Mountainman198

I mounted a led light whip to the front storage basket for “flair” but most importantly for ease of finding my way back to the Ollie in the desert at night. The whip is only 4’ tall but it displays strobing multi-colors so it makes for a nice homing beacon. To power its 12v power needs I built a 12v power source inside a small Harbor Freight “Pelican” case using a female 7 pin plug into which I plug my trailer’s male 7 pin plug (I wired the 12v and ground to a fused 12v female lighter socket and female usb combo). Works great for powering 12v devices and the led whip from outside and at the front of the Ollie.

Found this little roadside park and free campground on iOverlander while driving across Kansas on US36. The sign in the park says overnights are welcome… and free, unless you need electricity, then it is $15/nt using the self-pay box. There is potable water available. While it is next to the highway, overnight was extremely quiet. Awoke to two deer grazing near the trailer and the sound of songbirds. Highly recommend this spot if you are on US36 near Kensington, KS. For a moment I felt transported back in time to the 1930s/40s when roadside camping on US highways was commonly practiced by Families making their was across the Country. US36 takes you past the geographic center-point of the US and not too far from the worlds largest ball of Sisal twine (my cat was pawing at the window to get out and try his best to play with it).

Some of us like the “Flying Nun” look of the current solar panels (said the old guy)! 🤪

First day towing on Alcan springs update: -500 miles (Ubolts re-torqued at 50, 100 and 500 miles intervals to 90 ft lbs). Decreasing amounts of adjustment required as mileage increases) -ride slightly harsher during first 100 miles, harshness decreasing as mileage increases (finding nothing returning to the floor at 500 mile checkpoint). -running 45 psi in tires (was running 55 psi with stock springs). Monitoring tire wear at each stop. Likely will increase to 48psi at next stop. -less observable side to side (roll) movement. Very stable while underway (drove in high winds thru Kansas yesterday) -so far I am happy with the new springs I am very interested in reports from early hull number E2 owners who have purchased the Alcan springs. Wondering what their observations are as compared to stock heavy duty 5leaf springs they are replacing.

This is unfortunate as many of us were quoted weight rating of 2k. Mine are installed so I am running them as I do not want to go back to the cake that Dexter installs on their axles. I know of at least two E2 owners who have towed with these springs (one for 5k miles and another for 1.5k miles with good results. I head out Thurs on a 1.5k mile trip with the Alcans. Thanks for posting this after speaking to Lew, Steve. I guess at this point it is tow forward and observe. Stay tuned.

Wholly agree with this observation When my spring broke I was 250 miles from home. I bought the only pair of springs that would fit and were geographically close to where I broke down. they were 4 leaf, 2,400 lb springs as GJ describes above. While they did fit, I chose later not to replace the other two springs with 2,400 lb 4 leaf springs as the amount of stuff in my trailer which had stayed put during my prior 4,000 miles of travel on the stock springs had suddenly found its way to the floor during the 250 mile drive home (with only two 2,400 lb springs). My E2 now sports 5 leaf, 2,000 lb Alcans 2,000 lb, 5 leaf springs will be more flexible and have better travel thru their range than 2,400 lb springs with only 4 leafs (less jarring ride).

Good news and thanks for the road trip update. My Alcans are installed and I have a 1,700 mile trip scheduled for later this month. I too am looking forward to the peace of mind over the poor performance of the EMCO spring packs that came on my E2. Did you notice any negatives from towing with the 2,000 vs. 1,750 rated spring packs?

Mine were 1/2”x3” and the new ubolts provided by Alcan were 9/16”x3”. Fit perfect. Longer to accommodate taller Alcan spring packs. 9/16” fit thru spring retainer plates fine as holes are larger than 1/2”

Mike in Oliver Service had asked for the specs and contact info for the US made springs I had found as he said they were not aware of any US sourced suppliers and would be interested in what I had found. I told him I would send the info once I had them on my trailer. I forwarded the specs and some pics along with Alcan contact info to him today and he said he would pass it along within Oliver.

I think the answer you got is technically correct, but I do not believe the axle assemblies provided to Oliver by Dexter contain spring packs manufactured by the Dexter Parent company. For example, the springs on my trailer were stamped “EMCO”. If you do a google search you will find that while EMCO is a US based company, they have a 200,000 sq ft Spring plant in the Hebei Province in China which serves the US market. At least for my trailer, I am fairly certain this was the manufacturing plant for my Springs. https://emcoind.com/about-us/

First side is swapped. Old Chinese Dexters will go to the recycler and bring scrap value…maybe enough for a soda pop. A few observations: 1) I put a set of calipers to my 3500# Dexter axles and they are 3” dia. Ubolts provided by Alcan are for 3” dia axles fit perfect 2) Alcan ubolts are 9/16” rod vs. the smaller (1/2”?) that were stock on my trailer. No worries installing as the holes in the spring retainer plate are large enough to accommodate the larger bolt diameter 3) Alcan ubolts are longer to accommodate increased spring pack height (5 vs. 4 leafs). About 1-1.5” of thread extend below nuts. I plan to leave but you could cut the excess off if it bothers you 4) Torque specs from Alcan for 9/16 ubolts is 90 foot lbs. See attachment 5) Two of my shocks were blown so I am replacing them A Irwin squeeze clamp works wonders for compressing and installing the shocks after the springs have been bolted in 6)reversed the wet bolts so that the zerks point inward even with a 90 degree lock-n-lube fitting it was a PITA before hoping this will be easier 7) the front springs were still in “ok” shape but starting to flatten. one rear spring had snapped and the other was bent 8)the parts for my trailer were sourced during COVID and at the height of demand for RVs. I cannot help but ponder if the RV frenzy and skilled labor shortage during this time played some role in my broken spring and the quality of the other one that was bending. Oh well, just glad to be safe and be replacing the stock springs before heading out in a month for another Season of seeing this great Country Very straight forward swap. Heck, I did it on a tarp in melting CO permafrost. Cannot imagine doing the swap inside on concrete. 🤪 That would be Lux.

I will not be able to get the measurement as rear springs have already been changed day after my rear two springs failed in Feb. I believe Hobo reported a 3/4” change (higher) at the bumper after his change to Alcan (but this may be partly due to flattening of old springs over time?) 1” clearance, WOW. You gotta be doing some serious glute squeezes through that opening in/out at stock height.

Trusting that RVIA has the consumers interest and safety at forefront is akin to expecting that NADA (North American Automotive Dealers Association) has the end consumers interest at heart. Prepping to finally install my Alcan springs today now that the snow has melted. 😀

I stopped the guy who was skijoring down the street behind a Subaru and he agrees with your assessment.

I could have been wrong in which case you had the unicorn nev-r-lube fitment on 3500# axles. 💪

Please correct me of I am wrong, but the suspension arrives to Oliver as an assembly and is rated as the assembly (springs plus axles) and given the lower of the two of axle rating or spring rating. It appears you have D52 (5200lb) axles with 3500 lb springs which as an assembly are correctly rated at 3500 lbs.

Mike from ALCAN assured me that the springs they sold me were 2,000lb springs. So, 2,000x4= 8,000. 3,000 lb springs could be a issue. For full disclosure, my E2 is a 2021 with approx 25,000 miles towed. 99%+ of miles were on paved roads, 80% of those miles is West of Mississippi, remainder of miles is in the Summer. Never on either Coast. Dry weight of my trailer is just over 5,250 lbs. All three tanks are empty whenever I travel. Trailer rides level using Andersen hitch.

Located 8,750’ up in the CO Rockies. We get 300+ days of sun here so why won’t my solar panels produce power?

They did not offer the couch cushions in 2021 when I ordered either. I use a set of four down throw pillows which allow me to create different shapes for sitting/leaning differently

I believe Hobo has posed this question to ALCAN. I dont know the answer, I would PM him or give ALCAN a call. They may be able to recommend a local installer. Please report back your findings

For example

I completely understand where you are coming from. However, coming from a rock crawling and jeeping background I can understand the warranty period for their products as their main business is building custom suspensions for people who will take their 4x4 rigs to places like Moab and do things to them that a teenager wouldn't do to a stolen rental car. Over time and as ALCAN gets more into the RV suspension business, perhaps their RV spring warranty will split from their off-roading line and fall more in line with that which we are used to seeing in our world. Until then and knowing what their rock crawling customers do to their products and that the springs I purchased for my trailer are built with the same raw materials and using the same process as their offroad springs I am confident of my purchase.

Given that the Dexter (EMCO, TexTrail) springs are only $70/pr, I felt my time better spent playing guitar and drinking coffee than documenting and substantiating the claim to Dexter only to possibly be rewarded with another set of their springs.

Mike from ALCAN just called to let me know that all future orders of springs for Olivers will have the centering pins in the correct orientation for our trailers. He asked that I alert those who have ordered and who may order in the future to state the springs are for a Oliver E2. I had sent him an email asking about my understanding of how to flip the centering pins on my springs. He confirmed that flipping the pins is as simple as MountainOliver explains with a couple of C clamps, wrench, and hammer. Hopefully, I am the only Oliver owner to have to perform this step moving forward.

The wet bolts from my Oliver are 9/16" O.D. and from my measurement of the ALCAN springs I received I am re-using my existing wet bolts as the I.D of the bronze bushings in the ALCAN springs I received are 9/16". Let me know if this does not make sense. I chose NOT to buy new wet bolts from ALCAN.