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DCKiefer

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Everything posted by DCKiefer

  1. We tow with a Toyota FJ Cruiser and Tacoma. The Toyota 4Runner is pretty much the same platform, so I think it wood do well to.
  2. Does anyone know what brand the sliding windows are in our trailers? And if it makes a difference, mine are double pained. Thanks Paul
  3. Yes, I had to modify the cover by trimming some off the bottom. There is a post with the same title as yours if this link won't work.
  4. Have had the same thing with the switch on the tongue jack and the side jacks. Dust gets into these switches from the road. If they start acting up I remove the switch and spray it with some electrical contact lubricant. This will help flush the dust out and clean the contacts.
  5. I put Maxxis on our Oliver in 2009 and got about three years out of them. Had plenty of tred, but one starting going bad, caught it just a few miles from home at a stop in Ocala. I don't know the exact milage they had, but it was about 8000 to 9000 miles. I will say I am a little disappointed, but I think I may been pushing the trailer tires to there limits. When we do our three week trip, we often will drive two 700 miles days in a row, running at 60 to 65 mph. I will say that just the same I bought two new Maxxis replacements, since they still have the best reputation I have heard of in trailer tires. I kind of wish I read this post about the LT tires before I did that, since I have been wondering why I couldn't use LT's. I will tell you that after having one blow-out three years ago, a second tire failer later one, I have learned how to read tires and this is how I caught the recent tire going bad before it caused a problem. I don't have the tire sensors and really have some doubts about how useful they would be in our single axle situaiton. I think the pressure loss is going to be rather sudden and you will likely know you are introuble at the same time the sensor warns you. Every time we stop for gas or after an significant period driving I do a complete walk around the rig, just like the truckers do that have good habits. I visually inspect the tire tread on each tire partcularly noteing if one tire is wearing dirrently than the other. They should both show the same amount of wear if replaced at the same time, particularly noting excessive wear on the outside edges of the tire. All this is presuming that you have your tires properly inflated. At the same time I put the back of my hand on each tire, not really feeling for heat, but more that both tires are the same temperature. Yes, I am betting that I am not going to have two tires begining to fail at the same time, but I think the chances of that are rather slim. As far as finding Maxxis in your local area I pretty much have given up on that. I order them online and take them and the rims to local tire shop for mounting. This does help when your on the road, where event finding a load range E tire is difficult. I had to settle a C on that trip when I had the failure, but luckly I was only a couple hundred miles from home. LT's would be much easire to replace. Sorry for rambling, but where the rubber meets the road is a pretty big deal.
  6. On Ask This Old House the other day they were talking about caring for your lawn equipment, specifically those with small engines. They said gasoline with ethanol only has a six to eight week shelf life, so you should buy what you can use in that time for your small engines. They also recommend always using a stablizer and it wasn't just a regular stablizer. I don't recall the name, but it had two components to it. The type they had would bond with the water that ethanol introduces into the fuel and allow the engine to burn it, which would likely help prevent the performance issues you may have.
  7. Glad your ok. I'm not advocating driving faster, but if road and weather are good I usually run at 60 mph, sometimes even 65. Had a blow out on the trailer somewhere between those speeds. The experience was not as bad as I imagined it would be. Heard the tire pop and simply came to a safe stop without and adverse affects on handling. I do want to mention that my tire problems were due to an axle issue. If you search the forum regarding axles, I think you will find a number of posts. Not saying this may be why your tires only lasted two years, but it is worth looking at so you don't have a repeat of the same problem.
  8. Just wanted to mention that if heat is leaking into the trailer from behind the frig, this is dangerous when on propane. CO from the burnt gas could be entering the trailer. I would leave a window cracked open until you get it properly sealed.
  9. Midland makes one. It come with an AC power supply that converts to 12 volts. It may have come with a 12 volt plug but not posative. I think I actually cut the cord from the AC supply and hard wired it into the campers electric. I mounted it in the blank space to the left of the rear cabinet.
  10. Delores and I were heading east out of Austin, with FJ Cruiser pulling. Yes, we have been following the news on the fires and were wondering if any of the properties we looked at were involved. NASA had some pretty impressive satelite pics and you could see where it really just skirted right around Ft. Davis.
  11. Wow, guess the stars where in allignment for that many Olivers to be so close on the same day. Now that I know Texas is so popular I'll post something next year before we come through. We where heading home to Florida after taking a trip to Tuscon. We spent a couple of days in Ft. Davis both ways. We really love west Texas and have started scoutting for retirement property in the Ft. Davis and Alpine area. Hope to one day meet any or all of you. Paul & Delores Kiefer
  12. 8We are traveling east bound through Texas today, when east of Austin we spot an Oliver going west. That got me thinking about the chances of seeing one, much less two. The best I can come up with is this. With 8.2 million RV owners and approximately 60 Olivers, your chances of seeing one is about 1 in 137,000. By they way, whose Oliver has the big gold graphics?
  13. I have the trailer tires. The 65 mph rating is no issue here since anything of 60 just isn't comfortable when hauling just about anything. I often wonder what those driver are thing that pass me doing 70 or better with trailers. Send me a message if you get around Dade City while your in the state.
  14. I have the trailer tires. The 65 mph rating is no issue here since anything of 60 just isn't comfortable when hauling just about anything. I often wonder what those driver are thing that pass me doing 70 or better with trailers. Send me a message if you get around Dade City while your in the state.
  15. West coast may be a little cooler in the winter with winds of the cooler Atlantic, but generally about the same everywhere at the same latitude in the state. Far south Florida will be warmer than central and north. We had an unusal winter last year with something like four weeks of constent low in the 30's and highs in the 50's in central Florida. Usually we have a couple of days of this then it returns something more like lows in the 50's with highs in the 70's or low 80's. Rain is usually brief in passing cold fronts, but can get some nasty storms where the hot and cold meet. Anything water related as you found is difficult and we pretty much always make a reservation, especially in the Keys. State parks are rustic, but will have water and electric at site and dump station near by. Many of the parks bathroom facilities have been remodeled in recent years and are usually pretty nice and kept clean. Most place in Florida are not far from a town, except if you go to Everglades National Park. If you do go there pick a sight in the middle away from the tall vegation. The mosquitos are tolerable in Jan/Feb, but it is better to stay in the open, which the campground pretty much is. Here is my list of favorite state parks. Anstasia, near St. Augstine Fort Clinch, at Fernandinia Beach O'Leno, High Springs St. Jospeh, in the panhandle, great undeveloped beach.
  16. I recently replaced my chrome rims and noticed the same thing, they were on the light side. Also they had a sticker that mention use on a Suziki. I bought new aluminim rims, since I was not impressed with the quality of the chrome job on the others. I made sure I got rims to the proper load rating for the trailer, never knew that before. I tend to like to go for over kill in the tire and rim arena, so as others have said like got more than I need. Currently running on Maxxis 16" Load Range E. Again likely over kill, but if you do some research on trailer tires, you will find that many are not intended for sun up to sun down driving in high temperatures. We often cover 1400 miles in a couple of days on our trips, so I want the extra safety. I don't have enought miles on the Maxxis yet to give a good report on wear and if they are worth the extra price.
  17. We did have the 5000lb axle and you likely do. Some of the first of this kind had too much camber or in other words the tires kind of sat at a vertical angle. Ours was very noticable. You could take a three or four food level and see that the axle actually had a bend to it, kind of an arch. This is fine for very heavy trailers where two axles are likely used, but was an over design for the Oliver. Our new axles has no bend to it.
  18. Today we were coming home from O'Leno State Park in Florida when someone in a red Ford pickup gave us a couple of honks and a big thumbs up when he drove by. This happened near Gainsville, FL on I-75. Did it happen to be anyone on the forum? I tihnk the guy, clearly new what an Oliver is.
  19. I would be suspicous of the outside wear on the tires. Our Oliver did the same thing in a very short time and the axle turn out to be the problem. Watch your new tires very closely for the same unusual wear. If it appears again I would talk to Oliver about your axle, especially if your hull is around #28 or so. I think shortly after our was built they realised the problem and had corrected axles by then.
  20. I say that I'm not entirely convinced it is a design flaw. I park our Oliver very close to the house and noticed that when the trailer took its own run off, plus that from the house, water to accumulate in the tracks, but not to the point of running out. Just out of caution, I do make sure I keep the trailer far enough away to not catch the run off from the house. I have expriencenced a couple of window leaks near the bed, the both proved to be the conservative application of sealant around the outside of the window. I applied a bit of silicone and the leaks stopped. You might double check the window frame sealant. You can verify if this is the leak source by looking in the access areas under the window. If you see water running from between the inner and outer shells, it is likely running down the window from from outside.
  21. The fill cap is actually one for marine use. The brand is Perko. I used it since it was one of the only ones that the filer tube is plastic, so I could adapt it to the 1 1/4 RV fill tube. Most of the marine fitting are 2". It is also the one of the few that are vented though the cab, plus and extra vent fitting I pushed into the current vent location. This illimates the need to remove the cap to allow the tank to draw in air as you consume water. I will tell you this was not an easy modification. Access is very limited so I had to put a lot of thought into what I was doing. That and some luck made it work. Be very careful about doing any cutting. The area were the current vent tube is located contains water lines and electrical wires.
  22. Super duty double stick works wonders on the smooth surfaces of the Oliver. I would be very cautious about using screw or rivets at the locations I picture you putting this shelf. There isn't much distance betweent he inner and outer walls in those location.
  23. One of the feature I have felt our Oliver was missing, especially for dry camping, is the ability to easily add water to the tank from a jug. I know and have used the water pump for sucking water from a jug, but this means moving the bed cushions and dragging the jug into the camper. It also uses unecessary battery power. My solution has been utilize the vent tube near the cube side wheel. I have relocated the tube to a marine water file cab. This cap has a conneciton that points downward about about 45 degrees and is vented. I can now use my five gallon jug to add water to the tank. It is much faster and more convienent than using the water pump. I can also still use the orginal fresh water connection. To do all this I did have to cut a small access opening behing the big drawer under the sink. I'm sure I could have dimantled the front of the cabinet, but this looked to be much too involved.
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