Frank C

For future reference if you ever need to change that fuse, here’s a pic of the fuse holders for the three jacks (the three yellow inline fuse holders). Located under the access hatch under street side (driver’s side) bed on our 2019 Elite II. I can’t guarantee that yours will be in exactly the same place since I’m starting to think that no two Olivers are built exactly the same, especially in the early years 😂.

I usually winterize in late October or early November here in our part of PA. That’s when the overnight temperatures can start getting below freezing at night. I don’t like to take any chances. There was one Oliver owner who posted a horror story here on the forum of all the damage caused to his trailer by getting caught “un-winterized” during a cold spell. It pretty much destroyed every part/component of the water system. A very expensive repair bill.

I can’t wait to see the upgraded Tundar TuRD Pro off-road package with the huuuuge 14” wheel option and plastic skid plates 😂.

For item #1, make sure you opened the gray tank backflow preventer valve (by pulling the handle near the floor by the toilet, or with the switch in the closet if you bought the optional auto-valve feature). For item #3, there is no manual valve for the black tank flush line. Just hook up a water hose to the flush fitting on the outside of the hull (use a dedicated hose for this, do not use your drinking water hoses) and turn on the water. Keep an eye on it though so you don’t overfill the black tank and have it overflow the toilet. The two valves under the forward dinette seat are the black tank DRAIN valve and the gray tank back flow preventer valve, both of those are remotely actuated by cables.

The braided supply lines with 1/2” female pipe thread ends are available in various lengths at any hardware store like Lowe’s, etc., along with the Sharkbite fittings to go on the existing water lines on the trailer.

!!!! DO NOT USE THE JACK OR JACK STAND ANYWHERE ON THE FIBERGLASS !!! The jack points are on the galvanized steel subframe at the locations indicated by the stickers. Those are the main frame rails that support the trailer. ALWAYS jack on the steel subframe.

No, the bad bypass valve still felt normal when opening and closing it. The faulty seal inside the bypass valve wasn’t noticeable until I removed the valve. The new CAMCO bypass valve is installed and works well so far. One nice little detail of this CAMCO valve is that the positions are labeled (open or bypass). And I changed all water lines into and out of the Truma to braided flexible supply lines and brass fittings to eliminate the issue of breakage of the rigid plastic connections that some owners have had. Camco 37463 3-Way By-Pass Valve Replacement - Brass https://a.co/d/8qur0uz

Sewer hoses store in the back bumper (one of the nice Oliver design features that you don’t find on other trailers), and that’s where the drain connection is. Most owners just leave the hose connected to the drain inside the bumper, and cap the end of the hose. I see a lot of other trailer brands with the sewer pipes and valves hanging way down below the frame, unprotected from road hazards.

https://www.rigidhitch.com/media/installation_instruction/5535.pdf

“C” in the diagram below is your manual brake control. It lets you apply just the trailer brakes without stepping on the brake pedal in your tow vehicle. And you should study the instruction guide for your trailer brake controller. Your skidding problem could be either a gain setting issue or a boost setting issue.

Plus/minus buttons are for adjusting the gain and boost settings. Yours has a lever (on the right in the photo) instead of the squeeze paddles for manually applying the brakes.

It’s not a set & forget kind of thing, you have to adjust it based on conditions. Mine is usually somewhere between 4.0 and 6.0, depending on road conditions (wet or dry, paved or gravel) and how the trailer is loaded (full tanks or empty, etc.). A number that works on dry roads will likely cause lock-up on wet roads. The little manual squeeze paddles on the brake controller are there to use to get a feel for how hard the trailer brakes are being applied. Plenty of YouTube videos showing how to set the gain.

No, towing capacity and payload capacity do not add together. Think of it this way, PAYLOAD weight is the downward vertical load (towards the ground) on the tow vehicle, acting downward on the tow vehicle suspension. TOWING weight is the horizontal load being pulled that puts stress on the engine, transmission & brakes to go and stop. You could exceed the payload limit (and break the suspension on the tow vehicle) without even driving forward. And the tongue weight of the trailer (tongue weight is the downward weight that the trailer applies to the hitch, usually about 10% of the total trailer weight) must be included in your payload number total. And your vehicle has a tongue weight limit number as well somewhere in the vehicle manual/specs. Adding a basket and generator to the front of the trailer as you mentioned will increase the tongue weight as well as the total trailer weight going up.

No difference in Ford’s recommended oil change interval for E85 vs gasoline, but the oil change interval (and other maintenance) is reduced to 5,000 miles for towing use (vs 7,500 miles for non-towing use) . But one odd requirement if using E85 is to run a full tank of regular unleaded gasoline when the oil is changed.

It has to be a flex fuel vehicle specifically designed to allow the use of E85. My F-250 is a flex fuel engine. Flex fuel vehicles will have a yellow gas cap like this that indicates it can use E85 or gasoline.

Looks like the Highlander XLE has a 5,000 lbs towing weight limit. Based on your estimated loaded Elite I weight of 4,500 to 4,700 lbs equipped as you described (plus a loaded pantry and fridge, kitchenware, bedding, clothing, etc.) you need a bigger/more capable tow vehicle.

If you keep the plug dangling down but didn’t seal the cable where it enters the back of the plug as John mentioned, then water can still get in there.

Hokieman, where did you get the little blue cushioning pads that are shown under your battery buckles/straps?

Are you sure you are reading your specs correctly? 5,000 lbs seems like a very low number for a 3500 (1 ton) truck. My F-250 SRW (a 3/4 ton) can tow up to 12,600 lbs without requiring a WDH per the specs in the Ford towing guide for my truck.

The other possibility is that the hose is there but it got pulled through the hole during installation of the fridge. Do you have a small section of hose exiting the lower hull under the fridge just behind the entry door?

Yes, it looks like you are missing a drain hose. Here’s a photo of our Norcold. The little plastic nipple on the tray fits into a hose protruding through the inner rear wall of the fridge.

For those that made the switch from wet lead acid or AGM to lithium, did you disconnect the 12v charge wire from the 7 pin connector? Oliver does not connect that wire on trailers with the lithium package because tow vehicle alternators cannot provide the higher charge voltage required by lithium batteries. I plan to just open the 20 amp breaker on that line (see diagram) if I can find it. I’ve searched all through the compartments under the dinette but haven’t found it yet.

Thanks to all for the input. Just double checked the dimensions of the slide out battery tray on our Oliver and neither of the BattleBorn 270 amp-hour batteries will fit in the existing battery tray. Just a bit too long. And I don’t want to get into changing or modifying the battery tray. Looks like 2 of the 100 amp-hour BattleBorn batteries will be the way to go, and still give us plenty of capacity.

The original PowerTron lead acid wet cell batteries on our Elite II have worked well for 4 years of camping now, and still take and hold a charge well, but I’m considering an upgrade. The 4 batteries in parallel give about 100 amp-hours of usable capacity (I never go below about a 60% level when discharging). We have no solar and no inverter. The batteries are used only for powering the 12 volt DC items such as lights, water pump, MaxxAir ceiling fan and bathroom exhaust fan, USB ports to charge phones, etc. (fridge on propane). I’m not looking to run the air conditioner or microwave from the batteries. We just need the basics when we do overnight Harvest Host/boondocking stops with no hookups on the way to our destination campgrounds. As a replacement for the old PowerTrons, I am considering upgrading to a Lithium battery, looking at the BattleBorn 270 amp-hour battery pictured below. Still not planning to add an inverter or solar. Just looking to gain some significant amp-hour capacity, eliminate the (minimal) maintenance of checking and adding water, and shed about 150 pounds of weight as well! Anyone have any experience with this particular BattleBorn? https://battlebornbatteries.com/product/battleborn-270ah-12v-lihtium-deep-cycle-8d-battery/

Even if the tires are off the ground it’s technically not too much. Although Oliver no longer recommends it, there are owners (not me) who use the jacks for changing a flat tire. The weight rating of the jacks (3,000 lbs. for each jack) is sufficient.