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Frank C

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Posts posted by Frank C

  1. 44 minutes ago, Jason Foster said:

    Why do bike rack manufacturers limit these on trailers?  Are they expecting the trailer to have a stiffer suspension causing some shear forces at the hitch?

     

    It’s because of the greater distance from the rear axle of the RV or trailer to the rear bumper, compared to that same measurement on a car or pickup truck.  That greater distance means the loaded bike rack experiences much larger movement up & down and side to side from bumps & potholes in the road, from going around corners, etc.  That larger movement means much higher accelerations/forces acting on the hitch and rack.   Some motorhomes have ridiculously long rear overhang distance. 
     

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  2. Do you only have the plug in 12volt anti-freeze heater kit option installed instead of the standard filter?  If so, then yes you will need a standard filter to do the de-calcification process.  They are available on Amazon from Truma, but pricey!   And check in the Truma compartment thoroughly by opening the outside Truma access door.  Some owners (and Oliver service folks) tuck the standard filter into the Truma unit in the area of the wiring harnesses.  It just fits in there for storage but can be well hidden. 
    Truma AquaGo Replacement Filter | Compatible with Truma AquaGo Hot Water Heater https://a.co/d/3KBZRdb

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  3. 1 hour ago, jd1923 said:

    I decided the external filter made more sense. This way I can fill the 35-gal tank on my truck bed using it also, or when boondocking fill via the rear winterizing port. Mine looks like this -

    I built a similar 2 stage filter system but mounted it in a standard 6 gallon milk crate.  All hoses, regulator and fittings store in the crate and the whole thing slides easily into the basement storage area for travel.  The filters are mounted using Camco filter mounts attached to aluminum “Z” hanger picture hanging brackets (one bracket on the filters and one bracket screwed to the milk crate) so the filter assembly lifts out to do filter changes.  Quick connect fittings on everything so setup at the campground is quick.  

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  4. 1 hour ago, Tideline77 said:

    Would you mind sharing which website listing you used to sell your Oliver ?

    I listed it on RV Trader and also the Oliver Trailers for Sale Facebook page.  All of the legitimate potential buyer leads, and the eventual buyer, were from RV Trader inquires about the trailer.   The Facebook page generated a lot of comments and likes but no actual buyer leads.  

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  5. I added a Zamp port to our Oliver, on the hull near the battery compartment, since it was an easy location to access the correct locations for the positive and negative connections to the trailer 12vDC system, and used a portable Zamp 140 watt panel with an integrated charge controller.  It worked very well on trips for our stays at Harvest Host locations, and our recent stay at the Circuit of the Americas track in Austin TX (plenty of sunshine!) for the Formula 1 race, when no power hookup was available.  The 140 watt panel was about the biggest that I would want to carry.  They are “portable” and they do fold up into a nice suitcase style carrying case but they can still be heavy and bulky to transport. 

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  6. 1 hour ago, KenB said:

    I'm going to disagree that the cracks are merely cosmetic.  In the parts of the country where we get snow and rain, water and ice melting chemicals get between the steel core and the stainless steel covers.  The steel core rusts and bulges the covers.  Now a socket won't go over the stainless cover or fit correctly, even if you pick a bigger socket.  Since the core can turn to a rusty mush, the cover falls off and you're left with a vaguely hex shaped nut that doesn't fit any tools in your box.  

    Ditto to this.  I had this exact problem on one car that we owned.  The stainless cover of the lug nuts split and the base metal underneath corroded and swelled to the point that a socket would not fit on properly.  They were a huge pain the a** to remove.  Several had to be cut off.  

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  7. 4 hours ago, GeoffChapman said:

     

    Q: Does the Truma antifreeze filter still work if I do not have the Truma control dial set to one of the two ‘on’ positions? 

    The Truma rotary control switch has to be in the “anti freeze” mode (the lightning bolt/snowflake position) to activate the electric antifreeze heater/filter, with the exterior power switch in the on position.  

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  8. On 10/30/2023 at 12:18 PM, Doug S said:

    So I'm confused...Even though they are high quality and "fit perfectly", we probably shouldn't get them because they don't appear to be bulged acorn?

    The “acorn” type lug nuts (intended for steel wheels) will fit (same thread size), but they have less contact area with the wheel.   The “bulge acorn” type lug nuts are recommended for aluminum wheels to provide a larger contact area (since aluminum is softer than steel) to prevent the aluminum surface from deforming and causing loose lug nuts.  

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  9. Not a public campground (not a state park or NP campground), but we stayed at the Custer/Mount Rushmore/Black Hills KOA when we visited Mt Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monuments.  Custer SD is a great little town and the KOA is convenient to all the sights in the area.   And it's a very nice, well maintained KOA campground.

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  10. Thanks for the info Steve.   Hopefully Oliver management will reconsider at some point in the future.  The one unique advantage of used Olivers posted for sale here is that a potential buyer had a very direct channel of communication to a seller, including being able to see the history of that trailer through the previous owner’s posts.  And in the case of John Davies recent sale, a LOT of history and background of the many great modifications that John did to show his incredible level of care taken with his trailer.   

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  11. 9 hours ago, jd1923 said:

     

    Anybody know what the other wires are? Mainly interested in the 3 black wires that have built-in disconnects. 

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    The three black wires with the large yellow fuse holders are the 12 volt hot leads for the three stabilizer jacks.   On mine they are labeled for a 30 amp fuse.  And on most Ollies (including mine) the front jack has another redundant fuse holder located at the jack itself.  And you are correct that I have no solar panels on my Ollie.  But if you look in my earlier post of my street side bed wiring, you'll notice the coils of heavy gauge red and black wire.  At that time (and maybe still now) Oliver was installing the heavy gauge wiring for the solar package, even if the solar panel option was not installed.   So the wiring is in place between the hulls from the roof down to the street side bed so the panels can be added in the future if desired.   I use a Zamp portable solar panel setup instead connected to a Zamp port that I installed.

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  12. 13 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

    Thanks Bill @topgun2 too! Now I have an issue. Yes, I have the four 6V golf cart style lead acid batteries, but I also have ample solar wattage to charge these! 

    I never want to charge these large AH capacity trailer batteries from my truck alternator when driving, nor possibly drawing current from my truck batteries when sitting. Last thing I need is alternator or truck battery charging issues. I need to disconnect this Black 12V+ lead. Also, I'm not going to get in the practice of disconnecting the trailer plug, unless I am disconnecting the trailer. This is crazy! Good thing OTT stopped doing this.

    I can simply disconnect it at the trailer connection plug but would rather disconnect it at the battery side. Anybody know where the 20A breaker is located, as shown in the wiring diagram that @Frank C supplied?

    On my Elite II, the 20 amp breaker is under the street side bed. It’s covered by a red rubber cover.  It’s a self resetting breaker, but you can disconnect the black wire that comes from the 7 pin harness.  And I get all the electrical/plumbing diagrams from the Oliver university resource on this website.  It has manuals by year for the trailers. 


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  13. 10 hours ago, jd1923 said:

    I was wiring it this afternoon and while doing so, I kept getting a 12V DC shock. Got out my voltmeter and the black wire had 12+ volts live, when NOT connected to the truck, OMG! I've installed several of these in my lifetime and I'm not at all used to ANY of the 7 wires in a trailer electrical connection being live when the truck is not attached. WTF is OTT doing? It is NOT at all standard to feed 12V DC to the truck-trailer wiring when not connected? This is crazy! hoping @John E Daviesor another member can explain (pic showing new plug). Please help!

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    On older Oliver trailers with lead acid batteries (before the lithium battery option availability) the black wire on the trailer 7 pin harness is the charge wire for the batteries and it IS a direct connection to the positive side of the battery bank (through a 20 amp in-line breaker, see wiring diagram).   So that wire/pin on the 7 pin trailer plug connector is energized with 12 volts from the trailer batteries, and that connection allows the trailer batteries to be charged from the tow vehicle while driving.  And it is per the SAE standard.  It worked with the old Olivers like mine with lead acid wet cell batteries because the tow vehicle alternator charging voltage was sufficient for lead acid batteries, but not with lithium batteries, so Oliver now disconnects that wire on newer trailers with lithium batteries. 

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  14. There are a lot of opinions on tow vehicles, but a tour of any campground shows that the vast majority of people choose full size pickup trucks, 1/2 ton and up, as their tow vehicle.  And that’s because it’s about a lot more than just the rated towing capacity of the vehicle.   The payload (cargo) weight rating and tongue weight limits are important too, but as John mentioned above, also cargo volume (space) is a major issue.  We tried towing with large body on frame SUVs (a Ford Expedition EL extended length, and a Nissan Armada), and found that while the towing weight capacity and cargo weight rating was adequate, the bigger issue with the SUVs was not having enough space for all the things that go along on extended long camping road trips.  Things such as bicycles, outdoor rug, camp chairs, awning screen, folding picnic table, clothes drying rack, portable grill, Andersen jack buckets, leveling blocks, large rubber wheel chocks, X-chocks, portable solar panel, water filtration system, generator & gas can, portable waste tote tank, tools, some spare parts, roadside emergency gear, etc.  It’s all stuff we actually do use on trips, some folks can get by with less 🙂.  And a lot of the camping gear gets dirty/muddy at the campgrounds, so better to store that stuff in a truck bed than the carpeted/upholstered interior of an expensive plush SUV.  We finally ended up with an F-250 which meets our needs.   

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  15. 14 minutes ago, Mark Penton said:

    Frank,

    Holy cow! That was EXACTLY the case. How in God’s creation did you learn that? Many, many thanks.

    Glad that was it.  It’s one of those collective knowledge items that you get from this forum.   I don’t think it’s actually documented anywhere in any of the instruction manuals. 

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