Geronimo John

As some of you know, my Ollie is in cold storage in a shed up in the OK mountains. I plan on traveling from the Islands and giving Ollie a visit and am planning from long distance on what I would like to do while there. The above thread has generated some questions. As I had not heard or seen the Dexter EZ Lube Spindles before this morning in the above thread, it generated some questions. So, here goes: A. Would my 2018 Elite II have the EZ Lube Spindles? B. Assuming that I do have them, also assuming that I have raised Ollie off it's tires, inspected all four wheels and found no concerns with wobble, bearing play, sticking spots (Brake Shoes or Bearings); would a bearing flush be adequate for service after my summer's 8,000 mile travels? C. I would like to check on the brake shoes. Are there inspection ports on the brake plate that would would allow inspection of the brake shoes in lieu of pulling the drum? D. If not, than I will need to pull the brake drums for inspection. Does just pulling the drums necessitate replacement of the rear seal? Even it it looks good after I have inspected it? I have a pretty good idea what the answer will be for this one..... E. Assuming that none of our trailers had submerged the axles, have you had an axle bearing failure? If so, what kind of service had it received? Do you have any idea why it failed? F. Do you recommend having a couple sets of brake shoes in your road tool chest? G. Do the brake shoes tend to wear evenly on the tandem axles, or so you see one or another shoe pulling more than it's share and there by wearing more quickly than the others? Thank you for your time and for sharing your expertise. John R.

If you don't figure it out, an alternative is to step on the toilet flush valve and run a garden hose into the toilet. It feeds directly into the black tank.

Dave: Good news on the extra 400 pounds. OTT will have inspected and checked all they can. One item I do recommend YOU do is to connect a 4,000 pound trailer to your Audi. I am not questioning your driving skills. But I am suggesting that the new brake controller will need to be calibrated. Yes, OTT will work with you to do so, but it would be far better if you had worked with YOUR controller on the Audi in advance. One way to do this would be to ask your contractor friends to borrow a loaded trailer for an afternoon. I too have pulled loads for most of my life. But not with a new brake controller on my current TV. If you get there and yours is defective for some reason, you are stuck with a difficult problem that you should have known about in advance. Best wishes and good karma for you and Donna. PS: Ollie and I will be in Ruch, Oregon in early June for the ten day Applegate Open Paragliding Championship. If you are in the area look up I'll be flying a Red and Blue glider!

Donna and Duane: In your response you indicate you have purchased the Elite, not the Elite II. The OTT Elite dry weight is listed at 3,400 pounds with 340 pounds of tongue weight. I do not know what year your TV (Tow Vehicle) is, but guessed it as a 2017. The 2017 Guide to Towing lists all Audi Q5's as having a 4,000 maximum tow weight. That's the "all in" weight of your trailer, its added loads, plus the additional loads you have in the Audi. So to the 3400 pounds you must add water, fuel, passengers, luggage, stores and additional equipment (Generator, chalks, BBQ etc.). So even if you are traveling with a "Dry Trailer", if I am reading the tea leaver properly, you will have plenty of horsepower, but you are pushing the envelope of the Q5 when all other weights are considered. An additional concern is the short wheel base of the A5. My point is that you need to be cautious on your 500 miles or so while the brakes on the trailer "burn in" and you get to really understand how your controller work as that process changes braking results of your vehicle and the trailer. If the roads are wet, hilly snow or iced, this process can be "hair raising" if your are pushing the envelope speed wise. But my biggest concern is that I see no time for the delays that you likely will encounter . Some of them are: A. TRAILER TRANSFER AND BRIEFING: The OTT new owner briefing will take most of Thursday. As you are STRONGLY encouraged to spend the night at the OTT provided camp ground, that process will likely not be completed until Thursday evening.. You need to do this to verify you really do understand how your Ollie works. Bring a steno pad to write down questions as your evening likely will result in your having questions that you will want to get answered at the factory on Friday morning. This in one of the reasons that OTT does not do trailer turn-overs on Fridays. They are not available on Saturdays for your follow-up questions. B. FACTORY TECHNICAL ISSUES: Despite a great QC program, the Oliver is a complex system of systems. Invariably new owners will run into an issue or two that needs to be corrected. In my case, the Oliver brakes were not seating properly and in fact were not working well at all. Without them I could not depart the factory on Thursday as I had hoped. We worked much of Thursday afternoon, and I ended up staying in my trailer at the OTT office so we could jump back on it early Friday morning. We worked all day on Friday and the results were perfect. So basically I left OTT Friday evening, a full day after my plans would allow. Another example of why OTT does not do trailer turn overs on Friday...... C. YOUR TECHNICAL ISSUES: Once you get on the road, you will ultimately find holes in your knowledge, even of things that you thought you understood. Those issues will slow you down as you have to figure out how things actually work. My first night away from OTT resulted in an additional four hours at the Navy Family Camping ground in Memphis because I could not figure out an issue. I finally called Phil and he talked me through it and I was rolling again. But it took time and put me further behind the eight ball schedule. D. FACTORY PICKUP: I strongly suggest that you BOTH be involved in picking up your trailer at the factory, and to doing so together in person is really important. My wife could not make the trip from Hawaii so I did it solo. Even with a list of topics to discuss at turn over, and pages and pages of notes, I still ran into topics that I was unclear on. I wish that I had her second opinion at those times as it would have been very helpful. I often refer back to my pages of notes from the trailer training and marvel at the great job that Phil did in teaching this new owner. Faced with what I know now and your schedule, you realistically can either ship your Ollie, or delay pickup until your joint schedules can allow you both to pick up your Ollie it in a more relaxed and safe manner. I recommend the latter.

Welcome to the Oliver Family! Some thoughts from a first year OTT owner: First the comments by Top Gun are spot on. When time permits, slowing down and enjoying the ride is THE way to go. But, at times that approach is not in the game plan. During summers, I am generally "On a mission" to get to paragliding competitions and fly-in's that are scattered across the continental USA. When possible , I love to stop at National Parks (using a Senior Pass of course) and to explore small towns. However, at this point in life, such is not my norm. Generally I have not enough time between distant events and covering those miles requires me to roll. Below are some thoughts and trip planning parameters: A. Are you team driving or solo driving with a navigator? Even with all the electronic maps and tools, having a navigator and partner is really nice. Having a partner that also is good with driving with a 5,000 + trailer is fantastic. B. What is your tow vehicle rating? What motor are your running? What is the size of the fuel tank? These are considerations that can help or hinder your goal of covering a lot of ground. My Toyota Sequoia with the 4.7L rolls great on the flat lands, easily running at the posted speed limit or above. Our Elite II tracks exceptionally well and due to its weight and shape behaves very well with faster truck and cross winds. But on mountain climbs, my small motor requires use of the 4 way flashers and generally relegates us to the right lane. C. The Sequoia fuel tank does wonderful solo (18 MPG), but with Ollie in tow we are running about 11 MPG or so. Seems like a lot of extra fuel stops that requires more time than they should. D. Especially out west, the distance between fuel stops can easily exceed the range of my vehicle towing Ollie. I carry a 2.5 gallon fuel can in the front tray of Ollie. Have not actually needed it, but I sure have been worried on more than one occasion. E. Regardless if your tow vehicle is on the wimpy side, as mine is, or a diesel monster, you'll likely not cover the ground as you are used to towing a trailer of this size. For planning purposes, I recommend an average speed of just 50 MPH. At ten hours it is 500 miles. With a partner it is feasible to do so for three or four days. After that, rest is strongly recommended. F. Hopefully you will have the time to really explore the OTT Forums and also the Oliver University. There is a huge amount of good information in both. Highly recommend you download all you can from these sources. G. Finally, if you run into a problem, try to figure it out from the Owner's Manual before calling OTT. If it is not covered therein, search the Forums. There are thousands of topics covered in the OTT Forums. If you strike out and still don't have the information you need.... post a note to the forum. There is a herd of OTT owners listening every day, and several of them likely solved the same problem in years past. When I made the decision to buy an Oliver, it was the welcoming and positive responses I got from the owners and the OTT team that made me confident in my purchase. So bring your laptop and use these tools to help you through the learning curve. Good luck! Geronimo John

The only problem I have had is when camping in grass or weeds that reach up and rub on the steps into Ollie. My solution was to stow the steps, turn our outside mat 90 degrees, and slide it under the area under the steps. Step on it a few times to crush the grass/weeds down, re-deploy the steps and pull the mat out a bit for wiping our feet of debris. This eliminated the ant superhighway into our Ollie.

I had heard of E-Bikes, but was not aware of how advanced they have become. Thank you for your posts. Question: Do E-Bikes have regenerative braking? If so, how is it controlled? Mahalo!

I like the small solar panel over the winter charging approach for locations without house power. However it requires attention and care during the winter. My Elite II is in a shed, covered, out of the sun, wind, rain and snow. As house power is available, I have options that would not apply to many Oliver owners. I have heard that some owners will leave their trailer connected to house power, and will use the on-board charger to maintain their batteries over the winter. My preference is to not do so as I have some concern with having a large charger on line in an unoccupied out of sight situation. As such, I purchased a small 1.5 amp Tractor Supply battery maintainer. I have mounted this unit on a vertical wall of the shed directly above and adjacent to the battery compartment. I then extended the maintainer cables so that they would go up to the rafters, across the access isle by the battery box, and then down to the battery box. For safety, I turn off ALL Oliver systems (Both 120V and 12V) and also trip all breakers. (Note: I do this so that I can power up systems one at a time in the Spring, and I know that regardless of what happens over the winter, I have no power in the trailer that could cause concerns. Over kill, maybe, but an extra layer of safety costs nothing and may prevent an issue. For example, a mouse having lunch with one of the larger electrical wires certainly could cause an issue or two). With the batteries in a cold state (I.E. not on a charger for at least 8 hours), I adjust the battery water in all cells to full. I then disconnect the positive terminal of the Oliver battery set, and connect the battery maintainer. It will generally give a yellow light indicating that it is working, but the batteries are not at FULL charge. After a few days, I have a friend verify that the maintainer has gone to "Green Light" (all is well). I rest well until mid-May when Ollie and I restart systems, grease bearings and zerks, fill tanks and supplies, and roll another 12,000 miles chasing the wind. The unit I recommend is the Tractor Supply heavier duty model: Schumacher 1.5 Amp, fully automatic battery maintainer. It costs $24.95 at Tractor Supply, and occasionally at Blaine's Tractor Supply for $19.95. I know that there are a lot of these units on the market. This one is my preference as it is self protected, stoutly built, and has been proven by many years of service. EDIT NOTE: For some reason I can't delete the below picture. This is the charger version. The unit I purchase is a Maintainer/Charger. Be sure to get the Maintainer one.

JD: I think we ALL agree with you on the backwards hinge/removable cover issue. What a PITA!

I'm not so sure that "ants love termites". What I do know is that after a termite colony is eliminated, that ants LOVE to take over the tunnels that termites make in your wood. It not only saves them a huge amount of effort in making their colony, but it also provides them protection as well. Since termites tend to reside where there is a water source, the ants have almost all of the elements they need to thrive. The last is food, and that's easy to find where we humans live. I do not recommend spraying for pests inside a trailer. Especially an Oliver as it is a very well sealed environment (Four season reason). Hence we are encouraged to open windows and/or use our MaxFan. What I do recommend is trapping (Mice, rats etc.) and baiting (Ants, termites, etc.). Trapping (Sticky boards, spring traps, or enclosed traps) mice and rats "captures" the body thereby preventing a poisoned and dying critter from hiding in an impossible location and stinking up our trailer. Better to know where he died (in the trap) and removing him with the trap verses looking for hours for the source of the stink. For ants, I recommend Tarro. Ants take it back to their nest and in short order it dies too. I have found that some ants will ignore Tarro. In such cases, try another brand. But the best overall inside use first choice is always Tarro.

In my dreams, I would go for this vintage Dodge tug. It may even be able to keep with John D's Super Toyota!

Sherry: Thank you for posting the instructions! Working on mine now. Geronimo John

Mike: One item that Airstream owners hate is hail. I've seen the results of that combination and it was not pretty. This influenced my decision to buy OTT Hull 342. Geronimo John

I purchased for my work four 2018 sprinter vans. Love them. But loaded with the turbo diesel they are certainly not "Over Powered". Be aware that starting with model year 2019, MB has shifted production from Germany to Argentina. My gut says that with any model year change, especially one involving a change of factory, and ESPECIALLY with a change of country..... delay a year or two to allow the bugs to be worked out. The sage advice of going with what is proven is also a key consideration.... especially at $150K. My three recommendations in no particular order would be: Used Toyota Land Cruiser (Big wink to John D.) Used Ford/Ram 250/2500 with diesel Used Nissan Titan with Cummings Diesel For those that would like a less expensive option, the Toyota Sequoia Gen II with the 5.7L would be my choice. You can get into a very nice used one for about $15K. Geronimo John

Thanks John D. I agree. I looked into the turbo/super charger mods and due to cost fell as you do that it is not worth the effort. Basically prior to this summer, I updated all the maintenance items and replaced the rear bearings; so I have quite a bit of time and costs into it. Body is still real good and interior is as well. My 2018 Summer trip is completed with 14,000 miles on the TV and 8,000 on Ollie all in 13 weeks double crossing the USA chasing paragliding sites and competitions. Overall the Sequoia 4.7L managed and ran perfectly with zero problems. At this point on trade, it is only going to fetch $2 or so. Outright sale a bit more I suspect. My strategy is to run it another year (Summer 2019), or until I lose any major component. Thanks again for all the inputs you have been spot on every time. Geronimo John

I am on a very weak internet link, so my apologies if this response gets garbled. I purchased the Telesteps 1600E OSHA Compliant 16 ft Reach Telescoping Extension Ladder via Amazon.com Services, Inc. for $172.31. It is a 12 foot ladder, advertised as a 16 foot reach. I have used it extensively during the past month on a construction site. I am about 240 pounds and have made at least 300 trips up it. It is well made and fits EASILY in my Oliver Elite II closet at the front door. I would buy this ladder again and recommend it for use on our OTT's. Geronimo John

Popcorn Billy and Friends: A good starting point is to verify that the model of truck/SUV you are considering is over rated for the total travel weight you want to pull. Many recommendations on this subject is to use Travel Life tables at: http://www.trailerlife.com/trailer-towing-guides/ I am at the end of an 8,000 mile trip pulling an Oliver Elite II. My Ollie dry weight is 4600 pounds; and wet I am about 5500 pounds. My Toyota Sequoia, 2005 with a 4.7 L engine is rated for 6,000 pounds. After about 7,000 miles I have found that: On the flat land and rolling hills, it has done wonderful. In the mountains, as I was advised by several members, the 4.7 L is too small. So my responses to your question about a vehicle doing long trips pulling a 5,000 pound trailer with a 5,000 pound rated vehicle would be..... Maybe. If no mountains are involved, then sure but be careful and don't hurry. If mountains are involved, I would recommend getting a vehicle with more tow capability. It is not only about power. It is also about stopping and handling. I hope this was helpful. Good luck, and welcome to the best forum in the Travel Trailer Industry! Geronimo John

Question: Why are the black and gray water lines connected to the same discharge? At least if they were separate, we could still drain gray water without major fear of contamination in a serious way that we do every time we do elect to water trees with gray water. Geronimo John

Bill: My 2018 Ollie black water valve leaks until the discharge line is full of sewage. It complicated boon-docking GREATLY as I can not drain gray water when the discharge is contaminated with black water. Any suggestions? Geronimo John

Can anyone tell us what the mfg and model of the telescoping ladder he was using? It looks like it would be a lightweight space saver that could fit in our Ollie LE 2 closet. Thanks Geronimo John

John Davies and All: We are approaching the half way point of my initial Ollie voyage, just hitting the 5,000 mile mark. Just wanted to comment that you were right in stating that I would wish I had the 5.7 Toyota Sequoia motor vice my 4.7 (Unfortunately #1). I do very well in the flats running at the elevated western states posted speed limits. My chunk is the "High Speed" one (Unfortunately #2) and my Sequoia really likes to be run best fast to get the RPM's into the torque band. But when I hit the hills, the torque and HP deficit becomes an issue. Maybe changing the rear end to the towing one would help, but I think an upgrade to a 5.7 version would be a better approach. Any thoughts? Geronimo

Bill: Thanks for the template! SHEETS: I have read many reviews of the "Cot Sheets" being sold on Amazon and frankly the quality of the sheets sold seems to be pretty poor. Does anyone have a good sheet set recommendation in addition to the AB Lifestyles ones listed above? Thanks, Geronimo John

Steve: I was at the factory last week and saw what I believe is your trailer. If so, please PM me. thanks, Geronimo John

http://www.doityourselfrv.com/rv-tire-blowout-tip/ http://www.doityourselfrv.com/rv-tire-blowout-tip/ Thanks Randy! I totally missed the "LINK" meaning. Geronimo John

Drats. It will not let me add a hyper link to the video! GJ. Trying again: