Rivernerd

I am a woodworker too. I know quality work, and good design, when I see it. This is it.

Another option inside the closet: the wall between the closet and the bathroom. The bath vent that runs through the roof is visible on the left side of the photo. Because that wall between the closet and the bath is thin, to avoid penetrating the bathroom side of the wall, be sure to either: (1) use washers, as I did or (2) attach it with double-stick tape or Velcro. In hindsight, it would have been easier to use double-stick tape.

FWIW, the Ford F250 available through the posted link above has NEARLY DOUBLE the payload capacity of our Tundra--2883 lbs. vs. 1460 lbs. Payload is the single most important criterion for towing safety. That F250 would be a great tow vehicle for an Elite II.

Given the sad experience you describe at your local dealerships, I recommend you consider a "fly and drive" possibility. Search deals on the web, even if they are a long way from home. If you can find a truck that works for you in, say, Texas, you can fly there and drive it home. There are a few dealerships in the nation that are doing business that way. If you read my post in the Tow Vehicle thread, you know that we still tow with our 2019 Tundra because right now is a really bad time to buy a truck. I can wait because the Tundra works for us, just not optimally. You can't wait. So, if the "fly and drive" method doesn't pan out, you my need to pay the premium for a used truck. Good luck!

Once you get the "gain" properly set on the trailer brake controller (on a deserted, straight and level section of road), you don't have to touch the brake controller lever for normal braking. You just put your foot on the brake pedal, and the trailer brake controller applies the trailer brakes at the same time your tow vehicle applies the tow vehicle brakes. You can feel the difference in braking power once you get the gain properly set. And, you can feel the trailer brakes stopping the trailer, independent of the truck braking system. Setting the gain is a trial and error process, which is why you do it on an empty section of straight, level road. Start by setting the gain to #5 out of 10. Get the rig up to about 25 mph and then stop it using the brake pedal. If the trailer brakes "grab," reduce the gain to 4 and try again. If you can't feel the trailer brake engaging at all, increase the gain to 6, and try again. After 5-10 minutes, you should be able to get the gain set to where the trailer brakes engage to about the same extent that the truck brakes do, so they work as a team to stop the whole rig as a unit. As well explained by John Davies above, you may need to use the manual lever on the trailer brake controller to engage the trailer brakes independent of the truck brakes, but those situations are not common. As he notes, manually engaging he trailer brake lever is an effective way to stop trailer sway, but Oliver's don't sway! For nearly all driving conditions, once you get the gain properly set, you should not need to use the manual lever for normal braking. But, the settings do change as your brake shoes wear in, so at the beginning of every long trip, I engage the brakes on an empty road close to home to verify that I can feel the trailer brakes engaging, as they did when I initially set the gain. If not, I adjust until they engage smoothly with the truck brakes, then proceed with the trip.

Aftermarket trailer brake controllers have commonly been installed by auto electrical shops for decades. They were not even available from some truck manufacturers until the last decade or two; they were almost always installed after the factory build. Trailer brake controllers are available for your specific Titan truck for as low as $175: See this link, for example: https://www.etrailer.com/bc-2022_Nissan_Titan.htm?style=without+factory+Tow+Package Installation may cost double that amount--get quotes. I strongly recommend you contact a reputable auto electrical, or auto mechanical shop, or two or three, wherever you live and get competitive quotes. And, I strongly recommend that you don't tow your Oliver again until it is installed, and you know how to set the gain to properly control the trailer brakes. It is a critical legal and safety issue. If you are involved in an accident towing your trailer without a trailer brake controller, your insurance company may try to decline coverage. I would not even consider taking that risk.

I am keenly interested in whether the Isotherm fridge will fit through the door of your Elite II without removing the door frame. I noted that you had to take the old fridge out in pieces. My wife would strongly prefer a Danfoss compressor fridge over our absorption fridge (after I mentioned an article on RV fridge fires), so the day may come when I get to do what you are doing right now. I look forward to your usual clearly-written and photographed report on the process!

We have an Amcrest GPS GL300 tracker. Whenever our Elite II is: (1) away from its fully-enclosed storage shed next to our home, and (2) not connected to our tow vehicle, we turn the tracker on. It requires a subscription fee, but we enjoy the peace of mind. I have read anecdotal stores of such trackers being used by police to find stolen trailers. In your shoes, I would leave the tracker on whenever it is parked in front of your home. The tracker is in addition to two different kinds of Bulldog coupler locks, which we install when leaving the trailer at a campground unattended.

My Criminal Law professor in law school, Woody Deem, started each class session with the statement: "Criminals are stupid." He would then delight the class with real stories from his decades as the Ventura County California prosecuting attorney.

Given your experience, I would recommend setting the furnace thermostat a few degrees higher, which should allow more warm air to get to that sensitive area. I also recommend doing what is sometimes done in vacation homes in cold climates: leave the kitchen faucet dripping a bit over night to help prevent freeze blockage when ambient temps drop below freezing. Also, I cannot tell if you have the Truma water heater. If so, set it to Comfort rather than Eco mode. That will keep the water in the system warmer. Please report if you try any of these methods, and if so, what works.

As long as you are replacing your 4.2L 6 cylinder F150, I strongly recommend you spend the extra $$$$ to buy a 250/2500 level 3/4 ton truck. Or even a 350/3500 level 1-ton. Our tow vehicle is a 2019 Tundra with a 5.7L V8 with tow package. It is barely enough to safely tow an Elite II, even with an Andersen weight distribution hitch. There is lots of helpful information in this thread entitled Tow Vehicle: Good luck!

I purchased my furnace filter fabric from Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B077SP23FP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The 4-square-foot piece is more than I will ever need, but it cost less than seven bucks.

For our Hull #1291, I purchased this inexpensive collection of blade fuses: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G33XCHM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It probably contains more fuses than I will ever need for the Oliver. I store it in the "secret" compartment below the pantry, underneath the velcroed piece of fiber granite.

Please post when you install your return air filter. I considered a home-made filter mounted on the inside of the return air grill, but opted instead to tape filter fabric over the intake housing on our Truma Varioheat furnace. I did this thinking that, given the distance from the intake housing to the return air vent, much of the air pulled in to the intake housing comes from the open area around the furnace, not just from the return air vent. I figured that filter fabric taped to the intake housing would be more effective at filtering all of the air sucked into the furnace. I will be keenly interested in your filter design. I welcome any improvements over my crude installation.

Thanks for reporting your actual experience with the rear window replacement. This will be very helpful for anyone who needs to do the same repair.

If you want that much towing capacity AND that much payload WHILE TOWING (which is good), none of the 150/1500 level trucks is optimal. I tow with a 2019 Tundra, which only has a 1460 lb. payload. When towing an Oliver Elite II, which has tongue weight in the 500-600 lb. range depending on how it is loaded, we are right on that payload margin. Not ideal. And, we use an Andersen weight distribution hitch because is is mandated by the Tundra owners manual. The Andersen works well, but is an added hassle when hooking and unhooking the trailer. I have been a Toyota guy for a couple of decades. I wish Toyota made a 3/4 ton pickup. That said, you will be much better off with a 250/2500 level 3/4 ton truck, or maybe even a 1-ton, which limits you to Ford, Dodge and GM/Chevy. No Andersen WD hitch required. And, safer on the road because the tow vehicle will outweigh the trailer. Why don't I tow our new Oliver 2022 Elite II with a 3/4 ton pickup? Because this is a historically bad time to buy a new truck. I can't justify the remarkable price differential between what we paid for our 2019 Tundra in 2019 and what it would cost me to buy a new Ford F250 or Chevy/Dodge 2500 today. But if I were buying now, it would be a 2500 or even 3500 level truck for towing our Elite II. Good luck with your decision! And, please report what you decide to buy, so the rest of us can learn from your experience.

I am not sure the Champion dual fuel generators will run properly with a different regulator than the ones they come with. Can you carry a spare 20-lb. propane tank, and use it to run your Champion generator with the regulator that came with it? Fearing the same issues you report (running my Champion dual fuel generator from the low-pressure Quick Connect ports on the Oliver), I just carry a separate tank and use it to run the generator.

My Tire Minder TPMS sensors come with a nut that is tightened by the little wrench. If you try to unscrew the TPMS sensors without first loosening the nut with the little wrench and then spinning the nut toward the wheel, the TPMS sensors will not budge. This is a theft-deterrent measure--Tire Minder figures a casual thief won't have one of the little wrenches, but you will keep the one they supplied. If yours are Tire Minders, try loosening the nut first, then spinning it toward the wheel. A Tire Minder TPMS sensor will then twist off with just counterclockwise hand pressure.

No, I'm not sure. What made me think it is welded is the appearance of weld penetration at the L joint on one of the unpainted, cut sides. See photo below. What do you think? Regardless of whether it is welded or extruded, if the jack fails, that junction is much too solid to be the failure point. While I was there, I got a better photo of the weld connecting the cylindrical jack housing to the vertical bracket which bolts the jack to the L bracket. That weld looks pretty stout to me. This examination left me with ample confidence that the jacks in Hull #1291 will perform up to their 3K lb. rating.

Frank C : The sentence quoted above is what started this very informative thread. As noted in my posts above, the welds holding the two pieces of angle steel together that form the L brackets on my rear jack brackets could not be stronger. They are anything but "tiny." They are so perfect I believe they were welded using a robot. See attached close-up photo. Are you referring to the welds that connect the cylindrical jack housing to the flat vertical bracket, which, in turn, is bolted to the L bracket to secure the jack assembly to the trailer frame? One of these welds is visible (although a bit out of focus--my apologies) in the second close-up photo below.

If I owned an older Oliver, I would make it a priority to remove the hatch covers under both the curb side and street side beds to enable examination of the welds on the jack brackets. Even without a close-up photo, I could see that the top welds joining the two pieces that form the "L" shape on my angle iron jack brackets are not just spot welded, but have such smooth, precise full welds as to suggest robot welding. This is easily seen in the photo I posted above. If I found such a jack bracket on an older trailer, I would rest easy. If, instead, I found two aluminum brackets, with just a spot weld joining the two pieces on top (as shown in the photos posted by Topgun 2 above), I would open a service ticket and ask Oliver to send me two of the cut and drilled steel angle iron pieces that could be swapped out for the aluminum ones. Given my very positive experience with Oliver's Service Department, I expect they would send you the steel angle iron jack brackets at no cost.

I wonder if the folks who use Oliver trailers in the winter in Alaska are limiting themselves to campgrounds with shore power, where they can use space heaters to warm vulnerable areas of the trailer as Jason suggests in his post above? Or if boondocking, whether they are running generators to power space heaters whenever ambient temps are below freezing? Oliver is not the only travel trailer that is marketed as a "4-Season" solution. Are there other "4-Season" trailers on the market that can be used un-winterized when boondocking, without modification, and without external power for space heaters?

Wow! That is very different from the brackets installed in our Hull #1291. Ours are steel, not aluminum, and appear to me to be robotically welded angle "iron" (steel). See photo below. Given the significance of the difference, and the impact on jack stability, maybe this last part should be broken off into its own thread. Maybe "Aluminum vs. Steel Jack Brackets"?

Interesting suggestion. I just installed three of the 4" Valterra vents as return air vents in Hull #1291. I agree that they are "tough as nails and very nice looking." 2" to 4" adapters are readily available, for well under $20. https://www.amazon.com/Woodstock-D4250-4-Inch-2-Inch-Reducer/dp/B00AX5I9DM I have no idea what increasing vent size from 2" to 4' would do to the dynamic balance of the heating system. But for now, given the ease and relatively low cost of swapping out the Lamella vent covers, I am inclined to see how they hold up over years of use, then decide if it is worth investing the time and $$$ required to make the switch to the 4" Valterra vent covers. Also, I would not be surprised if, after Truma gets lots of failures like ours, better quality Lamella vent covers become available in the near future. Thanks for the idea!

The vent covers Oliver is installing with the new Truma Varioheat furnaces are called "Lamella." One of the louvers on the Lamella furnace supply vent cover below the galley sink in our Hull #1291 broke on our way home from Hohenwald to Idaho. See photo below. I recently submitted a warranty service ticket to Oliver, and received a prompt response. I was advised that Oliver had to order a replacement vent cover from Truma, then forward it on to me. I received the replacement Lamella vent cover yesterday. I applaud Oliver for their prompt, and effective warranty response. When removing the original vent cover as gently as I could with a plastic pry bar today, it broke in more than one place. See photo below. The replacement vent cover was easy to install; it just clips in. After inspection, I concluded that the original Lamella vent covers are quite thin, and made from brittle plastic. One light bump with a shoe toe is enough to break a louver. But, they are easy to replace, and inexpensive to purchase. Once the Oliver warranty expires, the Lamella covers can be purchased directly from Truma for $3.47 each, plus shipping: https://shop.truma.net/collections/home/products/lamella?variant=39711296880734 We are pleased with the performance of the Truma Varioheat furnace. Although I would recommend to Truma that a more robust, and pliable, plastic be used to make the Lamella vent covers, occasional replacement is a reasonable price to pay for the improved heating system performance provided by the Varioheat.