Geronimo John

You recommended the Nitto's some time ago. I put a set on my TV and LOVE them! Good tire all around. 🙂 GJ

Jim: Several of us run with 500 pound tongue weights on the OE2. Last year Art and I weighed my tongue weight on a really neat scale for this purpose. Mine was 540 pounds. I travel out west in significant truck and cross winds with never a problem with sway. And with your F-250 why worry about yours in the 600 range? I would not. GJ

Claudia: For sure not a first timer! Good work on the water issue. Thanks for telling us about the HWT issue. A good tip for sure. Have a great trip. GJ

Sorry for the slow response. Getting ready in Hawaii for my 2024 Summer in Ollie trip. Running warp speed for next week or so. So bullets on my end for a while... Don't have or need soft start with my Honda EU2200. Will let others with the older Honda EU2000 comment. Don't need thick roof kit for OE2 and Houghton. Get a manual thermostat for heat. Use old furnace wires and double up on existing Dometic wire to control heat post Houghton install. Requires two mods: Thermistor Mod and Fan Relay Mod. doing mine in July. GJ GJ

Sorry JD, but I strongly recommend changing your process. Especially to a first timer using high pressure air! Way too much risk for "water hammer" damage. The reason is that with some air and water already in the lines and up to 80 PSI, the air compressor will blast air and water slugs down the lines at high velocity. When they hit a fitting or a closed valve, the inertial forces of the water slugs can cause significant damage. If using air, start out with 15 psi and flush out all the water. Then move up to 20 PSI repeat working up to 30 PSI MAX. I strongly discourage any air connections beyond 30 PSI. In fact I would never choose to use air pressure at all in my system unless I was blowing out lines that are disconnected at both ends. Just too risky. GJ

Could read this two ways. There may be cases where an annual anode replacement is necessary. But for the vast majority of us, we get 3-5 years service from our anodes. Assuming you winterize annually 🙂 The "vinegar de-calcification process" is normally not needed every year as well. I do mine every even numbered year (2022, 2024 etc.). Others with soft water use can go years between de-calcifications. The following will not help you now, but certainly will be useful as a reminder on how to keep foreign stuff out of our water systems: Do you flush out your hose to eliminate spiders and other friends before hooking up to Ollie or the water filter? . Do you install your water filter at the trailer and never at the faucet? Do you use a water filter EVERY time you fill tanks or hook up to city water? All of these are good practices all owners should take note of and remember to not do.

Amazingly there is a high percentage of us that also do so, and drive our spouses nuts in the process! I love watching the craftsmanship that you and the team produce. It is absolutely amazing. GJ

Ok. Not going to look like those pictures. One of the owners who is familiar with the Solar/Litho system of your vintage trailer will need to take over. Good luck. GJ

The Z-amp solar port likely was installed by a previous owner. If so, you'll want to follow the leads inside the trailer and see where they lead you. If you have a Victron 712 Smart System installed, you'll have a display (on left) and shunt (on right) that looks like these. Very high quality gear. If the solar port wires go: A. DIRECTLY to the Litho's battery terminals, then you'll need to rewire them. B. To the trailer side of your Battery Shunt, then you are golden in two ways. First, your previous owner was a smart person. And You don't need to rewire anything. Regardless when you get your folding suit cases, you'll want rewire them to both mate up to your solar port. Not hard to do, but there are several ways to do it. GJ

Dead mouse?

I would consider the MFG recommended pressure chart. For our OE2's at 6,000 pounds less tongue weight divided by 4 OE2 tires the weight is below the chart. That means Michelin is saying use the minimum number listed or 40 PSI. However if you are running TMPS, and you want a bit more warning time and a tad firmer ride, then I would go with 45 PSI as a Max. The same logic line for the Defender tires. Here is the Michelin tire pressure chart for ours: One would deducet using the same logic that 35 psi is their recommended pressure for the Defenders, 40 if you want more TMPS head room. Less off road like going to Tec at Denali AK. GJ

Good news. Its not likely your batteries. Write down this a a 100% SOC with X amp draw. Then start powering up the individual fuses, letting things stabilize a minute or so and record the event's data. By having the fuse size, what it serves and the change in amp draw, we can all look at the data with you. Even if you run across a monster draw, continue the process for all fuses and circuit breakers with everything off. This will become a reference for many down the road for sure.

yes. Thanks TopGun2! You were close. Was out flying my paraglider.

Our OE2 Michelin Defenders are still doing well with 40,000 miles. But somewhere down the road I'll need to replace them, as will we all. When that happens, my criterion for our next set of Ollie tires will be based upon the following criterion: Toughness for sure. As such, they will be E1 rated. Long life. Wet and dry road traction. (During our ownership, our OE2 has & never will see snow or ice.) Having a tread that will not toss rocks and harm Ollie. Not off road traction in mud or on hard rock or scree. Why not put such a tire on Ollie as I have on my TV? Because the TV's job is to tow, and the trailer's job is to follow. I don't want my TV following or my Ollie leading. Of all the tires I have researched this past year, I have t agree that the Agiliss Cross Climate Light Truck E1 rated seems to be to be a great option at this point in time. However: Accoring to the above posted tire / load chart: I have to wonder why 55 PSI is suggested as appropriate? Lets assume we have an average 6000 pound ollie with 10% tongue weight. We have 5400 pounds on four tires = 1350 pounds per tire. Would therefore the Michelin chart for these tires recommend a PSI of 40 PSI? Kindly explan why we would want to punish our poor tralier with 55 PSI in the tires. GJ

Ditto for the Ford cam phaser issue.

Oh my... If their "Roger Up" was not factual, then their creditability is also on the line. That PR debacle cost wise will outweigh financially the engine problem cost. It now appears that the Short Block answer simply is not going far enough. Sadly the Ford process was, and continues to be mismanaged from a PR and future customer relations perspective. The right thing to do in their case was to warrant their engines with the defective design cam phasers with no mileage or time limit. Not doing so has so many of us angry that I suspect a Class Action law suit will happen. More bad PR for Ford when it happens. GJ

Wow, that's really nice! The processor and display: Would be really handy for the full timers and especially the Tech Inclined owners. Certainly can provide a great visual of what's happening in our various systems. But for me and Crazy Horse, we get by with my slide rule and his solar powered adding machine. I just don't think I would trust it for 8 or 9 months alone though. Especially with all that AI running amuck now days. Lord only knows where it would take Ollie off to up there in the High Country of Oklahoma. Oh wow, I'm back. Ok, seriously now, I would not at all be surprised that in the near future OTT will be looking for advice on making this great Victron suite an option on new OTT's. It is bound to happen. Meanwhile, we'll just poke along. Anybody have some slide rule wax? After 60 years it's getting a bit sticky. Numbers seem to be smaller than before too! Oh slipped back to the other side. Sorry about that! Great system for sure.

Ronbrink: The following does not apply for your Houston location. But for others they need to be aware that most Lithium's per the MFG's must not be stored at full SOC for locations where there is any possibility of them freezing. GJ

I use the same one! Works good for up to 20 amps. But mine has one square pin and one round...... GlacierGirl: Just be very careful to notice the shape of each pin, so that you can match it with the proper plug. Art and I found different pin shapes for some of these. Also, do not assume a color like RED is actually to be hooked up to a positive for a given pin shape or color. You'll want to have a volt meter to make sure your panel out put + and - math the plug and that the plus power side gets all the way to a + battery terminal. GJ

Just noted your 2023 Sequoia. I used a 2005 to tow my Ollie for a year. it only had the 4.7 liter engine. The 2023's are much better. You'll want to take measurements of the Solar suit cases and plan out your storage plan. That likely will lead you to the smaller ones. If you have already purchased, then you'll most likely be having them in Ollie. Will sort of be a PITA when traveling. There are many ways to connect it, but until you get that resolved, the Solar Suitcases come with a pair of alligator clips, Just open the battery hatch and attach it on the proper terminals so that your shunt will see the charge. If you don't have any fancy way to measure your battery SOC, just connect to the battery terminals in such a manner so as to match the 12 volt output. (I don't know if you have AGM, 12V/6V LA, or Litho's). when you settle o the solar system, with the battery info one of us will for sure know the best way to hook it up. GJ

The Renogy solar suit cases are ideal for our use, especially if we don't have onboard solar. You may want to find a store or another ollie that has them. You'll immediately get the picture I was painting. If they did not have the smaller 100 watt ones, I would buy my 200 again. But for sure would prefer the smaller foot print with the 100's.

WOW. I'll be adding this for my 2018 model OE2. Thank you for posting. GJ

First, Welcome to the OTT Family! I'm not familiar with your solar port, but I do own the 200-watt solar suit case. I like it a lot. When I was buying mine, I sought guidance just as you are. One of the owners indicated that he preferred getting two of the 100's because the 200-watt version is large and a bit heavy. After two years of use, I regret not following his advice. The challenge is storage. The 200-watt set is quit large for storage. It is wide enough that I can't stand it on edge in my truck bed. So flat it must lay, taking up a LOT of space. That makes it much more challenging than two smaller ones stacked would have. Sure it will fit into my F-150 short box bed, but it then demands priority and not much can be stored on top of them - despite their great case. If I were going to re-do, I for sure would not have gotten the bigger one. Now if you are set on the 200's I'll offer you mine at 40% off, and I'll get my two sets of 100's. Both win. Well not quite. I would not accept that offer if I were you though. Unless you have a 8' bed for your TV and not much else in it. 🙂 GJ

YES! Ditto. GJ

If after all the above you still are losing power, time to Recharge again and DISCO the batteries from each other. I have not heard of any such failures before, but at least this would be a warranty replacement for sure. You certainly could run without one of them during the process. GJ