taylor.coyote

Glad to see all that have been successful drilling holes in the new hitch that match the trailer tongue. I worked with a friend with a Comercial machine shop and we missed the vertical location for one of the hole sets in the tongue. We were close but it was a miss. The challenge for us was the lack of precision of the bulldogs production. The stamping folding the shape of the hitch sleeve is different between each hitch. Coaching will be appreciated.

So far my local RV shop (not Oliver sanctioned) has been able to take care of needs beyond my skill sets. I thought their fee of $165 per hour was painful but $300, OUCH...that's stops my heart. Apparently my diesel mechanic is a bargain at $200 per hr. Salt Lake is central to the greater west and within 1,000 miles from everywhere on the pacific coast. I could live with this for specail repairs. When young, we were back packing and mocked the idea of dragging a trailer around. As we aged, we transition to tent camping and now doing the trailer thing. Yep, life was simple when we were kids with little means but sleeping on the river bar is no longer a good option for my old bones. God forbid if we were to ever end up with a Class A.

I understand the center of the Oliver universe is east of the rockies with the rallies logically located in shouting distance of the factory. This said, any chance on getting enough attendance to have a rally within a 1,200 to1,5000 miles from the Pacific Ocean?

Sagebrush, I'm with you on small towns and avoiding large populations. For 25 years, I drove 20 minutes to the office navigating two stop signs and one stop light. Unfortunately, small towns are not a good bet to support a service center. I'd go for a small to mid-sized city such as Boise Idaho, Reno, Nv, Bend Oregon and reluctantly possibly Salt lake due it's central location in the west.

JD, thank you for the thoughtful reply. I do like your design. In 7 years of owning our trailer getting caught in the out-back Owyhee country in far south eastern Oregon has been a one-time event. In fact the mud/clay wrapped the tires and the truck tires were standing on an inch or two of mud/clay above the tred. The truck hardly would respond to turning the front wheel and would genneraly plow straight forward, eventually moving the direct they were turned. Fortunately we were traveling on a slight down slope most of the way to gravel topped roads. Even in 4 wheel drive, I don't think we would have enough traction to climb more than a modest grade. All this said, I think I will likely move forward with your design because the we avoid this kind these type of roads if rain is in the forecast. Regardless of the rig you are driving, these roads become virtually impassable when saturated. Side slopes are the killer.

JD, Mud flaps have been on my to do list for along time. I was planning to install John Davies design but your idea looks to be a bit less effort for instalation and appears to provide protection up into the wheel well. The clearance between the flap and the tire appears to have a small clearance. My concern: I have been caught by a storm on dirt / clay roads with not rock top dressing. The road surface stick / wraps a couple of inches of clay around all the tires. Does your design have enough clearance to accommodate this extreme situation? Hopefully, I will not be caught by these road condtions in the future but want a design for all conditions.

So far, warm water, auto soap and a sponge have done the trick to clean the vortex

I have posted this image before but thought it may be useful here because of questions about the cosmetics of Vortex coating.

We applied Vortex 8 months ago and have been very pleased. Forest Service / Blm roads rocked with 3/4 to 1.5" fractured rock is the worst. Even with full mud flaps this stuff finds your trailer. Vortex is primarily used as a truck bed liner and is very tough. The guy that sprayed our trailer estimated the weight of the coatings about 40lbs . The material has thickness and some flex to absorb "rock impacts". We tool a 7week trip through the SW and southern UT with a lot of off road in places like Bears Ear / valley of the Gods with no sign of damage. The worst road we know for throwing rock is over Hart Mt in SW oregon, 60 miles of well maintained BLM with large fractured rock. We are still mindful of modest speeds but will travel up to 35mph with no concerns. Before vortex, we became gun-shy and would just crawl along , still taking on some damage. Over time, we had lots of micro chips (like sand blasting) with a few significant chips here and there.

I have received a few direct emails and though the below direct email might be helpful for other interested in Vortex Coatings. Hello Doug, Interstate Coatings Applied the Vortex to my Oliver. Interstate is a small operation. The owner is Calvin, He is a construction contractor and owns the coating shop. I worked with Calvin and his shop operator setting the color match and planning. I have two phone numbers Calvin's cell phone: 541 815 1506 shop number: 541 280 5618 Interstate coatings 1532 S hwy 97 Redmond, Oregon 97756 Vortex application dealers seem to have a wide range of skills and experience shooting fiberglass and color matching. The guys at interstate are good guys and did a great job. I dropped the trailer, they dis-assembled the trailer, pulled the propane compartment (access to bolts through the bathroom vanity), shot the trailer nose and propane cover w vortex, then the matching automotive paint (requires several hours of drying time between the two operations) and re-assembled in one day. the process could require overnight drying for the vortex before paint based on environmental factors.You can contact Vortex to get a list of dealers in your area if Interstate coatings is too far from your home. I recommend finding a shop the has experience applying vortex to fiber. vortexcoastings.com vortex phone: 785 833 6720 Best of luck

You are a true wandering sagebrush. any idea the number of miles traveled? congratulations!!! PS, I spent my first 16 years living in far Eastern Oregon (Baker City). We love the high desert traveling Eastern Oregon

Last year my original box shorted-out due to loose connection screws. The loose connections caused melted wire coating, melted part of the housing and could have started a fire. The new box has much better connections. Based on my experience, the price of the new box is cheap insurance. The issue with screws loosening is well documented within this forum. At minimum, you should check screw tightens regularly. best of luck

In addition to your awing decision. We would strongly recommend NOT TO INSTALL THE RAIN GUTTER ADHESIVE STRIP under the awing. We found its primary function is to capture debris that makes a big mess on your roof. We removed our gutters several years ago and let the water drain down the side of the trailer with no issues. If you wish, you can install gutters over the windows. We live in a rainy climate on the pacific coast and are much happier without any gutters. Without gutters, you will find it much easier to keep your trailer clean. And congratulation on your purchase. We hope you enjoy your Oliver as much as we have.

We purchased a used trailer in 2019 that has two awnings. We spend a lot of time in the remote high deserts boon-docking in the western states. Over the last six years we have yet to use the awning on the back side of the trailer. The good news: we have been able to use the second awning for spare parts on a couple of occations to keep our front awning operational. Based on our experience, we would not recommend investing in a secound awning.

Nice, well done. I like your solution much better than ours. We used up a left over roll of thin aluminum sandwich foam insolation purchased for cold weather window inserts.

GJ, thanks for the tips on suspension and tire pressure. I'm running Alcan springs and 50psi in the tires. Hopefully this combination with lightweight batteries and steel rivets will be a good solution after my repair

We are repairing our battery box separation as we speak per the old string from Galway Girl. The combination 250lbs of AMG batteries, off the grid travel and aluminum rivets proves to have been a bad marriage. Now have 300AH lithiuim batteries weighing in at 80lbs and steel rivets.

I perceive EV technology to be very cool and loved by several friends. Respectfully, range anxiety is not for me. 225 mile range would be very confining for our off the grid style of travel. I'll let the charging stations become better developed and dependable, EV ranges to increase and the let early adopters scout out this new frontier. I'm old enough and my F250 6.7 is young enough that it may out last my ability to drag a trailer around. Best to you and hope your EV tow vehicle serves you well.

I like to learn but with the Ollie, it usually is attached to a price tag.. As they say "you can't take it with you"

And my wife says I over think things..... Shackle and lug nut torque values, grade 8 vs grade 5 bulldog hitch bolts, tire inflation and ongoing managment, packing bearings temperature monitoring. Now an expaned intellectual conversation on safety chains a the length of the emergency brake cable. As before with many issues, my Ignorance was bliss. Now I need to consider the above safety chain / emergency brake strategy with the hope we won't see Ollie pull up along-side our truck.

Jd, I missed your question about remote camping in the Navajo nation. The answer is yes, we were able to camp outside of campgrounds in remote areas. You can get permits at the visitor center in Cameron for various areas. We had planned to camp in the Coal Mine Canyon area but it was closed due to road damage. The folks at the visitor center recommended the little Colorado River Canyon. The Little Colorado River Canyon was very remote but you had to work / very slow go to get there. It's out there, you will likely be alone and have dark skies. Be sure to ask about roads for your Oliver. We were cautioned about some of the roads.

Happy to be home in my driveway after a fabulous adventure and 4,864.5 miles.

Last night on the road after 6 weeks. We are staying at Dumbarton Quarry Campground, part of Fremont Ca park system. What a nice surprise, one minute we are fighting Bay Area 6 lanes of traffic and next you are in what seems to be a remote place miles from the concrete jungle. Besides an oasis in the middle of madness, the price at $73 is very reasonable for the city. This is a great stop over if passing through the bay-area. We'll be on the road at 4am to beat traffic. Should be home in humboldt County, Ca before noon tomorrow.

Pulled in to Dumbarton Quarry Campground (great place to stay if needing a place in the east bay / San Francisco). A Rivian pulling a Pebble Trailer pulls in. The driver un-hitches the trailer and uses his I-Pad to back/drive the trailer in place. Next the leveling jacks automaticly lift the trailer off the ground and self-level. I spoke with the owner and this is the first shakedown night from the factory in Fremont, Ca . The owner said he should get a range of 200+/- miles with the Rivian/Pebble combo. The Trailer motors are said to add about 100 miles to the Rivian's range vs pulling a standard trailer. I have to say it's very cool and makes our Oliver / F250 look and sound like a dinosaur. Regardless of how cool, this guy is way braver them me. I like being able to carry a couple of fuel cans for a bit more range (more than double the Riven/Pebble combo). We need early adopters and I'm not that guy. I wish him the best. Yes, the Pebble is very cool.

JD, we have hull #124 (2016 production) and broke one spring two years ago. Initially we replaced both springs on the damaged side with the stock springs. Later, we learned of the issues with stock springs and replaced all the springs with Alcan parts 5,000 miles ago. It was my understanding the issue is more about the stock spring design than the production year.