mountainoliver

For the thermostat: my original Dometic thermostat requires 12 volts to work and operates through a relay arrangement located at the air conditioner. I didn’t use any of that and had SDG folks dispose of the relay box and just bundle the unused wires at the air conditioner. The only wires now used at the air conditioner are the 120 volt hot, neutral and ground. My original thermostat was mounted to the right of the pantry above the rear dinette seat so your installation may be different, Oliver has mounted the thermostat in several different locations over the years. I ran new wires for the thermostat behind the pantry and into the left rear corner area and connected to the two wires (blue and blue/white striped wires) that go directly to the Suburban furnace. The original telephone type thermostat wire was abandoned and bundled in the wiring space to the right of the pantry. The simple thermostat is fully manual/mechanical and mounts in the same location as the old one. Now the air conditioner and the furnace are totally separate and operate independently from each other. I did have to fabricate a mounting plate for the new thermostat to cover the holes from the old thermostat.

I’m probably wrong but I think the Atmos and Tosot units are both made by Gree and are essentially identical. Country of origin may be different though.

When we were there having SDG install our Tosot air conditioner we drove over to Shipshewana. Interesting German type town with shopping and a dinner show facility. I think that there is only one (correct me if I’m wrong) aftermarket air conditioner that will utilize the internal drain system. I think it’s the Dometic Freshjet unit. I saw one installation and was not overly impressed with the unit itself. The installation was good but the unit didn’t impress me. If you decide to use SDG for the installation please contact me first for a couple of suggestions on the installation. SDG did a great job of installing the new unit.

7/8 for both the U bolts and the shackle bolts. Both U bolts and shackle bolts are 9/16 diameter so the wrench size for this standard nut size is 7/8. You will need a deep well socket for the U bolt nuts. I have a deep well 7/8 socket for my truck wheels so this worked perfectly.

Several years ago another Oliver owner had some vinyl track material left over from a project he was doing and gave me the left over material. I have not looked, but I imagine that the material can be found on amazon. Along with the track material he gave me the plastic pieces that run in the track. I carefully heated the one piece of track that is attached to the curved area and bent the track to match the curve. Both track pieces are attached to the ceiling with 3M double sided tape. The curtain is a standard shower curtain with one upper end cut and hemmed in a radius to match the curved ceiling area. Half of the curtain covers the doorway and the other half covers the toilet area.

Yes that was an in process photo. In fact, the aluminum plate closing off the rear end of the trailer was never sealed so I removed the plate and put butyl tape all around and reattached it. As far as the soil pipe, there is a rubber grommet that tightly seals between the pipe and the aluminum plate.

My basement area collapsed a couple of years ago in a very similar way as yours. On mine the rails that supported the basement floor was held to the wall sections with screws that penetrated the wall by only 1/4 inch. As shown in the photos I made a framework to support the floor out of vinyl 3/4 x 5 1/2 material. I would recommend not using wood anywhere in the trailer. Vinyl board and stainless screws. The actual basement floor rests on the framework and is attached to the framework with stainless screws. I also reinforced and sealed the aluminum plate that closes off the rear of the trailer. About half of the sub basement was uninsulated so I also added complete insulation in the area.

To add to the braking and bearing conversation: About the difference in braking ability: A couple of weeks ago when John received his new axles from Dexter he disassembled one spindle in order to make some bearing, drum, brake measurements. I measured one of my old 3500 pound axle 10 inch x 2 1/4 inch brake assemblies and John measured one of his new 5200 pound axle 12 inch x 2 inch brake assemblies. In comparing the square inch surfaces between the two assemblies, there is about 5 more square inches of brake lining surface area per wheel. Also the 12 inch drums are heavier (34 pounds vs 24 pounds) and the 12 inch drums have deeper cooling fins around the outside so should be able to absorb and radiate more heat, which will aid in braking performance. Once the brakes are fully seated we should see better performance and I imagine that it will take quite a few miles of actual braking to fully seat the brakes. Also concerning the bearings: I went to my go to auto parts store and purchased a couple new wheel bearings to have on hand spares while traveling. They are standard front wheel bearings for the 2010 Chrysler PT Cruiser and apparently several other vehicles as well. The actual brand that my auto parts store carries is the exact NTN (ET-CRI-0846) bearing that John found in his Dexter axle! The Timken Set 49 bearing is also the same. The NTN (made in Japan) bearings were less than $50 each and can be purchased from any auto parts store and are much, much, much less expensive than the exact same brand from Dexter! With the Harbor Freight (or similar bearing press kits from many other sources) and spare bearings, the Nev-R-Lube hubs can easily be repaired on the road. Please use this information for reference and do your own research and bearing cross references.

Concerning the difference between cool mode and dry mode. I have run the unit in dry mode for days on end with the trailer in my driveway. We’ve had multiple 90 degree days with high humidity and by setting the temperature a little bit higher than in cool mode the trailer was kept very comfortable. The only difference (according to the Tosot customer service folks) between cool mode and dry mode is that in dry mode the fan only runs on low. Maybe the on cycle is a little bit longer, I’ve not been able to tell the difference. Everything else is the same. Since we tend to run the fan on low 99% of the time anyway, dry mode really works great for keeping the trailer cool and dry. I probably will only use cool mode to initially get a hot trailer cool using high or turbo fan mode and then switch to dry mode for the rest of the time. It’s interesting to note that the specific temperature settings for any particular mode are remembered as you cycle through the different modes. Anyway, learning as we go.

I just called Automotion shade company in Canada for information about replacement cord for the Oliver window shades. The “kind” receptionist informed me that Vick (our go to guy for window shade questions) no longer works there and that they do not send out replacement parts for the shades. She said that their products are proprietary and they don’t repair them only replace them. If other owners have recently repaired their window shades and have had different results in talking with the Automotion folks please let us know.

Thanks John this takes the mystery out of the “new” Nev-R-Lube type axle that Oliver is now using.

The one axle that has the bent brake backing plate must have really been hit hard! The backing plate on mine is at least 1/8 inch thick steel. With the strengthening ribs and flange it would take a lot to bend it which means the drum must have taken a heavy hit as well. The drum being cast iron could be cracked I wouldn’t use it and if the brake backing plate is tweaked at its mounting flange the shoes will never contact the drum squarely and you’ll always have braking issues with that assembly. You’re doing the right thing to send the entire mess back and get all new assemblies.

No, the internal drain system was abandoned. The condensation now just runs off of the roof.

Yeah, I received the email today and I haven’t even received my mini yet! I’m glad (hopefully) that I got one of the refurbished units. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.

The old Dometic unit was 13,500 BTU, still last year for example, in the southern Arizona desert we were camped in 115 degree weather. The Dometic ran continuously all day from mid morning until late afternoon. If the temperature dropped to the upper 90’s the unit seemed to be able to cycle off and on but close to and over 100 it would not cycle off while maintaining about 75 degrees in the camper. I question buying an air conditioner smaller than 13,000 BTU unless you never plan on camping in the summer or later on selling it to someone who never wants to camp in the summer. Maybe my old unit was having other issues as well, who knows.