Geronimo John

On our 2018 OE2, I run 50 PSI on highway and 30 PSI on unpaved roads. It would be useful to know if others are doing something simular. BTW, having a Dewalt 20V air compressor on board makes my life SOOOOO easy now. GJ

I agree with Hokieman and Battleborns video. Without solar on our OE2, and covering 400 to 600 miles a day, boondocking along the way, we wanted to arrive nightly with our three 100 aH Battleborns charged and not having to run a generator. Modern vehicles have an updated alternator technology that can be damaged unless you follow the advice in the video. We chose their most recommended unit, the Victron Orion 12-12/30. It is a 30 amp capacity smart charging system. There are other options as recommended by several members. Recommend you take a look at John Davies posting for additional details. See his HOW TO threads at: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/ Also search the Orion 12-12/30 topic and there are several links to great info. Should you like a list of materials that I used on my 2019 F-150 SuperCrew and OE2 just PM me. GJ

I know Dometic has a long history of supporting our OTT Team and Owners. I suspect that they are aware of this issue and my positive side hopes that down the road they can work up a solution for the 310's. Likely though a smart printer team will just start making a proper rebuild kit as other Dometic toilets now offer. Either way, There is so much "head room" between the cost to produce such a kit and th cost of a new toilet. As such, it is likely one of the two good solutions will happen. My hopes anyway,.

My experience was that Dometic does not sell the part that broke on Chuck's and our toilet. (Chuck's picture below) For this 50 cent (to make) part not being available, one has to purchase a whole toilet. This was verified by both Dometic and E-trailer. If anyone has info contrary to this please share it with the team. Thanks, GJ

Thanks JD. Early this summer as part of our LiFePo4 upgrade, I replaced our OEM 2K inverter with a 3K Renogy. As you know it is a LOT larger and heavier than the OEM 2K unit. I drilled out the four mounting holes, and added supplemental wood supports to accommodate the longer Inverter and to bring the four 3K mount holes in line. I too was concerned about the weight and poor support. Some JB weld and through the bunk vertical wall went four SS bolts, SS Fender Washers and 1/4 X 20 bolts with nylock nuts. Yep I trust JB Weld, but I trust it more with thru-bolting with SS bolts and fasteners. So yes, if anybody wants to look, you can see under the street side bunk rail two of the four attachments. PS: Used he same approach on the mounting of the Victron 12/12-30 charger under the street side front dinette seat facing aft. GJ

The exact failure occurred to us in Idaho this summer. It is insane that we have to replace a whole toilet for a 50 cent part failure. I would rather replace the whole unit and never buy another Dometic unit again even if it costs me double! Where is the corporate integrity at Domenica? GJ

Personally, I prefer a valve I can close off vs. one or two check valves that can fail when they want to so as to cause the most adverse consequences. But then I NEVER leave a pressure hose hooked up to our OE2 more than temporarily filling the fresh water tank, or flushing the black tank. My rationale is that I have zero confidence that the pressure water system pressure for all the systems I load water from are at a level that will not damage my trailer. With or without a pressure regulator. Yes, that makes me run my fresh water pump a lot. But when it fails, I for sure know where to look. Just my two cents. GJ

Just wondering: For those of us that have a isolation valve, why do we need a check valve?

Lisa: Great to hear your thoughts of a super fun initial run with your Oliver! It would be helpful if you would add your signature line showing the typical info about your TV and Ollie. See Top Gun's above for a good example. Below are a few thoughts that have helped me become a bit "Awning Wiser". Our Ollie came with the manual awning. As with Topgun2, we love sitting outside under it in "reasonable" rain storms. For those owners with the older style manual awnings I garnered some great lessons learned (The hard way) during our TX to Alaska trip this summer: A. Even when expecting a "Reasonable" rain event, we would extend the awning about 1/2 to 2/3 out and cock the awning so that one side is higher than the other. We have done this many times so that the runoff would dump aft vs. near the entry. Works great.... BUT: water weight on the lower side streached our awning to the point where it could not close for travel. (For the Pros: Yes I did all the adjustments to compensate, but they were not enough.) Hence I gained an opportunity to convert my perfectly beautiful awning into a ground cover. Most expensive ground cover we have ever acquired. 😞 B. When replacing your awning, be VERY aware that securely tying off the awning arms at all three arms is IMPERATIVE. My aft paracord line knot failed due to poor rope-man-ship by the owner. At just the wrong moment, it self deployed. Very quickly much to my surprise, it went from 20" to full open far faster than I could react. Damage was total to the aft awning arm center "Elbow" joint. Please take extra time to carefully tie the arms off at the replacement open distance suggested in the installation instructions. My one knot failure caused my worst DUHHHHHH moment in a long time. (PS: A candid comment by the Carefree Tech was: "Sorry about your loss, sadly I see it all the time." 😞 C. Some professional awning experts advertise in the video's that they can replace their awning by themselves. I stupidly believed them. But from my one time experience, it was not true for this owner, and likely would be so for about 95% of us. Awning replacement needed to be for me a full time two-person effort. Also, it is a three person effort for at least one moment. (See Item B above) Despite the above learning opportunities, we continue to enjoy our awning even in rain storms. As stated above, we caution to not have it full out if we anticipate any adverse weather. I also fill my milk crate (Front basket container for jack blocking) and my large Fortiflex feed buckets (basement storage) with local rocks. They are then tied to each of the three awning legs to help keep them were we placed them. Finally as suggested, we don't leave it more than a foot out when not present. I hope that at lease one owner does not make the same dumb mistakes I learned this past summer. GJ

Top Gun: I like your idea. We tend wear ankle supporting (Paraglider Pilots) boots and removal for in and outs is time consuming. That brings in some extra dirt. Without "hallway" runners, the seamless flooring makes my morning housekeeping a quick sweep out the entry. For us, I would want to mount the extinguisher as you have, but a bit higher to facilitate sweeping. It appears that you used Velcro to mount the extinguisher. Did you modify the round extinguisher side, or is just a small strip of contact sufficient to KEEP the extinguisher in place when off paved roads? Mahalo, GJ

One feature that would be nice is to separate the flush valves from the Basement hatch. When on the road and boondocking, we like to do laundry at an RV Park and enjoy their showers and full hook up for charging the LiFePO4's. I like to hook up the sewer hose and let the black tank run while at the bath house. Current combined Basement/Dump valves hatch leaves our basement exposed to rain and theft. Maybe someday Oliver will come up with a OEM retro kit for us. 🙂

The Dometic S7 Flush Series is impressive: Acrylic Frame, Awning Feature, Privacy/Screen, and the super bonus: No Condensation! These windows would be nice over the twin beds. elsewhere less so (IMHO) as there are no sheets and bedding so placement of towels under the dining area is possible and in the bathroom not necessary to do so.

Amen. Last week I again made these very points with Jason in my Service Ticket on OEII Lug torque values and sent him several manufacturers torque specifications for aluminum wheels. After consideration, he replied that my Service Ticket has been sent to upper management. One thing we should be aware of is that some aluminum rims have steel inserts in the lug holes. They can have a different torque specification. Personally I do not like them due to the inevitable galvanic corrosion between the AL and Steel.

John: My concern is that every Ollie off the line gets "show room prepped" and they are beautiful. As Rejex requires removal of all wax, the question is what does Olive use to create that beautiful shine? If it is wax.... TILT.

Good Info. My 2018 OE2 has the SUMEC decal. Is this the same as HiSpec? Thanks GJ

I sent the info to Service last Spring. Was traveling this summer and did not see any response. So this morning I initiated a Service Ticket in their system. GJ

Agree fully. However, when I have the wheels off for annual bearing cleaning and re-grease, lubing the EZ-Flex is simple and easy. Also pretty clean compared to doing the wheel bearings. 🙂

JD: I agree. However, in my case, I need to add a third cause: The Adjustor needed retraining (Me). See above.

For my first four years of Ollie ownership (21K Miles), I had the same problem. Even with my 2019 Factory F-150 brake controller set on max, performance was dismal. Ultimately, I figured out my problem was me. I was not adjusting the brakes nearly tight enough. In May I tightened them all a bunch, and we rolled over 15,000 miles this summer (Texas/Oregon/Alaska) and my trailer brake performance was just fine. I recommend setting them tight and then driving a mile or two using the brakes. Use a thermal meter to measure the drum temperatures (I have removed the drum look pretty cover as suggested by John D.) Jack up the trailer and make sure the wheels will only drag a little. If not, loosen a bit. Repeat is needed. Using a thermal tester (As suggested by John D) gives me great piece of mind. RESULT: I now can lockem-up on max setting during testing. For running, I am now using 6 with good performance vs Max before. I was considering going disk brakes due to poor performance. But am now on the fence.

You are correct. That was what I was trying to ask.

I purchased a 300 pound rated TeleSteps Climbing Ladder, Type 1, Model 1600 E. It also stores nicely in the closet. Having the OSHA certification is comforting.

I have been using Teflon tape on my anode threads. Never have had a problem with the threads or removal of the anode. Any reason not to use Teflon tape?

Are you hubs ventilated? I've not seen this type before. Thanks, GJ

I have sent an inquiry to Timken asking if Summit is a trusted dealer for their bearings and National Seals. Awaiting their response. JPR NOTE: Still waiting a response from Timken on 1 NOV 2022.

I'm just 6'3 an now only 220 pounds. The "twin beds" work fine. I keep the nose of Ollie a bit high to keep the refrigerator from swinging too far towards the entrance door and to better drain the shower. I sleep feet aft. Like JD, I usually keep the feet in the nightstand corner of the aft end of the mattress. We cut and tailored with a butcher knife a queen six inch foam pad to place over the stock OTT mattress. It was a ton less expensive than mattress upgrade and we really like them. When they wear out, I'll get the 4" version for reasons hinted below. For special events, 🙂 we take the dinette area fiberglass storage covers, wrap each of them in a towel and place them upside down on the two bed rails between the two twin sleeping areas. Then use some of the cushions for padding and elevation leveling. Results in a suitable larger area for "fun".