Geronimo John

Pay attention here, light duty truck owners. This is absolutely true. You both are correct. My statement was not a typo, it was a brain fart. Post has been updated above. GJ

I used to believe this as an absolute as well. Until I got to spend some time with MaxBurner and we weighed the tongue weight of my 6,000 pound OEII. I just "assumed" my tongue weight was around 650 to 700 pounds with all the stuff I carry in the front wardrobe, tongue aluminum box and a really really full pantry of canned goods. My extensive high speed out west in high gusts and 100 mph trucks zipping by with zero sway what so ever really cemented my wag of the tongue weight. But it weighed in at only 540 pounds. I was shocked. So if an OEII owner wanted to run without a front basket, and the moar of the tools, cloths and canned goods,,, like I carry; it would quite possible to get it down to 499.... and drop off the Anderson. So, I'm adding into my list of absolute words to avoid the word "Requires". That said, I agree with your suggestion that an Anderson is a good idea for sure. Especially for a new OE2 owner without a lot of experience. How about Strongly Suggested, and in Many Cases is required if the tongue weight exceeds 500 pounds is required to have a WDH hitch? 🙂 GJ

I used to believe this as an absolute as well. Until I got to spend some time with MaxBurner and we weighed the tongue weight of my 6,000 pound OEII. I just "assumed" my tongue weight was around 650 to 700 pounds with all the stuff I carry in the front wardrobe, tongue aluminum box and a really really full pantry of canned goods. My extensive high speed out west in high gusts and 100 mph trucks zipping by with zero sway what so ever really cemented my wag of the tongue weight. But it weighed in at only 540 pounds. I was shocked. So if an OEII owner wanted to run without a front box and the tools, cloths and canned goods I carry; it would easy to get it down to 499 and drop off the Anderson. So, I'm adding into my list of absolute words to avoid the word "Requires". Ford liability shield limits their F-150 requires a WDH if towing over 5,000 pounds as stated in the below posts. Thanks guys! GJ

Impressive. Who made your batteries? 540 amp hours is amazing from our battery bay. Pictures?

Being in HI and Ollie in OK, I'm at a disadvantage in long range planning. The drain tube runs between our outer and inner fiberglass hulls from the Houghton across the roof and then down the wall to below the windows and belly band. It then passes through the belly band area and down another foot or so past the twin bed mattress. The inner hull there separates from the outer hull to make a cavity for utilities. At that point I think it is only covered by the Rejex insulation. If that is the case then it would only be a matter of knowing where to look. OTT OWNERS: Please jump in if you have any thoughts on this possible route of our A/C drain tube. Thanks GJ

Your extensive shop tooling, exceptional craftmanship, and willingness to spend the time certainly resulted in the most elegant install I have seen. But even if I had your shop and the time to invest, it would have been impossible for me to even consider trying replicating your skills. The much lower tech approach requires common tools plus a hydraulic cable crimper and hole saws to get the job done. But we all marvel at your and John D's amazing mods. They serve to elevate our thinking. GJ

There are at least 22.5 opinions about how many BB's to pack into an OEII, and how to hook them up. One nice, but expensive and time consuming to do idea floated and done by several owners is to clean out as much as possible wiring from the battery compartment. I figured that since LifePO4 batteries are pretty much maintenance free, I would not go that route. My DYI install considerations were: Ease of installation and inspection. Leave space for a master cut off switch Minimize changes to existing wiring Use as much existing wiring as possible. In the battery box, install three Battleborns, the Smart Shunt and a Master Cutoff Switch (350 Amp BlueSeas) To do this I also used two terminal blocks (Red and Black) and some poly cutting board. When all said and done, the master cut off switch had about 1/4" clearance. Here is a picture. it shows two heavy duty straps. 'll be adding a third this summer. As you can see, there is no room for a 4th battery. One important consideration of any layout is keeping all the connections easily visible for both mechanical and thermal check-up every once in a blue moon. For the thermal check, I use the John Davies recommended IR detector that works well with wheel bearing and brake checks at road stops. GJ

JD: I have never had a problem with my TV (F-150) brakes on long steep down hill grades. But I constantly "worry" and do baby them consistently. As such, I would like to increase my safety margin. Hence an upgrade for my system rotors and pads are likely on my horizon. I cut and pasted info from your post and the Summit web site. Is the EBC Stage 1 pads box color consistent with their performance ratings from their web site chart? I.E. you are using their "Blue Stuff" as shown on their "Know Your Stuff" table? Generally speaking for mods, the higher the stage number the more aggressive the mod is. This is especially true for tunes. If not, what "Know Your Stuff Color" were the pads that came with your kit? Thanks GJ

Roger on the root cause of the plastic shards. But "Never" is one of those really big words that "always" get me in trouble. In this case, I would say "much less often" or maybe "rarely". 🙂 GJ

Does your 2023 have the black tank flush valve as our older Ollies have? GJ

Yes, but... Our data cable that runs from the Dometic to the multi function digital T-stat is very small wire. As such, several of our OEII owners, myself included, have reused that four wire cable to extend the furnace cable over to the old T-stat location. To do so we needed more current carrying capability for a new simple T-stat just for the furnace. So, we tied together two of the wires on each end to double the copper size for higher current flow. Since our Suburban furnace control is OEM run from the furnace to the Dometic A/C communications box, we connected the two "double cables" as a jumper from the now Houghton under belly to a dedicated single use thermostat that just runs the furnace. This works very well for the furnace. The Oliver double fiberglass hull is insulated and I suspect it would be very difficult to find another path to the former Dometic thermostat (Now new T-stat for heat). But if we can, that would be the cat's meow. Because of my preconceived concerns with the level of difficulty to do so would be a PITA. This is the reason that I was looking at possible other options to extend the thermistor cable. In that quest I took stock of the installed drain tube. On the OEII, it appears to run to the area behind the street side tires. My hope is that the path may take it to within reach of our rear attic area. Hence my question above (Saturday). But no responses so far to that question (Last Saturday, above in this thread.) But now, with your efforts in mind, I am thinking if the OEII drain tube could be intercepted in the basement space under the rear bunk. We OEII Houghton owners could use the drain tube to convey an extended thermistor wire over and down to the street side under bed area, and then over and up into the old Dometic thermostat location where we have the new single use T-stat. Once there we could poke it out as you did on your AS. That would then pretty much solve the Houghton's issues for the OEII's as well. OEII OWNERS: Anybody know if it is reasonable to intercept the drain tube inside the street side bed basement area? GJ

You likely have aerator screens on your faucets and shower. Removing and cleaning them, and then flushing with removed may improve your water pressure and flow rates. GJ

LOL. I have done the same thing. When the Owner of Houghton stated that their coils did not retain much moisture, I tested it by running the a/c wide open with the windows open on a humid day. As soon as I had a flow of water going overboard, I knew I had a "Loaded Coil". Then I closed the door and windows and switched the Houghton from cool to heat pump, it clearly demonstrated just how fast one could run out unwanted guests! GJ

What a wonderful effort! Many many thanks. I have some thoughts that may be worth a cup of coffee..... I am suggesting an "Old School" approach to short cycling that likely you have not seen done. In the olden days (IE. before transistors and electronic controls), if I had a T-stat sensing bulb that was in a difficult location (that we could not change), and the cold air was causing short cycling, we would first try shielding the sensor from the air flow. If that did not provide relief from short cycling, then we would add thermal mass to the sensing bulb. Thermal mass would work on a small thermistor as well I suspect. Try putting the thermistor into a small plastic pill container with a hole in the lid for the cable. Leave the lid hole sort of open, maybe even put a hole in the pill container bottom. Then tape it to the wall and note what happens. Then move it around the space. If the short cycling persists add thermal mass to the container with the thermistor and repeat. Something like a few small glass beads. Need more dampening, add more glass beads. The increasing thermal mass of the weighted container will ameliorate the output of the thermistor. That will delay temperature rise and fall as the unit cycles. Thereby delaying both start and stop. Basically extending the run times and off times as well. i am thinking that should the drain line approach be feasible (No answers to my question above about that yet.) then a thermal mass enabled thermistor in the attic with an air port via the smoke detector just may work. On the other hand there maybe a different thermistor that would do the same thing. But first proof of concept would be the first logical step. GJ

I feel the same way. My Ollie OEM Michelin's still have life and are E-rated. Down the road for OLLIE, I'll likely go with the Defender's light truck E-rated of course. For Ollie, my concern is having long life and low potential for rock chucking. But for our F-150 TV, for us the jury is out for at least 3 years as we run the Nitto Recon Grabbers. When their time comes I'll for sure be revisiting the topic. Who knows, it is possible that our lifestyle changes and we need to go back to the Defenders for the TV. just saying.. .. 🤣 GJ

I have a cousin that works the counter at a Discount Tire store. I was curious so asked him how much he makes on commissions. Answer zero. So I googled the question: My experience with them has always been top notch. Sorry they did not meet your expectations. GJ

For sure! I spent a huge amount of time there changing parameters to see how their computer adjusted recommendations. Many tire reviews also were helpful. GJ

First, I have used Michelin Defender and AT's for 90+% of all my tire purchases since 1970. After having problems with them I started researching which of the many tires would work better for us. We accumulate 94% of our miles getting from Texas to the far west to be in the mountains. Where there the roads where we fly our paragliders and hang gliders are all.... wait for it.... in the mountains and where we go I rarely travel roads that is not gravel, mud or worse. Point is, saying from your perspective using an AT for places we find ourselves every summer "is overkill for a tow vehicle period", and we buy our tires because they look pretty... just does not wash with this member's, and likely more than a few other member's reality. GJ

My brother has Ntto Grappler's on his F-150 (Nitto Ridge Grapplers) and his F-350 (Nitto Recon Grapplers). His recommendations were for me to get the Recon's for our F-150 Crew cab FX4 for towing Ollie and off roading each summer. I did and could not be happier with about 8,000 miles on them. My impression is that the Nitto line up is along these lines: Terra Grappler Almost all highway with a bit off road. Recon Grappler Still mostly highway, but insisting on manners and good off road capability Ridge Grappler is an off road tire that can tolerate on road to a point. His and my experience s that the Ridge tires do get rougher and louder as they age, but if you are full time off road that's the tire for your. About 75% of our miles are towing Ollie on and off road. The rest is fast highway and full off road without Ollie As I indicated above, the Nitto I keep a 100% fuel log on pretty much the same track out west each summer. I also found that the Recon Grapplers E-rated tires reduced our fuel economy 1.2 MPG over our previous MPG. Will have to put another few seasons on them to see how they last and age, but so far they are so much safer, durable and perform much better off road than my Michelin Defender's. Yet on road they handle and perform almost as well. All the above are great Pro's. The Cons are: reduced fuel economy, shorter life, and higher purchase cost. But the improvement is on order with that of a Houghton vs. Dometic Penguin.... Huge. GJ

GSMBear: Thanks for the clarification. Wishful thinking on my part I suspect. I very much like the idea of keeping the factor thermistor in place as a back-up. Please as time permits document the process and your relocation process. With your work on this aspect, and the relay hack it will certainly improve the performance of the Houghton well beyond that of even the more recent "quite" A/C now showing up on the market. I thank you for posting the DYI detailed how to for the "Wiring Modification for Interior Fan" for our A3400's. Very helpful! https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=28481&key=173b638cb772218f2b3b281fea586f0c OEII Owners: With my Ollie 3,878 miles east of Honolulu, I am wondering if any one knows if the Dometic drain line passes with in reach of the street side of our attic as I postulated this past summer? If it does, this tube could be used to route the sensing end of the new thermistor to a location away from the air flow.

The tip for using dishwasher pod(s) in the black/gray tanks has been around for some time. When I want a really clean black or gray tank, I'll add a pod to the grey tank, and two pods to the black tank. Using "Calgon" brand is not required. I buy the cheapest I can find for this use. As you suggested, a few miles down the road for it to slosh around and break down the solids greatly reduces the time flushing the tanks. This is especially useful at the end of the season. As somewhat of a minimalist on what I carry, strive to minimize using extra hoses, valves, flow meters. As such, your approach has merit IMHO. Especially for those without a black tank flush water flow valve, you approach makes a lot of good sense. That said, I would suggest a few cautions for learning the sound change: A. The sound of a flooded black tank nozzle may vary with the pressure/flow of the water source feeding it. So experiment with the hose bibb valve to recognize this. B. When learning the sound, get a helper inside with a flashlight to observe the black tank water level. Have them open a window or use you cell phones to facilitate communication. Then have them shut off the ball valve flowing water to the flush valve, and stand on the flush valve foot peddle. Their job is to advise you of the progress of filling the black tank. C. Before starting, make sure that all items on the bathroom floors (I.E. the lower one with the floor drain, and the higher one where the toilet tank sits) are removed from the area. One of my worst mistakes was having my dirty cloths hamper on the lower floor and flooding the area from gray tank goo. 😞 Cleaning a soiled bathroom floor is easy vs. dealing with 25 pounds of really really bad smelling wet cloths. While boondocking 40 miles from any laundry or water sources. GJ

Massive rewrite with GSMBear's eureka. But the extra wire shown below would be an ideal splice point. Then may be run the line via the abandoned drain line to a remote location as suggested. A does not connect to B. GJ

This past Summer while visiting at Max Burner's lovely home, Art asked what I thought my tongue weight was. I guessed 600+ pounds. He whipped out his tongue gauge. I was pleasantly surprised that our Ollie's tongue weight was just 540 pounds. Really good info to know. Excellent tool to bring to any Ollie gathering! GJ

Your initial reason for closing the black tank drain valve is a good one. Your down fall was relying on the electronic gauges. My process is to stand on the toilet tank flush valve and to observe the water level in the black tank while flushing. The advantage of my 2018 OE2 is that it has a manual water shut off valve just a few feet from the toilet (Under the front dinette seat). This allows me to slow down the fill rate as the level in the black tank approaches full. Then when nearly full, I turn off the water flow at our valve. Sadly, OTT decided to not install said shut off valve on newer models. GJ

Had the same problem. Seems that tree branch ate my Furrion rear camera antenna. Worth a glance. GJ