mountainoliver

Another great molded fiberglass rally in Hiawassee, GA with 14 Oliver trailers in attendance this year. Riverbend campground is a beautiful area right on the Hiawassee River. Great weather this year again and not too hot during the day. There was interest in the Oliver Elite that was here, which sounds like it may very well lead to a sales call.

When we first purchased our Elite II in 2017 I owned a 3/4 ton diesel Dodge truck that was over 20 years old and with more miles on it than I cared to use for towing a new camper with. I purchased a new Toyota Tundra which was I my humble opinion was a mistake. Right away I started installing “band aids” on the truck that were to allow it or tow better. On level open roads there wasn’t an issue but in the hills and mountains I really noticed a deficiency. Anyway, I ended up trading that in on a 3/4 ton Chevy with the Duramax engine. I couldn’t be happier with this truck. Some say it’s a bit overkill, well maybe. Just last week while on our way home from a three and a half month trip I had to make an emergency stop on the highway from about 65 MPH. Overkill? Not really. The truck handled the trailer not the other way around. Just as it should be! We were able to stop quickly and in a straight line. The trailer didn’t even try to fishtail but just stopped straight. This told me that my brake setup for the trailer is right and that the truck has enough brake power to handle the load. Not overkill at all. It’s always about safe handling in emergency situations.

Yes, as the tube enters the foam gasket to attach to the cups. Make sure that butyl caulk is still sticky and is firmly stuck to both the foam and the drain tubing. You don’t need to worry about the tubing itself being clogged somewhere, the back flush will blow out all of the crud growth in the tubing. I also used a stainless worm type hose clamp to make sure that the heater hose (or whatever type hose) is firmly attached to the Oliver condensation drain. Also don’t worry about access to the cups, the water will flush everything and actually overflows the cups onto the roof. I wouldn’t run the water at a high flow or for much longer than just a few seconds, probably less than a minute is gracious plenty to get er done.

My condensate tubing used to plug up on a regular basis. One of the tubes located in the ac inlet area just behind the inlet filter was slightly kinked and wouldn’t drain well so would plug up often. Once I straightened that out I’ve not had any issues. To clear the plugged line before I eliminated the kink, I used a short section of 3/4 in heater hose and adapted it to a garden hose. The heater hose fit perfectly over the condensation drain underneath the trailer so I would simply back flush the drain line. The water would overflow the cups forcing built up crud out onto the roof. You should also make sure that the soft caulking that’s around the two drain hoses as they go through the roof seal (just behind the ac inlet grill/filter) to the cups is complete. Otherwise water from the cups can wick back into the trailer and drip through the inlet grill and onto the floor.

Also, here’s a schematic that may help. Even though the module is labeled Nova Kool in reality it’s a standard Secop AC/DC compressor inverter module.

I went through the whole thing and rerouted many of the wires and secured some, especially the main input wires. If your AC input cable isn’t long enough you can just get a long computer cable to replace the the supplied one. I’ve found that someplace like Goodwill will have tons of odd cables for less than a dollar. The AC input cable on my fridge is a typical computer type that’s 16 gauge, very common. Your fridge should have had the AC input wire assembly already installed.

John, that’s the AC input. On my fridge a separate “computer” type socket/cord is mounted/grounded/fused elsewhere on the fridge chassis but close to the compressor. As you can see the DC connection is down in the lower section of spade terminals.

My 2017 hull #208 has the solar panel backing plates. My trailer did not originally come with solar. ScubaRx helped me install the controls and wiring and Oliver service installed the panels. I have a photo that I took during construction of the underside of the outer shell that clearly shows the plates fiberglassed in place along with plates in all of the awning mounting locations as well.

What year is your trailer? I just went through this similar situation on my 2017. I found that the jack is grounded through one or two of the mounting bolts to the frame. I noticed that there was rust under two of the stainless washers and found out that Oliver uses steel star washers to cut through the paint on the jack. The shifting load may be moving the jack enough to lose the ground. I ran an actual ground wire to the frame to permanently fix the grounding issue. You may check the bolt tightness and/or add a ground wire.

A couple of years ago I added a master switch to disable all of the leveling jacks as a theft deterrent. It’s probably difficult to move the trailer with all three jacks firmly lifting the trailer a bit. I moved the USB charging outlet from under the dinette and used that location for the leveling jack switch.

Never lube hubs/bearings. I think that the built in bearing tolerance just requires that the bearings be torqued solid (I don’t know the actual number for this). This hundred or so ft/lbs torque will provide the correct running clearance.

The three side windows on our 2017 LEII fogged last year so on our way home from our annual west trip this past March, we stopped at Suncoast Designers in Hudson, FLA. We stayed in our camper while the windows were being repaired without any issues. The guys removed our windows one evening and replaced them the next afternoon. The lifetime warranty is one of the main reasons we opted to go to Suncoast Designers. I would recommend them as everyone there was very accommodating during the process. I had called them and scheduled the service last year before a price increase that took place in January of this year and they honored the original quote. They have about 15 or so sites with 50 amps and water. There is a dump station centrally located in the parking lot as well. We were the only “small” camper there. The rest were all class A motor homes. Some having every window removed for repair.

John, I just tried to send you a private message. The system says that you can’t receive private messages???

Probably either Camping World or Walmart. Also check out Amazon I’ve seen many different designs there as well.

I didn’t, the sewer hose cap comes with a male garden hose fitting as part of the cap. I added a standard ball valve from a Home Depo type store that has male garden hose threads on one end and female garden hose threads on the other. If the sewer hose has liquid in it you can aim the ball valve into the campground sewer connection and easily/safely empty the sewer hose before removing the cap. Note: this is for liquid only….wink wink!

Just another idea for leaving the sewer hose connected to the trailer. I’ve had the hose connected since pickup in 2017 without any issues. I use a cap on the hose end that also has a garden hose connection. I also have a small ball valve attached to the cap. This makes it easy/controlled to drain the hose if it’s filled with liquid.

I think that we are looking at it right now from Dead Horse Ranch State Park! Could it be Tuzigoot National Monument?

Minnesota Oli-I have had the same experience. I upgraded to three Battle Born batteries and have the Blue Sky MPPT charge controller/system. The Blue Sky controller is fully programmable. I sent the BB folks a copy of the set-up page and asked them to put in the parameters that they wanted to see and it only took me a few minutes to program. My solar panel total back in 2017 was 320 watts. I do carry a portable 100 watt panel and have used it a couple of times just to test what the little extra can do but, have never really needed it or the 2000 watt generator. I have the usual installed electrical equipment plus a couple of years ago I switched out my unreliable propane fridge for a NovaKool compressor fridge so also have that constant load as well. 320 watts isn’t really ideal but, for reasonable power usage it does work. Even connected to shore power I never have needed the PD4045 shore power charger unless we have had several days of clouds and then only if the batteries were below 50%. All in all I’d say that the “older” factory set-up with the Blue Sky MPPT controller, three or four Battle Born batteries, and 2000 watt inverter is a great entry level system.

According to my mileage/maintenance log we have 39,050 miles on hull 208 (2017). Getting ready to add about 7,000 miles this winter.

Check your private messages.

The facility that I contacted is over 400 miles from my home. I first contacted the Dexter representative that had been at one of the Oliver rallies, he suggested that I call this particular distribution facility as it would be closest to me and just talk to the sales department. I know of another owner who called this facility after I did and also ordered the same parts for the same costs. I would call your closest distributor and get a price quote. Maybe the difference was me ordering four sets of everything. I tried to pm you and a note came up that you weren’t receiving pm’s. If we can get that fixed, when we get home from our trip I’ll send all the information that I have.

John, I rebuilt my axles this past November and purchased all of the parts from Textrail. The facility that I happened to order from is in Cookeville Tennessee. Complete hub/drum assemblies including bearings were something like 45 +/-dollars each. Complete brake assemblies ready to mount were about the same 45 +/- dollars each for the self adjusting type. The manual adjustment type is less. My complete rebuild of four complete brake assemblies, four complete drum/hub/bearing/seals assemblies including shipping to my door was around $500. Hope this helps Side note: These parts were all genuine Dexter not an off brand.

Overland, I apologize

Ok, but the chart looks like they are showing the furnace fan only and the amps listed are at 120 VAC. Our camper furnaces run on DC/propane only. I may just test the furnace load while running.