rideandfly

Trainman, Used Red Line CV-2 synthetic grease. Red Line recommends removing existing grease before using their grease. Like Bill said, the Dexter video is a good guide for bearing maintenance including removing old grease. Dexter also gives recommended maintenance intervals in the video. Repacked bearings and replaced seals during bearing maintenance on Ollie so far. Did not find any issues that would require bearing/race/brake shoe replacement to date. https://www.redlineoil.com/cv-2-grease Dexter bearing maintenance: https://www.dexteraxle.com/resources/videos/bearing-maintenance Hope this helps.

Tried Meguiar’s Flagship Premium Marine Wax for the first time today, easy on & off. Ollie is looking great!!!!!!!!!!!

We camped at Shenandoah Crossing Gordonsville VA earlier this week while visiting family. It was a fine camping trip. While camping we visited Montpelier, James and Dolly Madison's home: Also visited Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home:

Mike, Nice shots! Thanks for posting about this COE campground. Hope to camp there later this year.

John, Didn't use sealant on the seals when I replaced them both times and they are easier to remove without sealant applied.

Replaced Ollie's hub seals a few times while repacking wheel bearings. Used a clawbar on a block of wood placed on the surface where the brake electromagnet contacts the hub. Pop the seal out with the claw placed under the seal lip without contacting bearing. Repacked bearings last month and just returned from a trip in VA. Ready for another season! :) Here's a Dexter video showing recommended bearing maintenance. https://www.dexteraxle.com/resources/videos/bearing-maintenance

John, Already have Firestone airbags on my Tacoma, may go that way on the Tundra, too. Will do a little more research. Thanks,

Trainman, I'm also in the process of finding the best way to reduce tow vehicle's rear end sag while towing Ollie. Almost ordered airbags when finding TorkLift StableLoad Rear Suspension Upgrade at E-trailer for many pickup applications. Would need to drill the Tundra's overload springs or let a local spring shop do the drilling for installation on the Tundra. https://www.etrailer.com/Vehicle-Suspension/Toyota/Tundra/2016/TLA7311.html?vehicleID=201625610 Our 4X4 5.7L Tundra is almost perfectly balanced front & rear axles as per CAT scales, ready to camp with Ollie connected, two people on board, full 38 gallon tank, while staying under GVW. Has anyone here used TorkLift StableLoad Rear Suspension Upgrade on any brand of pickup and what's your thoughts on it? Thanks,

Plan to install a Furrion exterior inlet like John's unit. Purchased the Renogy 100 solar panel with controller and suitcase. Will go for less than 10 amp fuse if I'm understanding what's been said in this thread so far. Thinking about installing inlet on the exterior next to LP bottle area. Thanks for the information.

Purchased Bow To Stern BTS to use on Ollie's exterior later this month. It may take up to 2 to 3 applications for best results. Some folks tried BTS on one of the Casita forums with good results while using this gel-coat sealer & UV protection. https://www.btsproducts.com/about/btsdifference/

Ken & Judy, We seriously looked at Airstream before purchasing Ollie, our third camper. Our first camper, an early Chalet folding camper, had a wood floor and it eventually developed floor rot. Guess most Airstreams in the US have wood floors except for some Argosy trailers. Also considered completely rebuilding an Airstream replacing the wood floor. We were camping on the Blue Ridge Parkway when we had the pleasure of touring the first Oliver we had ever seen. It was absolutely beautiful inside and out. We could not find a used one for sale and Oliver was not building trailers at that time. We waited and found a good deal on a used 2015 LE2 in this forum's classified section during 2016. I can easily say our Ollie is holding value, too. Agree, "Jump in the water is fine".

John, We converted the Bellevue Ohio roundhouse with turntable into a Maintenance of Way Equipment shop during the 80s. Steam engine folks always wanted to used one of our bays for maintenance during the winter. The 490,000 pound N&W 611 J class used our turntable to come into the shop for the winter. Steam Engine folks wanted to bring the N&W 1218 into the shop too, but at over 900,000 pounds we would not let them cross the turntable. Historical groups loved to visit the shop, discuss shop history, and see the turntable operate.

Here's Dexter's EZ Flex installation instructions for EZ Flex assembly installed on my Ollie. Look at page 3 lines 13 & 15 for torque values. https://www.dexteraxle.com/docs/default-source/dexteraxle/product-documentation/installation-instructions/059-867-00_ez_flex_complete.pdf?sfvrsn=16 Dexter EZ Flex components can be purchased from E-Trailer, too.

John, Yep, Randy’s wheels are maximum 80PSI. Edit: Raspy replaced his ION wheels maximum 60PSI. Here's a photo of one of my Ollie's ION wheels, maximum 60PSI:

John, Yep, Randy’s wheels are maximum 80PSI. Edit: Raspy replaced his ION wheels maximum 60PSI. Here's one of my Ollie's ION wheels, maximum 60PSI

John Davies started a thread couple years ago about wheels. Checked our LE2's ION wheels that have 60PSI maximum air pressure. Could not find load/inflation tables for the BFG LT tires, so started using the Michelin inflation table. Run Ollie's LT tyres :) at 50PSI. Installed Dexter EZ flex couple years ago. Not having vibration issues. Edit: Here's the thread, looks like a few older Ollie's including ours have ION wheels with lower maximum wheel air pressure, 60PSI Max. http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/wheels-model-warranty-care/

A few activities while camping While at the 2018 Ollie Rally, we played golf several days: Some folks fly drones Kayaking Hiking

Camera is positioned over water pump area while taking photo of water heater bypass valve & white bypass hose. Camera pointing to rear of Ollie with water heater on left.

David, always enjoy seeing your fine photos! RB, I'm an amateur photographer using two economy Canon Powershot cameras, one smaller point and shoot and one with powerful zoom with manual controls and automatic modes. Have not used an SLR, but still have my Canon AE1 program 35MM film camera, it's retired. Don't use post processing unless cropping or adding text. While taking sunset shots at the last Alabama Ollie rally, used zoom on the Canon Powershot SX520 and rested the camera while taking shots in the automatic mode. Used manual exposure mode with Canon Powershot SX520 on this shot to lighten landscape with cloudy sky at Badlands: Made a solar filter with a UV filter to hold in place with the SX520 lens in auto mode using a 6' ladder as a tripod: Solar Filter installed: Took this shot with a Powershot in the manual exposure mode with manually set aperture on a tripod during a cloudy, low light day. Crabtree Falls Blue Ridge Parkway NC

RB, We use two Canon Powershot cameras. One similar to the Canon Powershot SX420 that has built in lens, powerful optical zoom, manual and automatic modes. Use one like this for landscape, eclipse, sunrise & sunset shots. Keep another smaller Canon Powershot with us all the time that's similar to the ELPH 180 for unplanned shots.

When we camp in the area where we live, we normally take bicycles or kayaks or motorcycle depending on the area and time of year. Next camping trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway, will probably drop off a motorcycle where we will be camping and tow the Ollie there later in the day. Plan to also install removable kayak and bicycle racks on our Diamondback cover on the Tundra, too. When we travel around the US and locally we also use Ollie as a base camp while exploring and photographing the beautiful places in our nation. We normally don't spend much time at campgrounds from 10:00AM to 6:00PM during day while out exploring. Here's photos taken during local camping trips Hunting Island SC Blue Ridge Parkway Eastern TN Photos taken on trips out West You meet the nicest folks in rest areas with Ollie Took this photo of brand new Ollie owners in New Mexico We have so many more beautiful places to visit and nice folks to meet during our Ollie adventures!

Mississippi River Arkansas Valley of Fire Nevada

Steph and Steve, Your Dodge Ram 1500 pickup is more than adequate and will serve you as a safe Ollie tow vehicle!!! We have towed our LE2 out west from the Carolinas with our 1/2 ton pickup and do not need a larger tow vehicle. We plan to tow Ollie with our Toyota Tundra for years to come!!!!! Congratulations on your new Ollie!!!!!

John, We carry less LP gas, so keeping Ollie's spare tire in the pick up bed with reduced LP gas load, reduces Ollie's weight. Tongue weight is at 460lbs, still within Tundra's recommended trailer tongue weight. Keep Ollie's fiberglass spare tire cover installed for looks even though there's no longer a tire under the cover. We don't carry gear on Ollie's rear bumper. Could also mount a full size spare tire while keeping Ollie's spare in the back of the pickup bed, but have not acted on that idea, yet. :)

No, we do not use the Anderson WDH. Our LE2 weighs close to 4950lbs with 460lb tongue weight, empty water tanks. The Tundra's operators manual requires WDH when towing trailers above 5000lbs. Guessing the majority of LE2s come in over 5000lbs to 6000lbs ready to camp, maybe heavier. We do not have solar panel system with 4 batteries and do not carry as much LP gas as most folks. We use 110V portable induction cook top, 110V 1500W portable heater, and rarely use LP gas. We're not Boondockers yet, camp with shore power 99% of the time while traveling around the nation. Keep Ollie's spare tire in front portion of the pickup bed with Tundra's spare tire. We use the Hayes electronic Sway Master and it activated (applied trailer brakes) a couple of times when traveling down mountains entering curves too fast, learned my lesson and slowed down. The Sway Master cannot be used on all vehicles. Weight is balanced nicely between the front and rear axles of the 5.7L 4X4 Tundra with Ollie connected with 460lb tongue weight and full 38 gallon tank: Maximum Front Axle Weight 4000lbs Actual Front Axle Weight With Ollie connected and two people on board: 3420lbs Maximum Rear Axle Weight 4150lbs Actual Rear Axle weight with Ollie connected and two people on board: 3460lbs Plan to install rear axle air bags on the Tundra next.