mossemi

Once again Professor JD comes through with his in-depth knowledge. I did forget to say that I ran the stock tires towing the Oliver until it was time to replace them and they were soft and a very sweet ride. I added the Timbren SES while still running the stock tires and that improved the towing experience, but the every day ride suffered. I then replaced them with Michelin Defender LTX M/S tires which improve the towing a little more, but the daily ride again deteriorated. I do believe that whichever tow vehicle a trailer owner chooses is a comprise between what you what to drive and what you need to drive. I would be first in line to say any full size pickup truck would be a better TV than the LC200. But in my house the War Department is in charge of the appropriations. And she doesn’t like pickup trucks. We do like Toyota products, so my choices were limited and a used LC200 was the default choice. I am happy with it and it does it’s job. We live in Florida and have only ventured west into Arkansas with the Ollie, so my towing experience is much different than JD's. Our 2020 trip to the Pacific NW was cancelled due to Covid-19, so the elevation and MPG challenges will have to wait for another time. I generally start towing in 4th gear and shift up or down mostly by feel and sound. I always say that camping is a participation sport and any RV adds another level. Towing a trailer is different that driving a class A, B or C, so you adjust as needed. I generally drive with cruise control on the highway and excessive shifting is a sure sign that I’m in the wrong gear. Experience is an excellent teacher. Mossey

Yes, I am still towing with a 14 LC200. No, I never tried towing the Oliver without the Andersen WD hitch because the LC specs require a WD hitch for the weight of the Oliver. It’s not a question of sway, it’s a loading issue. Yes, I would buy another REDARC brake controller. I bought a P3 to begin with and just couldn’t find a place where it didn’t look like a garage door opener bolted to my dash. So I tried the REDARC and liked the ease of installation and it has performed flawlessly. And the REDARC plugged into the LC with the P3 adapter cable I had already bought. I use the Timbren SES instead of airbags, but JD has much more off-road experience than I do so his choice of airbags bears consideration. I also use the 2” Andersen ball with my WD hitch and JD has upgraded to the 2-5/16”. Early Oliver’s had an extending tongue, but that has not been available for years. Mossey

My 2017 has 2 USB ports next to each 12V outlets as I assume bhncb's does. Mossey

Edit: I see others have responded while I was composing this post. And yes I had to unload the groceries and take out the garbage and I’ll admit to not multi tasking very well. For the newcomers, let me begin by saying that I am an Oliver Fanboy. I may not be #1 but I’m probably in the top 10. So now that you know where I am coming from, please don’t be offended because none is intended. I certainly understand that not everyone is a handyman capable of doing some of the modifications that are discussed on this forum, but there are plenty of owners that are and will assist in any way possible. Just ask Jan, who bought a used OTT with no RV experience at all and I don’t believe she every drove a truck either much less towed a trailer of any sort. And trying very hard to remain a gentleman, I won’t guess her age because she told us while having dinner at the 2019 Oliver Owners Rally and I forgot it. And I don’t know the whole story, but I do believe some forum members helped deliver the trailer to her and they and other members helped her with towing lessons. And I would guess that if someone camped next to you and they didn’t know how to connect a sewer hose or back into to their camping spot or any of the other things that come up while camping, you or any of us would offer to help in any way we could. I believe this forum has a wealth of information and knowledge regarding OTT's from the ground up. What I don’t think it has is very much information on the latest trailers being made or to be made. So I think the best place for those questions are with the Oliver sales team. If there are items such as electrical outlets for instance, that are not in the location you want them, then the service department might be able to accommodate you needs. And if they can’t, stop by and we'll figure it out. So keep your questions coming because for me, communicating about OTT’s is almost as much fun as using it. Mossey

That means Krunch and I will be camping with you. I believe I have a piece of hardware you are interested in. And I believe Duke and Chris of ShallowGal fame will be there as well. Mossey

YouTube has several videos about propane regulators that I find useful. Mossey

David, JD presents a very good, real world example of the load we can place on the Oliver battery system and that it could overload your battery cutoff. Here is some additional information to support his suggestion to remove or upgrade your battery cutoff. The Trojan battery manual provides a cable sizing chart which states that a 4/0 cable, 6' long can support 360 amps. Oliver installed a 4/0 cable with an in-line 250 amp fuse between the inverter and batteries in my trailer and I bet yours is the same. This means the fuse should blow before the cable would fail. Your 125 amp rated battery cutoff now becomes the weakest link in the battery system. It will not blow In an overload condition because it does not have that capability, but it might melt or burn and that is our concern. I do not always agree with JD, but I know he always has everyone’s safety in mind. And that’s a good thing for the rest of us. Mossey

JD, I am confused by your small ground wire comment. The only ground wires smaller than the main 4/0 I remember having were a yellow jacketed 6 AGM, a black 10 AWG from the Furrion solar port I added, the black 6 AWG and the temp sensor for the Zamp controller. It looks to me that the disconnect is on the left main 4/0 to the cabin/inverter and the right 4/0 is the jumper to the battery behind the battery with the disconnect. What else could the disconnect be controlling? I think the disconnect is in just the condition you are warning about. Maybe DavidS will chime in with a clarification. Mossey

Is the AC drain at the rear street side dripping water? If you remove the return air filter inside the cabin, will be able to see the drain hoses. Mossey

It is my opinion that you should not use soldered terminals. A soldered terminal is subject to vibration and it is hard to apply that much heat to that large cable and terminal. Just crimp them if you do it yourself. And let me say that it is hard to crimp in the lower hull if that is what you were thinking unless you have a hydraulic crimper. I would suggest checking the lug hole diameter on the existing terminal and make sure it is the right diameter for the shunt because I do not remember what size is needed. Do not use a 3/8" terminal on a 5/16" bolt. And a local battery shop can make up a short custom cable for the shunt to inverter connection. I was lucky in that I had to remove my negative cable completely because of a broken cable gland, so all of my cable work took place at the bench. But that means I was also unlucky having to remove that cable because it is a pain. Mossey

I have downloaded all of the files relating to my model year to my iPad from the Oliver University for use whenever needed. You can also download videos from the YouTube app for later use. Mossey

According to the Victron installation instructions, the battery negative wire goes directly to the shunt and it is the only wire connected to the negative side of the battery and the battery side of the shunt. What size wire you place between the battery and the inverter is determined by the voltage loss per foot of the connecting wire. Since Xantrex specs a 0 gauge wire 6 feet or less, the stock 4/0 wire is overkill. So you can connect the stock negative wire to the battery side of the shunt and connect the other side of the shunt to the inverter with 0 gauge wire and meet Xantrex specs. It wouldn’t make any sense to reduce the size of the stock 4/0 unless you were really bored or wanted to reduce weight. And you might want to reach out to AndrewK via PM. He has helped multiple OTTO's with their BMS installs. Mossey

Donthompson towed his LEII with a VW Touareg TDI and was really happy with it. Mossey

topgun2 also sent this picture and said the fishing has been pretty good. Mossey

I got a message and picture from topgun2 tonight and I just has to share it with all. I know that I enjoy his dry sense of humor more than most, but I think everyone should get it. Mossey

This picture is from the Oliver website and shows the Lukens towing with their MB and I don’t see a WDH. Mossey

The dog silhouette is of a Border Terrier. And the back story is that my wife was not in favor of any kind of RV and we have two Border's. All of which put me in "the dog house". I also struggled with the logo artwork. I have seen lots of BT silhouettes through my association with the breed, but never one I liked well enough. I found this artwork on the Etsy website and the artist was in England. I do not support the idea of borrowing others art, music, video or ideas without compensation, so I sent him an email explaining what I wanted and ask if he would make it for me. Being the patient guy that I am , I waited for a month and then sent another email. Still no response after the second month. So I tried a different approach and bought a small 8"x10" poster and added a note asking him to make one for me or give me his permission to reproduce his art for my caravan. He then responded and apologized for not responding to my emails and gave his permission to do what I wanted as he was too busy for custom work. So my suggestion is to keep searching and I’m sure you will find the Starshine to fulfill your desires. After all, the world is full of very talented people and being a perfectionist only applies to things you do and the things I do, are my problem. Mossey

Welcome to Ollie World. Mossey

There was one in the parking lot at the RV museum in Elkhart, Indiana last September, as well one inside on display. They sure were ahead of their time. Mossey

I would say that depends on where the part that has nuts and bolts was manufactured. The frame hardware is all SAE and I would bet my lunch money that everything that bolts to the frame is SAE as well. There is metric hardware in the electrical and maybe the plumbing systems, although I’m not positive on the plumbing. I am pretty sure my inverter positive and negative connection nuts are 14MM. So if I go out on a limb, I would say 95+% SAE in my 2017 LEII. Mossey

That’s a funny story that in the long run prepared you for whatever comes you way and helps explain you tool and parts inventory. But now what I really want to know is, where do you carry Atom Smasher? Mossey

I kind of remember you losing an Atom in the bowels of Snowball, but are you saying it was in alarm when you lost it or were you singing in frustration and your campground neighbors didn’t appreciate either? I guess if I ever install any Atoms I’ll have to equip them with safety string so they are retrievable. Mossey

Made me look🙄, haven’t seen anything like that thankfully. This is the dehumidifier I keep in the trailer and it only needs electricity to dry out the beads inside. When the beads turn green they are wet and need a drying cycle. Mossey

When JD posted about the Element fire extinguisher I remembered someone else had talked about it before. So I went looking for it. Then you mentioned a post about it and I was already looking at your 2019 post, so I just responded with the link. Sorry it’s not the one your looking for as I don’t stomp around on the expedition forum. Mossey

You started this thread last year. Mossey