rideandfly

Our favorite campgrounds on the Blue Ridge Parkway do not have electricity. We do not have factory solar on our LE2. We have two 100W suitcase panels that work fine with a single 100AH BattleBorn lithium battery along with an onboard Progressive Lithium charger. In the summer when camping in the shade, we use our Honda 2000W gen-set with a 1600W continuous rating, if our solar panel cable is not long enough to set panels in the sun. Have to be sure not to exceed the gen-set continuous rating while running appliances continuously. Really like this lightweight size of gen-set for camping without shore power and use locally when 125V is not available. Some folks here have larger gen-sets mounted on their Ollie in front of the doghouse. We also have a 3 way Dometic refrigerator running on LP gas when without shore power. Normally we use about 25% to 30% of the Lithium battery capacity for a 24 hour period, taking about an hour to recharge the battery with gen-set for another 24 hours using a 15A cord with 30A adapter for Ollie's shore power inlet. We do not have an inverter to run 125V appliances when without shore power. We also have a Victron Bluetooth shunt to monitor battery discharge and gen-set charging.

We're so sorry to hear about Anita. Would also like to know how to send her well wishes. Anita will be in our prayers for a speedy recovery.

Woke up early this morning @ 2:30AM and checked to see what was on the forum (true story). After seeing your post decided to order a set of shocks for our 2015 LE2 Ollie. Got back to sleep easily after making that decision! 😁

Welcome and congrats on your new to you LE2 Ollie! We also did plenty of tent camping years ago, we love camping in Ollie!

Congrats on your beautiful Ollie!!! Really like the nose art! Speaking of Paul Harvey, we were on the flight-line at Oshkosh in the early 80s when Paul Harvey and General Jimmy Doolittle walked by. Took a photo of both of them together!

This dealer in Winston Salem NC has seven 2023 Sequoia in transit. We're happy with the 22 Tundra 3.5 twin turbo engine, same engine in the new Sequoia. We like pickup trucks, but if we were looking for an SUV, the Sequoia would be on the short list. https://www.moderntoyota.com/sequoia/

Yep, very small. Looks like it has Dometic Seitz RV style windows. Our previous camper had those windows. Leave them open when it rains.

Speaking of a different color, the new US built egg shaped Barefoot camper, 3,000 pound GVW weight, originally designed & built in the UK, is available for around $47,000 to $49,000 at dealers. https://nucamprv.com/barefoot-camper/ https://www.rvtrader.com/Nucamp-Barefoot/rvs-for-sale?make=Nucamp|765337120&model=BAREFOOT|764982013

Welcome! We're in NC, planning to camp in TN, GA, and SC in April & May! Probably head to Mt. Pisgah NC on the Blue Ridge Parkway in June!

Glad you found the problem during pre-flight inspection. Agree with changing all four. We run LT tires on Ollie and ST tires on 3 other trailers, no issues with either.

John, Thanks for the photos and link. For the folks that have a 3 way Dometic refrigerator fan located where your fan was located, what if they disconnect power to their existing fan leaving that fan in place and install a new 12V fan & auto switch where located on earlier LE2 campers, with manual switch at the main switch panel at the entrance door?

Here's our 2015 LE2 12V fan for a three way Dometic refrigerator that has a temperature controlled on/off switch and a on/off switch on the main panel at the entrance door.

We have 5200lb axles on #75 2015 LE2, running 50PSI in the tires since 2016 when we purchased Ollie used from the original owners. Same here, drawers stay closed, and no issues. Here's our Ollie's spring pack:

A Renogy 20A Rover Elite MPPT controller. Future projects mentioned above will further reduce weight. 🙂

Yep, we will eventually have a few Ollie projects to do, hope just one at a time. 🙂 The brake drums/shoes, 3 way refrigerator, and hot water heater are operating fine right now. Already installed the Dexter EZ flex system. Have a MPPT solar controller to install next, slight weight gain. This will finish the solar charging project. Bill

Our 2015 LE2 #75 was one of the few that year to get 5.2K axles. Dexter drum brake assemblies work great and when we need to rebuild them, will probably go with disc brakes. We keep the weight of our Ollie very light, works great for our style of camping. Use two 5 pound capacity LP tanks, one 31 pound Battle Born 100AH lithium battery, keep Ollie's spare tire in the pickup truck bed, and empty black, grey, fresh water tanks during travel. Our Ollie was not equipped with factory solar, we carry two 100W suitcase solar panels in the TV. The 6 gallon hot water heater has about 50 pounds of water. Our LE2 ready to camp weight is around 4940 pounds with 480 pound tongue weight. Checked rig/TV ready to camp weights with CAT Scales last summer.

Here’s a thread started by Zach at Granger Ford about their discount on a Ford Ranger forum: https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/3-under-invoice-2022-ford-ranger-order.16068/ Zach is easy to contact and will give exact details on purchasing a F-150, F-250, or F-350.

I really like the fuel economy of several diesel TV available. Also like the diesel lower RPM needed to reach maximum engine torque for towing. For us selecting a TV to be a daily driver, good overall fuel economy, and tow/load capacity to haul camping gear while towing Ollie. With the new breed of smaller displacement turbo charged gas engines, found the new Tundra 3.5L twin turbo engine to deliver good fuel economy unloaded and after several miles of testing getting over 15MPG towing Ollie in eastern US after finding the sweet spot for gear/RPM/MPG combination with cruise control on. Not as good of MPG as many diesels, but good gas engine low RPM torque performance reaching maximum torque at 2400RPM. Used CAT scales to find our 1/2 ton TV curb weight after installing accessories. I did not document accessory weights during installation. Installed side rails, folding hard bed cover, bed mat, mud guards, and Timbren SES rear suspension kit. Weighed TV with all contents/cargo removed, accessories installed, full 32 gallon fuel tank, and no occupants. Subtracted Curb weight from TV GVW to learn payload capacity. Calculating your truck's maximum payload and towing capacity: https://www.readingtruck.com/calculating-your-trucks-maximum-payload-and-towing-capacity Edit: I'm off topic again. Retired from the railroad, never met an unhappy steam or diesel Locomotive Engineer. 🚂

Thanks for posting! Nice photos! My Daughter and family are in Michigan, will check on them. It's 80 here today. 🙂

Agree, we like using the cruise control, too. Our highest mileage/Ollie tow day so far was 720 miles, without use of cruise control that day, long towing day for us. We normally shoot for 250 miles per day, but needed to beat a hurricane back to NC on the high mileage day. Last experiment towing our LE2 with our 2022 Tundra on interstates & 4 lane roads. Set cruise at 63MPH yielding 61MPH GPS speed for following test. Tow haul mode used with 7th gear and engine speed at 2150 RPM. One way test from Crossville TN (TN plateau area) to Denver NC yielded 15.8 MPG. Round trip from Crossville TN to Howenwald TN and back to Crossville yielded 15.5 MPG. During the last tests while climbing a 5% grade reduced speed to 55MPH and dropped down to 6th gear. Met some very nice folks this day. Took this photo at a TN rest area on a trip home from Colorado when we had a 2016 Tundra. This was taken during our trip with the longest towing day:

Here’s the BattleBorn lithium storage video: For storage I charge the BattleBorn lithium battery to over 90% and turn the 12V system off with the battery disconnect switch. We do not have any power connected to Ollie during storage.

We had a 2016 SR5 5.7 4X4 Tundra, fine truck & Ollie TV, but did not get as good MPG as the 2022 3.5L twin turbo Tundra we now have. Our 3rd gen Tundra gets 22 to 24MPG not towing traveling on interstates at posted speed limits. Some folks on the Tundra forum don’t get as good MPG, but throttle control, speed, tires, contribute to results. After installing running boards, hard tonneau cover, mud guards, Timbren rear axle load enhancement system, bed mat on the 22 Tundra. Actual load capacity, after a CAT scale visit, was still higher than the advertised 1400lb load capacity. Toyota was very conservative with the listed load capacity on our 2022 Tundra. There are many fine Ollie tow vehicles available with the Tundra being one of them.

There is a serial number on the axle. Dexter will send you a build sheet with Dexter component part numbers used, It’s in the frequently asked question section under “How do I identify my axle” https://www.dexteraxle.com/Contact/FAQ/Axles

We had a cracked bathroom exterior fan cap that that would drip water on the shower floor when raining. Did you drive through rain when the water appeared?

Dennis, First time we saw an Oliver was during 2010 before the LE2 was available. We absolutely loved the Legacy Elite! We wanted to eventually buy one. When the LE2 became available, it checked all the boxes for us being the maximum sized camper we wanted for the two of us. We prefer to tow with 1/2 ton pickup that’s also used as a daily driver. As far as the wet bath goes, we found wiping it down with an auto shami after showering works great. The majority of our camping is at federal and state parks. Some of the federal campgrounds have smaller campsites, but our LE2’s size works in most of those campsites. Ollie’s is very stable towing, and like previously mentioned the 7’ wide trailer is easy to handle compared to 8’ wide trailers. It’s also efficient towing, on round trips from NC to TN plateau area, we’re seeing +15mpg with a late model TV powered with a turbo V6 gas engine. Our Ollie is equipped perfectly for us and we love the interior and exterior finish. Best way to describe camping in an Ollie is very pleasant!!!! 🙂 Best Regards, Bill and Debbie