MAX Burner

Hey, John; Alcan will absolutely install them at their shop rate in GJ. It's what they do! You'll have the piece of mind that they'll be R&R'd correctly. For arrangements, you can call either Lew or Mike at: 970.241.2655 Good plan, brother! Good luck!

We did the same by replacing our ZAMP PWM with the more efficient Victron MPPT unit, but we mounted ours on the forward bulkhead inside the compartment behind the Furrion. The wiring for the solar modules were right there like @mossemi and @mountainoliver describe. Access was gained both by removing the Furrion and going through the deck plate on the forward bulkhead of the overhead storage compartment aft of the pantry. Both were needed to get "hands-on" the mounting location. Pic below taken from the overhead storage compartment looking forward through the deck plate opening: We added Victron's remote gauge to monitor solar energy production in addition to their 7" touch screen. The pic below isn't a very good snap but you can see the 7" screen (with protective cover attached) above the Furrion and to the right is a partial view of Victron's circular solar monitor: We like the Victron features... Cheers!

That's awesome! Who bought?

Same here - but D calls it a "sickness"....

Hey, John: There's at least 4 or 5 "reported" broken springs from reading these forums. Obviously, no clue how many haven't been reported here. But I've learned that there are some good reasons for switching out the 4-packs to higher rated 5-pack springs. Let me summarize: 1. Spring Rating: There's evidence that the Chinese-made "AxleTek" 4-packs, although rated at 1,750# may actually less than that rating. Mike at Alcan informed me of this. The 5-packs are rated in the 2,250# range. So, the 5-packs have somewhere in the range of 500# more weight rating. Can an owner "feel" the difference? I tried. My wife drove me around our country road neighborhood for several miles before and after swapping out springs. FWIW: I couldn't "feel" any difference. 2. Weak Area Near Eyelets: Of the reported broken springs - the break occurs within a couple inches from the eyelet on the top spring - this break is near the end of the second spring which is about 4.5" from the eyelet. On the 5-packs, the second spring extends beyond the center of the eyelet about 7/16" on either side - doubling the spring material where reported ones break. To experience a broken 5-pack spring - the break would have to take-out the two top springs. That's likely why there's never been a reported 5-pack break. 3. Bushings: The bronze bushings in the Chinese-made spring eyelets are measured at 1/16" thickness on my springs - the replacement Alcan spring bushings are right at 1/4" thick - 4x the material, which will take much longer to wear out. Also, to get that 1/4" thick bushing into that eyelet the outside diameter of the eyelet must be made larger. The OD of the AxleTek eyelet is 1.34" while the Alcan eyelet is 1.53", giving the 5-pack eyelets a more robust configuration. 4. Steel Composition: The Chinese steel is of unknown pedigree - unless someone wants to pay for an NDA test (which I'm not interested in) we'll only know subjectively that their steel sucks compared to the recognized high-quality of US-made steel. 5. Comparative Weight: OK, the 5-packs have one extra leaf, right? How much more do you think that extra leaf weighs? I weighed both - the Chinese AxleTek is right at 10#; where the Alcan comes in at 18#. Here's why: The total length of spring material in the 4-packs is 66-1/4" versus 99" for the 5-packs, or 49% more material in the 5-packs. 10# versus 18# = an 80% increased weight for the 5-packs. Above shows the eyelet-to-eyelet measurement of the 4-pack top spring. Each subsequent spring length was measured straight across from end to end. Notice the "flattening" of the arc of the 4-pack. The other 4-packs were flattened like this one. JFTR: We never even come close to the 7k# GVWR of the OTT on any of our excursions. 6. Price Point: New 5-packs/U-bolt kit will cost owners approximately $800 plus shipping from Grand Junction, CO. I'm in NM and shipping was $110. FYI: No tax if purchased outside of CO. For us it was a no-brainer. One of the last issues we want to handle is a broken leaf spring in the middle of a boon docking location in the middle of EBF somewhere. Cheers!

Right on, brother!

I'd consider going with a GS anytime!!! Loved that scooter! The GS community in the Rockies is extensive and very supportive to members. We used to hit the rallies and runs all up and down the spine of the Rockies for many years. Still do so - but now it's on our K-bike, 2-up. HA!

We worked with both Mike and Lew at Alcan in ordering our 5 spring-packs. Great guys and very helpful. FYI: We decide to reuse our wet bolts as the brass bushings in the spring eyes (albeit very thin) were still intact which left the steel bolts totally serviceable. IMO: The 2k#-rated Alcan spring-packs (or similar 5-spring packs) pair better with the 3.5k# Dexters than the OEM 4 spring-packs...

Tail lights came out *****'n! NICELY Done... Bravo Zulu, brother!

We've had up to 5 Beemers in the stall at one point, D used to ride too. We had an '06 R1150GS ADV (Alpine white/blue) and '08 650GS Thumper for D. We still have the '84 R90/6 (highly modified)... Correct-a-mundo! ...so, we're down to only 2 scooters at this point. 🥲

Got some "Box Envy" going on over here... HA!

It's called the Kraken! '13 K1600GT - goes the speed of heat in a heartbeat!

Tempus fugit, brother! Looking forward to meeting all y'all at the Owner's Rally... Safe travels, ALL! Cheers!

I thought the MP2 has an internal ATS, but could be mistaken...

Hey, Mike: Just a thought which has worked for us on several occasions with some of our Victron components - try giving the boys at Battleborn Batteries in Reno, NV a shout. They are an authorized Victron dealer and are well accustomed to helping out DIY'ers. We've called them many times and have always got a solution to our issues. They're very patient and will walk you through a troubleshooting process to get that AC operating with the MP2. Keep us posted as you go through the troubleshooting as we're interested in doing the same MP2 mod after our 2,000w Xantrax fails. Good luck!

Excellent situation report - thanks for sharing!

No idea, but "westbound I-40 near Santa Rosa" you must be back home now! Right on - back in pocket Thursday afternoon after about 1,875 miles over 9 days. No biggie, like @ScubaRx mentioned- most of that time was hanging out in a cow pasture.

Good call, brother! 😉

We were westbound I-40 near Santa Rosa, NM last Thursday around 11am, and spotted an Ollie being towed with a bright red pickup truck TV... Any ideas who it might have been?

OK... The lower plexiglas panel still works like a champ, however knucklehead #1, Magnus, AKA -- Houdini the Escape Artist has recently figured out how to unlock the red latch lever, pull the open handle, and push the door open. He can do it in less than a minute - I checked to see if he's grown thumbs. We caught him in the act by monitoring the security camera installed high on forward bulkhead, FYI. The next modification to the screen door will include another velcro-ed plexi panel covering the door latch area. The slider pops out easily and can be stored in an overhead compartment. We'll see, more later...

Gotcha, brother! Couldn't imagine one of those 90 lb-foot torqued nuts loosening up...

Same here, brother! Couldn't agree more, David! We should all invest in something like one of these unless already owned... ...just one last blow to the horse! HA!

(Copied and pasted from the leaf spring thread): Regarding frame cross member welds - visually inspected all yesterday and photographed each weld to set a baseline for our records. All good. I'm suspecting that the broken welds reported could be caused by an inexperienced welder at the factory - an anomaly and not a design flaw. I also suspect that Oliver engineers designed the frame to withstand "normal" usage (that may be difficult to define, however). Like other owners, we routinely, yet carefully, travel over unpaved and unimproved roads with a full fresh (empty black/gray) tank without issue - I believe this practice is within the design limitations of the trailer. We'll definitely keep inspecting the cross members after such trips, however... Thoughts?

Don't know how many of y'all ever rode in the OTT under tow, but I've done it a few times just to check what needs attending to. I try to convince my bride to keep the speed down -- with little success...😜 FWIW, I rode in the back for the last several miles yesterday on our way back from the eclipse adventure.... From a qualitative perspective, the ride was interestingly noisy, solid/stiff - but not like a buckboard.... It was not appreciably different than the ride I took before changing out the springs. Don't think it would comfortable for more than a few miles, IMO. I checked the torque settings for each of the U-bolt nuts after logging 1,895 miles on the new springs over the last 9 days - all good, no more stretch. Probably a good idea to keep doing so every 5k miles or at least annually. Not to highjack this thread, but: Regarding frame cross member welds - visually inspected all yesterday and photographed each weld to set a baseline for our records. All good. I'm suspecting that the broken welds reported in a parallel thread could be caused by an inexperienced welder at the factory and not a design flaw. I also suspect that Oliver engineers designed the frame to withstand "normal" usage (that may be difficult to define, however). Like other owners, we routinely, yet carefully, travel over unpaved and unimproved roads with a full fresh (empty black/gray) tank without issue - I believe this practice is within the design limitations of the trailer. We'll definitely keep inspecting the cross members after such trips... Thoughts?

Excellent question!