routlaw

Base weight of 12,000-13,000 lbs and gross of 16,000. Better have a huge towing rig for that kind of weight, but they are nice for the most part. I shutter to think of what these things might cost.

Yeah I hear you on the interior part. In this regard the new Lance travel trailers have more appeal to me but perhaps not as good a floor plan. The exteriors of any of these boxy trailers takes a back seat to the Oliver by a long shot though. I wonder what that titanium package adds to the cost of the base model though, has to be significant. Would love to had a more detailed view of the suspension on this trailer too. The shackles look very similar to the Dexter upgrades I did years ago. Never cared for slide outs either but like their mod to theirs. Funny my wife and I for the most part rarely ever camp with hookups and the most amps we have ever burned through is about 85-90 on very cold nights running the furnace. Thus my fascination on how much energy they were consuming.

@rich.dev good video thanks for linking. Watched it yesterday. Great solar battery setup but for the life of me I cannot imagine using that much electricity while camping. Am at a loss for for what they would use this much amp hours in day, but its nice to have. Clearly their installers did a fantastic job and the Victron display is really nice too. Loved the self leveling hydraulic system. Thanks

Agree with Steve the Escapes are nice but there are some short cuts. We have been in a few of them and just were not that impressed. Regarding Airstreams, granted they have some very nice interiors but I have lost count of the times having conversations with AS owners and listening to the issues they have had. Most people actually carry a pop rivet gun along due to the rivets popping out, insulation is minimal at best. My wife thinks of them as a bear can on wheels, a bit harsh for sure. I do agree the Bigfoots are nice too, very well built and about as 4 season as anything out there. In addition I would also add the Lance Travel Trailers to the group of very well built. They have a state of the art facility in CA and while they may look like a typical stick built trailer they are anything but. If I were to ever change from the Oliver the Lance is the first thing I would be looking at. That said I don't particularly care for the models with the slide-outs. But their construction quality is truly a cut above. Hope this helps

@jd1923 agreed configuring the Blue Sky SC is a bit tedious. You have some valid suggestions on your post but probably will just belly up to the bar and buy the upgraded PD charger anyway rather than sweating bullets about watching the SOC when I am plugged into shore power. All that said, I am surprised it took 3 days to get from 55% to 100% with your solar and Blue Sky SC. On the other hand that is 270 amps to ramp up which is more than the available amps allowable with the 4 pack of lead acid (450 AH /2 = 225 AH). Thanks

This is great info @tallmandan had not found an online retailer. Given the heartier price if I go this route with Epoch perhaps I would be better served with the 460 Amp version which is only $300 more yet a 50% increase in AH. It's considerable heavier though which is a deterrent. I have no doubt the price increase is due to tariffs, but will call your linked company and delve into this and report back.

@jd1923 yes if you go to the App Store you will see two versions, Pro and Basic or standard. It’s my understanding the Pro version only works with their top tier batteries. In the meantime sounds like you CS experience reflects what others have encountered too. Not good. Interesting comments on the app otherwise. Needs work for sure. Thanks

Excellent info and feedback @ADKCamper appreciated and a very good description of what others have complained about with the app. I will most likely keep my Blue Sky controller charge from Sun Forge that originally came with #70 but will have to upgrade my Power Dynamics AC charger although it's not often we are plugged into shore power. I assume your PD charger came with the one that has an internal switch for Lithium?

True I did realize he was only reviewing the higher end Elite model 12V 460 AH and not the 12 V 300AH Essential which I was also considering. On Epoch's website they do have a spell out pronunciation as e-pic so I think Prowse is saying it correctly. In any case there are or were many who complain about the app with or without upgrade as well as customer service. One does have to wonder though what is it they have done differently on the more expensive battery compared to the less expensive that has made it so unreliable other than the app. For what they charge for these things it's a bit inexcusable. Glad you are having great results with yours, most important and good recommendation.

Thanks John for this reply and helpful info. FWIW you installed the same batteries I was contemplating the most but probably only one of them. History has proven we just do not use or need that much stored power. Just curious how do you feel about the Epoch app in general, upgraded or not? Prowse and others thinks it needs work, and in some cases lots of work.

Hello All Been AWOL for a while but just returned from a week long trip to the SW and was sorely reminded of the need to finally upgrade our battery pack. It works for water pump, lights, stabilizer jacks etc but not for the furnace. Just not enough juice to trip the sail switch, go figure. Have been looking at both SOK and the Epoch but was put off by Will Prowse's review of issues with the Epoch brand. Pitfall software app, and in some cases just downright failures of the entire battery. Not so with the SOK brand. Apparently the app for SOK is quite good. So for all you folks who have upgraded to the Epoch line of LiOn batteries can you shed some user field experience. It would be much appreciated. I will add this to the equation, having reached out to Epoch a few times I have found their customer support to be downright pitiful. Either short and curt responses or none at all. Worse I am not alone in this apparently when you read some of the reviews of their customers who have purchased their batteries. Thanks again. Rob

I agree with @Patriot and if I were going to paint mine it would be perhaps a pearlescent white the main reason not having to deal with the gel coat issues. From my experience and others may disagree maintaining a painted vehicle is much easier than maintaining a gel coat over fiberglass.

@ScubaRx you beat me to it. I also suspect a painted Oliver might be easier to maintain vs the gel coat which constantly needs waxing, ceramic coatings etc. No doubt it would also cost a good sum of money to have one painted properly too.

Yes indeed about half days drive from Bozeman. Hardly worth the effort but thanks for the heads up.

@gbergh unfortunately we don't have a Love's anywhere near us. Have seen them on road trips in the past and filled up more than once. Don't think they are even in Montana. I suspect based upon the YouTube videos I've seen to replace struts on the F150 there might be quite a bit more work to the install. It requires (apparently) a significant amount of disassembly. Thanks for the info though

Hopefully I don't come off as being too argumentative on this discussion but attached is the instruction sheet for adjusting the lift on the 5100 series Bilstein shocks. Also including a link from Shock Surplus with videos discussing this attribute. IOW's these shocks are indeed ride height adjustable. Bilstein makes these shocks now for just about every truck on the market including Tacomas so I have no doubt they also have them for RAM trucks as well. The 4600 series and 5100 Series are different in this regard too. In order to jump up to a completely assembled coil/shock combo one has to move up to the 6112 shock-strut assembly to the tune of just under a grand for parts alone. However that shock is designed and built for serious off-roading with a much larger diameter tube compared to the 5100 series. In the meantime regarding my initial post on this thread, still haven't found a local who can do this install any less expensive so far but understand too the cost of living in my area is and has become very expensive. Minimum wage locally is $20-$22 per hour and thats just for flipping burgers and stuffing tacos. Average home prices are hovering just under a million now. We didn't pay anywhere near that but have been living here for almost 50 years too. In the meantime still exploring the options. Hoping anyone else seeking to do this finds this info helpful. https://www.shocksurplus.com/products/bilstein-5100-monotube-gas-shocks-24-239394

They do, but actually it’s 4 settings. As I understand it this is unique for Bilsteins and no other shock by itself has this capability.

@jd1923 good job. I like the way you installed this well below the awning attachments. The original was nestled just below and touching those brackets which in turn creates a huge debris mess almost impossible to clean out. As pliable as this trim piece seems to be just curious if you considered with turning those end corners downward slightly to facilitate the flow of water out?

The 5100 Bilstein rear shocks do not create a lift, only the fronts will do that. I paid around $500 for the set of fronts and rears at Shock Surplus. However when install the Road Active Suspension this device does raise the rear about an inch and half or so.

Just watched a YouTube video where a guy was changing the front shocks on an older rusted out F150. The compressor he used was no light weight affair, really large massive floor standing affair. He took a lot of stuff apart that seemed a bit unnecessary, easy for me to say not having done it. Regardless quite the job. Also called a couple local mobile mechanics and their estimate really wasn't much different than what I had already been quoted. At this point will probably just stick with what I already have scheduled and bite the bullet. The one thing I was warned about for those contemplating these types of repairs, make sure the top plate bearing is also replaced at the same time of the shock.

Everything is like this in this neck of the woods. The growth in the area has been explosive over the past several years, got worse during covid with apparently no end in sight. Existing labor and services can't keep up with the demand. Still looking for an alternate shop nothing so far. Thanks

Have read this many times regarding the danger of dealing with spring compressors and why I didn't want to go down this route. Too late at this point for complete assemblies since I already have the shocks on hand. The complete assembly set was quite expensive though. Thanks Have a note into one of the mobile repairs outfits locally but no call back yet, still waiting on that.

Wow, lucky man. Mine was a bit messier and more difficult than that.

Just did this myself earlier in the summer. Mine was also pretty much dry rotted and ugly. It's a job make no mistake. Have yet to install rain gutters over the windows though, probably should do that soon.

Thanks for all the helpful information @jd1923 . Interesting it was my understanding one has to have a spring compressor in order to remove and install front shocks into their respective coils/struts. Have not checked into mobile mechanics, will do this evening. Understood on all else. We do have an awesome alignment shop or two here but they are weeks if not months out, seriously. Thanks again. Rob