routlaw

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

Never mind that last note about C range, my bad

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

JFTR, the Yamaha's are actually quieter than the Honda generators. I have one (Yamaha) though never use it anymore and don't even bring it with us now that we have the solar package and 4 Trojan batteries. At the risk of ad nauseum repeating myself for umpteen times, we've never come close to running out of electricity even camped in dappled shade in Glacier NP for a week or two at a time. So our generator just sets in the shed collecting dust. I should run an ad on craiglist and get rid of it. We use a combination of 2x6's and the plastic leveling blocks that come about 8 to a package for stabilizers. Hope this helps.

Regarding the ride, after installing our kit and a two week trip to Glacier earlier in July we both definitely noticed a different ride, smoother and more compliant is how I would describe it. We also noticed far less, as in almost no, shuffling of gear in the upper cupboards over the kitchen upon arrival too. And the Oliver is quiet as a church mouse now too. Hope this helps.

Was out yesterday, it was my b'day, so Trudi and I did an epic hike and bagged Blackmore Peak in the Hyalite Range south of town. Approximately 12 miles RT, almost 4,000 elevation gain up to 10,154 feet. We were whipped by the end of it, thus the delayed response. But I'm still confused yet on your setup, though it looks like you've done a stellar job of installation. Whats not clear to me is how, where you get your AC outlets? Normally the inverter itself provides a couple but then yours is hidden from access. Did you somehow find a way of wiring the existing AC outlets already installed in the Ollie to provide your inverted 110 V @ AC needs, or did you install additional outlets (fed by the inverter) which are dedicated to the inverter only. If neither I'm really confused then. Thanks for the pics and explanation. BTW, why is it that my "thanks" to peoples post do not show up, yet more confusion for a different discussion.

Steve I have to hand it to you, you're never one for taking short cuts. So just for clarity though it appears you mounted your inverter out of sight and in the basement so to speak while implementing yet an additional breaker panel perhaps with 110 outlets for your AC elec needs? From your description it seems the inverter is not easily accessible, correct? Where was the 110 breaker panel installed? And is a surge protector really that necessary for someone who rarely if ever uses shore power? Thanks Dave, doubt we would ever need 3000 watt as our AC has never been used, but your comment regarding location are what I've been struggling with too. Effectively I don't see an ideal place to install one of these things and having a short run of cable to solar/battery mains seems sensible regardless of AWG wiring. Much to consider.

Thinking about installing one of the 12V Inverters into my Ollie, should have had this done during the build but thats another discussion. So for those that have opted for either the 600 or 2000 watt system where is the best place to mount this inside the camper? Are you happy with where the folks at Oliver installed it? Ideally I would like to do this with as few drill holes as possible and so that its out of the way and not an intrusion into most of the living space. Perhaps under the dining table, and near the breaker panels? I'm open for other ideas though. Thanks

The image is flipped horizontally, you can determine this by the window placements. On the non awning side you will see the bath room window, then the two larger windows at the dinette and bed areas. Highly unlikely there was a negative, any commercial work done these days is all digital and has been for some period.

Coolers, we just do it the old fashion way. We bring along an ice chest and keep that in the back of our truck. Nice to have a cold drink after a long day of hiking or cycling or what ever we are up to for the day. Even in hot weather we can go a 2-3 days without replenishing the ice. Thus far we haven't felt the need for a larger fridge per se, but if we had it no doubt it would get used. Things do get tossed around quite a bit though. Regarding pre-cooling the fridge, really its no big deal, one can always use AC for the initial phase but the fridge from what I can tell doesn't eat up too much propane so this is not something I worry about. And it will take lots more energy in the summer months to get it down to temp than if you had done it before leaving.

No problem Buzzy, sort of figured that might have been the case. But regarding your other questions, honestly I can't tell you though I am aware of what you asking having spent quite a bit of time on the Dexter website before plunging into this soiree. But the Oliver does NOT use a torqflex suspension instead they use the leaf springs. Other campers like Casita, Scamp etc use the torque flex, would assume this also eliminates the removable spindle. Not sure about the EZ lube bearings, have not seen any thing that resembles a sway control device underneath, and also not sure about the Never-R-Adjust brakes but doubt it. Now all that said I did have the local shop check my brakes and wheel bearings while they were at this, and the result is all was good. We currently have just shy of 8,000 miles on ours. Perhaps Tommy can shed some info here, but my guess is, if Dexter did not include these superior suspension parts such as the EZ-Flex I would be willing to be dollars to donuts none of the other items you mention are on the standard axels. I have read on other forums the EZ lube bearings can be problematic with the brakes, i.e. grease overflowing onto the pads or drums. Not a good thing. For now I'm going to leave well enough alone, but have considered installing Bilstein Shocks on my F150 as well as the Roadmaster Active Supsension system which I've heard nothing but good things about, linked below.

Buzzy, I'll answer on Steve's behalf since I don't believe he has installed his kit yet. I had my zerks installed toward the inside for easier access, yes all pivots have a zerk fittings and each can be lubed individually. Since I didn't do this myself, the installers in this case Toms Alignment here in Bozeman did lube each pivot and bushing before and after installation. Don't recall or can't verify what Dexter recommends on mileage for periodic lubing but if they say 3,000 miles ± I would use this as a yardstick. FWIW our suspension was squeaking fairly loudly before we even returned home from picking up our Oliver March one year ago. Probably only had some 3,000 miles at that point… max. Didn't pay too much attention to it at this point, but by 6500 or 7000 miles we developed the obnoxious and loud clanking while leveling the trailer. This was more disconcerting than the squeaking while moving slowing in the campgrounds. Hope this helps

Final update on the EZ Flex install and how it works. Just took our Oliver back out to storage but took the scenic route adding quite a few miles on some skinny back roads full of patches, ripples from frost heave and various other whoopty do's on the road bed. No question about it the towing and ride are much smoother and more compliant with this suspension upgrade and again quiet as a church mouse. In fact I'll go so far as to say the ride out with the trailer in tow was smoother than the ride back unencumbered. Decided to take the same route on the return leg. Granted not a 100% exact comparison but close enough for this purpose. It will be interesting to see if Steve's response and assessment coincide with mine. Good luck with the project. Be glad to answer any questions anyone has.

Thanks Buzzy, but given that I got drug into this kicking and screaming due to an excessively noisy suspension not sure I deserve any altruistic awards. Regardless its great others are finding some useful information on the subject and that you have found it helpful. In the short term other than the annoyance of putting up with the noise its unlikely there was any immediate danger to the Oliver, but left unchecked I have no doubt the rust could have become a much bigger issue later, possibly requiring more parts and labor, and perhaps some handling issues on the road. It is worth pointing out too, if an individual does not want to incur the entire cost of the EZ-Flex kit + installation fees, they could just replace the existing bolts (8 per side) with zerk bolts and probably new bushings as well (though that may not be mandatory) and at least they would have a serviceable suspension for lubing once or twice a year. Better than standard issue, but for another nickel and a tad more effort they could have the entire enchilada and far better suspension. Once you're in this deep, another $300 ± or so is chump change given the piece of mind and serviceability.

Quick followup, just picked up our Oliver from Toms Alignment here in the Bozone. They did check for alignment but said it was dead nuts perfect. The EZ Flex suspension system is now installed and it is quiet as a church mouse either going over bumps on the road or leveling the trailer. Its only a short drive from our house to the repair shop so I haven't put it to the test for ride quality but from what I could tell the towing did seem somewhat smoother and more compliant, a good thing. The guys working on it thought the kit was awesome. Inspecting the old parts, the following is what we observed. Some plastic bushings in fairly rough condition but not as bad as I would have imagined, but rust and lots of it everywhere, inside and outside of the bushings as well as the bolts and races the bushings fit into. If there ever was any grease in these areas, and I doubt it, that grease had long left the building. Some bushings did have cracks and splits along the length while others still inside their through holes or races had some flaking. Will try and do a test ride later today or tomorrow and report back on the ride and towing improvement if any. Hope this helps.

Agreed entirely, but for those who are looking for something smaller and towable with a much smaller vehicle they might fit the bill. The guy who designed these things however brought to the industry what should have been here long ago, very innovative, creative and forward thinking. In perfect world Robert Johans (think I got that right) would have been able to go forward with this thing himself. Still no match for an Oliver though.

Buzzy, no not at all, but agree with your analysis. When they first brought it up I was a bit taken back. Could be once they get under the thing and see how its built they might have a different opinion. And as stated before the thing tracks incredibly well even without a WD hitch, sway bars etc.

Don you could have this done at any auto undercarriage shop too, i.e. shocks, brakes, alignment that sort of thing. I just took our Oliver down to what is considered to be the best sort of shop for this type of work in our town this morning. Had hoped to do it myself but the weather just isn't cooperating lately with not much end in sight either and with a big project coming up. Since Dexter supposedly has a two year warranty on their axles I'm hoping to get some relief for doing this but am not holding my breath. Oddly enough these guys were talking about aligning the axles too, said most of them do not come with any camber or toe etc etc and they have a hydraulic tool that can set the axle correct. My response was do nothing until we discuss it further. Apparently they have done this to thousands of campers/trailers. Had me a bit skeptical though given how well the Oliver tows as it is. Hope this helps.

I have no doubt you will do well with this mod, but do keep us informed on how it goes. Likewise I will do the same. Regarding deliveries, yep we usually get our shipments in via the 20 Mule Team Borax crew but thats only a recent new advancement for these parts, still had the pony express when I moved up here in the mid 70's. So we're moving pretty quick now days. The views aren't too bad though, long as those mules don't get in the way.