bugeyedriver

Welcome to the Ollie clan, Josh and Piney. What a great Christmas present for you. AND welcome to John as well!

I give credit to ScubaRX for detailing his disk brake modification back in 2017 and Ron for his mechanical prowess.

My drum brakes performed admirably for over a decade with regular annual maintenance . . . I was traveling 9 to 10 thousand miles a year then. Lots of braking events . . . and then . . . COVID! No travel at all for one year, and two years only going 700 miles into the mountains and sitting for 3 months with lots of friends in the cool air. Well. the dust and debris of normal travel had gotten into the drums and sort of solidified, causing the left drum to cease working altogether and the right one to be cantankerous. My TV is an F150 which has abundant braking power for my 3900 lb Wonder Egg. But that's not the point. I need to ensure safety at ALL times, even when going down 9 miles of 12-15° down slopes in the mountains. So that was the impetus for my move to disk brakes. Plus . . . they look COOL! $1600 in parts, $900 in labor. For me, where I am in life at this time, it is worth every buckaaroo. I hope to return to my long wanderings again this year. Woohooooo

I purchased a 5" X 13" X 1/4" sheet of aluminum for mounting the actuator and asked Ron to ensure the fill port was mid-center, between the propane tanks. It is tight, but does not interfere with the tanks or make contact with the fiberglass shell. The actuator adaptor module which allows it to interface with modern in truck brake controllers is mounted on the inside of the street-side A-frame. One major change I asked Ron to do from ScubaRX's design is to enclose the entire run of the copper-nickle brake line in a protective stainless steel brake line protector from Summit Racing https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ops-gg31616ss It slips right over the brake line to protect it from stones. The line is run on the side of a frame member until it enters the fiberglass channel housing the propane line where it is well secured and away from anything that might chafe it over the long term. The grease bearing zerk fitting came with my 5200 lb axle. I never used it because one day a brake shop owner told me about all the extra work he was seeing because customers were applying too much grease, which squirted out of the seals, which then fouled up the brakes.

Well, she may be a "vintage" Oliver Elite with almost 140,000 miles, but she's had a NEW upgrade to her list of many, many improvements over the years. Following ScubaRX's template from 2017, with some minor modifications, the old tired drum brakes have been retired to the history bin and have been replaced with disk brakes. Woohooooooo . . . Took her for a test run today and I'm very pleased with the result. If anyone is near San Antonio and desires the same modification (5200 lb axles required) contact Ron at Boerne RV - Eight 30 - 8 one 6 - 388 three and he will take good care of you.

AGM batteries are readily available from numerous sources, stores or on-line. When purchasing your batteries, look for the most Amp Hours reserve that will fit within your battery compartment. I've found that when you go above 100 or 110 Amp hours, the batteries become too large or heavy to be practical. Check available reviews and warranty. When I have had 12V issues and discovered one battery has deteriorated significantly and the other is taking up the slack, I have always replaced both batteries at the same time, figuring the only good battery might be reaching its useful life as well. Measure the dimensions of your battery compartment. My 2008 Elite's compartment works well with Group 27 batteries.

A reminder to all, from the Forum Guidelines: "Welcome to the Oliver Forum, a great place for Oliver Travel Trailer owners and future owners to interact, share knowledge, solve problems, and most importantly, to develop friendships. Respectful and considerate responses help build this community." This forum exists to help current owners and future owners understand all the intricacies of an Oliver travel trailer and to get the most pleasure from it while exploring this wonderful land we all give thanks for. Please keep all comments aligned with this purpose in mind. Thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving!

I have an older SPOT locator and also a new SPOT tracker which is hidden between the hulls of The Wonder Egg. I recently purchased a PLB1, by rexcueME -Ocean Signal, and sometime later this year, my iPhone 14 Pro should also function via satellites for emergencies. After the initial expense of the PLB1 there are no further expenses other than changing the very long lasting battery.

Whatever torque you chose for your aluminum rims, be sure to re-torque them after 50 miles or so, to make sure a lug has not become loose.

The Wonder Egg has new shoes! Tires - Maxxis 8008 Plus ST205/75R15 / Max load: 2150 LBS at 65psi, 2040 at 60psi / Tread depth 9/32" / 8 PLY Wheels - Raceline 870 Element Wheels Size: 15 X 6 bolt pattern 6 X 5.5. / Load rating: 2830 LBS

Well, after more investigation, I've settled on Maxxis M8008 Plus ST205/75/15 radials, with a load carrying capacity of 2150 lbs at 65psi and 2040 lbs at 60psi. They have a deep aggressive tread which, according to "Tire Hungry", will "allow sipping and gripping on all weather conditions, including icy, hot/dry, and warm". It tended to better a competitor with a shallower tread configuration. I plan to run them at 60psi, cold temp. They have a speed rating of "N" which is 87mph, although I will still plan for 65mph or less. Not meaning to hijack a thread about LT tires, but from recent extensive research, it seems that between 2005 and 2008 a lot of ST rated tires, predominantly from China, were experiencing a large number of failures. This is why I chose to go to LT tires in 2009. After 2010, "ST" tire manufacturers appeared to get their act together and current ST tires have a much better dependability from their earlier models. Having a 2008 Elite, my spare tire cover is not as spacious as the later Elites, so I chose a thinner 205mm tire to ensure fitting well under the cover without rubbing against the fiberglass.

I currently have Michelin Defender LTX M/S 225/75/16 tires on the ground and an old Goodyear ST 225/75/15 (because 16" tires don't fit well under the 2008 Elite spare tire cover) The Wonder Egg already sits up high, due to its spring over axle arrangement and 16" tires puts it even higher. This week, I will be getting 3 new LT 225/75/15s for the trailer. It will lower the center of gravity just a bit and all tires will be new with a compatible spare on the back. With a single axle trailer I don't have the sidewall strain when doing a tight, slow speed hard turns, so beefed up ST sidewall is not required. Although my highway speed is in the 60-65 MPH range, there was a time where I needed to push it hard for three days at 75MPH in order to make it to a rally on time. I prefer using LT tires when going that fast and hard. The Wonder Egg, loaded for travel, tips the scale at 3900 pounds. I plan to run 60psi cold tire pressure and monitor them with a TPMS system going down the road. They will usually increase pressure about 5psi during travel.

The Ollie is also a handy stay-at-home resource in the event you are not expecting a severe enough impact in your area to evacuate, but might be subject to power outage or drinking water shortages. Many years ago, when a storm was threatening the San Antonio area and everyone was clearing the store shelves of drinking water, I simply filled my fresh water tank with potable water. If electricity were to go out for and extended time, I would have pulled The Wonder Egg out from under the parking shelter and the solar system would have taken care of that issue. An impromptu driveway campout . . .

About 8 years ago, I had an additional fan added to the exhaust port of my Dometic fridge. Well . it blew so much air out of the hot exhaust that it was immediately inhaled by the intake panel, resulting in an increase in overall temp! Ha! I fixed that by devising a cardboard deflector, that moved the hot air away from the trailer's body.

For those of us in the single axle Elite, having awareness of the health of your tire is imperative! I encourage ALL Ollie owners to be aware of how your tires are doing at ALL times, not just when you check them from time to time.

Visiting all the US National Parks and forests is a commendable goal . . . not trivial at all. Have at it! You will also, serendipitously, experience many other wonders in your travels. Enjoy!

We enjoyed Two Medicine Campground in 2018.. It is first come, first serve. The view of the lake was nice and medicinal to the soul. (Please forgive the photo bombing that Bosker managed as he soaked up the healing view)

Brian and Sondra, congratulations on your upcoming Oliver purchase!! It will open up a new world of exciting road trips and wanderings ahead. An Elite will provide years and years of enjoyment across this beautiful land. The last two years have really slowed down my traveling . . . only 139,000 miles on The Wonder Egg so far. So far, I've camped in 48 states, (missing Delaware), 10 provinces, one territory, have seen unbelievable giant Redwoods and Sequoias, monuments, canyons, ancient ruins, pueblos, Viking settlements, and camped with an iceberg grounded in a cove right behind the campsite. The Wonder Egg still looks like it just rolled off the factory floor and is ready for 15 more years of 4 to 7 month wanderings each year . . . roll on!!

Yes, upper storage cabinet. Dry as can be for 14 years so far. (knock on wood)

OTT installed a Xantrex 2000W inverter in The Wonder Egg (#14) on my pickup day. I was waiting in the lounge, when Daniel Oliver walked in with one still in the box and he said they'd be offering it as an option soon. When I asked if I could have it installed in my trailer they said "Sure!" (Back when things were a bit more fluid). So they pulled the trailer into the workshop for a 3 hour installation. It's nestled in the street side corner of the rear cabinet. This makes for the shortest run of the very thick cables to the battery. In order to fish the large cables between the hulls, it required removal of the rear window to help them gain access of the inter-wall space on the rear street side corner. It is very easy to reach the on/off switch. It was worth the three hour delay.

Welcome back to the fiberglass community. We're glad to have you as part of the Ollie family!

There are no questions or problems about your Ollie that can't be brought to this group of fellow owners. No matter how stinky a problem you might have. We are glad to share our experiences, thoughts and ideas. I've circled the drain with minor issues regarding this important system in The Wonder Egg over many years. I've even installed two different macerator systems thinking I'd get real fancy. Well . . . they both failed over the years and I have reverted back to good old gravity. It's always there to help in a pinch. Yeah, our grey tank profile does not provide much motive flow without a bit of elevation on the front of the trailer. If I am at a full hookup site, I will leave the grey valve cracked open just a bit, providing a regular dribble of grey water from the slinky. This eliminates the need to do a full grey dump and I will have minimal soapy water left in the grey going down the road. Since I have the black tank clean out valve, getting a good flush of the black system until the water runs clear is easy. Of course, while boondocking, I keep the grey valve closed to use it for the stinky slinky rinse. Townesw, thanks for the information on the twist on waste valve. That device looks like a great addition to our trailers! Perhaps OTT would consider making it a regular feature.

The Wonder Egg had a Happy Canadian Day and cool time in the mountains of New Mexico -

Thanks for the memories . . .

I really like my Diamondback. I have all of the tie down points, which makes it convenient for hauling oversized items on top, knowing they won't budge at all. It did leak underneath the fat rubber seals initially. That was easily remedied by adjusting the height of the hold down rod brackets. It is an impressive, yet expensive looking piece of equipment for my F150. ALSO . . . after bonding all panels together and bonding the center piece to the truck bed, which is bonded to the entirety of the truck with 15 large brass ground straps, it provides a magnificent ground plane for my ham radio antennas. I've talked all over the world with the ATAS 120A on the left!