tallmandan

Sure hope you plan lots of extra time for stops! I used to live in Vancouver, WA and went to the Oregon coast many times with my family. Here is a quick list that I put together for a freind a while back that I copied here in case it would be of value. It's in South to North order so just reverse the list for your trip... Some good stuff working your way North... 1. Depoe Bay. Cool little town. Whales are frequently spotted here in the bay from shore. 2. Cascade Head Trail. I never did do this but understand it's great if you are up for a longer hike. 3. Neskowin is a nice little town and beach 4. Pacific City beach is great! Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area is just to the north of Pacifc City Beach and is outstanding. Park your truck in the parkting lot of Pacific City Beach and hike up the giant sand dune to your right (North). At the top of the dune you can then hike along the cliffs and the views are superb. It's a steep but short hike up the big sand slope with no "trail". Most folks don't realize how great the landscape and view are if you go up and hike around. This is amazing at sunset! Must do. 5. Cape Lookout Trail. Excellent easy hike out to the point on high cliff. Highly recommend! 6. Cape Mears Lighthouse. Short walk to historic lighthouse. beautiful. 7. Tillimook Cheese Factory. This is a tourist trap but it is the original main cheese production of Tillimook cheeses and ice cream. Worth putting up with the crowds to go in. Can do a factory tour if you want. Get ice cream cones. Try the cheese curd - my favorite! 8. Highway 101 from Manzanita to Cannon Beach is the most scenic stretch by far. Great views from the cliffs above the ocean 9. Oswald West State Park. Park at the trailhead for Short Sand Beach. Take the easy trail down under the highway and through a valley to a secluded stretch of sand and surf that is pinched between cliffs on each end. Great beach and popular spot for surfers. 10. Hug Point. Cool beach. Walk along the beach going North to a small waterfall and shallow caves in the cliff that are on the beach. 11. Cannon Beach. This is a very popular and busy beach town. The main street has lots of shops and restaurants. Expensive, more high-end little town on the coast an easy drive from Portland. Great beach with the famous Haystack Rock. 12. Ecola State Park. You can spend all day just exploring here. Hikes and views and beaches. Drive through the park out to Indian Beach Day Use Area. Beautiful area.

Alright, time to close this out. I received the replacment jack post assembly from Barker which they shipped to me at no cost. The picture below shows the new unit next to the old unit. As I knew, the mounting bracket on my existing jack sleeve was welded the the incorrect location by about one inch. The swap out was easier than I expected and I now have plenty of clearance under the hatch as it should be. I want to thank Bob Asher at Barker for his help with the free replacement and with swap/install instructions! Great customer service! I also want to thank everyone who responded in this thread in a effort to help! The collective knowledge and experience of this group is really valuable.

I tried to measure pre and post install based on height of the wheel well trim from the ground. It was less than a half inch in difference on my trailer. I spoke with Lew for awhile when I was there a few weeks ago and he thought he had upgraded close to a hundred trailers now. As others have reported, they were pleasant to deal with and did good work. Lew said my springs had flattened and were "shot." He also said the bushings were badly worn and emphasized that I now have brass bushings along with the heavy duty shackles. Two of my shocks were blown (which I already knew) so they installed 4 new ones that I brought with me. I decided to "spring" (haha) for the new 5200 axles as well so my wallet was way lighter but my piece-of-mind was way higher! Just returned from a trip to Flaming Gorge/Green River, Utah and it performed great over the nearly 1k miles round-trip. We returned through Northern CO where the two-lane highway has quite a bit of freeze/thaw damage and heave so I was sure glad I had it done. I do notice that it is more stout. The "waddle" over angled railroad tracks or curb that @jd1923 mentioned is definitely less.

Definitely. The two connecting bolts are stout and allow for more than a half inch unless you were to mount it in a panel. Then it would depend on mount and panel thickness. Here is a link to the one I used. The product photos show the measurments and a diagram of possible panel mounting...or not. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00558LSJE?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 Mine does this as well when it detects just a bit of light but it's not enough to have any charge function. The buzzing sound on mine is a very faint kind-of hum. As soon as there is more light, it fully wakes-up and acts normal. I've never considered this to be a problem. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.... I don't have any disconnect switch to isolate the solar panels. The only disconnect switch I'm aware of in my 2020 LEII is the one I installed at the batteries.

I think what @jd1923 meant with the word "fuse" was that the positive side is an always-on direct connection (not that there was a fuse breaker installed). I didn't install any new fuse device. My install was intended to be as simple as possible. The use of the kill-switch on the negative main accomplished two things for me - 1. allows me to cut all power and isolate the batteries and 2. my existing negative cable that went through the wall of the trailer to the inverter was too short to reach to the front battery negative connector because it was previously connected at the rear on my four AGM batteries. --- so using the switch allowed me to re-use a short cable as an extension to reach. It also allowed another negative connection point as Oliver wired my trailer with a bunch of wire leads all the way to the battery terminals rather than using a busbar. This avoided stacking all the wire terminals on one negative battery post. (The blue seas switch has large, long terminal bolts that accomodate) JD and others have cleaned up the wiring by installing busbars. I wasn't completely confident altering this and didn't really want to take the time to figure out, so I just re-attached all the wires in the battery bay. If your goal is simply to install a kill-switch. Installing it in the negative main line somewhere is probably what you need. Others here are much more savy at electrical than me, including JD, so they may have be able to give more specific direction... Hope that helps...

I ditched my Garmin GPS long ago. Don't forget that you can download large areas in Google Maps and use it offline if there is no cell coverage and this wouldn't use up your data if you are on a limited plan. I use this all the time here in Colorado where vast areas have no signal. Obviously, it can't include in-time things like traffic slowdowns or accident notification. I freakin' love my GM integrated trailer camera system on my 2021 Silverado! I purchased the camera unit for something like $350 I think. installed it at the top of the spare tire cover and ran the connecting wire easily under the trailer and the connector is right next to my 7-pin. It's not that I can't back a trailer without it but the piece of mind and absolute certainty of what's behind and how close is priceless. It works extremely well. zero lag and high resolution view right on my dashboard screen. It provides active guide-line overlay that moves with your steering rotation just like any modern car/truck back-up camera. In tricky, tight spaces or backing uphill, it's excellent.

Quick Update: I received a reply email from Barker Manufacturing and then spoke on the phone in response to my email to them that included photos. They are going to send me a new tube sleeve with the proper weld at no charge. I will need to take the existing jack out and loosen the three set screws on the head. I'm told this will allow me to replace the steel tube (where the bracket is welded) on the existing jack and then reinstall so that it will be at the proper height. Happy that a resolution/fix is now hopefully in process...

Hey, I'm late to see this but congrats @jd1923!! Wish you and Chirs all the happiness and good health! My wife Theresa and I are celebrating 36 years married this week! Hope your trip is going well and you will have to update me on where your travels took you in Colorado!

Not what I expected either. Here is the response I received: I responded to Mike with my dissapointment and asked for a contact at Barker if OTT was pushing it off on them. I was also confused by the ask of measuring -- all LEII trailers are the same and I'm asking for a correctly welded one. Mike responded already with a contact at Barker, I forwarded the OTT service email chain and the photos. Still hopefull for a reasonable resolution....

@Geronimo John Thanks for taking time to consider and draw out a possible fix. Appreciate your time! I'm impressed with your engineering skill as it's way above me! I'm neither an engineer or mechanic. I don't even own an angle grinder so trying to go this route would not exactly be in my comfort zone. I feel Oliver should send me a properly welded stabilizer that I can swap out, and that's what I've asked for. Today, I spoke with Mike Sharpe at OTT Service. He said that the action OTT takes is up to "manufacturing" and not his call to make. He agreed that he would like to send me a new one but had to wait for "manufacturing" to make a decision on my issue. I asked him if there was someone else I should speak with and he said no - that he was the contact. He went on to say that there is a meeting with "manufacturing" tomorrow where he will make sure my issue is discussed. We agreed that I will call him back on Thursday. I will update then... Much appreciation to this group, especially @Geronimo John and @jd1923, for your technical expertise and willingness to help.

I've never lifted the trailer with the jacks, never moved it with the foot loaded and always stacked 5 or 6 inches of 2x6 wood pieces under them to avoid full extension. Now, I did buy the trailer after the original buyer had used it for about 4 months, so I cant' speak to that period of time. However, the fact is that the bracket is welded incorrectly to the jack. I cant' see any evidence of stressed weld points or damage. If it were bent I would expect the operation to be effected in some way including, at least, a noticible difference in operational sound compared to the other jack that would indicate strain. Isn't it possible that the weld is off both vertically and horizontally ?

Thanks for your input and idea @jd1923. My trailer is out at the storage lot so I can't make a quick check....but I'm not sure I'm following you. The unit sits too high, not too low so adding a plate or washers would raise it....or am I missing something? I believe I recall that the bracket is a steel "L" bracket with two vertical and two horizontal bolts. I don't think I can alter it vertically and still have the horizontal bolts allign. I know you're much better with mechanical/engineering than me so if I'm not understanding and there is a "fix" other than replacemnet maybe you could let me know just how I could do it ? In the meantime, I plan to call Oliver next week and discuss my issue live. I think it's fair for a new unit to be sent to me and I will take care of the swap-install....that's what I am asking for......

Well....not yet. I was impressed that Mike Sharpe from Oliver Service sent me an email within hours of opening my service ticket. I sent him photos and then heard nothing back. Three weeks later I emailed him again and Mike responded that he had "sent this over to our manufacturing department to take a look into this." Then nothing for another 10 days and I emailed him again on Tuesday of this week. Mike responded with one sentence: "No response as of yet. I have reached back out to them." It's been over a month now.....so.....not too impressed anymore.... but hopeful that Oliver will make this right since it's clearly a manufacturing defect that should have been caught by both the supplier and Oliver installer. I've had to tape wood shims around the underside edge of the fiberglass lid to raise it and attempt to stop the damage. This is obviously not acceptable. If anyone has a suggestion on how to better communicate with Oliver Service, please let me know...?

Just a quick note about headroom from another tall guy. It sounds like you haven't yet been inside an Elite II so you may not be aware that the bathroom celing height is lower than the main cabin. The main cabin is 6'6in but I'd say the bathroom is 2 or 3 inches less. If someone here knows maybe you can correct me. Just wanted you to be aware. I don't know how tall you are but I'm 6'5" and I do have to crouch to take a shower. I shower quickly as we are usually boondocking without water hookups and I just deal with it. For that matter, the 75" bed is not quite long enough for my 77" body. I've removed the nightstand and have a few mods I've done to allow me to better stretch out when needed. Now, My main point is that I'm fine with it -- because of all the other points you mentioned! It's a fantastic trailer and I don't think there is anything else out there that can measure up. The feeling of it from inside is unlike any other RV I'v seen - so clean, bright, modern and you can just sense the solid quality from front to back and top to bottom. Congrats on your upcoming retirement!

Thanks @jd1923 and @topgun2 JD, really appreciate you taking the time to measure your stabilizer jacks for a comparison! I had previously noticed that it sat high and just touched the fiberglass but didn't really think much of it as it worked just fine. I never had both of the under-bed compartments open at the same time to really see the difference until yesterday and then took measurments (should have done that a long time ago!! -- just busy with life and the trailer has only had occasional use until now) The bracket welds are intact, all bolts are tight and the unit is steadfast and operational. It appears that the mounting bracket was improperly welded to the jack assembly - both in height and in level/plumb. The jack shaft is plumb from front to back but not from right to left. Mike from Oliver service responded via email to my service ticket within hours --- impressed! I've emailed him more photos showing the welds and I've included photos showing the positioning out of plumb using a level. Hopefully, Oliver will take care of me....

Thanks for your suggestions. As @jd1923 suggested, I checked the mounting bolts under the trailer and they looked tight visualy with lock-washers fully compressed. I put a wrench on them anyway and was able to tighten both bolts (on both sides) by about a quarter turn. This did not seem to change anything. Before pulling anyting apart, I started to measure differences between my curbside (too high) and my streetside (just fine) stabilizer jacks. I've attached the photos and I'm stumped. The curbside jack seems to be somehow mounted about an inch higher than the streetside jack. The inside photos are measuring to the mounting bracket. The outside photo shows that the cylinder for the shaft is an inch lower on one side. Is there some adjustment that I am not seeing? I believe that the curbside stabilizer jack was always touching the fiberglass lid but I never thought much of it. It seems to be doing damage to the lid now. Both jacks operate just fine as always. I am going to open a ticket with Oliver, but does anybody have a suggestion.....?

The manual crank post of my rear stabilizer jack is too high and comes in contact with the interior fiberglass cover under the curbside bed. It's causing damage to the underside (see photos). Anyone else have this problem? Is there a way to adjust the positon of the jack down to stop contact?

I just installed two Epoch 300aH Essential batteries in my LEII. @jd1923 let me know he ordered his from an authorized retailer called Renewable Outdoors and I did the same. They had the same price as the Epoch website and had very good communication and service. They simply process the order and the batteries are shipped direct from Epoch anyway. https://renewableoutdoors.com/products/epoch-batteries-12v-300ah-heated-bluetooth-lifepo4-battery-epoch-essentials So far, so good with mine. The batteries arrived in good shape in protective boxes at 55% SOC. They connected to the app easily. Agree that it's anoying to have to find them in the list of every bluetooth device in range but the app allows you to rename each battery so it's quicker to find them in the list. The app provides all the stats you could want. It's too soon to comment as I have yet to take a trip with them, but I'm excited to have 600aH and expect to have no power worries at all. As a side note, the list price as gone up by $200 to $1199 in the last few weeks. Not sure if this is related to the China tarif situation. It will be interesting to see what happens to lithium ion battery prices across all brands as 98% of all lithium batteries are made in China 😞

@Dennis and Melissa Just a thought --- you have 7 nights planned at Dead Horse SP to visit Canyonlands and Arches. Both are amazing and Dead Horse is the best reserve campground for visiting Canyonlands and not too far from Arches. It's a good plan but one suggestion I might make is to use the app Campflare and see if a cancelation might pop up for Devil's Garden Campground inside Arches NP. Devil's Garden may be the most difficult to get campground in all of the national parks. It books up within seconds of the 6 month booking window. It does not have hookups, however. I put a notification request in Campflare last fall and scored a cancelation with a few weeks notice -- they do happen. If you were to score a site at Devil's Garden, it puts you deep inside the park in one of the most spectacular areas of scenery with a couple of the best hikes starting right from the campground. You wake up with an unbelievable sunrise right there. The photos attached are of the campground. The arch photo at sunrise is 100 yards from the campground (you can see RVs in the distance on left side of the photo). Dead Horse SP is very nice and centrally located but the campground is kinda out in the middle of sagebrush and you have to drive to get to hikes and views. Already being inside the park camping at Devils Garden means your're already there -- avoiding the lines at park entry and you are already there for the most awesome time in the park which is sunset/early mornings and late evening/sunset. Regardless, my biggest suggestion would be to plan on being in both parks early and late. The light is amazing and makes for unforgettable experiences. If you stay the whole time at Dead Horse SP, you will still have an amazing time!

@ZLarryb I could be wrong...but in your photo it appears that your plastic twist connector fitting on your water line has loosened with vibration. This has been a reoccuring issue with my trailer and I periodically check all the twist fittings for tightness. In your photo, it's the line toward you with the black plastic tie-down that is out of place. I have loosened the black plastic tie downs, placed a thin piece of rubber or silicone (even a piece of a rubber band) between it and the twist fitting and then re-secured it. This has helped prevent loosening of those fittings. Just something to check....?

Thought I would follow-up with photos of my finished install. BIG, BIG thanks to @Derek B and especially to @jd1923 for sharing their photos and offering info to help! I don't think I could have done this without you! I would say my install is more "DIY amature" compared to their professsional work because I did not reconfigure the 6g wires inside the trailer on bus bars. This would be best, but I just didn't feel comfortable enough in my level of skill and also didn't really want to spend the time - so my battery compartment is messy compared to theirs but everything works. I wanted to install a manual disconnect switch and this turned out to be a needed extension in my case if I wanted to avoid replacing the main negative cable with a longer one. There was no extra lenght to be pulled through from inside, so the cable was too short to reach far enough forward in the battery tray (without packing the batteries together in the back requiring shorter jumpers to be ordered as well). The switch is connected by re-using one of the short red jumpers and I put black gorilla tap around it to mark it as negative. The switch provided a large/long connection post to stack the multiple neg wires. I did have to use a drill and dremel tool to slightly enlarge the terminal connector holes on the neg 6ga wires as they were slightly too small to fit on the post of the switch (a professional would have replaced these terminal ends with the correct size). I was going to secure the switch to the battery with 3M VBR tape but decided to let it simply sit on a piece of rubberized foam. This allows it to shift slightly as the stiff wires bend to close the drawer. The OEM bolt on the main + terminal had to be replaced with a slightly longer one to accomodate the stack. I have a bit of concern that the stacked terminal connections could be more prone to loosen with vibration over time so I will be checking on this periodically (they were stacked by Oliver's original configuration without a problem) I can easily reach the disconnect switch without pulling out the tray. It was very easy to program my Xantrex 2000 inverter/charger and my Zamp solar controller as they both have settings for LifePo4. My total cost was $1725 ($1698 for the two batteries, $25 for the switch and $2 for the longer terminal bolt) and I'm loaded with 600aH of lithium power. I have SOC and detailed charging/discharging data available in the Epoch app on my phone via bluetooth. Really appreciate the info/help/advice available in this group! Hope this might be valuable to anybody else with similar OEM equipment considering a DIY lithium replacement upgrade. Here are photos of before/after -- not a professional install but it works... IMG_1478.HEIC

I'm currently in process with "option 2" and my "friends" have been @jd1923 and @Derek B here on the Oliver forum 🙂 Today I removed my 4 6v AGMs and installed 2 Epoch Essential 300aH lithium batteries. I happen to be 6'5" and strong enough to lift the batteries so the weight was not an issue for me..but it certainly could be for others (Each AGM battery is 66lbs. Each 300aH Lithium is 58lbs). I still have some work to do on the spacers in the tray but will post pics of my finished upgrade soon in the thread that I started in "Ollie Modifications." The info and photos from JD and Derek were super helpful and encouraged me to give it a go myself. Big thanks! I reused existing cables. It did require a bit of modification/McGuivering so I would say you need to be at least C+ category like me for using tools and thinking through projects. I took advantage of the recent Epoch sale and paid $1698 total for the 2 300aH batteries plus $25 for the BlueSky disconnnect switch on Amazon. Then I needed one longer battery bolt so $2 at the hardware store and some scrap wood I already had in the garage for spacers in the tray. $1725 total for 600aH of lithuim power and no other new equipment needed! Epoch batteries checked all the boxes for me -- self-heated as I camp in CO/UT/WY, built in BMS with Bluetooth App that shows SOC and all data, highly rated by folks here on the Oliver form with expeirence as well as 3rd party experts. They are not the cheapest option but they are far from most expensive. It's only day 1 but I'm impressed so far... Hope you find what will work best for you!

Starlink just announced a new $10 for 10GB monthly plan for those that only need it for sporadic use. Data over 10GB at $2 per GB. Only good for an existing user so a new activation would have to be on the $50 plan and then switch to the $10 plan on month two. This is what I plan to do as camping season is about to start here in CO. https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/starlink-adds-cheapest-roam-plan-to-date-10gb-for-10/

I installed the standard duty version of RAS on my 2021 Silverado 1500 and was able to do it myself. It reduced the squat from the trailer by about 1.5 inches so I've been satisfied with it. They are adjustable and I have it about middle of it's range. Towing and non-towing with it now for 45K miles and I can't say I really noticed much of any change in handling/ride quality when not towing and that's fine with me. I'd recommend the RAS but it seems like airbags are good as well.

Thanks @jd1923. Really helpful. I placed my order today for the two Essential 300aH batteries. I have the Blue Seas switch ordered from Amazon. This evening I disconnected, capped and taped the black charging wire from my 7-pin lead under the bathroom vanity. Once the delivieries show up, I'll start pulling apart my AGM set up and hope things go smoothly 🙂 Thanks for taking time to think about my questions and replying with your help and advice!