Frank C

I’ve been using that style of brass quick connect fittings for a couple years now on all of my water connections (except for the black tank flush connector, to avoid any mixup with a hose I specifically keep separate for that function). No problems so far and no corrosion of the Oliver connections. I know some folks have expressed concerns about how far out the quick connect fittings extend from the hull, and the risk of damage while driving from debris hitting the fittings. But our travels are usually on main highways/interstates that are pretty clear of major debris. I’m not driving at high speed through rock quarries or minefields 🙂. No damage so far after approximately 20,000 miles of travel.

The correct size metal ring ABS flange is available on Amazon. You will have to glue a short length of 3" diameter black ABS pipe onto the outlet of the flange, using the proper cement for ABS plastic plumbing pipe, to extend it down into the black tank rubber collar seal. You can measure the length of the pipe on your old broken flange to determine the length of pipe to glue to the new flange. Here's the link to the flange and the ABS pipe. Lowe’s also sells the proper primer/cleaner and cement for ABS plastic pipe. CLOSET FLANGE ABS TKO 3" by SIOUX CHIEF MfrPartNo 888-ATM Silver-Line Plastics 3-in x 2-ft Pipe in the ABS DWV Pipe & Fittings department at Lowes.com

As shown in your photo, I did bevel the leading edge of the 3” pipe when I installed my new metal ring flange and pipe. It makes installation easier, along with some dish soap as a lubricant, to get the pipe into the collar seal on top of the black tank. It’s not just a recent problem. Ours is a 2019 trailer so the original all plastic flange lasted a few years before failing completely, but I suspect it was starting to crack well before that. Although it seems new owners are seeing it happen very quickly, most likely due to improper installation at the factory. If you can, you should use a better flange with a metal mounting ring like the one shown in earlier posts. There’s no way I would have gone through all the trouble of removing the toilet just to install yet another one of the cheap all plastic flanges. The all plastic ones seem almost guaranteed to fail over time.

I think the tech was just making an excuse for a poor installation of the toilet at the factory. The flange may not have been properly seated flush to the floor, leading to the play and cracking of the flange that you experienced. You can easily check the flatness of the floor with a straight edge or a level. That area of the floor where the toilet mounts is a very thick built up fiberglass laminate section, and very flat. My toilet sits completely flush to the floor all around with good compression on the seal now, and zero play or rocking. You shouldn’t need any shims if the new flange is properly installed.

Sorry to hear you have the same issue I had. Oliver really should upgrade to a better flange. I’ll bet a lot of the all plastic flanges are cracked when installed during the manufacturing process if the worker tries to use the flange screws to pull the flange down into place instead of first fully seating the flange and pipe into the seal on the black tank first before installing the screws. It is a tight fit to push the 3” pipe into the rubber collar seal on the top of the black tank, but it just takes a bit of effort and some lubricant like dish soap to push it in. My repair shown in a previous post above was done while on the road, and I wasn’t completely happy with the sloppy glue job I did on the white PVC parts, so I just re-did mine with the proper black 3” ABS flange with stainless steel ring, and a short section of black 3” ABS pipe ordered from Lowe’s. I also installed a new seal between the toilet and flange as well. And 6 screws holding the metal flange ring to the floor now instead of just 4 screws used with the original cheap all plastic flange. The new one is firmly in place now. No more rocking. CLOSET FLANGE ABS TKO 3" by SIOUX CHIEF MfrPartNo 888-ATM https://a.co/d/eZ1WSlw DOMETIC (385311652 Mounting... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BRIDMEA?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

As the weather has changed our Ollie has developed a moisture buildup between the two layers of glass in the double pane sliding window in the bathroom (see photo). It comes and goes, and if the weather is hot enough with no cool nights or rain, the moisture does dissipate a bit, but never completely, so obviously a failed seal between the two panes of glass. For anyone else that’s had this issue, or other related window issues like a broken glass pane, can just the lower sliding window section be easily replaced? Or does it require replacing the entire window assembly? Just trying to decide if it’s worth fixing or just live with it. Thanks in advance.

Ditto to what AndrewK said. I just leave one 10’ section of sewer hose always connected to the drain connection inside the rear bumper, and then just cap the end of the hose. That way there’s no need to be getting on your knees to cap or uncap the drain fitting inside the bumper every time you empty your tanks. Extra hose sections added as needed (I carry 30 feet of hose total) depending on the sewer connection I’m trying to reach.

Ah, nice! Just a quarter turn type catch to retain the lid. Definitely more convenient than the full threaded type I have.

Are those vertical slotted holes on the support bracket? (see photo) If the bolts weren’t tight, and probably even if they were, under loads from highway bouncing, that would allow the bracket to move up/inner portion battery box to shift vertically which would tilt the outer face out away from the hull as in your failure mode. Just curious if that’s a “before” photo because the bolts are fully at the top of the slotted hole? And if so is the “after” position of the bolts different now that you’ve put the battery box back in the correct position

Is the new one hinged instead of threaded?

Just in case anyone wants to upgrade the 6” round plastic deck hatch on the propane tank “dog house” to something more substantial (and expensive!). There are stainless steel marine versions available that would be a lot more durable. Nice and shiny too! (Heavier than the plastic one though. Hate to add weight to a trailer). My plastic one is still looking pretty good even after a few years exposed to the elements though, so I’m sticking with it. Who else wants to be first to try one of these? Make your Ollie look even more like a high end yacht! 🙂 DYRABREST 6 inch Deck Plate Inspection Hatch Cover Stainless Steel Boat Marine Out Deck Plate Inspection Access Hatch Cover https://a.co/d/eYX82IM

Happy 4th to all! And safe travels to those on the road.

That’s a pretty good payload number for carrying any reasonable amount of camping gear, etc. The other question is whether the truck came equipped with the factory trailer brake controller. You should have something on the dashboard that looks like this photo for the trailer brake controller. The two paddles are to manually apply only the trailer brakes if needed, and the plus/minus buttons are for setting the trailer brake gain control to adjust how hard or easy the trailer brakes are applied when you hit your brake pedal in the truck.

There should be another sticker that looks like this with the statement “The combined weight of cargo and occupants should never exceed…..”. That is your payload limit. And the tongue weight of the trailer counts toward that payload number. An Elite II typically has a tongue weight of 500 to 600 lbs. so that plus two adults gets you to 1,000 pounds of payload real quick, and then start adding any camping gear, a bed liner, bed cover or cap, etc.

Water pump, interior and exterior lights, stabilizer jacks, exhaust fans, radio, TV, and power awning are all 12 volt DC. Furnace and Truma hot water system are 12 volt DC for control functions but use propane for heating. Microwave, air conditioner, and 110 volt AC power outlets require either shore power or the inverter. 3 way fridge can run on AC, propane or DC.

Our Elite II doesn’t specify fuel type, so I’ve been using diesel for better mileage. Still haven’t found the DEF tank though. 🙂

After a bit of searching I did find this white silicone edge U seal trim. I’m going to order this and give it a try to replace the caulking the next time I remove the towel holder. This should fit on the edge all around the perimeter of the molded plastic towel holder. uxcell Edge Trim U Seal Extrusion, Silicone White U Channel Edge Protector Sheet Fits 0.5-2.5mm Edge 3Meters/9.84Ft Length https://a.co/d/4ebKfcQ

Yeah, I’m considering changing it to a waterproof marine hatch like this to make maintenance access really quick and easy, but I hate to lose that little bit of storage in the towel holder. We actually do use that for shampoo bottles, etc. Amarine Made Marine Deck Hatch Boat Deck Hatch Access Hatch & Lid 17-1/4"x12-3/8 - White https://a.co/d/8eKRLVS

Anyone found an alternative to using caulk to seal the bathroom vanity towel holder? Re-caulking after any time it’s removed for maintenance seems tedious. Anyone found a suitable gasket idea instead that looks good? I just had the towel holder off to do some work under the sink, and I did re-caulk it when done. I considered using a piece of the EZ gutter above it to divert water but I don’t think that would look good in the bathroom. Any other ideas instead of caulking it?

Edited, just saw your latest post. Hopefully the angle adjustment helps your view. We have the Voyager camera and I use it all the time for lane changes and backing up. I may update at some point to an HD camera and a bigger display.

The Rivian has pretty impressive payload and towing specs, but if the real world actual range while towing ends up around 200 miles or so (towing causing a reduction of ~50% of the 400 mile claimed range as mentioned in the above post in other examples) that would be a real pain and not practical for long road trips towing a trailer. You’d be making long charging stops every 2-1/2 to 3 hours, plus the anxiety of constantly looking for charging stations that have access for a vehicle pulling a trailer. The charging stations I’ve seen on our long road trips were just set up for single vehicles. And the charging time to get a full charge would add significantly to your travel time. I get about 325 miles range with my gas F-250 when towing, and on long road trips out in the mountain west states like Wyoming and Montana, there were times when I wished I had more range than that to avoid the anxiety when the gas gauge gets to a 1/4 tank. Even gas stations can be few and far between in some of those areas. I even carry a 2 gallon RotoPax gas container as well just in case. I love the electric vehicles coming on the market and I think they are perfectly suited for the right applications, but towing a heavy trailer over long distances isn’t one of them yet. Our next daily driver for around town errands and short trips/commutes will likely be an electric vehicle. But in that future scenario my daily mileage would be way less than the vehicle range limit, so I could recharge overnight at home as needed when time isn’t an issue, and not have to worry about constantly looking for charge stations. If you want a great show to watch about long distance travel with electric vehicles, watch the series called “Long Way Up” on Apple TV+. Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman riding Harley Davidson electric motorcycles from the southern tip of South America to Los Angeles, with Rivian trucks as support vehicles, along with a diesel Mercedes Sprinter van with big solar panels for help in recharging the electric vehicles, but they still had to bring in diesel generators now and then to recharge, and even had an 18 wheeler big rig do a tow charge of the Rivians at one point.

I have an F-250. No issue with my insurance here in Pennsylvania because it’s not registered as a commercial vehicle. My insurance is actually really inexpensive because of low total annual mileage since I really only use the truck for towing the Oliver on road trips. There is a difference in annual registration fees though here in Pennsylvania depending on GVWR and whether it’s registered as a farm truck.

It’s a 1-1/2” hex nut on my 2019 Oliver, with a retainer clip on the nut, not a cotter pin. If you have an older Oliver that has the old style wheel bearings that require grease re-packing you will need the socket and a torque wrench to properly service the wheel bearings. After repacking the bearings with grease, the nut must be torqued to 50 ft-lbs to properly seat the bearings, then backed off to just finger tight. So as mentioned above you don’t need the socket to remove the nut since it should only be finger tight in use, but you do need the socket to properly re-install the nut. Here’s a good video from Dexter (the axle manufacturer). https://youtu.be/GnH-h3W9XvI

Mine has the black coating on the chassis ground. 2019 Hull 461. Haven’t had any electrical/ground issues at all. But not sure why Oliver feels that coating is needed on the chassis ground stud since the entire ground bus bar right next to it is exposed.

We joined Harvest Hosts in 2019 and have used it a lot on extended road trips of 4 to 5 weeks. It’s been great for overnight stops and some really unique locations.