Mike and Carol

I use this on the road and while at home to do stuff up top. We carry it in the bed of the truck. I cut a pool noodle to fit the top couple of feet of the ladder where it rests against the trailer. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XTBXTXG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Agree!

Alcohol. Followed the instructions. The issue was the sudden, large temperature drop combined with the material being stored for a while in the tight shipping coil. I should have unwrapped and let them normalize. The ones I got last week have been straightening in the hot garage and have lost their shipping bend.

Welcome, Kansas! Carol and I are both From Kansas, Leavenworth HS graduates, sort of the greater KC area. Ask any questions you may have, lots of smart folks here that like to help. Hope to see you on the road. Mike

Welcome, Kansas! Carol and I are both From Kansas, Leavenworth HS graduates, sort of the greater KC area. Ask any questions you may have, lots of smart folks here that like to help. Hope to see you on the road. Mike

Last week I received my eze gutter order from Amazon. Two 10’ rolls @ $27 each. Polar white. I installed these a few years ago on a hot spring day which was followed by a norther that night with temps going from the 80s to 30s. My ends curled up. With temps in the 100s the next week I’m hoping that won’t happen again. I’ve had them unrolled in the hot garage for a week to ensure they will be nice and pliable. Ensuring they go on a clean surface is key. Mike

I got a cheap string of Solar powered LED lights from Amazon, about 1” balls that we sometimes hang from the awning with Camco hooks that slide into the awning slot. They are not bright, just provide a mild ambience. We use them depending on the Campground. Sometimes dark is better. What’s really annoying is campers the have strings of bright LEDs everywhere ruining the night sky.

I cannot speak to the F150. With my Ram 1500 I always use Tow/Haul mode when towing. I do not believe that disables the anti-sway capability of my truck. With well over 40K miles towing my Ollie in many conditions there has never been a situation where I thought safety systems were in conflict. I would think that the “brains” written into the truck anti-sway system would detect the reduced sway caused by the Andersen and figure that into its calculations.

I meant to include Grand Teton NP. We’ll also visit Custer SP and Mt Rushmore while in SD. At National Parks we typically hit the visitor center to pick up a map and talk to a ranger for good hikes and what’s best to see/do. Right now I’m interested in good campgrounds, both on and off the parks. We don’t eat out much but do like to see the local area. No bikes, golf, kayaks. I’m hoping fires aren’t too bad. We don’t have reservations anywhere so we can be flexible to fit in with weather and smoke conditions. Thanks for any recommendations or lessons learned! Mike

Thanks for the report! One question - why would you need to unplug the black brake release plug?

Small world!

At the end of August we are heading north. Going straight to Roosevelt NP, then over to Glacier, down to Yellowstone then over to Badlands/Wind Cave. Any thoughts or advice on places to stay, places to visit, things to see, routes to avoid, etc.? We haven’t camped in the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho or Wyoming. We are planning on being home early to mid October. Weather issues up there in September? Thanks. Mike

I’ve watched them all so far. Good info, especially for potential owners. They should supplement the new owner orientation. Mike

We’ll give this some consideration. We are leaving the end of August for our fall adventure. We should be back by the middle of October.

I always wondered what it looked like at the top of the world!

John, I agree. I have great confidence in my set up. We do travel light and I don’t think we’re anywhere near the limits. Hmmmm, you’ve got got me thinking about this..... I’ll bet there would be no shortage of others who could gather round and act like they knew what was going on too!

If there is an Oliver rumor out there Steve has either started it or ended it.

Ray, glad you got a good tour of an Oliver! There are now quite a few dedicated Oliver boondockers with good ideas. Oliver just delivered Hull 501 so you may see more as you’re out “there”. I look forward to some interesting discussion. Mike

My only issue with the Andersen was a few months of groaning in wet weather during slow turns. It’s been a couple of years with the new sleeve and no issues since. I think it’s a pretty good fit for my Oliver. Mike

Profile pages are back to normal. For those who read the forum on a phone the shorter signatures are appreciated because they don’t have to scroll through 1 or 2 pages of signature data just to get to a post. Mike

The groans were from the sleeve not the ball/bulldog. Andersen sent me a new one a couple of years ago and I haven’t had any issues since. I do wipe off any crud around the ball and sleeve before we go out and apply 2 or 3 drops of Boeshield T-9 on top of the sleeve at Andersen’s recommendation. I’ve never greased my ball. I had about 15K miles on the first sleeve and about 30K on this one. Budgeting for a new ball/sleeve annually is overkill, my second one was provided by Andersen at no charge. It has been trouble free. I’m thinking of forking over $100 for the new model because of John’s pictures. Andersen has excellent customer service. Mike

As in the other discussion about safety chains and cables I don’t think Oliver is producing trailers with marginal safety tolerances. Bigger is usually better. I would rather have the larger ball and hitch and have looked at the larger bulldog at Tractor Supply. I just don’t feel confident doing the drilling - even with the excellent detailed explanation above! So, I hope my 2” ball isn’t putting me in danger. The wear on my ball from the Andersen is noticeable but hasn’t really worsened the last couple of years. No groans after swapping out the original sleeve. I do think I’ll upgrade to the new hitch before we leave for our fall adventure. Mike

I’ve noticed some folks replacing their cables with chains - if they’re more comfortable with chains, why not? I’ve had no issues with the curly cables and I trust that Oliver right sized them to handle the unlikely emergency! Mike

Hull 124 would have been built without the Dexter suspension. Mine wasn’t. When we had the Dexter added Jason showed me some of the old suspension parts and they were totally worn out. That was after about 18 months. I’d check it. Mike