Frank C

Definitely a small world! Thank you for a great product! That Fluke meter is built like a tank. I firmly believe my son will still be using it another 40 years from now.

You should see a voltage reading value the same as what shows on the battery display inside the camper. Here’s mine using my museum piece 40 year old Fluke meter, still works, it’ll probably outlast me 🙂. Currently at 12.5 volts, not connected to shore power or solar panel at the moment (I have the lead acid wet cells).

I use a similar setup that you describe on our Oliver. I use a 140 watt Zamp portable panel that has a charge controller built in, and connect to the 7 pin harness with an adapter I made. It’s worked well with no problems. The positive 12v charge wire on the 7 pin harness connects directly to the batteries. If you have an electrical multi-meter, you may want to check to make sure you are using the proper pins on the 7 pin connector, and that there is continuity between the 7 pin 12v charge wire contact and the battery positive terminal. There is a 20 amp breaker on the 12v charge wire (see wiring diagram) so you may want to check that. Ours is a 2019, so I can’t guarantee that your wire color codes are the same.

A bit more testing and info would be helpful in diagnosing the issues, to see if it’s an AC electrical issue or DC electrical issue. A simple test as a starting point. If you plug into shore power and plug a lamp into one of the electrical outlets in the trailer, does the lamp light up? That will at least tell you whether the shore power connection is good. Does the EMS display show voltage and frequency or any error codes? Should look like these photos.

You won’t get the anti-sway functionality if you remove the whale tail and chains. The whale tail attaches to the shank of the ball. And when you turn your tow vehicle, or the trailer sways, the chains hold the shank as it rotates in the friction material sleeve of the ball mount. That drag on the rotation of the shank is what provides the resistance that gives the anti-sway function. If you remove the whale tail and chains, the Bulldog coupler will just rotate freely on the ball like a standard hitch, with no anti- sway resistance. That’s the clever design of the Andersen. It provides both weight distribution and anti-sway using the same chains to do both functions.

I had the same concerns as you. So when I did my recent annual maintenance I swapped out the original Dexter supplied bearings with new genuine Timken bearings from an authorized Timken distributor near me here in Pennsylvania, and verified as genuine Timken using the WBA bearing app. There are a lot of counterfeit “Timken” bearings on Amazon so be careful what you buy. Some of the original Dexter installed China bearings showed some odd discoloration on the races that appeared thermal/heat related (see photo) even though they had always been well maintained/greased, so I didn’t want to take any chances so I replaced them. Thankfully the axle spindles were still in perfect condition.

Seems like we now have documented evidence from various owners that this method (ramp method) both does and does not work (Schrodinger’s Ramp? 🙂). There are a lot of variables that haven’t been detailed as part of the tests done. Things like trailer weight and trailer CG (center of gravity) depending on options, tanks empty or full, tongue height when hooked to tow vehicle, weight of tow vehicle, using ramp on forward or rear axle, etc. all might be affecting how much the Dexter EZ Flex suspension articulates (and how much the trailer tongue raises also) when using a ramp, and whether or not the other tire lifts off the ground. I’ll stick with my Army surplus HUMVEE scissor jack. I can get both tires on the same side off the ground so I can also rotate the tires front to back when doing my bearing maintenance.

The 3M Command products are perfect for the smooth interior surface of the Ollie. Just added one of the Command broom holders by the door to keep a flashlight handy. The broom holder is the perfect size for a 2 AA cell MagLite. Also used Command strips to mount the magnetic holder for the awning remote so the remote is close by when set up at a campground (but the remote does get put in the nightstand drawer when traveling since the magnetic mount isn’t very strong). And the Command products all remove cleanly from the fiberglass so I (or a future owner) can easily change things in the future.

Seems to be a random problem over the years. Our 2019 still has all blocks intact. Since Oliver chooses to use adhesive to mount those blocks, surface prep is critical, making sure both surfaces are clean and free of wax, dirt, grease, oil, mold release, etc. before applying the adhesive, so it’s very human-dependent. And Oliver may occasionally have an employee that isn’t as careful with the preparation step.

👍🏻 Yep. I have the same. One of the best campfire accessories ever invented!

For your fabricated Rock Stoppers, doesn’t that mounting location on the side openings of the hitch (the square tubing section below the bumper) put the flaps REALLY close to the exhaust pipe? Or is that aluminum plate on the front of the flaps also functioning as a heat shield? The Rock Tamers mount far enough back to avoid heat issues.

Here’s a photo of my Rock Tamers, mounted, as John described, at an angle so they sail back a bit at speed and deflect rocks downward. I’ve towed our Elite II over 20,000 miles now and so far the Rock Tamers have protected the front of the Ollie very well with no chips or dings at all. I do travel mainly on paved roads though, the only place I typically encounter significant amounts gravel is usually at the campgrounds and that’s low speed limits on those properties (5mph) so not much gravel thrown up there. Other Ollie owners seem to prefer more protection due to more travel at speed on unimproved roads, boondocking/forest service/CoE/BLM camp areas, abandoned rock quarries, combat zone minefields, etc.

You could just open the 20 amp breaker that’s on the 12v charge wire on the 7 pin harness on the trailer. That way the original wiring is all still intact if you ever switch back to AGMs or wet cells.

Seems to be conflicting results on using the ez jack type ramp with the ez flex suspension. See below post from another thread. Maybe different ramp heights?

I had some split/cracked 2 piece clad lug nuts as well. I just replaced all of my lug nuts with solid one piece Gorilla lug nuts from Summit Racing. I don’t think the new ones actually seat any deeper into the rim. The conical seating area of the lug nut and rim are the standard 60 degree taper. It just looks like it seats deeper because the new lug nuts don’t have the stainless steel clad cover that protrudes right at the rim. And the female thread depth on the new lug nut is more than enough to fully engage all of the male threads on the lug. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gor-41187htb

Oliver no longer recommends using the electric jacks to lift the trailer for tire changes or wheel bearing service, only for stabilizing the trailer to prevent rocking. Oliver doesn’t even call them “jacks”. They are a “three point power stabilizer system”. I use some pieces of 4”x4” lumber and a heavy duty scissor jack (3.5 ton rating) to lift one side of the trailer at the marked lift points on the suspension subframe (Note: not all Olivers have the lift points marked like this in the photo). And once I have the trailer lifted I put the electric stabilizer down just as a safety backup. Used this setup for my wheel bearing repacking, and I carry the wood and the scissor jack on the road as well in the bed of the truck for changing a flat tire if needed. If you use a hydraulic floor jack or a hydraulic bottle jack, you still need some type of safety backup like jack stands or using the Ollie stabilizers. Hydraulic jacks can leak and collapse.

No need to lift or carry a full tote tank to empty it. We have the Camco 15 gallon tote and it’s worked well on the few times we’ve needed it at campgrounds that weren’t full hookup sites. The tank comes with a hitch attachment to hook to the ball on the tow vehicle to drive it (slowly) to the campground dump station. Sewer hose, connectors and rinse hose also included as well.

Oliver isn’t on the list of affected manufacturers in this article. Scroll down to the bottom of the article for the list of manufacturers & models affected. https://www.rvtravel.com/22000-rvers-told-lp-gas-danger-rvs/

Very nice job, John. I don’t have a bike rack on the back of our Ollie, but now I want to add that light bar to the rear bumper just because it looks so cool when working! 🙂

Today, spam is more annoying than ever before. It’s used to bog down everything from our forums to our mobile devices and computers.

We didn’t get the Oliver shower curtain track. It’s an odd design, seems a bit expensive, and some owners have had issues with the track detaching from the inner hull ceiling because of a poor riveting job. But we wanted a shower curtain though, so I attached the small Command hooks all around on the ceiling directly above the perimeter of the shower pan in the floor, and then hang a standard shower curtain on those hooks when we take our showers, and can quickly remove the curtain to let it dry outside the trailer when done. It was a cheap and effective solution. And if I ever come up with a different idea this one is easily removed completely. Command strips/hooks are a great accessory for attaching lot of things on the Ollie interior.

I found several lug nuts with the cracked stainless clad cover (see pic) when I did my wheel bearing service recently. So I replaced all of my lug nuts with Gorilla lug nuts from Summit Racing. So far they’ve worked great. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gor-41187htb

If you’re reading only 4.6 volts at the battery as no load voltage when not connected to shore power, then at least one of the the batteries is probably shot. You didn’t mention if you have 12volt lead acid or the 6volt AGM, but either way a voltage reading of only 4.6 volts is essentially a dead battery, way less than 10% charge level. And frequently letting the batteries drop to less than 50% charge level will shorten their useful life.

You are correct John. “Flanges? We don’t need no stinking flanges!” 😂 Definitely not applicable to the composting toilet. That has its own unique issues to deal with.