mountainoliver

Merry Christmas to all the family of Oliver owners!

Another thing that is most likely the cause for a hot battery lug and has not been mentioned yet……a loose connection to the outside world. Installer error. It’s easy to get a loose connection. We should check all of the 12 volt connections periodically, especially the high amperage ones. When I first installed my lithium batteries and put them under a heavy load I checked all of the welding cable crimped on lugs. Only one factory crimp got hot so I removed it and crimped it again. I have not had a problem with any of the connections getting warm under heavy loads since. Yet something else we need to check, oh goody!

A follow up to my previous post. FWIW. This issue is exactly why I choose three separate batteries instead of using only one. If one fails or even two fail during a trip, I can easily switch to the remaining good one(s) in the field and not have to make a faulty quick decision in order to provide heat or to keep my compressor fridge running. Anyway something to think about when in this case choosing batteries.

I (unfortunately) have three Battle Born batteries that are now six years old. At this point considering the possibility of having to cover shipping costs basically from coast to coast and BB charging me a troubleshooting fee, I’d probably just dump these and go with a different brand. At the time I bought my batteries, BB were the gold standard in lithium batteries. Who knew! I did extensive research and chose them. So for now I’m going to watch them closely and so far I haven’t had the slightest issue with them. The other day I performed a load test with no issues with loading them to 122 amps for about 20 minutes and absolutely no heating issues at the posts. We’ll see.

“We previously owned an Overland Trailer (which had a Max Air fan). We experienced a voltage issue so I had the Orion-Tr 12/12-9 installed to stabilize and maintain 12v power to the fan. Now I do not have to be concerned about possible spikes or a malfunctioning control board. Max Air Fans operating above 13.8v can damage the fans control board. This will prevent damage to the sensitive control board.” I also had read about this issue with the Maxxfan control board around the time I changed my batteries to lithium about four years ago. I added the Drok buck/boost circuit to run both the bath fan and the Maxxfan and suggested using the Drok circuit for anyone with lithium batteries as a safety precaution. To my knowledge all other “12 volt” appliances are designed to withstand over the typical lithium battery voltage without any issues.

I may be wrong but, at some point someone’s brother in law or cousin had a graphic design shop in town and were the ones making the vinyl decals for Oliver. They very well may still have the original design programs. If you google vinyl decal companies in Hohenwald you might come up with something. Contact them and ask. Couldn’t hurt.

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.

I really like the unit so far. A little disappointed with the owners manual however. They tell us about certain features but they don’t describe exactly what they do. Curious about Xfan function and I can’t tell the difference between air conditioning and the dehumidifier function. The Cielo thermostat was not mentioned to me but I did notice that SDG had one on the wall in the office area! After using the new unit for about a week now in high humidity I’m really thinking about adding the Cielo thermostat.

Because of tariffs on imported goods and other variables it would be best to contact SDG in Elkhart directly for a quote. The Tosot air conditioners that I have seen online lately range from just under 2,000 to just over 2,000 plus shipping. There may be some dealers that offer the units for well below the above listed prices.

After 8 years of use it was time to retire the Dometic air conditioner. I have looked at several brands and for one reason or another I decided on the Tosot brand which is the same as the Atmos brand and probably others as well. Since last summer the Dometic has been making fan bearing noises off and on and I’ve grown tired of climbing on the roof to oil the motor. After eight years I really didn’t want to replace the motor only to have something else fail so this was an excellent excuse to replace it with a higher efficiency quiet unit. We’ve been traveling out west for the past three and a half months and were passing “close” to Elkhart Indiana so decided to drop in and visit the SDG folks. The entire replacement process was perfectly coordinated and our installer Joe knew exactly what needed to be done. We’ve camped out in their parking lot the night before with 30 amp shore power available. The next morning at 8:00 AM I backed our trailer into their shop and about two hours later the job was done. They even printed a custom cover plate to cover up the holes from the old Dometic thermostat. We were able to sleep through the night with the air conditioner running for the first time in 8 years without having to use earplugs, and to watch television at half volume instead of full volume! The air registers force air towards the front of the trailer instead of most all of the cold air being forced onto the bed area. We’re parked in central Ohio for a few days and it’s very hot and humid but the air conditioner is keeping the Oliver very dry and comfortable. On low fan the unit draws about 9 ac amps. Running from the inverter the inverter draws 94 dc amps. The Dometic on inverter would draw between 130 - 140 dc amps under similar conditions. We are extremely pleased with the work that SDG provided and with the comfort and efficiency of the Tosot unit. I strongly recommend the folks at SDG for the air conditioner replacement. They have done several Oliver air conditioner replacements and have experience in replacing/installing air conditioners on many different rv types.

I’m in the midst of a 3 1/2 month western trip with many places that have zero to minimal cell service so have not done nor taken the time to do a lot of research. My axles/springs were installed in Grand Junction Colorado during our trip (I know, white knuckle experience) so I’m still getting used to them. In the beginning I stopped every half hour to check bearing temperature. These are different from the old ones. I also have completely turned the brake control off to make sure that non of the brakes were dragging/overheating. Anyway, developing a new baseline of operation. Now I’ve gone back to my old routine of stopping every couple of hours to check bearing/brake temperature. Right now the only link I have is a screenshot of an Amazon page that I saw. I also have screenshots from a couple of old Airstream forum posts. We should all do more research. I’ll continue in depth when I return home in August. Here’s what I have so far. These are all unedited photos/screenshots. Keep in mind that pre assembled bearing cartridges are not new. The automotive industry has been using them for years. They have been used in industrial applications for years as well. I may be wrong but I personally feel comfortable with the Nev R Lube axle especially knowing that our axles are the smaller of two that use the same size bearing. The 42mm bearing is used in the 5200 pound Dexter axle and the 6000 pound Dexter axle. Plus we’re not going to overload our trailer (now are we?) so our trailer maximum weight rating of 7000 pounds is still the limiting factor. Longevity and maintenance issues remain to be seen and it remains to be seen whether I made a mistake or not.