rideandfly

Used ideas from previous post in this thread, Thanks! Removed old adhesive with 3M adhesive cleaner. Placed blue painter’s tape along top line to guide where new belly band will be placed. Rubbed 3M White Scotch-Brite pad over areas where belly band 3M adhesive strips will contact. Applied 3M adhesion promoter with outside air temperature between 60F and 80F as per 3M instructions. Wore a respirator while using adhesive remover and adhesion promoter. The new belly band is shipped rolled with chrome on outside of roll in an opposite bend direction when applied to the two corners of an Oliver. The day before installation, rolled the belly band with adhesive strips outward in a 3’ diameter roll for overnight at 70 to 80F to get rid of opposite band bend memory to make it adhere better in the corners. The installation went well and should not have any future “Belly Band Sadness”! 🙂

Chris and John, Welcome, nice looking rig! Looking forward to seeing photos of Ollie adventures!

Initially ran 50PSI in our LE2 tires for a few years, now running 45PSI without issues in our Cooper HT3 tires. All cold pressures.

JD & GAP, Thanks for the reply! Really like how GAP & Dave Phelps reused their 2" belly band! If someone chooses not to reuse the old 2" belly band, in addition to the chrome molding rich.dev mentioned earlier, found good reviews on Cowles 2"X16' automotive Chrome molding on Amazon, but that's probably not long enough to have a one piece chrome molding around the beds. Also found Cowles 2"X30' Chrome molding with 3M adhesive strips on their website, but it's presently sold out. https://cowlesproducts.com/body-molding-official/Cowles®-38-900-Custom-Chrome-Truck-or-SUV-Body-Side-Molding-2-x-30-p266461334 For fiberglass preparation, ordered 3M adhesive cleaner, 3M White Scotch-Brite pad, and 3M adhesion promoter from Amazon as mentioned by JD & Dave Phelps.

I can only assume the holes were made for the hull assembly process. Can someone here explain the holes?

In addition to Patriot's photos above. Here's the adhesive side of the of the 2" belly band. With Gorilla double sided tape still installed, one piece of tape slipped and some of my grey hairs. 🙂 The hull gap depth to the sealant between hulls varies around 1/8" to 1/4". The hull gap width is about 5/8" wide. The original adhesive strips on the belly band are about 1/2".

This sounds like several owners have this problem. After removing old adhesive, used alcohol for final fiberglass prep before applying Gorilla tape, but did not heat the bend radius of the band. Will take photos with belly band removed today with ruler placed over hull area band covers to show hull gap width where hull joins. Will also take photo of adhesive side of belly band with ruler to show widths of original adhesive. For surface prep, ordered 3M adhesive cleaner, White scotchbrite pad, and adhesion promoter yesterday from Amazon. Already had a new belly band on order from Oliver before we started discussing using a different chrome band yesterday. Really like how @DavePhelps fixed his belly band problem.

John, I have the 2" chrome band off right now around the beds. Will post a photo tomorrow. With the weight of the current band and adhesive used, fiberglass surface has to be prepared properly for the adhesive to work long term. After working on this, believe combining parts of @DavePhelps, @GAP, and @John E Davies process would be a good one. Been searching for a light weight 2" band material to replace the original 2" band material that looks good, but have not come up with anything, yet.

Dave, Thanks for the tips, sounds like a good process!

RV owners & techs have posted helpful YouTube videos covering replacement of Suburban 6 gallon hot water heater parts and maintenance, if needed.

Agree with SeaDawg, don't be too hard on yourself. When we were teenagers, we plugged a home trailer into electric power before putting water in the hot water heater. The hot water heater element got so hot, it deformed & electrified most metal parts on the trailer, making it a shocking experience to touch the trailer. To this day I remember that when ever working with electric hot water heaters. 🙂

Only ran AC with ECO mode off so far, it’s just my preference. Never tried to run AC with ECO mode on. Purchased and installed the MicroAir EZ start worked fine with the 2000 Honda. When charging battery through Progressive converter or anything else, run gen-set in ECO mode. Purchased the gen-set for camping, ended up using it more for other non-camping uses. Very handy and the older I get really appreciate a lightweight gen-set of at least 2000W. It has 1600W continuous rating that runs an airplane engine preheater easily.

We’re using a EU2000i to run our Dometic 13.5K AC with MicroAir EZ start up to 5,000msl so far, no issues.

Not exactly wildlife, Butterfly House visit at Mackinac Island MI

Davy Crockett SP TN:

We were driving out of Many Glacier National Park MT when we saw Mama Bear eating berries while JR was climbing a tree. The photo of Mama Bear did not turn out to well through the windshield. We did not stop because we were too close.

Hunting Island SP SC:

Hunting Island SP SC:

Big Horn Sheep Ram, Badlands SD:

9MM wrench works on the zerk fitting with 1/4” threads.

Sully, Congrats on your new Ollie. Please post photos of the rig, if you have them. Great fuel economy with the Q7, too.

Mossey, Initially wondered why there were more than two wires on the switch you pushed out of the panel. Understand after your explanation of amber lights. Our 2015 LE2 has two conductors per switch per porch light. Don’t believe Oliver had a standard LE2 wiring harness until later, after a discussion with the service department a few years ago. #75 LE2

You’re right, always need to be looking at the numbers. The above weight is with empty black, grey, and fresh water tanks with full 6 gallon hot water heater tank. In the winter when we have a empty hot water heater Ollie’s weight is around 4900 pounds. 9% to 11% tongue weight is for conventional trailer towing.

Yep, it’s light. We have small propane bottles and the Toyota Operator’s Manual’s tongue weight range for 2022 Tundra is 9% to 11% of the trailer’s weight. Our ready to camp weight is around 4950 pounds with 480 pound tongue weight, between 9% & 10%.

Great description, photos, and information for airbag options! If I remember correctly, 20 PSI worked well for our 2016 Tundra/Ollie rig. We have an actual tongue weight of 480 pounds.