routlaw

Yep, this is exactly why I have learned to do all maintenance myself on our Oliver. Local shops around here charge $300 per hour too and have months wait to time get in. Not an option.

Agreed I also like Mortons videos too. Smart guy for sure. The idea of a truck camper has never had any appeal to me however. Its my understanding they have now transitioned to an towable RV.

Excellent, appropriate response to the subject @topgun2 . I would like to add my thoughts along those lines. Likewise I have traveled some really rough roads, backcountry gravel and dirt without a scratch so far. By no means am I stupid enough to take the Oliver down serious overland roads made most famous in the desert southwest, ie White Rim Trail, The Maze and so forth and so on. There are other rigs better suited to this endeavor such as MDC from Australia, Escapod, Bean Teardrops, Pause, and especially the Emperial Outdoors made in WI. I've seen and been in those and there is nothing like them made in this country I am aware of. Like the Olivers they are expensive, even more so, but built to the extreme made to go anywhere and are a true 4 season camper. Many RV's claim 4 Season, they are not in most cases. Regarding hitches and suspensions there is one reason why we still have leaf sprung suspensions and traditional ball hitch mounts on travel trailers. They are inexpensive for the manufactures to produce. While it may make sense to put leaf sprung suspensions on trucks due to their ability to carry very heavy loads installing them on a travel trailer makes no sense at all other than cheap manufacturing cost. Same goes for the traditional ball hitches. From a safety standpoint this was the inspiration for the invention of the Hitch-Ezy due to the designers wife having rolled over completely with her trailer and TV. I've lost count of the number of YouTube videos I've seen of trailers rolling over and taking the TV with it. With a fully articulating hitch this would not happen. While I don't have any personal experience using an articulating hitch it is my understanding the implementation allows for easier maneuvering, backup, and safer towing and traversing even mildly rough terrain. I don't know what the flex angles are on a typical ball hitch but on more than one occasion I've avoided going into backcountry BLM/USFS due to some very steep angles of approach. The BLM Overlook campground west of Grand Junction is a classic example where 99% of the jeep trail is easy to navigate with an Oliver until the final drop off which is quite steep. I would not be comfortable taking the Oliver through this. Otherwise a fabulous campground for tenters, vans, and small RV's with more accommodating hitches and suspensions. Leaf spring suspensions are rough, stiff and harsh period. Again they might make sense for utility trailers carrying very loads such as horses, construction equipment and supplies but for RV's it's simple and cheap to manufacture. There really is no other compelling reason to build an RV this way. There is a reason the automotive industry went to 4 wheel independent suspensions decades ago, it's safer, more comfortable allowing for greater dexterity while driving. I know of no one who has transitioned to an independent RV suspension with a desire to return to leaf springs and same could be said for the articulating hitch. For me, I would love to be able to go a little deeper and bit further off the beaten path safely without being an extreme overlander thus the interesting in different hitches and suspensions. As a final note on the leaf springs, just recently came across the Road Master mod kits for leaf springs and by all accounts appears to be far superior to the Dexter Easy Flex and other such flex kits made by Lippert and Morryde both apparently better than the Dexter version.

@Wandering Sagebrush did you ever try one of these? Just ran across this hitch this morning and find them an excellent alternative but not sure the installation bolts that come with the kit would suffice with our Olivers.

I would take this new hitch from Morryde over the Bulldog hitch hands down. Not sure this guy provides the best demonstration but it gets the point across.

Perhaps some of you will find this rather long video on the MDC line of Australian off road campers interesting. The attention to and level of detail this company goes to is off the charts.

I have to admit the Black Series are not the most attractive campers out there but they do appear to be rugged. Thanks for the info.

Thanks @mossemi read through the entire post. I remember raspy from the early days of the forum and recall him going another route but did not know he was the Mchitch distributor. Watched an excellent video from one of the guys at ROA Off Road in Utah describing the various articulating hitches. The best one I've seen yet is a new one on the market, American made and engineered by the folks at Pause travel trailers that incorporate a ball hitch. Massive heavy duty thing too but see no way to use it on an Oliver without massive mods to the Oliver frame. I wish Oliver had gone the route of an articulating hitch and independent suspension.

Thanks Bill. Likewise I tend to come and go depending on the seasons. Hopefully he is ok. I will look into it.

Would love to do this myself, just curious if any one else has tried this. There are a number of YouTube videos illustrating the many variations on the market but not sure most of them would work on the Oliver. ROA Off Road has produced a number of these videos and keeps the products in stock apparently. Any thoughts? thanks

Wow! Thanks for all of the great feedback and information. Really appreciate it. Some great stories in here too with your injuries occurred and how you have over come them. Congratulations to all who have gotten back to where you wanted to be. I will add this regarding my situation. My left knee issue is most likely due scoliosis which renders one leg being ever so slightly shorter than the other, it runs in the family. Playing football in high school at 110 lbs soaking wet didn't help. I was known as Big Bruiser on those days. Name given to me by our coach Bill Oliver who went on to be head defensive coach at the University of Alabama back in the day. Suffice it to say my knees and other body parts took a beating as well. Lesson learned… sort of. Had to give up running several years ago but always kept hiking, walking, and cycling. This past year, as all of the previous years before, my wife and I walked, hiked and biked well over a 1,000 miles with an accumulated elevation gain of more than twice Mount Everest until it all came crashing down in late Nov or early Dec '25. Knee injections were no longer an option to get through it. The next couple of months I was in a bit of denial, this can't be happening to me. Finally made the decision to get it over with. On off days from PT I exercise and stretch and will continue this as long as needed. I was at 119º flex on Wednesday but did not get measured today, so getting there slowly. PT's have had me on stationary bikes most sessions for about five minutes and while it's uncomfortable I can kneel on a padded cushion for short periods. And for those who have gone through this you'll love the next part of the story. I fell down our stairs into the basement a week ago due to my stupidity of walking down in sock feet on carpeted stairs. Good knee slipped and bad knee made a forced nearly 140º flex while sliding down. The pain was beyond anything I can ever recall but fortunately got over it within a few days and back to walking again almost every day since pacing at around 3.25 MPH ±. Thanks again for the encouragement.

After a life time of running, hiking, biking and walking finally wore out my left knee and just went through this myself 5 weeks ago today. I am healing up pretty well and walking over a mile each day and on some days up to 2.5 to 3 miles. It's much slower than my normal pace of course but even that is improving. Cycling currently is out of the question. My physical therapist have been awesome and very encouraging stating I am ahead of schedule by a long shot. What I am really concerned about is ongoing maintenance of the Oliver, climbing on ladders or scaffolds to wash and wax, crawling under for wheel bearing maintenance and the list goes on. Then there are long drives with knee in the same position which for me to this point can be quite problematic. So my question to the group for those who have gone through this how long before you were fully operable in terms of using your camper, Oliver or not? At this point I am actually considering the sale of ours and either downsizing or abandoning camping altogether due to the diminished mobility. My therapist said it's unlikely I would ever be able to get 140-150º of flex or range of motion which eliminates being down on your knees and completely bending over for many of the task and maintenance chores of RV'ing. Thanks for taking the time and look forward to any insight from the folks here. Rob

Agree with Steve, it's not like typical RV sales with the Olivers where you go on a lot and see them deeply discounted by thousands of dollars. Just doesn't happen with an Oliver.

Yes have done this for years. Level and stabilize and not to worry. That said I do make every effort to get as level as possible before with blocks etc before setting down the jacks. Hope this helps

Excellent warning Bill. We are used to this sort of thing in our neck of the woods but people in that area certainly are not. Saw the pattern for the storm late last night thought oh boy buckle up down there, looks like a doozy.