johnwen
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Posts posted by johnwen
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7 minutes ago, Tideline77 said:
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I don’t know where to start to correct my flipped shackles, the trailer is tucked in its storage spot and I won’t be pulling it out until November.
i can access both sides using the jacks or I can snag the combination jack/ jack stand at HFreight
Hi Tideline77....the first and only time it happened to me I didn't know what to do so I called and talked to Hannah in service. She said run the nose jack all the way down. I did and nothing happened. So she said to run the nose jack all the way up and be prepared for a loud pop. And sure enough the shackle popped back into place. Of course raise the rear jacks when you raise the nose so no binding.
Good luck,
John
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9 minutes ago, jd1923 said:
Yes, pic of Chris & Charley and #113 and the mountain view. Arrive on a weekday after the 4th and Tom, formerly of Prescott is a great host. $28 or $14 on a National Pass.
JD, thanks much...hope to visit there soon...safe travels!!!
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2 hours ago, jd1923 said:
Recognize Wilson Mountain of Coors fame?
I remember when we left Chicago, Spring Break 1972 to Tucson, sat by the pool and drank Coors all day long for a week, back when it was not sold in the states East. Life is Good!
All the marketing BS aside, we’ve been to Golden Colorado where there is a murky pond behind the beer plant! 🤣
Sunshine Mountain and Wilson is TDF! Wish we could stay another week! We will again soon, only 8 hours from home, who woulda thunk!
John, is this pic in Sunshine Campground? Haven't been there but will be looking for cool weather in a week or two :)
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1 hour ago, jd1923 said:
90 lbs is the better number. Generally a stud will snap from over-torquing. Studs should also be clean and dry. If that single stud happened to have some grease or oil on it plus the 100#, that would do!
To repair, remove the drum. On a workbench hammer out broken stud with a HD center punch. Line up the splines from back side and hammer in place. If you have the old-school bearings, removing the drum means repacking the bearings, not necessary with Nev-R Lube of course.
Thought I would also copy instructions from the 2016-OTT-Owners-Manual.pdf here, where it states to use the stabilizer jacks to change a tire and provides the 90# torque spec (Oliver jacks and 6-bolt studs have not changed, from the first hull to the last).
Loosen the lug nuts on the tire you want to remove. Check for a stable footing under the jack and place an ABS footing pad or block of wood about 4” in height below the jack foot plate. Raise the jack until the tire clears the ground, then finish loosening and removing them. Pull off the old tire, slide the hubcap out backwards and insert it on spare. Set spare tire evenly on the lug nuts and hand tighten lug nuts. Retract jack back to travel position. Now tighten lug nuts completely. Lug nuts should be torqued to 90 ft lbs. Place the flat tire in the spare location.Thanks, JD...will do 90#
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4 hours ago, Galileo said:
After upgrading my grease gun to a “LockNLube Professional Series”, I discovered I couldn’t sneak the coupler behind the tires to get to some of the fittings, so I figured it was time to pull the wheels off to get to them. While I was at it, I intended to try the “unloading the suspension” to get some of the Zerk fitting unwilling to accept grease to submit. Then again, taking the wheels off without unloading the suspension would be more fun than I was up for.
Anyway, a lot of realizations in what should have been a fairly straightforward operation:
First off, getting a floor jack under the best lifting points on the axles isn’t very easy. That’s something an owner would have to do just to change a tire. What kind of jacks are people out there using?
Related to the above, the marked lifting points on the frame require a jack that has pretty high lifting ability. So again, best kind of jack?
(I currently have an AC “Racing Jack” - which is fine for most vehicle, easier than a hydraulic bottle jack, and a lot less effort than the mechanical jack that comes with your average TV.)
I decided to rotate the tires - front to rear only - since I was gonna have them off. Seemed prudent.
I had been naively been trusting the 120 foot-pound torque specs from the Oliver owners manual. I’d been re-torquing them periodically as advised by the manual. No issues until now.
This was the first time I had a wheel off. So it’s the first time I’ve actually tightened a lug nut that wasn’t already tight.
On the right side - aside from struggling to jack the beast up - everything went fine.
However - on the left side - when trying to torque the lug nuts, I found that a couple of them didn’t seem to tighten. They didn’t feel stripped, just wouldn’t tighten.
My wild guess is that the studs are pressed in, but don’t have splines to keep them from spinning - which would be unlike every other wheel stud I’ve replaced. (I had even snapped a couple off back in the old days when I tried to remove a lug nut on a ‘64 Dodge that had left hand threads on one side of the vehicle.)
Once I searched here and found that 120ft/lbs is likely too high, I tried again at 100ft/lbs and I was able to torque them to that spec. (Kinda like that 80psi on the tires….)
So does anyone know if the studs are not splined?
Im sure I’ll have more questions as time goes by…
FWIW...I've had the springs and later, axles, installed by Alcan. I had a wheel stud snap off and Alcan said they would take care of it. I went to them and sure enough they took care of it. They did say the stud is indeed pressed in. I don't know about the splines. I have been torquing at 100# and have not had any issues...don't know why the one snapped. While I was there I asked them to remove all the wet bolts and had them installed so the zerks are all on the inside as to not have to deal with tire clearance for the zerks. The only issue with that is I have to lube from beneath the trailer and that is ok for now... I can still get under there! I had some issues with the zerks accepting lube so I wanted the bolts removed and inspected, all was fine, and put back with the zerks on the inside. My thought was since I rotated back to front every 5000 miles and lubed every 3000 miles, I compromised in that at the 4000 mile point I would remove the tires and lube. Maybe the lube hardened up and couldn't accept lube, I don't know. I did replace all the zerks in case they were filled with whatever, and that didn't work. And I do use caps on the zerks. So the happy ending is Alcan replaced the stud and reoriented the wet bolts the way I wanted and since they reused the bolts...they did all for no charge. No labor charge either. Alcan is top shelf IMO.
John
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Manti - La Sal National Forest, Devils Canyon CG, Utah...45 degrees this AM (furnace on) woohoo! Spending the night in a hotel in Moab for 41st wedding anniversary and doing the tourist thing. We tackled some awfully wicked hiking trails today in Canyonlands NP and will need some time to recover tonight.
John
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10 hours ago, jd1923 said:
Yes, we are! Was that you exiting Badlands NP Wednesday morning? I wrote a mention about it in “I saw an Ollie.”
We’ll be here ‘til late morning. Tomorrow night Horsethief Lake to visit Mt Rushmore. Love to see and Wendy!
We really enjoy our time there! No, we are in Devil's Canyon National Forest, Utah. We have to place our spot in the "top 5" for our past 5 years of full-timing. A little hot during the day but you can't beat the night time temps :)
Have fun out there and stay cool
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2 hours ago, jd1923 said:
Love it! Boondocking on the Badlands Wall BLM as I write. Per Mike’s comment, I added a column to our “Oliver Travels” spreadsheet!
So I’ll need the 100 camping badge and the 50 “no hook-ups” badge, now 104 nights and 56 of them dry-camping. That’s about 54% but if I continue camping more in the west, we will get that number higher! 🤣
JD,
Are you at Buffalo National Grasslands just north of the Badlands NP? Next to the cliff?
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After having Alcan install their springs and me installing Bulldog shocks and Alcan installing Dexter's beefier axles 4 months later I was ready to ride off into the sunset. Then a wheel lug bolt snapped off, who knows where, and I began having issues with the new wet bolts accepting lube. I talked to Lew and he said he would replace the lug bolt, no charge. No other issues along the way to Grand Junction. When the axles were replaced I discovered I was supposed to have retorqued the wet bolts after the original spring change, not just the axle u bolts. So after the the axle change 4 months later some of the wet bolts were pretty loose. After my first 50 mile retorque I discovered some wet bolts were way loose and when tightening I did not understand the need to keep the bolts stationary while only tightening the nut in order to keep the bolt's grease ports horizontal. So, no way to know where the bolt heads should be positioned to provide the horizontal position. Today, Tucker at Alcan did his magic...replaced the lug bolt and took all wet bolts out, turned them so the zerks were, per my request, on the inside so I don't have to take the tires off to lube. But I do have to crawl under the trailer to lube ...that's plenty fine for a few more years :) And he lubed the bolts so I'm good for another 3000 miles.
Now here's the point for my post... I went to pick up my trailer and Tanner informed me that Tucker did all of this work at no charge! All of my equipment, wet bolts and bushings, were reused since they were newly installed and the labor rate was graciously not applied. These people are top shelf and we are very thankful to have them work on our Bessie :)
John
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To finish up my post ... I did replace the the VIP 3000 with a new VIP 3000 from Barker. I would have gone with the 3500 but it has a 2 1/2 inch diameter and the 3000 has a 2 inch diameter. The Oliver has 2 thick aluminum plates with 2 inch holes and so the 3500 won't fit unless you enlarge those 2 inch holes to 2 1/2. I didn't have the tools or knowhow to tackle that job. The new jack works fine and I'm a happy camper again. Kudos to Barker as they gave me $50 off the price in spite of being out of warranty.
John
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On 6/5/2025 at 9:48 AM, jd1923 said:
Next we were heading to Dodge City Kansas. Being lifelong fans of Gunsmoke we had to see the town, even though the TV show was recorded outside of Kanab Utah!
We found a city park with good reviews on Campendium, Davis Park in the nearby town of Greensburg KS. There was no charge to stay and 20A electrical hookups, fresh water adjacent to the baseball field. We stayed a couple nights so we could do a day trip to Dodge.
We're generally not museum-goers but made an exception to visit the Boot Hill Museum, where they presented the real history of Dodge all the guns of the day and had the Gunsmoke city-scape with a walk-in Long Branch where you could order a whiskey and set a spell! We visited Dodge and then got the heck "outta Dodge." A bit too much in feed lots and meat processing plants for our taste. We thought not to eat a steak or even a burger in this town! What a shame.
The real treasure was Kook's Meats in Greensburg, run by Andy and Georgina Kook (for short)! They cut us a few ribeye steaks to go and you got to get the blueberry cream cake! Had breakfast there the next morning too and what a huge muffin sandwich or breakfast burrito for only $5.25!
The first night was perfect! The air was calm, perfect jeans and T-shirt weather and not a bug to bother us, bare feet in the soft trimmed grass. The second night a major plains thunderstorm came through. We were packed and hitched in case we had to get cover which was in a truck wash building just across the street (see last pic), but all that happened were heavy rains (a first for us in our Oliver). Next time I'll close my window, woke up to some wet bedding the next morning but all was good!
John...if we meet again at the "Q" next year remind me to tell you of our trip to Dodge back in '18. Will sound very similar to your experience there but we did partake of a meal in a restaurant on main street thinking this should be the best steak ever...NOT! We enjoyed our "western" adventure very much and are glad we traveled there and points beyond! Did you see Lester Moore's tombstone? :) Here lies Lester Moore...4 slugs from a 44...no Les, no more.
John
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13 hours ago, ScubaRx said:
This indicates that the sail switch in the furnace is not operating properly.
This happened to me several times the first year I had the trailer until I added a filter behind the air inlet grate in the aisleway. Fine lint was being ingested through the inlet vent and wrapping around the sail switch which finally made the sail switch stick. I removed the switch from the outside and removed the spun on lint and it worked fine for a while. I did that 3 or 4 times. It finally needed to be replaced so I did and got a backup switch as well. Now 2 years later I've not had to bother with it although I check to make sure lint is not accumulating again. The filter did the trick for me. We full time so the furnace gets used plenty. The furnace will not light unless the fan blows the sail switch to a position for a determinate amount of time and then allow propane to pass for ignition. The fan just blew cold and then shut down and made me think I was out of propane :)
Good luck,
John
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23 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:
I'm convinced we're getting exhaust gasses blown in that way and intend to seal it up with aluminum tape unless anyone can give me a good reason air should be allowed to flow through there.
That's what we did Dudley. I sent you a PM. 2 years later and the fridge still works fine. I would do again!
John
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Happy Birthday :)
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38 minutes ago, katanapilot said:
Don’t know if this is the issue, but not all Loctite products are suitable in high heat environments. Something like Loctite 246 might be a good choice. I don’t know if these burner screws get hot, but if they do - investigate the use of a medium or high strength thread locker designed for high heat conditions.
Those screws definitely get HOT! I'm not installing a 3rd unit for sure but I appreciate your help! There are too many reports about this problem with no proven solution. Have you had any problems with yours?
Thanks much,
John
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I hate to resurrect this subject...but... my new replacement stove, after applying red loctite to the burner screws, is now becoming loose again.
Has anyone ditched the Dometic and used another brand? I need an alternative to Dometic!
Thanks,
John
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Just to rule them out I would take a look up top to make sure the solar panel connections are tight.
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Have you looked at the red shutoff switch next to the controller in the overhead bin? The wires going into it could be slightly loose. You'll probably have to remove the switch and the back cover to get to the connections.
Good luck,
John
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4 hours ago, John and Debbie said:
Hi all, we have the Norcold three way refrigerator that has a large vent on the bottom with three air intake slats and a smaller one on top with I believe five slats. I installed three metal screens on the lower one to keep bugs out. It's designed for that purpose so should work well. Does anyone do anything on the upper vent? If I was a smart bug I would just enter through the top uncovered vent. I don't want to go too crazy and impede the exhaust air unless it's ok.
Thanks, John
Yes, John,
Oliver used to sell those upper screens...don't know if they still do. We used small zip ties to hold them in place. Been there for 3+years...no problems.
Good Luck,
John
Amended...forget the zip ties, not needed. I was reverting back to my old Casita days :)
Patriotus gave you the correct info! And the mother ship may still have some in stock.
John
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We (just 2 of us) fulltime in our Oliver after living in a smaller Casita, so we see the Oliver as a big trailer in comparison. If you think you need something bigger....then you need something bigger. We looked at Airstream but could only see rivets and an oncoming hail storm. And when you approach the 27 footers you're talking serious money. New models of fiberglass trailers are coming as people see the benefits...so keep looking...we would definitely stay with fiberglass.
Good luck,
john
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JD, running your fridge on dc and only 175 miles worth of charging... I'd say you're doing quite well! We've only used our charger twice since seeing you in Quartzsite. And we boondock more and more often. I do take advantage of solar with my portable and I'm happy to have the dc to dc charger as a backup for extended cloudy days...thankful I installed it for that reason :) Congrats on your successful project! It's sooooo nice to not worry about battery usage with the lithiums and having another backup plan through the charger!
Happy Trails,
John
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No I haven't Bill. Good idea :)
John
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Any ideas how to fix? 3 years in the sun and things like this are expected. Am thinking about loosening the clips and covering both wires with tubing of some sort.
Thanks,
John
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You should still be under warranty Rolind. Start a ticket with Oliver...they've probably seen this a few times.
Best of luck,
John
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Fabric swap on Girard GG750
in General Discussion
Posted
These 90+ degree days are brutally hot beneath the black fabric on the Girard awning. Googling/chatgpt reveals some options for different fabric colors. Has anyone tried a lighter color?? The main concern for me is the invitation to mildew/mold issues. I have no problems now...I think the temps on the black fabric has some effect. Any help is much appreciated. I plan to call Carefree of Colorado tomorrow and see what they have to say.
Thanks,
John