Geronimo John

Finally, an RV A/C MFG who is listening AND understanding the need for a modern control system of RV AC's in a small space that operates in a very wide range of environmental stressors. They likely will in a few years be THE design standard for any A/C MFG that wants to remain in this business. I am thrilled. Hopefully the roll-out will produce a reliable track record and many happy campers! Thanks for being our pioneer on this unit.

If the fan you are referring to is the supply air fan that is a great set up. Hot and humid locations: supply air turns off with the compressor. Hot and Dry and it can run to retain moisture and still not be humid in the trailer. GJ

That's a deal killer for the vast majority of the USA market for the supply air fan to run continuously. It just evaporates the moisture entrained in the coil back into the cabin. Same as the unmodified Houghton's.

Dan: Recognize that the vast majority of us on this forum are Retired Ole Farts. We certainly made our share of mistakes and learned from them. I used to call my Grandfather a "Ole School" guy. Over time I came to realize that he was actually a lot smarter than I gave credit for. But he had the gift of letting me make my own mistakes, so that I could learn from them. As a leader in the EV Team and a member of our forum, I thank you for your thoughts and reality checks presented. Granted I doubt that many of the current OTT owners will follow your foot EV foot steps. For now.... But I would guarantee that in the not too distant future, the technology will be at the point of people wondering why we were ICEing it for so long. Your advantage is you have the technical and experience to be out in the lead in this area. Good for you. And good luck as those ROF's tend to be right..... all the way up to the moment that reality strikes. Sort of like there is no such thing as global warming. No offence to the MAGA members of the group! Really! Seriously! Geronimo John

It is absolutely amazing what a few mods to a truck design can do. Like: Taking 700 pounds off the truck (Conversion of body from steel to AL.) Having a near 400 HP Twin Turbo engine with a 10 speed GJ

Roger all. On the 5.5 bed: For those that need to store their vehicle in a Public Storage shed, having the 5.5' bed is the cat's meow for a 20 ' x 10" box. Going with the 6.5' bed and you are now into the 30' stalls. MUCH more expensive. Also hauling pilots and flight gear up switch backs is easier with the 5.5' bed. And 40 PSI in the air bags. GJ

Bill: spot on. My decision was based upon not having a consistent load for the TV. One moment I have just the TV empty. Later in the day I may be towing Ollie with 540 pounds of Tongue Weight either with or without a cargo load. Then hauling a super full load of pilots and gear crawling up a mountain. Then empty coming down. With a Timbren system it just is not adaptable to such use. The air bags however are. I also agree that the timberline's are good for a consistent load. Dial it in and you are golden and have not broke the bank. But if you load profile looks like a Yo-Yo, then you would want air bags I think. GJ

it is my understanding that the A/C loads are run through a separate Auto Transfer Switch. The ATS is then connected to the inverter. The reason is to allow the A/C load to be powered up by either the ATS (On shore power) or to be powered up by the Inverter. It would seem logical that regardless of how wonderful (Yes inverter envy) your inverter is , it would still be switching between an ATS or the Inverter power created by the Iithos to the inverter. Not having either a separate ATS or an Multiplus 2 (Inverter envy) would when running the A/c and microwave would over amp the OEM single ATS. It is for this reason that John Davies encouraged us to add a second ATS if going to battery powered A/C. That's a valid choice for your home area. But for others: One reason to turn it off would be parasitic draw, Over time even in standby mode, one ends up using a lot of power regardless if on shore power or not. For some : OK for some Not. A second is that all electronic components have a finite life span. That life is generally determined by the number of hours it is turned on. There is an exception to this concept and that is for folks in a high humidity areas. Keeping the home fire burning to keep the electronics' dry works well for some. But not everybody.

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.