John Welte

Our max tongue weight we can have is 920 pounds. I thought the Oliver was about 700 pounds. I am thinking of the 30 pound propane tanks and no front basket. Will I be ok? My do not exceed number is 1404 pounds occupants and cargo. If 700 pounds for tongue weight and my wife and I are 340 pounds combined, wouldn't that give us about 364 pounds for our CCC? I thought the wdh helped us. I am new to all this.

I am sold on the Anderson WDH then. I much prefer quality over price. If the ride experience is better with a wdh, then that's a key factor. It also lessens the tw also as I understand.

Thanks for your comment. Initially I was thinking of the tongue storage box, but after reading comments, it appears that might not be a good idea afterall.

There's an option for a weight distribution hitch. Anderson I think. That seems to be a good idea. What are your thoughts on that option?

I looked at my vehicle specs more closely and it turns out that I have 9200 pounds of tow capacity.

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it very much.

It looks like my 2017 EL Limited has a towing capacity of 9200 pounds. I think that I will be OK with it. I like the vehicle and I can get whole sheets of 4x8 plywood. Thanks for your comments. Now to get my wife on the same page. She is still talking about an R-Pod and I am thinking Oliver LE2.

We live in Beaverton, ten miles west of Portland. It has a six cylinder, twin turbo charge 3.5 L engine. It's more powerful than our Suburban thatbhad 8 cylinders and was 5.7 L odd as that seems. The Suburban was 1992 that we had for about 25 years.

It has the heavy duty tow package as it's a Limited trim package with the 7 prong connector and the manual brake adjuster. For 2017, the deciding factor if it has the heavy duty tow package is the 7 prong connector. Maybe I am OK after all.

The combined weight of occupants and cargo should not exceed 1408 pounds. I weigh 200, my wife weighs 140. I think the hitch weight is 700 pounds on the LE2. We would probably have about 6000 pounds in the trailer with water, clothes and food. Usually with our tent trailer we just hook up to city water at the cg. We haven't done boondocking with our tent trailer. I foresee doing mostly state parks and hooking up to water and electricity. I am thinking of the composting toilet so wouldn't use the black tank. Does this sound doable?

Thanks Susan for the well written response. You make very valid reasons for going with Oliver. Another member here pointed out the limitations of my present tv, that being a 2017 Ford Expedition EL with tow package. I learned a lot about GVWR, CCC, GCVWR and more. I thought my Expedition would be adequate for the job, but now I am not so sure. We live in Oregon. In a flat state like Florida, it might not be a concern. Of course, the plan is to travel all over the country, and that would include mountains.

That was very useful. It's a lot more complicated than I thought. Thanks for the link.

That's impressive

Mainiac, that's the truth! I have not been impressed with the quality of what I have seen so far.

NancyK, that was our argument for buying a new Subaru too. A two year old Subaru was close in price to a new one.

Do you know how that resale value compares to stick built trailers such as the R-Pod? I assume Oliver trailers are much higher.

I have looked under the trailers and inside cabinets now. We spent about an hour inside an Oliver. Quality was obvious. Thanks.

Good point. Years ago we remodeled our kitchen. I had gotten a new job and my future was looking good. I gave my wife a coupon that I made that said this coupon is good for one dream kitchen. We put in the best drawer slides, a Sub-Zero refrigerator/freezer, the best kitchen faucet, etc. You have a good point. We have enjoyed that kitchen and when we go visit friends and family that went cheap on everything, I am reminded what a wise decision that was. Drawers still slide great 23 years later.

I don't want a slide out either. Thanks for your comments.

That was my thinking too. A corporation built it, whereas Oliver is a family business with their name on it.

I looked at driver's door jam. It lists 7600 gvwr. It does have the tow package. It will be an easier sell to my wife if we don't have to get a different vehicle. I am not sure if I answered your question.

The R-pod is her choice, but I am not excited about it. We don't have inside storage so I imagine it might be a challenge to keep it from leaking. I am thinking of investing in a carport type cover that would protect the Oliver or any trailer we get. I didn't cover our Coleman tent trailer as it had a metal roof. Unbeknownst to me some little holes developed in the roof and damaged the ceiling. Do those metal roof carport roof structures do the job? Ideally it's stored in a garage.

That's the argument I needed. I doubt a stick built trailer would hold its value. Thanks

Hi all, so we haven't ordered an Oliver yet, as my wife is hesitant due to the cost, but it appears that our Ford Expedition could tow a LE2 very easily. It's rated at 6,600 pounds of tow capability. The LE2 weighs about 4,600 pounds if I recall. How would that tv do out west going up our mountains. Is 6,600 pounds the tow ability crossing the plains with a strong tail wind or is that real world towing. A lot of freeways max out about 6% grade here in the west I think. At what point would our tv cry uncle!? I rode my bicycle across the country twice and some grades were up to 13-15%. Could our tv handle that?