Frank C

I did get the entire replacement window from Oliver. I used DICOR butyl foam core round profile gasket seal tape (link below) between the outer window frame and hull to bed the window, and this caulk to finish it. Available at Lowe’s. Exterior caulk, UV resistant and recommended for multi-surfaces including fiberglass and aluminum. It’s held up very well so far. I used painters masking tape to mask the frame and the hull to get a clean straight bead. I smoothed the bead with a finger while wearing a disposable glove. https://dicorproducts.com/product/seal-tite-butyl-foamcore-roll/

I like the double pane windows for insulation and noise reduction. I have had to replace one window due to fogging so far after 4 years of ownership. It was the small bathroom window. A fairly straightforward DIY replacement if you’re handy with tools/home remodeling projects.

After 4 years of camping and towing with our Elite II, I wouldn’t want to be towing anything any longer than 25’. The Oliver size gives a lot more freedom for travel overall and is still very well equipped and comfortable. And it’s not just about campground site choices, although that is a big factor, both for site options and cost at campgrounds. Longer/bigger spaces cost more at most campgrounds. It’s also taking into consideration things like getting in and out of gas stations, parking spaces at restaurants and other roadside stops and attractions, very narrow construction zones, etc. We have even encountered roads with length limits because of tight corner switchbacks on steep climbs. The Elite II is a nice comfortable compact trailer that is short enough, narrow enough and low enough to avoid most of the common obstacles you will encounter on the road like low clearance bridges, tunnels, etc. The Zion Mt. Carmel Tunnel in Utah is one example that we drove through. There is a 7’ 10” width limit and a 11’ 4” height limit. Anything over a combined length limit of 50’ for tow vehicle/trailer combinations is completely prohibited in the tunnel. Anything much bigger than towing an Elite II and you have to arrange (and pay for) the park rangers to allow special access with traffic temporarily changed to one direction only instead of two way traffic so larger vehicles can fit through the tunnel. My wife and I are both retired and we do extended trips of 4 to 5 weeks on the road and we are very comfortable in the Ollie. And we added a shower curtain with 3M command hooks so it gives us a “dry bath” setup. The shower curtain can be easily removed to take outside to dry.

Agreed. We carry this large format road atlas/national park guide. Using this in conjunction with the Google Maps app, Harvest Host app, etc. has been great for our trip planning.

Our Oliver had 1/4-28 thread size Zerk grease fittings but this may not be the same for all Olivers. I think some owners have found that their Dexter suspension assemblies have a 6mm-1 metric size Zerk. Best to remove one of your existing Zerk fittings to confirm the thread size.

Definitely a simple worthwhile addition to keep the fittings clean to prevent dirt contamination. I added the caps shortly after our Ollie purchase, and I also changed to angled Zerk fittings to make re-greasing easier.

If he’s an aerospace fan, the Thomas Stafford museum in Weatherford Oklahoma is a great stop, just off of I40, and it’s also a Harvest Host location. We did an overnight stop there on one of our long cross country trips. The Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo TX is still a popular stop but the cars are covered in graffiti now and pretty well stripped of most parts.

Just for reference, here’s the typical Oliver hull fiberglass & gel coat construction. This is from a hole I cut for a modification. The white gel coat layer is about 1/32” thick, MUCH thicker than an automotive clear coat/base coat paint over metal which are typically only a few thousands of an inch thick. So it’s pretty safe to use cutting/buffing compounds and a motorized orbital polisher on the Oliver to buff out any light oxidation without risking going all the way through the gel coat layer.

Unfortunately, if your Ollie is the same as ours, the reading lights are riveted in place, so if a rivet works loose it can’t be tightened, the rivet has to be replaced.

I think he means using the pump and the outside shower as a way to get rid of fresh water without it draining into the gray tank.

Since the issue just started on your recent trip, unless you’ve recently changed valve positions to winterize or boondock, it’s doubtful that it’s a valve under the bed that suddenly changed position on its own. It’s more likely that the internal check valve in the water pump is faulty. Sometimes using the pump a bit will clear possible debris from the check valve and may fix the issue. But otherwise the pump may need replaced. And there is a fresh water tank drain valve that’s accessible from under the bed if you want to drain the fresh tank before hitting the road again.

Congratulations on the new addition to the family!

Yes, available from Pelland Enterprises. Sold by the foot in both white and black. https://www.pellandent.com/Half-Inch-Glass-Vinyl-Seal I changed mine to black since the white was so hard to keep clean.

Are you sure it’s not there? It certainly appears to be tucked in there in your photo. The first photo below is your photo with the original filter there (the arrow pointing to it) and the second is my Truma with that area circled.

Thanks Steve 🙂. But it’s a pretty easy part to identify for us long term Truma owners. That’s the outer end of the original filter showing on the right tucked inside the Truma in Dave’s original photo that I added the red arrow to. And here’s a photo below that shows what that end of the filter looks like when it’s not hiding inside the Truma.

Isn’t that the original filter tucked in there on the right in your picture?

That’s odd. Might be either a defective piece of weatherstripping or the window frame may be deformed a bit too wide. I’d try swapping that piece of weatherstripping with the piece from another window to see if the problem follows the weatherstripping or the window.

It’s removable for cleaning the window tracks and weep holes. It’s easily pushed back into place.

And it’s a DPDT (double pole double throw) switch, so it doesn’t matter which set of 3 inline terminals you use. Either set of 3 will work. The other unused set of 3 inline terminals will just serve no function since the switch is only switching one load (the pump).

This pic may help to add to what bhncb posted. Black wire to the middle terminal of one set of terminals. And the gray to the outer end terminals. Both of my gray wires have a red stripe. The spiral wrap is something I added to clean up the wiring a bit.

If it was stuck in Clean/De-Calcify mode that would be indicated on the control panel inside the trailer with the LED blinking slowly, even if you turned the knob back to the normal mode, and you’d have to do the procedure that Rivernerd mentioned. If the LED on the interior control panel is illuminated solid when in the Normal or ECO mode and not blinking any error code pattern that means the Truma controller thinks everything is ok so the problem may be elsewhere. Double check all your water valves under the bed to make sure they are all in the correct normal position. Does the lack of hot water issue happen both when hooked to city water and when using the fresh tank & pump? You mentioned that you are winterizing also. Did you bypass the Truma as required when you winterized? This is very important! And since you have an older Ollie it may be overdue for a decalcification.

Happy New Year to all and happy trails & safe travels in 2023!

Thanks for posting the follow up article. It’s pretty clear that the truck was overloaded, even though the owner thinks otherwise. The owner was using the wrong payload numbers for his specific truck. He was going by the absolute max payload number advertised (regular cab, gas engine 2 wheel drive, base model) and not using his actual payload number for his crew cab diesel 4x4. I’m glad the article pointed that out, but that owner still seems either unable or unwilling to accept the math. I’d love to see the owner post a picture of his door jamb payload label on his truck. That one simple picture would speak volumes. This also makes it pretty clear that the manufacturers don’t use a huge safety factor multiplier in designing for their payload ratings. The limit is the limit!

Like John, I’m also a big fan of Redline CV-2 grease, and I use that for my annual Ollie wheel bearing maintenance. But with the jacks, considering the pain in the a** it is to clean out all of the old grease from the gear drive mechanism, plus the very limited running time that the jacks actually operate (only a couple of minutes total run time per year for the jacks, compared to wheel bearings that see many many hours of high speed, high temperature and high load), I just used the grease recommended for the jacks (packed well) since mixing different types of grease isn’t recommended.

The jack manual says to use Mobilith 460.