Frank C

A very sad story. Definitely a lot of lessons here for anyone traveling in remote areas. And a good reason to travel with a full fresh water tank and some basic non-perishable food/canned goods in the pantry. With the 30 gallons of fresh water in the Ollie, and some basic food supplies you could go for a month (or more) in survival mode with water rationing. Maybe I’m overly paranoid 🙂 but every one of our vehicles in the family has a very complete kit of survival basics, plus I usually have a bug-out bag as well when traveling anywhere. Too many sad stories like these folks, or even just the winter snowstorm back in January that had people stuck on I-95 in Virginia for over 24 hours. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/01/04/winter-storm-power-outages-interstate-95-virginia/9087146002/

Correction on the cost (and I updated the previous post). I had to go back and check my receipts. The Redline product is a bit more. $16 for a 14oz jar of CV-2 direct from the Redline website. $14 for the 16oz can of Mobil 1 @ Advance Auto. So not any huge difference in cost.

The Redline product is a bit more. $16 for a 14oz jar of CV-2 direct from the Redline website. $14 for the 16oz can of Mobil 1 @ Advance Auto. But this is definitely one area where I don’t want to be pinching pennies. And I haven’t used to Mobil 1 yet for anything, haven’t even opened the can, so I can’t comment on whether it separates. I’ve been using Lucas Red-n-Tacky grease in my grease gun for all the suspension Zerk grease points. It doesn’t drool at all, doesn’t wash out, great water resistance.

Interesting difference in specs for wheel bearing grease, even though both are the same NLGI service rating of GC-LB for wheel bearing grease. Mobil 1 synthetic lists an operating temperature range of -40 to +320 F Redline CV-2 synthetic lists an operating temperature range of -100 to + 500 F. And the Redline CV-2 label lists a drop point (the temp at which it liquifies) of >800 F. No drop point on the Mobil 1 label, but from what I could find on their website, the drop point is 550 F. So I’m going with the Redline CV-2 for my Oliver wheel bearing service project. Also installing genuine Timken bearings (bought from western PA authorized Timken distributor, and confirmed as authentic with the WBA app). I’ll use the Mobil 1 grease on our bicycles 🙂.

Wow! That is a terrible accident. Glad you are ok. Hope you are able to find a replacement trailer and can continue with your travel plans in the future. And I hope the video is enough to help the police identify the other vehicle & driver.

I just use a good heavy duty scissor jack on some 4”x4” cribbing to lift the trailer (but mine does have the marked jack points on the steel subframe) and then after raising the trailer I put the stabilizer down just as a backup. Chocks under the tires on the opposite side of course. Doing my wheel bearing re-packing now.

Yeah, the Andersen rapid jack or EZ leveler will work for changing a flat tire, but only on older Oliver Elite IIs without the Dexter E-Z flex cushioned dual axle system. On later Olivers with the Dexter E-Z flex dual axle, there is so much articulation in the suspension linkage that if you drive one wheel up on the rapid jack, the other wheel on that same side will stay on the ground. There have been a few posts about this on the Oliver Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/OllieOwners/permalink/540818246323301/ And what is it with all these companies that use EZ in their product names!

Things can be fixed/replaced. You kept your family safe, that’s what matters. And after time has passed you’ll eventually reach the phase of joking about “Hey, remember that time we drive off with the hose still connected?”

Nice enough weather today to start the Ollie maintenance with greasing the zerk fittings and repacking the wheel bearings. No issues get the wheels & drums off or greasing the zerk fittings. After pulling the drums off, good to see plenty of grease still in the bearings (Oliver did the previous bearing repack service), grease looked nice and clean still (first photo) but the two of the bearings show discoloration on the inner race surface where it contacts the axle spindle (second photo). The axle spindles look really good and the tapered rollers themselves in the bearings all look good with no discoloration, but with that discoloration of the race I’m still thinking it’s time to replace the Chinese bearings with the genuine Timkens that I purchased from the western PA Timken distributor. Discoloration like that is usually a sign of the bearing overheating at some point. Thoughts?

Thanks for the info/clarification John. 👍🏻

If you’re not hooked to a city water connection, even with the pump off, the accumulator tank that’s just downstream of the pump will maintain some pressure in the lines (accumulator to the right of the pump in this photo). That is what is providing the pressure for your drip. Until you can try the vinegar flush or repair/replace the faucet, a simple way eliminate the drip is to shut the pump off and then turn the faucet on until the water pressure in the accumulator drops to zero, then close the faucet (assuming you’re not connected to a city water hookup).

Yeah, the price on this was high but I’ve also bought plenty of cheap Harbor Freight stuff to offset it. 🙂. Here’s the company that makes the set sold by McMaster Carr. An interesting history to the company. https://www.lislecorp.com/

Very nice! I’ve been considering something similar. Boats often have rain guards above porthole windows but I haven’t found any long enough for the Ollie windows except for the Ollie bathroom window. So now I’m looking at re-purposing automotive sunroof wind deflectors to use as window rain guards on the Ollie, if I can find ones long enough for the Ollie windows.

I picked up this bearing driver set from McMaster Carr. Lists country of origin as United States. A little more expensive than the comparable set at Harbor Freight but I try to buy Made in USA when possible, even if it costs a little more.

Yeah, the picture isn’t quite accurate since they were probably photoshopped. There are two pieces to each leveler. The curved ramp piece that you drive on to, and then the separate wedge piece that locks into place to keep things from shifting, but yeah, I would think that normally the center of the tire would be located more directly above the point where the curved ramp touches the ground, like the photo below of the Andersen levelers, although they could have also rolled the trailer forward a little bit after putting the wedge in place.

Since you bought your Oliver used, have you ruled out a water leak as the source of the moisture you are seeing? The illuminated Oliver logo above the rear window is a potential leak point into that attic area where the television wiring is.

If it’s below freezing outside that space between the inner and outer hull can get pretty cold, even with the furnace going, and most of the moisture/condensation was probably coming from you breathing while working in that area where the wiring is. Someone posted this previously either here on the forum or on the Oliver Facebook page. People exhale quite a bit of moisture.

Yeah, I would expect that Summit would be legitimate as a Timken source since Summit is a big reputable auto parts distributor. Maybe just a fluke with the WBA database not being updated recently with the latest Timken data.

I bought my Timken bearings through an authorized Timken distributor listed on the Timken website. And when I received them I confirmed with the WBA bearing app and they come up as good. As an experiment though I did buy a “Timken” bearing on Amazon (at a ridiculously low price of like $12) just to see what counterfeit bearings are like. A lot of fakes out there. The Amazon ones did show as counterfeit (no surprise for $12 😂) when scanned with the WBA app. Here’s a pic. Counterfeit on the left, legitimate on the right. The fakes are a pretty good looking copy, with most of the packaging details copied, but the counterfeit ones seem to always be missing the QR code on the box. Here’s the authorized Timken distributor I bought the genuine bearings from. www.applied.com

For anyone getting replacement lug nuts, make sure you get the proper type for aluminum wheels. The correct ones are the “bulge acorn” type which have a larger conical seating surface for use on aluminum wheels. Aluminum wheels are softer than steel wheels and require the larger seating surface. The ones installed by Oliver are the correct bulge acorn type so get the same style. “Acorn” type have a smaller conical face and are for steel wheels.

I think he’s referring to this post on the Oliver Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/OllieOwners/permalink/1200624053676047/

6 per wheel.

Even if the fridge is running/cold at delivery make sure it operates in all modes: AC shore power, DC battery power, and propane (if you get the 3 way fridge). A few owners have had issues with the fridge AC plug not plugged into the AC power outlet receptacle.

Not all quick connect faucet fittings use a clip. Some are just “Push to click” connections. It’s possible your hose fitting just wasn’t installed properly when the trailer was built. If you’ve pushed the connector back on until you heard or felt a click, it may be ok now. But keep an eye on it.

Not sure what Ford calls the option package that I have on my F-250, but it’s rated at 3,334 lbs payload. Highest I’ve ever seen on an F-250. Grabbed it right away when I saw it on the dealer lot. I think it was intended to be a snow plow/salt spreader type work truck.