Geronimo John

Thermal tripping can be caused by a bad connection. With a corroded or loose connection the increased resistance will cause a voltage drop. Yet the loads will still operate at the same wattage. To do that, the amps increase. The heat generated usually is AT the corrosion site. Hence needing a thermal gun as well a clamp on Multi Meter. GJ

Impressive in performance and flexibility. Just what a work from home person would find really enabling!

Pull off the travel lanes ASAP! Greg: My response was off target to you and this thread topic. Double bad... More seriously. I would pull off and just remove the tire/rim from the bad brake location. But be SURE to put at least two lug nuts back on the drum to keep it from going a different path. It likely would not be necessary to tie UP the naked drum depending on the road surface. But it would necessitate carefully traveling so as not to turn the brake drum into a skid plate. Then cautiously travel to a safer spot to asses the issue.

My intent of this thread, which from my above posts consistently failed to do..... is to discuss the merits/problems of the two axle designs (EZ or Never). Not what shop does the best work, disk brakes vs. drum, 3500 or 5200 rated axles, or even God forbid the topic of Alcan or Dexter springs. No arrows on my part are being shot for most of the above posts as I too wandered off the thread I started! On target arrow: One of the disadvantages of EZ is that it wastes a LOT of grease. To get grease out of the axle you have to pump it full of grease first. Then once full of grease one could begin purging old grease by pumping likely tubes of grease thru the axle to get all the old grease out. I can clean and service my 4 bearing sets with a single tube of grease doing it the "Ole Fashioned Way". Where as I suspect that after a few years service, the EZ will require at least a tube per bearing set. This can of course be avoided as stated by CRM above with his "On Target" response. GJ

Pull off the travel lanes ASAP!

Travel through Canada this year with all the Presidential turmoil this year may be something to consider delaying.

True. For me it was a while anyway. I have a truck mounted 65 watt VHF Radio. For a couple of years I could reliably transmit at full power. But there after the available amp draw decreased enough to only allow me to transmit at low power. The radio would self protect if using full power. Research told me that cigarette lighter plugs are not advised for at this power level as they are notoriously degrade over time. . I don't know if your StarLinks would be considered in the same group as VHF radio's, but for ours we have to run dedicated 12V power line to the radio fuse and unit. GJ

wow!

That said my concern with the 10" drum on our stock OE2's is system fade and maintenance. Here is a good video if you are on the fence. https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Brakes/Dexter/T2HRCM10DAC.html?feed=npn&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=203665937&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItvmapLaPjgMVE7daBR1a9BpIEAQYASABEgIsJ_D_BwE But let's assume that such a system exists, and it will fit our tires and rims. Then for me, the cost matrix become a simple one: A. Upgrade to 5200's and roll on with drum's. Say $2,000. B. Keep our 3500's and do the disk brake system. Say $2100. C. Keep the OEM 3500 drum brakes as is. My pea brain says that I am not happy with Option C as I spend a lot of time in the mountains and need to pull over a bunch where safe and zap the temperatures of my drums. So Option C is not ideal. But that same bandwidth limited problem solver is on the fence as to the better option between A and B. But that question would warrant a separate thread likely titled "Disk or Drum What You Gonna Do".

Krea: When going to disk brake systems for thee 3500 axles the calipers all appear to me to be something like this: My search shows lots of kits that serve the 4 or 5 inch bolt patterns. Sadly I failed to find any for our 6 bolt pattern. So based upon my limited search skills, if you want disk you also get to change out your wheel rims and tires too. That is a deal killer for our Ollie as I like our 16" wheels and think going smaller was a mistake just because they could not find ST tires for the 16's. I say run LT Truck tires and roll on with the E-rated ones. If you or any reader knows of a disk kit that will work on our existing wheel/tires, please post a follow-up. GJ

Torch, hand grinder, hack saw , or even a cold chisel. All will do the job, just a matter high your PITA threshold is. Mine is pretty low, and for weight conservation I carry a Dremel Kit with reinforced cut-off wheels. They last a LOT longer than the non-reinforced ones. But they are also more expensive. Worth the cost IMO. As a result, I don't carry a torch, hand grinder, hack saw , or even a cold chisel. GJ

I was wondering it anybody would catch that one. LOL!

Geoff: For sure. When I first purchased my Ollie (2018) I was having power issues and could not figure it out. Then one of the forum owners mentioned the use of the bonded plug. Problems disappeared. But every so often the issue pokes its head out of the covers and all of a sudden it is a new topic. This is one item that OTT needs to really stress in their Owner's training and manual. Thank you for the details on how it works. That I did not fully know. Your post has made it's way into my DIY folder so I can whip it out when the covers get disturbed again for another owner. GJ

Either that OR you have been running power protection naked for ten years. Good news is that if so you still have a lot of Joules left in your Progressive Industries power filter!

On our "Older" Ollie's the Progressive Industries system switch makes a difference to getting power into the trailer when the power is coming from most generators that require neutral bonding.. Are you saying that is not the case for "Newer" Ollies? Thanks just trying to keep up to date.

Sounds like the nuts may have been Nylocks jamming themselves to a total stop. Happens when they are installed too tightly. Cutting them off has generally been one path. The other is to break the bolt/Ubolt with a hack saw. If they were not Nylocks, then Blaster overnight is the easy way. On an OE2? Not likely. Would be worth asking Jason that question. Or they were an after market swap for some reason.

As previously posted, for most of us there certainly is a rather large learning curve involved in spring and/or axle upgrades. But the knowledge gained by DIY is priceless. GJ PS: A can of Blaster is an essential tool for rusted anything. Sorry none of us mentioned that in any of our posts about springs. Amazing.

Certainly for many folks not towing a 6,000 pound OE2 with a full size TV. For the OE2 Team, I suspect that the weights are actually quite close between the total Ollie Weight (Loaded, unhitched) and the weight of our loaded TV's. I think you are spot on with the design of the EZ lube axles. For me the jury is still out. But my engineering mind says (Without a preponderance of evidence to the contrary) that I would lean towards the EZ. Then continue my full service to something like every other year if nothing else than to check in on the brakes. As I have at least another year on our existing 3500's, I am looking forward to JD's post on this thread about what he learns at ALCAN. GJ

Here is how I remember it: The Inverter's job is to Invert your power. It takes DC from the batteries and turns in in to AC via a transformer an turns it upside down again and a gain to create 60 hertz Alternating Current for your 120 V systems. The Converter takes 120 volt power and Chargers your batteries. Normally the Auto Transfer Switch causes the Inverter to not be energized at the same time as the C. nThis is because the inverter is not needed when you have A/C power from a shore power source. But it is possible and desirable to charge your batteries using the C and also power it up by your generator providing the energy to do so. This can be a high draw and "sucks up" much of what the main breaker will allow. Since I don't have clue what systems you have in a wonderful 2024, I can only suggest that if you have the ability to change your C charge rate, it may be pulling a lot of power that overloads the breaker. Hence some folks have dialed down the charge rate to leave more power available for other uses. You can check this by flipping the C's breaker off and see if you are still tripping the main breaker when on generator. OH one more hint. Many generators require us to use a bonded neutral plug. Like Honda's for example. I would start with that topic on the forum. The Progressive Industries EMS will no allow power from an unbonded neutrall for such generators. But failing to do so has not tripped a main that I am aware of. It willl however preclude shore power from getting you to your 120V loads. Hope this helps out a little bit. GJ

Yes of course. But with my Houghton I gained about an inch or so.

I do so annually for bearing and brake service. I also think it a good idea to stack up your dunnage under the jack you are using. That shortens the amount of jacking you need to do, and and also the lever arm against the jack should there be a problem. In this case leverage is bad. GJ

Mine as well. I'm thinking EZ Lube as I have a concern with ALWAYS and NEVER for just about all things. They are two absolute words we both used to use. 🙂 Keep us posted on your decision. I'll likely follow your lead. Good Camp Fire discussion next month! GJ Another indicated it was 3/4" increase. I have similar storage door frame height limitations.

Did you drop Ollie and drive up into Needles? It's AMAZING! GJ

Energy does not simply disappear. It is going somewhere. The wiring in our OTT's is mostly protected wire by wire with loom. I recommend that you: A. Pry the loom open and using your clamp on amp meter, to figure out where all that energy is going. B. Get a thermal meter and use it to do follow the heat trace of the current flows. If this is technically beyond your abilities, then time to seek out on site assistance. That's about all I can do for you from Hawaii. Good luck. GJ

That makes sense. So kindly consider deleting your "I recommend" post, or at least via edit clarify it as you have clarified above. Neither of us would want a new owner to see to see it as an endorsement for "staying the course:" with the OEM 1750 # springs. Thanks GJ