routlaw

If only my repairs were this simple, as difficult as your positioning is in the photo. Nice approach however given your height. What I am having to do is completely rebuild all drawers, replace all glides. Some of my glides, right side only are rusty, why I don't know as there are no leaks. Effectively the drawers built by Oliver were 1/4 to 5/16ths too narrow for the actual opening of the casings. I'm not making this up or exaggerating. This does not even include the spacers used to half a** make up for the difference which in this case were small washers glued with caulk to the back of the glides. Hoping to do a full report once I have everything built and reassembled which might be as early as today. Just started spraying on my first coat of varnish to the right side drawers a few minutes ago.

After nine years our kitchen cabinet drawers and glides have all but come apart. Am in the process as we speak of rebuilding all of them now but otherwise no can't think of anything coming loose to speak of and make no mistake we have seen our share of rough backcountry gravel roads. As @jd1923 suggested you might want to look into your tire pressure. We run ours at 45 PSI and lower if its rough gravel roads. More on the kitchen cabinet drawers in a later post.

Surprised to hear from you guys regarding diesel requiring more maintenance than gas powered. Had always thought the opposite to be true. Shows what little I know. That aside will throw in my two cents worth on trucks for the E2. For now years now we have been using an F150 with 3.5 E-Boost engine and while 95%+ this is completely adequate enough I agree with others given the weight of the Oliver E2 a half ton truck really is the lower limit to be considered. Let me also add the first 8 years we had our Oliver we towed with no issues what so ever WITHOUT the Andersen WD hitch and only adopted it due to some potential or theoretical legal issues. In the early years of Oliver I was not alone within this endeavor and just recently (past month) saw yet another Oliver E2 owner with half ton truck and no Andersen hitch. My own personal opinion is I hate the thing 90% of the time, so its very easy to understand why so many have gone to 3/4 ton trucks or larger. There is another issue worth considering too. Last year while heading down to the Wind River Range in WY we decided to go over Teton Pass rather than taking the longer route via Idaho Falls and through the Snake River Canyon. This descent of 10% grade for miles should not be taken on by such rigs as ours. With a 6 cylinder eco-boost engine there simply is not enough engine brake power from the smaller engine to take on such loads and while being as cautious and careful as I could right from the beginning of the pass it required far more conventional braking than was ideal to the point all brakes from the truck and Oliver were smoking half way down while trying to maintain the required speed limit which was futile. It is worth noting the rig in front of me, half ton or larger pickup with 5th wheel was having the same trouble. Effectively I had to escape to the nearest pull off, to allow time for brakes to cool off. Granted this is an intermountain west situation and not likely to be a concern for those of you traveling and camping back east, but I will not repeat this endeavor again. @Patriot hinted at this issue in an earlier post and I would emphasize take this warning seriously if money is not an issue. I constantly see people out on the road towing with what appears to many as far too little tow vehicle for the trailer they are dragging around. Scares the stew out of me. We once met a couple down in Utah towing a 25ft Flying Cloud Airstream with a Tacoma, not making this up. To this very day, Tacomas have still not integrated rear disc brakes on those pickups. Safe travels and happy camping.

Truly an ugly vehicle, could hardly refer to it as a truck. I would choose a Rivian hands down over this POS. We have one running around our town, see it ever so often. I just don't get it how this appeals to anyone. Regardless none of these EV trucks will suffice for towing anything. Apparently there is new battery technology on the horizon however that is far more environmentally friendly with more power than Lithium.

Be careful in how you plan for fall in Montana. Understand seasons in this neck of the woods can come and go in nearly a split second, and what most people think of the autumn months can be the dead of winter compared to their normal view of this season. Lived here for nearly half a century and have seen temps plunge to sub zeros mid September when the day before it was in the 70-80's or more. Colors start turning much sooner than other states too, usually by mid September and all but shot by the 3rd week of October if not sooner normally. Elevation plays a key role in this. The Flathead Valley area as well as Glacier will usually have color lasting a bit longer due to the lower elevations at base but again there is no guarantees other than to expect rapidly changing weather patterns. Yellowstone elevations are much higher as well and thus tend to end sooner. Hope this helps.

I concur with what @jd1923 said about Snow Canyon State Park, orders of magnitude better than Sand Hollow. Very pretty, some great hiking and will have all of the amenities that Sand Hollow has and then some. As others have stated hiking poles are good too with the steep hikes you'll likely encounter at Zion and other places in the SW.

Lots of good spots here but honestly having stayed at Sand Hollow in the past this is one I would cross it off the list as a waste of time. There are much better places in the SW or even SW Utah than Sand Hollow. I would also encourage while exploring those popular areas to get off the beaten track and venture into many of the awesome BLM areas of the SW that are every bit the equal to the National Parks and Monuments but without the crowds or fame. Regardless have a great trip.

Have done it both ways, full and partially full, which depends on my attitude at the time of departure, how long will the trip be and whether its a solo trip or if wife is coming along. Regardless we always carry two BPA free water jugs that are filled for drinking and cooking water. Never drink from the holding tanks which is only used for cleaning dishes and people.

I guess it's each to his or her own as long as safety is fully accounted for. Personally I would not consider this TV (Landcruiser) for the Elite II especially if bringing along everything but the "kitchen sink". Interesting while up in Glacier this past week there was another Elite II from Missouri camped a few spaces away from us, using if memory serves me correct a Tundra half ton but did not have the Andersen WDH as far as I could tell. Never got a chance to talk with them. We did the same for 8 years with our half ton F150 and had no issues what so ever, but in yet another thread on this forum someone had warned me that I was on the cusp of being right at or over the threshold of weight limits which I already knew of course. The thought of a law suit did not seem appealing to me so I bellied up to the bar and purchased and install the Andersen last year. At best it is a love hate relationship with the damn thing too. The ride is a bit better but not night and day, breaking is a bit more efficient but what a pain to deal with on anything but level ground. It's certainly easy to understand why so many Elite II owners have gone to 3/4 ton trucks due to this situation. Having said all this truth is I suspect the vast majority of people towing RV's, travel trailers etc are considerably out of their advised weight limits. And lets not even bring up the extremely poorly set up rigs going down the road with tongue down/front TV up or just as bad the inverted V where twin axels are virtually riding on the rear axle only. Thanks

I live in Bozeman, just north of YNP by about 90 miles and yes we have had an abnormally cooler than normal spring and heading into summer season. Rain, wind, and even some snow of late. However this is supposed to change in a day or two with temps heading into the 90 range. Mid to low 70's today with light wind. Mostly 70's to low 80's next week or so. No fires… yet. Glacier NP received 10 inches of snow a day or so ago at upper elevations and around Logan Pass.

Love the "Winds" Never get tired of that place but it's a b*tch getting in there if you ever decide to. Sounds like you're right down the road from us here in the Bozone. Happy Trails and camping.

On looks alone I wouldn't even read the ad copy.

I installed Vredestein Pinza AT LT's on my Oliver last year, love 'em. Also put a set on my truck as well. Amazingly quiet ride for an aggressive all terrain tread. Can't recommend them enough so far. Hope this helps

FWIW, Will Prowse also did a great write up on the SOK brand of LifePO batteries which are far less expensive but doubt the customer service is equal to Battle Born. SOK is a Canadian company and I believe the actual battery packs are made in China but from all I have read they get great reviews. BTW you will also most likely need to change your shore power charging unless it has the capability to also change the charging parameters. Lots to consider, good luck. Considering the same myself on 9 year old lead acid.

I just received this in the mail a couple of days ago. Went out to check our Oliver bought in 2015 and as it turns out has aa 7000 lb rating not the 5000 lb. After 9 years of use looks like we were ok anyway.

@Steve Morris Well that is strange indeed, wonder what the deal is. Good for you though, congrats.

Just a quick update on this situation for those of you who have unused rewards. Sure enough this outfit charges $3.50 per month for funds setting in the account. Been bush lately and have not had the time to think about using but at this rate there will not be much left, LOL. What a racket.

Lot of good points made here, have not thought of putting TV in neutral to let it settle but on more than one occasion have discovered there is a tension between TV and Oliver based upon how the last movements went, usually from backing up with a significant turn. What I always do now is take the tension away from the two by pulling forward usually a few inches or a foot max will do while straightening the TV front wheels. Some ground can be difficult to read the slope certainly and in this case front and back chocks work well. Like a few of you I have always taken a big rubber mallet and pound the crap out of those things so they are in tight both for rubber chocks as well as the Anderson leveling blocks. As for the X Chocks the company warns they are not meant to hold the camper in place, only to stabilize it once setup claiming the device is not strong enough to hold most campers steady. That said I have no doubt a lot of people use them in this manner. Good luck in the future

FYI, logged into my account yesterday and it did state there would be a $3.50 monthly charge. Tried to spend mine yesterday but it was declined due to an incorrect PIN #. What a racket by the banks.

I hear you, time to spend it for sure. Had no idea this was developing

Just checked this morning to view the amount on my Oliver debit card, and found the new institution has a month service charge just for the money setting in this account which is apparently $3.50 per month. What racket. Oh well. Thought everyone else might want to know if they are invested in this situation.

Well now I am setting on the edge of my seat waiting to find out the true engineering intent for these cross braces. Maybe Oliver will share with us some day.

That downward sag is about the same as on my Oliver too and as others have pointed out these are C channel not L channel as I previously referred to. Regardless the H2O heater surely can't weigh so much with only 6 gallons of water and maybe another 20 lbs for the actual heater itself. Mystery to me why so much more structure in this one area and yet so many still break. Still nothing from Tech support.

One could come to that conclusion but there are still cross braces under the fresh water tank which could also fail under the right conditions.

Good luck, wonderful place to travel to. Have been on that road a number of times and sometimes it's terrible and once or twice fairly smooth sailing for a gravel road at least. Maybe you'll hit it just after a fresh grading.