's the regen you see, but surprisingly it regenerated (captured) more energy than I'm used too - all that trailer energy too, backcountry across the Sierras, it just gained so much energy on the way down from the peaks. It just drove, and drove and drove ... not to mention, while the 'generator symphony' would start up in some campgrounds, we silently topped off from the truck. I've towed plenty with ICE, and between Supercruise, the torque, the power, the spare campground power, the silence, I'll say EV towing is now better than ICE towing. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it, but to each his own. But enough of the drive train - who really cares? Pick your poison. The trouble was all with the Ollie. Us getting used to it that is. The composting toilet took getting the hang of (you can read the details over there). The Xantrex was a bit of a learning curve, because there's so many generations. The present generation can't be reset if you put a bad setting in. But the tech support at Xantrex was great, it was easily fixed by simply plugging into shore power. Oliver owners are indeed very friendly in person, but Steve if you're out there, sorry we couldn't chat but ya gotta appreciate, it was getting dark and the we just got the thing and needed to set up! 😅 Mark and Sandy - enjoyed talking to you, hope you're making good use of the carrier. Finally, of interest to this group; I have precise information about the Oliver aerodynamics. It isn't marketing fluff! In good conditions (no wind etc) I get a 35% towing loss @60 mph, this is phenomenal. And reminder; towing loss has NOTHING to do with the drive train. It's exactly the same for EV versus ICE. So you piston pounders are also getting this same loss. Otherwise, we love our Ollie. Even my skeptical family. Sure bigger would be great, but that's a slippery slope.

To all of you seasoned, innovative Oliver owners... I would love to get feedback and insights on a tongue box design I'm working on. We've only owned our Oliver since November 2023 and we've camped about five weeks total so far and really love our LEII. We're planning a two + month trip this summer and I'm struggling with a versatile box design for the front. I've seen the product made by Seabiscuit and it's very well made. I would like to take it a step further and enclose the tongue jack and divide the box into a bottom section for a Honda 2200 generator and a removeable top shelf for chocks, blocks and other lightweight items. Please take a look at my sketches and let me know what you think. Thank you all in advance for your feedback. I really enjoy discovering all the creative mods posted here on the forum. FRONT BOX DESIGN.pdf

Sorry, JD.....I need my anchor 🙂

$3,239, Ouch ! Getting the Alcan stuff on order was easy. Not so much the D52 axles. Lew won't drop ship axles anymore since FedEx damaged that one set. I do not blame him at all, I would not either. Problem was that Washington State does NOT have a Dexter Branch, only Dexter distributors who seem to want to order the axles themselves rather than be shipping forwarders. Got back to Lew. He is going to have Dexter ship the axles to the Wilsonville, Oregon Dexter branch and I am going to have Oak Harbor Freight lines pick them up and deliver them to my installer in Mount Vernon, WA. About $375... Heck I would pay $300 just to not have to drive through Seattle traffic (twice). Now we wait for Dexter.

Frankly - I'm surprised that there are that many with the second awning. Bill

Looking at new trailers in the lot at the mother ship. There are 7 of them. 3 have the second awning. Not exactly scientific, but maybe that gives some indication of the overall popularity of the option?

Are they sure it’s kitchen water? Are they adding water to the black tank using the No Fuss Flush fitting? If they are flushing the black tank and have let it get too full and the shower drain valve is closed the water from the black tank can back up in the black tank vent and flow over into the sink drain and rise up through the shower drain and fill the shower pan and could actually overflow the pan and flood the trailer floor. Do not rely on the tank level display when diagnosing water level and drainage problems, or any other time really. I apologize for the “ands” and the run-on sentence. Bill

Please let us know what you did to resolve your issue when it's corrected. Thanks. 😎

There are plenty of posts about new products and technologies for our trailers in this forum, and it seems there are endless choices. But for those willing to pay for cutting edge and high quality, take a look at products from Safiery. Safiery, based in Australia, began as a Victron supplier and is now marketing their own RV and Marine products to integrate with Victron equipment. It’s a somewhat confusing array of technology that is mostly overkill for our little trailers. But I’ve been eying a few items that look very attractive: Since I titled this post with “AI tech,” then I should mention Safiery’s Smart AI DC-DC charger. Cutting edge for sure, but not cost effective for small systems IMHO. If I was looking to upgrade or replace my lithium batteries, the Safiery SOLID STATE batteries are worthy of consideration. They are expensive, but cheaper than the Oliver’s Lithionics, and they have many advancements such as 10,000 cycles, improved BMS, better cold performance, smaller size, more robust, and much safer than liquid lithium. For those with Victron Cerbo, Safiery has compatible tank level sensors for liquids and LP gas. I had been waiting for something like this before upgrading to a Cerbo. These sensors are easily adapted and competitively priced with some of the lessor alternatives. Liquid tank sensors are top mounted and use Radar for very accurate measurement, LP gas level sensors are similar to Mopeco, but with built in signal processing. How about an Electric Stovetop? A safiery induction countertop stove looks very cool and affordable for those with 2k inverters (can be drawer mounted too!). Then there is a whole array of digital wireless switching options with Multi-channel receivers, bus management, and other options I haven’t even gotten around to looking at yet. It’s an exiting new world for the tech minded DIYer! Cheers! Geoff

Update: spent on this item twice, but I'm saving the white one for an Oliver friend visiting here this summer! I had to go gray to match our color theme. This item fits the opening and screw holes, and comes in white too. Works smoothly, nice o-ring seal. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N71PRNQ/?th=1

The main reason to go with an Oliver! When you get yours, please show me how this is done... 🤣(looks like we failed to convince you in another thread) Just celebrated my 70th birthday and no retirement plans here! I enjoy working my parttime semi-retirement job (contract instructor for the last 10 years) and hope to continue in good health for many years to come (vocal chords keep working)! Though I haven't punch a clock, 40+ hours a week, most of my life. Most of our friends in town are retired and they do about the same thing everyday (boring)! If I'm not working for my job, I'm always working on something else and I love it! We've enjoyed 47 overnights in our Oliver over the last 6 months and leaving for a 5-week trip just after Memorial Day, back home by the 4th of July! 47 overnights in 6 months days comes to 25% time away in our Oliver! If it was any more time cooped up in an Oliver, that becomes the job. That's just me, and Chris & I love sharing this life together!

I do carry a large Husky kneeling pad to make things more comfortable when working at ground level. I don’t have much trouble kneeling down to work on the wheel bearings, it’s getting back up that’s the issue 😂. I’m “vintage” as well.