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routlaw

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Everything posted by routlaw

  1. Ed and Marsh. Its very bad currently. This mornings paper reported the town of Seeley Lake being evacuated. For a month now visibility here in the Gallatin Valley has been so bad on most days you can't even see the mountains that surround the valley. There are 11 major fires in the state of Montana alone plus we are getting smoke from fires in other states. I had heard as of last week the Tetons might not be too bad and that Wyoming only had one fire within the state. I believe Glacier is about as polluted as our location in the southwestern part of the state. Our daughter and son in law live in Butte which is also a mess, they even had ash falling last week. A lot can happen in two weeks but the long range prediction was there is no end in sight for this stuff clear through Sept. Unless you like to breath a lot of carbon my suggestion would be to have a back up plan.
  2. Is there any place out west not inundated with these fires? I have a window of opportunity and would like to take off for several days, but its an ugly mess here in Montana, and hardly worth camping anywhere in the state. How about ID, UT, WY or other areas, anyone been to these places recently? Thanks, odd request for sure.
  3. Interesting this conversation came up. While just emptying our Oliver about an hour or so ago at one of the local dump stations a nice couple pulled up behind me towing an Airstream. They got out of their truck, said really nice camper, they new all about the Olivers and seemed envious but had never seen one in person. Their Airstream was only two years old but has had every possible problem you can imagine with theirs. All of them were fixed by their dealer, but still it seemed to have left a bad taste for the lack of quality control. Anyway gave them a tour of ours, they seemed impressed. Apparently they had just been camping in the mountains south of us and were on pins and needles due to the hail storms going on. Apparently the skin on the Airstreams doesn't fare to well in a hailstorm.
  4. We have a 2013 F150 Lariat. If we've been towing, then disconnect the F150 will then tells us we are disconnected, but its never done while being connected… so far.
  5. Weird, I'm late to the party on this one, but I've never experienced this issue with my F150 either with the Oliver or our T@b before that. Now that I've stated this it will probably happen soon enough.
  6. And what a huge difference that would have made Dave. It would have been an easy fix rather than hours fiddling with this. I'll probably be on the lookout for a hatch to install from inside the compartment in the future. If any of those other wires come loose I sure don't want to go through this again. Thanks so much
  7. Success at last! For those interested and for anyone who runs across the same issue here goes. The fast tab connectors had indeed come loose from the pump switch located under the pantry. I removed the 4 screws holding the backing plate for the battery, water, gray water & black water gauge which provided just enough light and access but only if you have very small hands. Effectively when the Oliver crew terminated these wires to the switch they provide absolutely no slack at all, and in fact those wires were pulled quite tight and in the large harness with a bunch of other wires. The weight of the harness with tight wires pulled them from their connections. I re-terminated all three of the double pole switch wires with two foot long extensions of 12 AWG wiring. Tested the system before reinstalling the entire enchilada and it all worked fine. Hopefully no one else has to go through this because it is a major PITA to accomplish. I did not have to drill any holes either in the battery box or hidden compartment either, however it would have provided far better access to do so from the compartment. As Dave pointed out one can wiggle the switch out of its socket with a putty knife and flat head screw driver, but start with the putty knife first. The bathroom switch comes out much easier just wiggling and pulling with your fingers. And oddly enough they provided plenty of slack with the bathroom switch. I'm attaching a few relevant photos for future reference. Hope this helps. The first image is provides the size of the cut out hole once the plate is removed for the battery, water etc gauge. Its small, the second image shows correct wiring for the switch, note the purple wire is always in the middle, and the gray & brown wire to the outside terminals. It matters not which terminal the gray and brown wires are attached to, same for the bath switch which is the 3rd image.
  8. The battery compartment would not provide access to the back of the mounting plate for those switches unfortunately. Even if it did the stretch would prevent any way of finessing wires. Good idea on the jumper to the pump though, the same thing occurred to me later in the evening. I will try that shortly. BTW we do not have a switch anywhere near our stove, only in the bath room and just under the pantry area. Ours is an Elite II, but probably an earlier model than yours, ours is 2015. Thanks
  9. Just brought back our Oliver this afternoon, but unfortunately its not looking too good. Tried all of the appropriate suggestions for our particular model year all to no avail. But for those interested and for whom it might help in the future the following is a short rundown of what I have done. Checked and double checked the appropriate fuse, even temporarily replaced it though it measured fine, and it fits snug in its receptacle. Pulled the two wires from the pump and measured for voltage there only got fluctuating mili volts, not good. Measured also at the fuse box receptacle and received more or less the same fluctuating mili volts. Its a double pole switch and the bathroom one comes outs quite easily and all 3 of those fast tab connectors were in solid. I was able to barely pull the main pole switch just below the pantry but not well enough to see all 3 wires with fast tab connectors. There is a lot of tension from the back of this switch. And this is where it gets really ugly there is absolutely no way to get access to these switches without either tearing the mounting plate off the interior body or drilling a very large hole on inside of the hidden compartment below the pantry. What the hell was Oliver thinking on this install? To the best of my knowledge there are no inline fuses upwind from the actual pump back to the fuse box. I suppose its remotely possible one of the pole wires at the fuse box has wiggled loose, but man oh man talk about opening a big can of worms to sort through that. Presently I'm a bit too aggravated to start drilling on the interior body just to examine fast tab connectors on the other switch which I am inclined to believe are intact in the first place. In the meantime I'm at a loss for the remedy on this one. Again thanks for all the suggestions.
  10. Same here no insulation, and its not been an issue what so ever.
  11. I don't think I've got that in my rear cabinet, can't remember ever seeing any circuit breakers there but will look again. To the best of my knowledge all circuit breakers are in the same fuse box mentioned previously.
  12. Spike if you look in your fuse box just below the small dinette seat facing the bath you will see a slew of different fuses that vary from 10 amp to 30 amp all color coded. You could take one out with a pair of needle nose pliers to your local auto or hardware store to match. They probably have a name but I don't know it. The fuses are U shaped once they are pulled from the fuse box with two metal tabs that connect into the female arms that John Davies referred to earlier in the thread. You'll need to purchase a multi pack with all values hopefully with at least 2-3 per amp value. Piece of cake, don't let it intimidate you.
  13. Thanks Dave, great info, but remember this is a two way switch. One in the bathroom and one under the pantry next to our solar controller. The bigger question though is how on earth did you get access to the back of this switch. In my first post I had mentioned the back plate or mounting plate for this switch seems to be glued onto the interior Oliver body unlike the other mounting plates that have 4 screws at each corner. Getting access to the one in the bathroom becomes and entirely different nightmare requiring taking out the wash cloth rack below the sink. Its great you were able to solve your similar problem so easy.
  14. They will set it up for city water access until we can get back home to work on properly. She should be able to get by without the pump for 3 days. All good suggestions and comments, much appreciated. rob
  15. Good points, make sense. I will do this when I get the trailer back home, probably Wed or Thurs. Will do on the followup as soon as I can bring it back.
  16. John thanks for the reply. I have implemented most of your suggestions, except trying a different fuse mainly because I didn't have my tool box with backup fuses along with me. We had just towed our Oliver up to Butte yesterday for my wife to stay in while babysitting our new grandson for a few days next week. I got caught with this surprise unprepared. The available fuse is tight indeed and for sure it seated properly. What I found odd was no tiny sparks occurred as normal when pulling a fuse and reinserting with live voltage. In the past anytime I've done this, normally you will see that tiny spark which to me indicates somewhere else along the line this circuit is perhaps NOT receiving any current. Why I don't know, which is why I wanted to check the wiring at the pump & switch, thinking something was amiss there. I will not have time until next week to get back up there and work on it, but for sure will try the fuse replacement. I agree with your assessment this is not a high quality fuse box. I do keep bevy of back up fuses, learned my lesson on that years ago, just forgot to put the toolbox back in the camper this time. Thanks
  17. Yesterday I just discovered a non functional water pump. Took the fuse out, it looked good but didn't have my multi meter with me to make sure. Inspected all of the wiring and connects at the water pump didn't see an issue there either. When I turn the switch on for the pump, no green light either which might indicate no electricity is getting to the pump. There doesn't seem to be a way to get access to the switch wiring either given that the backing plate does not have any screws for attachment. It appears this plate is perhaps glued to the Oliver body. Long and short of it, has anyone else encountered this in the past and if so how did you solve the problem? My gut instinct says the pump is not DOA itself but something else is amiss. Thanks
  18. Never mind that last note about C range, my bad
  19. I remember seeing that video regarding increased gas mileage for exactly what you're describing, sound like it might not be hype. Interesting tire chart you found there Randy. But when I went to the C load range the chart returned a 50 PSI result for my tires. Thats a bit more than I'm comfortable with for now.
  20. Pete I have also been looking at that Roadmaster Active Suspension for the last year or so too. It makes a lot of sense. Sounds like you are pleased with the performance then. Interesting observation system with the dirt road scenario too.
  21. Nope, never used an Andersen and don't intend to because it doesn't seem necessary based upon 10,000 miles of pulling the Oliver so far. And much of this has been in some extreme conditions. The hitch only requires it on my model once you get over 500 lbs, so granted we are on the cusp of being road illegal. It wasn't until I brought this subject up with the Oliver Company both here on this forum as well as the FG RV forum a couple of years or so ago that they even offered to install a WDH. As we were waiting on delivery of ours I stumbled upon information requiring WDH's otherwise tow and tongue weights were cut in half ± a few pounds. I would venture to guess the majority of people towing regardless of the load and type still are not aware of this. But from what I understand this is still not a law implemented by the DOT, rather an effort for the industry to create some sort of standard. You might be correct about the "P" rating but I find it odd that in every other case Michelin does rate their tires as "P" when applicable except for this one which does have some notched up specs. They are the Defender LTX 275/65R/18's
  22. Thanks for all the info, just a quick followup. Have checked several times with my owners manual regarding tire inflation for towing, zero zilch nada in the Ford manual, go figure, but just went through all of my manuals once again just in case I missed something. Again nothing. Thus the phone calls to the Ford and Michelin. Allow me to clarify a few things. My terminology might not have been correct on inflation. On our F150 the door panel says 35 PSI with a Max of 44 PSI but no info regarding loads, towing and what those values should change to from pound by pound. So by over inflating I meant going past the normal 35 PSI, certainly not 44. I should also add while towing with the standard recommended PSI the truck and camper handle just fine and I have not noticed any unusual wear between the center and outside with the older set of tires, though curiously one tire did have more tread life left and like most of you I check tire pressure often especially before heading out on a trip. The new set of tires, are a bit unusual in that they are NOT a true LT tire, but also are not categorized at P rated tire either and the load rating has been notched up from a 114R to a 116T allowing for something like 2756 lbs of load. So one wouldn't think 450-500 lbs at the hitch would not be much of an event, but it seems like the consensus is everyone else is deriving better performance from higher inflation above the standard recommended. For this upcoming trip based upon the suggestions here I think I will bump up the PSI to around 40 on the rear tires and see how that goes. Thanks
  23. Thus far I've never changed my tire inflation while towing any of our campers in the past, but having just installed a new set of tires on our '13 F150 EB got me to thinking should the rear tires be over inflated from the manufacturers recommendation provided on the door jamb stick while towing? Interestingly I contacted both Ford customer service as well as Michelin customer service and neither company would provide an answer. Spent some time researching this on the net and as you might guess "expert" opinions are all over the place, some being quite dogmatic. Shocking right? So I thought I would throw this out there for an informed discussion. Thanks
  24. I'm really surprised that so many users like the Voyager Rear View Camera system. As previously stated on other threads while our reception from the back of the trailer to my TV is fine the image quality is nothing short of awful. Yes you can see, make out whats behind you but its nothing like the built in back up camera in our F150 which has a very clear image by comparison. Calls to the manufacturer resolved nothing with very poor customer service IMO. At this point it doesn't matter since our F150 was broken into last week and the monitor stolen, so now I have to look into another system for a rear view camera. Here is what I've learned so far. RV Cams an online company that specializes in these systems states the ASA Electronics Voyager is still the best, however all online reviews I have found seems to give the kudos to Rear View Safety Systems. I could barely find any reviews of the Voyager at all. Someone made the comment all you need is two wires to hook the camera to the trailer, not so with the Voyager. For those with this system if you go into the attic, upper storage shelf at the back and peel the plastic bubble wrap insulation down you will see a connected wire from the mounted camera to another snake. This connection is a 4 prong assembly sort of like a mini DNC connector. By comparison investigating a Furion back up camera at a local RV dealership did indeed use only a two wire assembly and its image quality was demonstrably better than the Voyage albeit with a smaller monitor but with no gangly wiring hanging around. The installer at our local RV shop told me different camera systems will NOT talk to different monitor systems, though there may be a few exceptions but highly unlikely. I agree with others the wiring harness for the Voyager is nothing short of a obtrusive mess. And lets not even talk about the monitor mounting hardware. Adjusting this gangly mess and getting it to stay in place is an exercise in frustrating futility. The other camera/monitor systems I've seen are much more elegant in design. But all that said I wouldn't want to be without a rear view camera having now gotten used to having one poor image quality or not. We are scheduled to leave on a two week trip later today, probably tomorrow and having to deal with this is not what I had in mind. Need to look at topgun2's approach again. thanks, sorry for the rant
  25. I am on my 5th truck and have gone through a litany of different models and makes from small imports to the larger domestics and others in between. Likewise I have also tried just about every thing available to deal with the truck bed from nothing, to FG topper shells to roll up tonneau's and have come to the conclusion there is no perfect answer and regardless what you decide on there will be some buyers remorse at some point. For my last two trucks I have used the rollup tonneau covers but at times really wish I had a FG topper shell. But we also often load lots of other things into our trucks from landscaping materials to lumber, plywood and other items where not having a topper is a huge benefit. The rollup tonneau allows either one of us to stand up in the truck bed almost instantly, and if need be we can load things that are taller than the truck bed sides with ease. This arrangement also allows us to attach our Thule rack mount system to the side rails which then allows us to carry kayaks on the crossbars, and road bikes below in the truck bed. The down side of course is those items are not weather protected, and their in lies the rub. Good luck with your decision.
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