Mike and Carol

When I bought our Ram 2500 diesel my son bought a Ram 2500 6.4 Hemi. They live in Durango and pull a travel trailer a little longer but about the same weight as our Oliver, mostly around Colorado and Utah. He’s very happy with the towing performance of the 6.4 V8. While I like the diesel I think I could be happy with the big V8. Mike

Lots to celebrate today. Having lived in other countries it is clear to me that there’s no place like the US of A!

We ordered our trailer in September 2015. I had a 2012 Tacoma which was just inside towing specs for the Oliver. A neighbor, who is an original Oliver owner, was hosting three Oliver owners passing through San Antonio in Jan 2016 for dinner. He invited us over. All of them told me my Tacoma was not a good TV and I should upgrade to a half ton. I resisted. We picked up our trailer in May 2016 and by July I was towing with a Ram 1500. They were right, I was stubborn and had to learn first hand why a correctly sized TV is important. I find myself now being one who gives advice and I always remember my stubbornness and that some folks learn best by doing not by just accepting advice from others. Mike

Good info. My router arrives this afternoon and I’ll be testing it out. Thanks!

I share your disappointment when owners get into personal comments. Truck discussions, unfortunately, can be contentious leaving no room for alternate viewpoints. I am aware of a number of owners towing with a half ton and no Andersen. I’m interested in the experiences one of our new members will have towing with an EV. I’ve towed our Oliver well over 100K miles. About half of that was with a 2500 (no WDH)and half with 1500’s/Tacoma (with WDH). Only 5K on the Tacoma, it was adequate but very limiting (payload, range without refueling, braking/acceleration, etc). The half tons (both Ram 1500 5.7L) towed the Oliver with ease. Mountain towing proved more challenging for both braking and having the high RPM’s going uphill. I still needed to be concerned with payload. The 2500 with the 6.7L Cummins is an entirely different experience. Level towing is effortless with the engine barely above idle RPMs. Mountain towing is much better, very little braking going downhill (exhaust brake is wonderful) and uphill it may downshift to get RPMs up to 2500, but nowhere near the 4500+ of the half ton V8. I get the about the same mileage in the 2500 as I did in the 1500s. The bed is bigger, interior is bigger, and it feels much more stable. We were camping in AZ and went by a Mesquite lumber store south of Tucson. I bought a fair amount of mesquite planks for some projects. Loaded them up in the 2500 along with our camping stuff and didn’t have to worry about the extra weight. Not possible with the 1500s, we were always near our cargo limit. Diesels are more expensive to buy and maintain but for us and the amount of towing we do it is worth it. As the title of this thread states, you don’t need a 3/4 ton truck to tow your Oliver. You might not even need a WDH on your half ton depending on how it is configured. It comes down to personal choice. Mike

Everything is bigger in Texas.

So, jumping out of airplanes isn’t on the agenda either? It’s been a few years since my last jumps but I still think I could do it, even as I’m in my 70’s! I think Highway 550 is a scenic and exhilarating drive from Ouray down through Silverton. Traffic generally moves slow and the drive doesn’t have to be white knuckle. The drive around by Telluride is much tamer but also very scenic. You can’t go wrong either way. Stay in your comfort zone!! Mike

We drive up and down 550 towing from Ouray to Durango frequently. It is easier with our 2500 but we also used to make the drive towing with a half ton. We’ve done the drive around by Telluride and Cortez, it’s also a very scenic trip that you’ll enjoy! Mike

We like to stay at Ridgway State Park which is in the same area. Great location to explore Ouray, Telluride and even Silverton (nice drive down 550). We’ll be back in Colorado in August! Mike

I’ve been experiencing this for the last couple of years. About every 3rd camping trip, while connected to city water, I get and fast drip from the overflow. I go inside, check that the fresh tank is at 100%, turn on the water pump and turn on a faucet for a couple of seconds and the problem is solved. I bought a new water pump when this started, but I just haven’t gotten around to replacing the old pump since is doesn’t happen very often and when it does it’s a quick fix. I keep the water pump in the trailer hoping that it will threaten the old pump to behave, but it’s not working. Mike

I think the freshwater overflow must allow air in .

By “pressurized” I mean either water pump on or connected to city water. While there can be residual pressure even when the pump is off and there is no connection to city water, if there is a leak in the system, that pressure will steadily lower through the leak to the point where there is no pressure in the system.

Rob, are you talking about the fresh water overflow port or the weep holes? When I overfill the fresh tank the excess water comes out of the overflow port behind the steps, never out of any weep holes. I don’t have any thoughts on why it doesn’t leek at only 80% full, but leaking only when pressurized usually indicates a leak somewhere. I had a plastic pex T-joint that came out of the hot water tank which had a small crack. It was fine until pressurized, then it was a steady drip. It took some time (and some blue paper towels) to find. Mike

I’m going to order one to use with our Mini. It seems it gives a lot of flexibility to the Mini setup… if you can set your dish close to the trailer you may not need it but if you’re under trees and have to move the dish further away the router would ensure good speed. Mike

Yep, joule preservation is important when running naked, (power protection naked, of course).

I have a 2K watt Champion inverter generator that I just plug in to, I haven’t used a special plug. I guess I need to look to see if the Champion is “bonded to ground”, something I wasn’t aware of. Going on 10 years and still learning…. Mike

It was June!

Here are pics of Monarch Pass in June 2023. First time snow, 2 weeks later sunny and warm!

Looks nice, Ken. Enjoy the shade!

Wow, sorry to see this happen. Other’s have had similar experiences so maybe they can advise. Once you get this sorted out a trip up to Grand Junction, CO to get a set of ALCAN springs installed might be worth the trip. Good luck, I hope this gets resolved quickly. Mike

We also try to avoid interstates but sometimes it’s just not reasonably possible. I hope this isn’t a trend in other states! Mike

This thread was started in May 2016. There wasn’t a lot of activity on the forum then, just over 100 trailers produced. Before we left for our pick up in May 2016 someone suggested I start a “Where’s Ollie” thread so folks could post travels and good camping spots. We picked up Hull 135 on May 10 and started this from our second campsite at Land Between the Lakes on May 17. 28 pages later it’s become a nice spot to see where folks have been thanks to everyone who has contributed. Our first campsite was at Fall Hollow Campground in Hohenwald, Oliver’s spot for your first night back then. Proud new owners at Fall Hollow Campground 9 years ago.

We passed through SD on our way to Glacier, Grand Teton, and beyond. We stayed in Spearfish and wish we would have taken a few extra days to visit Badlands. Oh well, another trip! Great pics, John. Enjoy the drug store, I’m sure you’ll find something interesting there! Mike

We’re here. It was a moderator that started this by suggesting “hook ups” have meanings outside of the RV world. The graphic piled on a little. Mildly humorous, not something most of us would put on the outside of our trailer, but humorous in an eye-rolling kind of way. In fact, those of us who boondock quite a bit couldn’t use that graphic because we’re more interested in “no hook ups”. Mike 😎

Maybe a sticker that can be put somewhere on the trailer? Sort of like the map of states overnighted in. Or a patch that could go on your Oliver hat? I’ve kept track of total nights, but would have to go back and look at places to see how many were boondocking.