Rivernerd

Don't leave your Truma water heater on when driving. Put it into antifreeze mode, with the the antifreeze unit installed and running. That is what it is for. You can then turn it to Eco or Comfort mode when you are off the road camping and need hot water. When we travel in cold weather,we still run our 3-way fridge on DC. This is to avoid driving into a gas station with the open flame that the fridge propane setting requires. If driving in temps below freezing when not winterized, I would leave the furnace running on propane at 65 degrees F or higher, to keep the plumbing from freezing. But, I would pull off the road outside any gas station and turn it off before refueling. I would then pull off the road again after leaving the gas station and turn the furnace back on. Think about what could happen if your furnace tried to ignite fuel while parked next to a gas pump. It would be like lighting a match! With this regimen, monitor your propane levels. Depending on the size or your tanks, you may run out of propane every 3-4 days.

When towing our (then) new Elite II home to Idaho last November, we experienced freezing temps every night. As low as 9 degrees F one night. Like you, I placed a digital temperature monitor in that street side compartment near the outside faucet. I also placed digital monitors under the front dinette seat and in the closet (which did not yet have the air vents I installed after we returned home). The monitor in the compartment with the 3000 watt Xantrex inverter consistently reported the coldest temperatures of the three. The inverter operated only occasionally, such as when we first connected to shore power, having drawn down our Lithium Pro 390 Ah batteries somewhat during the travel day by running the fridge on DC. Even the night after we boondocked at a Harvest Host facility (so our batteries had two days of DC draw down without shore power recharge, just solar), I did not note a significant difference in the temperature reported in that aft street side compartment while the inverter was recharging the batteries from shore power. My conclusion from this data, collected over 5 cold nights, is that the amount of heat generated by the Xantrex Freedom Pro 3000 watt inverter is not sufficient to noticeably warm that aft street side compartment in freezing outside temps. For what its worth, with our Truma Varioheat furnace keeping cabin temps at about 70 degrees F overnight, none of the digital monitors reported temps lower than 35 degrees F, which was the one in that aft street side compartment the night ambient temps dropped down to 9 degrees F. So, the un-winterized plumbing in that yet-unmodified Elite II was not at risk at those temps.

I am quite interested to learn if your Ford owner's manual refers to tongue weight rather than trailer weight when addressing weight distribution hitches. If it, in fact, refers to trailer weight, then in the event of an accident when towing your Oliver, your insurance company still has an opportunity to deny coverage based on failure to comply with the owners manual. I also don't like the idea of shifting load to the rear to reduce tongue weight. Trailers handle much better when loaded a bit tongue heavy (60% forward of the axles, 40% aft). A "6000 lb. LEII" should have tongue weight around 600 lbs. when properly loaded. I am much more comfortable loading the trailer a bit tongue heavy, and using the Andersen WD hitch. Finally, having now adjusted to the quirks of using the Andersen hitch after 1 year of ownership, I prefer the way our rig handles with it attached. So, I don't mind the minimal extra time and effort required to hook and unhook it. We "don't leave home without it."

My poor word choice, Once the repair is complete, put the original fuse back in the fuse holder to complete the circuit.

1/2 ton truck owners manuals do not address tongue weight, but trailer weight. My Tundra owners manual requires a weight distribution hitch if towing over 5000 lbs., period, regardless of how much of that is tongue weight. With your "6000 lb. LEII," you are still well advised to use a weight distribution hitch. And, a weight distribution hitch helps not only with sway, but with traction and turning control. Shifting some of the weight from the tow vehicle rear axle to the tow vehicle front axle makes turning more stable.

Either pipe dope or Teflon tape will work fine for plastic plumbing threads. For Teflon tape, 3 winds around the threads. FYI, the plastic shards you found probably originated from the factory when your Oliver was built. After one or two filter cleanings, you should never see any more.

Oliver recommends against blowing out the plumbing system with air pressure. As mentioned by Geronimo John above, the best way to clear residual plastic shards is by removing and cleaning the pump filter and faucet aerators. Just carefully follow the Oliver winterization video using the "pink stuff" and your trailer will be ready for the coldest winter.

That is why we have 20 lb. (5-gallon) tanks. I expected that with my bad back, lifting a full 30 lb. tank (55 lbs.) over the lip of the "doghouse" would be risky. After about a year of ownership, I am pleased with our decision. Even when running our furnace and fridge nearly 24/7 on propane in cold temps, with water heating as well, our two 5-gallon propane tanks have not needed refilling more often than every 4 days.

Your 2022 Elite II should have a large red solar panel cutoff switch in the overhead compartment just aft of the pantry. In addition to cutting solar power, you should remove the CO/LP detector fuse before replacing the detector. That 1-amp fuse in your 2022 Elite II should be accessible through the forward panel under the bed on the street side. Just replace the fuse once the replacement is complete. See photo below.

Good photo of some of the dredge tailings. What has stuck in my mind is that those mounds of tailings go on for miles and miles as you travel up the Yankee Fork.

But, don't tell any of the locals that I sent you there. Last summer I noted a bumper sticker in Stanley that reads: "Stanley Sucks. Tell your friends."

The gold dredge is up the Yankee Fork of the Salmon, which joins the Main Salmon at Sunbeam. There is a commercial hot spring pool at Sunbeam. The environmental devastation caused by the dredge has always been disheartening for me to see, so I, too, am now interested to see the results of restoration efforts by Trout Unlimited. The ghost town is Custer, Idaho, named after General George Armstrong Custer. I would not recommend towing your Oliver to Custer, as the last leg of the road to Custer is quite primitive, and it may be tough to find a good turn around. Park your Oliver at a campground and take your tow vehicle on Hwy 75 to and up the Yankee Fork, then continue on to Custer.

Very interesting. But not inexpensive. The Hitch-Ezy costs from $1290 to $1575 plus $290, Australian, for shipping to the USA. That converts to from about $1K to about $1200 in US dollars. I suppose that expense makes sense if you take your Oliver on really bad roads.

One of the great joys of using this forum is the absence of pop-up ads. Anyone operating a forum has to pay for server time and storage space, and the usual way that is accomplished is by selling ads. I, for one, will be sorry to see that happen.

Also bad for potential buyers of used Oliver trailers. My contacts with car and RV dealerships have uniformly left a bad taste in my mouth. Conversely, my dealings with Oliver's management and service staff so far have left me feeling good about their commitment to their customers---until now. One must wonder if this signals the "end of an era..."

Then plan to spend a few days during July or August in the Stanley Basin near Stanley, Idaho camping at Redfish Lake, or along the Main Salmon River in a Forest Service campground. The views of the Sawtooths are truly "breathtaking".

What info? I don't see a post from Steve in this thread. Regardless of the reason, closing out the Oliver Classifieds is bad for customer relations. My opinion of Oliver Management just took a steep nosedive.

Our reasons for purchasing an Elite II are similar. In our first year of ownership, we have yet to get to a national park with it, but have enjoyed some pleasant stays at state parks in Idaho and Oregon, along with some lovely days boondocking at Harvest Host locations, Forest Service campgrounds, and elsewhere. We opted for the Lithium Pro package, with 390 Ah of capacity. It has been more than adequate for us. We have found that even when boondocking for a few nights, the thing that has pushed us to pack up and find hookups or a dump station has not been battery life, but the size of the gray water tank. After 2+ days, it is nearly full, just from 2 short showers per day and dish washing. So, for us, the extra expense for the Platinum package did not make sense. Had a larger gray water tank been an upgrade option, we would have gladly paid for that! Given your plans, I recommend you save the difference between the Lithium Pro and Platinum packages, and opt to spend that savings staying one out of every 3 nights or so at an RV park close to the national park you are visiting, so you can dump your gray tank (and black tank, if you don't have the composting toilet), recharge your batteries, if needed, from shore power, and refill your fresh water tank. Then go back to the park, if desired, for another visit. That was our choice last year, and given our use of the trailer, our initial year of ownership has left us quite comfortable with that decision.

Not a lot of plumbers in rural Central Idaho use Uponor/Wirsbo Pex-A either. I also designed and built the manifolds, and did all of the plumbing in our home. After 4 years, no leaks in the Pex.

Sadly, this is why I don't use RV service centers. I choose to do the work myself.

Uponor Pex is the same as Pex-A.

Agreed. But, for a travel trailer subjected to bumps on the road, the issue is not brass vs. plastic, it is the strength and durability of the pipe-to-fitting connection. Oliver uses some brass crimp-ring style and some plastic compression-style Pex fittings. Crimp-style fittings depend on the diligence of the person doing the crimping to ensure a secure connection when subjected to the bumps on the road. I suspect the person doing the crimping in your Oliver let you down. The most secure method for Pex connections, which has been on the market more for a decade, is the expansion ring type. Instead of crimping a brass ring around the pipe, a special tool temporarily expands a plastic ring that is then quickly slipped over the pipe and fitting before it shrinks back to its original size. Where the brass crimp ring is applying outward force, always trying to enlarge back to its pre-crimped size, the plastic expansion ring is applying inward force, trying to shrink back to its pre-expanded size. It is this outward vs. inward force of the clamping ring over time, and particularly when bumped around, that makes the plastic expansion ring type much stronger and more durable. I plumbed our entire home with the expansion ring Pex-A system. That is what I wish Oliver had used on our trailer. It is the system that, in my judgment, Oliver would be well-advised to use going forward. It produces plumbing joints that are even more resistant to the abuse delivered by bad roads than the much more expensive brass Sharkbite fittings.

This post is offered in the hope it will help someone else avoid my dumb mistake. It has been my practice to flush the black tank after dumping using the black tank flush inlet port below the bathroom window. I carry a separate black-colored hose just for this purpose. In the past, I have always left the black tank drain valve open when flushing. At the conclusion of our most recent camping trip, after a first flush with the drain valve open, it occurred to me that I might get a more complete flush if I mostly filled the black tank with clean water through the flush port first (which required that I close the black tank drain valve) then let gravity force the contents of the mostly full tank out the drain. To avoid overflowing the black tank, I carefully watched the Seelevel monitor, then ran outside to turn off the hose bib when the Seelevel black tank monitor hit 90%. I then opened the black tank drain valve to drain the black tank contents. Out of an abundance of caution, I decided to verify that this process had caused no overflow from the black tank. I removed the access cover from the front dinette seat so I could see the aft part of the black tank. Good thing I checked! When I saw a few tablespoons of water in the bottom of the trailer just aft of the black tank, I realized that our Seelevel monitor is not 100% accurate, and that even though I turned off the hose bib when it read 90%, the black tank was actually full of water! Fortunately, the overflow was limited to a few tablespoons, which were quickly mopped up. When I got home, I sprayed that area, twice, with Lysol disinfectant spray, in case that bit of water leakage was contaminated. The moral of the story: when flushing the black tank, always leave the drain valve open. Fortunately, my momentary lapse of judgment (it seemed like a good idea at the time...) occurred after a complete drain, then a first flush with the drain valve open. So, the minimal overflow should have been mostly clean water, which was easily dealt with. I expect it would never occur to most people to leave the black tank drain valve closed to mostly fill the black tank when flushing, just to get a more complete cleaning. But if any of you folks, like me, ever think of trying that method: don't! It's not worth the risk of an overflow.

The procedure is the same for the rear jacks as for the front. The rear jacks are accessed through the lift-out panels under the bed or beds.