QuestionMark
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Posts posted by QuestionMark
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Just canceled our stay. Hope we will get to see everyone next year. Thinking we will stay closer to home the next couple of weeks here in the great state of Texas.
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Welcome to the Texas Ollie family. We have had our trailer a little less than an year and have been enjoying the many State Parks here in Texas. We too, are headed to CO in July to spend some time in the cooler weather. Perhaps with so many of us going to Colorado this July we will have an opportunity to have an "Ollie Sighting".
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All,
Quick note back to the other Ollie owners out there to let everyone know the new "longer" shackles arrived on Friday and were installed on Saturday. Happy to report that the installation went fairly easy and the upward travel is now ~1.5" as designed. Thanks again to Jason and his team on getting me the new shackles in a short timeframe and working with me on getting the trailer ready for our next trip.
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On 3/20/2021 at 11:23 AM, John E Davies said:
I thought I would post these pics to educate folks who don’t fully understand the suspension....
The shackles provide front to rear motion as the springs compress and extend (since their length changes). On a single axle setup there is one at the back, and it points down from its hanger (bracket). On a tandem setup there are two in the middle at the equalizer unit, and they point up. So on a single axle, if you install longer shackles it will lift the trailer frame up further away from the axle, increasing the clearance, but the opposite happens with the tandem, the clearance would actually be reduced.
So it is really important to mention which model trailer you have when talking about this stuff. And this shows what a “spring over axle” conversion does....
The SOA mod provides around 5 “ of lift (using the original axles) and also a huge increase in frame clearance, so it is necessary to install rubber bump stops to protect the springs from damage from travelling too far. When you do the mod, if you instead buy new axles with a 2” or 4” offset upwards, you can decrease the lift without actually altering that wonderful gap at the tube. So you could end up with an Ollie that is lifted 1” or 3” over the stock height, with tall progressive bump stops.
John Davies
Spokane WA
JD,
Excellent post. Just wondering if it might be worth mentioning that the Oliver factory might have incorrectly used the longer shackles on the some LE2 trailers thereby, reducing their upward travel as it is just the opposite situation than using the shorter shackles installed on the LE1. Do you think it might be worth it for the LE2 owners to check their shackle length? Perhaps you can advise as you clearly have a detailed understanding of the LE2 suspension and have put a lot of thought into the design.
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Elite I Oliver Owners,
Jason confirmed with their QC/Engineering department that the LE1 trailers should have 1.5" of upward travel. Therefore the upward travel on our trailer was not within the design specs. Jason offered to have our trailer inspected by their shop or a local provider to determine what might be our issue. Upon further discussion with Jason and a few more photos sent to him, we quickly determined the source of our issue was the incorrect Dexter Heavy Duty Kit Shackle was used on our single axle setup. The correct shackle kit (K71358) has shackles that are 4 5/8" in length whereas ours was the shackles you would have used on a dual axle trailer with a length of ~ 3 5/8". Ergo, our trailer is sitting ~ 1" lower that it should. I requested he send me the correct kit with new bolts, nuts, bushings, and shackles for me to install sometime next week.
My best guess is someone in the factory just picked up the wrong shackles and installed. I am sure Jason will provide them with the feedback required to establish a QC process that inspects this area so it never happens again. I would however, recommend other 2020 LE1 owners out there inspect their shackles to ensure the correct ones were used on their trailers.
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On our LE1 water will back up in the sink and the shower if the valve is closed. I have not traced it down as to why, but my best guess the valve also blocks in the vent thereby not allowing the water to flow down into the tank. Perhaps the LE2's are piped differently. Easy thing to check the valve position.
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Be sure and check to see that you opened the grey water valve in the bathroom. We have forgot to do this when traveling from one site to another and experienced the water backing up in the sink and shower drain. Once opened back up, all flowed well again.
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1 minute ago, LongStride said:
Your research is interesting. A compelling reason to investigate this topic further. When I see photos showing evidence of contact with the frame, it tells me that there is a problem assuming that it was a result of normal use.
Just normal highway use. Travel from picking up the trailer and a few state parks here in Texas. We do have plans to go to Utah this summer so we are looking to go to somewhat rougher roads hitting the BLM sites.
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LongStride,
I am surprised I have not heard back from Jason as he normally responds within a couple of days. Perhaps he is on spring break this week. I have included a couple of more pictures of the spring brackets as from my reading, the brackets used impact the amount of "bump clearance" the axle has. Here is a cut and paste from the "Dexter Applications Manual" they have online (dexteraxle.com)
"Leaf spring type axles must have sufficient clearance to the frame to operate properly (see Bump Clearance definition). If the spring hangers are too short, the axle may contact the frame during articulation of the suspension and result in overloading of the axle and possible damage. If the spring hangers are too long and provide too much clearance, the springs may be damaged if excessive loads are encountered and the axle is allowed to move too much. If this condition exists, bump stops should be used to prevent over travel."
I am by no means an expert on trailer axles or suspension systems but I just saw this when looking under the trailer and thought I would ask as it seems odd to me. Perhaps it is exactly as designed and has not given others a problem or there was something done incorrectly on my trailer that will need to be corrected. Only time and/or feedback for fellow experts or Oliver with tell.
First two photos are the front bracket and the last two photos are of the rear hander bracket. Perhaps others can look at their brackets and advise if our trailer is different than what was used on their 2019/2020 model. Not sure when they changed the suspension system from the "under" to "over" axle so prior year trailers might be substantially different by design.
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Just picked up the trailer for another outing this weekend and thought I would included some more recent photos for others to compare with their trailers. As you can see, it has hit a few times and made its mark on the trailer frame bracket. Still waiting on hearing back from Jason on the normal gap. I will advise once I hear something.
Mark
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5 minutes ago, LongStride said:
I am a bit surprised that there has not been much reaction to this post. Leads me to believe that perhaps this condition is NORMAL and no one is getting too excited about it. It gives me pause because we intend to leave the pavement from time to time on two-tracks and unimproved roads. Nothing aggressive, and we won't be in a hurry. I would be pretty sad if we were limited to pavement.
I think that if this were a problem on the older Elites that I would have seen it elsewhere on the forum.
Is there really just a 1/2" of travel before the U-bolts hit the frame?
Someone please let me know so I can sleep tonight, or stare at the ceiling wondering if I made a mistake.
Thanks.
LongStride,
My intention was not to question the overall design of the suspension system as Oliver has been making these trailers for several years without a bunch of complaints from other owners out there. When we bought ours, we realized we were not buying an overland rig to take to the "outback" so to speak. Like you, my wife and added the options needed for us to take some off the beaten path to boondock from time to time. We have utilized our trailer for multiple trips and have not really had any major problems with any suspension systems other than a squeak we developed after traveling through a rain storm one day. Some dry lube and addition of grease solved the problem. I have bumped this question to Jason to see if it is common across all newer LE1's or something might be incorrect with ours. I will report back when I hear back from him or the Oliver team.
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Quick question for other Newer Elite 1 owners out there: Have you looked at your suspension and noted the distance between the upper u-bolts and the frame of the trailer? When looking at mine, I measure about 1/2" between the u-bolt and the trailer on ours with the trailer empty. Does this sound correct to the other "experts" out there? I noticed where the u-bolts have hit a few times but with the trailer only having 3k highway miles on it , I am not sure it will be indicative of future wear when boon docking more.
The picture I had on this computer was from when we first got the trailer and I am not sure if the springs have sagged a little since then as the pic has the gap appearing a little more that the 1/2" we have on both sides now.
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8 hours ago, Time2Go! said:
We’re assigned site 60 for our pick up. Looks like a nice area. I’m looking forward to exploring the park.
Cindy
That is the exact same site that was assigned to us for our first couple of nights after initial pickup. We called and extended our stay another night just in case we needed to follow-up with Oliver on any issues that might arise. Excellent spot and easy access to bathrooms. Enjoy the stay.
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Bill,
Welcome to the family of Ollie E1 owners. It just seems like yesterday we picked up our Elite I Hull #664 on September 14. We also live in Texas and have really enjoyed exploring the State Parks over the past few months. Wishing you safe travels to wherever your journey takes you.
Mark
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As others have already stated, the most likely cause is that the refrigerator has come unplugged and needs to be plugged back in. It happened twice on our Elite I during the first few months of ownership and at first I was baffled by the 10 error code. I was able to come across a post someone had submitted awhile back that described the location of the plug. Once plugged back in it works as designed. Jason recommended we use a zip-tie to secure once we had it plugged back in. We have not had another problem with the refrigerator since.
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As others have already stated, the most likely cause is that the refrigerator has come unplugged and needs to be plugged back in. It happened twice on our Elite I during the first few months of ownership and at first I was baffled by the 10 error code. I was able to come across a post someone had submitted awhile back that described the location of the plug. Once plugged back in it works as designed. Jason recommended we use a zip-tie to secure once we had it plugged back in. We have not had another problem with the refrigerator since.
As for your outside door cable breaking loose, you can see my previous post "First few months of ownership" where we had the same thing happen to us. We used gorilla two part epoxy per Jason's recommendation to reattach and have not had another problem.
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We are booked for Site #E28. We will be arriving on 5/13 and heading out on 5/15. We will only be there a couple of nights but we are looking forward to meeting the other Ollie owners.
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mjrendon,
The smaller Elite 1 trailer also has a 12v port located in the attic. Post this install, we now have two open 12v ports (1 under cabinet, 1 attic) and 2 dual usb ports. Perhaps we will need the 12v ports for other uses we just haven't come across yet. For now, wife and I are both happy we can now charge our phones/watches at the same time without the need of an adapter.
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Oliver Owners,
It was mentioned to us when picking up our Oliver that we might want to consider purchasing a portable water softener for use with the trailer. We arrived on pickup day with a water filter but never considered the need for a water softener before. Not sure if others on this forum have had issues with hard water but our orientation rep indicated that they had several trailers in the shop for decalcification while we were there. Upon returning home I purchased an inexpensive kit to measure the hardness of our water here at home and was surprised to find we were on the upper end of the scale. Hence, we went ahead and purchased a portable water softener to use while traveling. I have listed what we purchased below but there are several other options out there to consider. We have found it easy to use, simple to regenerate with table salt, hooks inline easily when attaching the trailer to a water supply and have even used it when washing the trailer to reduce water spotting. Something you might want to consider if you find yourself frequently hooking up to hard water supplies at the campgrounds you visit.
On The Go OTG3NTP3M Portable Water Softener
Please note that when you use a water softener, a little bit of soap goes a long way when washing hands, hair, dishes, etc.
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The Legacy Elite I trailer has two interior 12v ports and one dual USB port located under the cabinets just before you get to the bed. We replaced one of the 12V ports to a dual USB port after we discovered our USB adaptor for the 12V port pulls out easily. I would frequently end up with my phone not charged the next morning.🙁 Perhaps it was just my adapter as the 12v ports have a twist-lock feature that is supposed to reduce this from happening. Can't ever think of a reason we would ever need the 12v port anyway and this allows my wife and I to charge our phones and apple watches (4 USB ports now). Here is a link to what I installed:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086PRHKC1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Installation was very simple as you can access the 12v port via the access hatch within the cabinet. Simply unscrew the holding ring from the back of the 12v port, lower it down to slide off the connectors (make sure you look at the color of the + wire as you will need to hookup correctly on the replacement plug), put the new holding ring onto the wires if you do not use the existing holder, attach the new dual usb plug to the +/- wires correctly, and reinstall into the existing hole. Total time to replace was about 5 min.
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Even with the new 6' cable, the cable is stretched out pretty much as well but it has not been a problem when traveling.
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Overland,
The original cable was just a straight cable about 4' in length (not sure as I threw it away). We could only clip it on one of the trailer chains (not a good option) until we could replace it with the longer cable. I decided to go with the "coiled" style to eliminate any slack caused when turning left. The bright red color ended up being an additional benefit in that it is easy to see and acts as an additional reminder when hooking up the trailer.
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Not sure if others came across the same problem but when we went to pickup our trailer with our F150, the original trailer breakaway cable was not long enough to connect to the hitch on the truck as required. We have since replaced the original standard cable with a longer "coiled" cable that allows for the cable to reach the hitch connection point on the truck and eliminated any slack in the cable while towing. Below is a link to what we purchased and installed on the trailer and have been very happy with it.
Fastway Zip 6 Foot Breakaway Cable 80-01-2160
To replace you only need to cut off the old cable and install the new one. Takes about 2-5 min.
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13 hours ago, JRK said:
Thanks ?mark for the info. I should be picking up an Elite I in March. In addition to these few issues, what have you found so far that you have done to improve your use of the trailer? What have you, and others, wished had been installed/added/available?
I am getting a few things ready for my trip from, and back to, California. My dad always carried a spare water pump, generator/alternator, starter and ignition system. What might I need to carry for the trailer?
My list of what I should have that probably won't be provided: chocks, extension cord, security -wheel and hitch lock?, adapters (electric and mechanical), water hose and filter, ground cover for beneath awning, grease gun, basic tools, antenna mount(s) (ham radio) - what am I missing?
Thanks
JRK,
I just saw this after responding to your private message. Please see my response there and let me know if you have any additional questions.
Replacing Window trim - what brand is it?
in Mechanical & Technical Tips
Posted
H109-376 from Pelland Enterprises. We replaced ours right after purchase with ones that are black vs the original white.
https://www.pellandent.com