rideandfly

Debbie & I plan to play at least two days. Saturday and Monday is fine with us, too.

Debbie and I wish Everyone "Happy Saint Patrick's Day" We're celebrating our 45th anniversary of our first date today. Enjoyed the Harp Guitar video. We like Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler, too:

Bill and Martha, Welcome and Congratulations on your Ollie! Hopefully Debbie and I will meet y'all while camping in the near future!

Gary and Wendy, Welcome! Fine decision choosing Oliver. You live in a beautiful area, we camped on Hunting Island SC several times. Hopefully Debbie and I will meet y'all camping in the future and play golf. We always take our clubs and camera.

Chris, I can answer some of your questions, you will find many helpful and knowledgeable folks here that can share additional information. Our batteries are at 9.0 so it appears my first goal is to get them charged? Yes I was at the trailer this morning and connected the trailer & tow vehicle with the 7 pin connector for about 30 minutes but didn’t see a change in charge level. It has been reported in another thread that some Ollies would not charge batteries when connected to the tow vehicle, I can't find the thread right now. Our Ollie batteries will charge when connected to the TV . I do have a question, did you wire the 7 pin connector yourself? Yes, it's easy to connect two wires - & + to make it work We are registered for the Rally and pending Duke’s recovery, will be there. Although I’ve got to learn how to handle the Ollie by myself, we may need to ask for help with unhooking/hooking up of trailer. There will be many folks at the rally ready to help!

Chris, Sorry to hear about Duke's ribs and hope he feels better soon. We have a 20W solar panel with 12V regulator we used to charge Ollie's two 12V batteries. We no longer need it since we started storing Ollie in an airplane hangar and purchased a 100W suitcase solar charger when camping without shore power. It's mounted on an old camera tripod. We connected the solar panel to Ollie's tow vehicle 7 pin connector and used as a charger, which is a less efficient way to charge, but in full sun would take two 12V batteries from 12.5V to full charge in about a day. We installed a battery master disconnect switch to stop battery drain while not charging with the solar panel, too. Once the batteries were charged, we would store the solar charger and disconnect battery switch. We did not leave the solar panel/regulator out in the rain. The solar panel regulator's one page manual is in Ollie and not here, so I don't remember all of the 12V charging specs. The price is right, free, just pay for shipping from NC or if you attend the rally we can give it to you there. Just let us know if you want it. Bill and Debbie EDIT: Just saw Bill's post about the Harbor Freight Solar Charger, looks like a good deal, too!

Plan to install Michelin Light Truck tires on our Oliver when time to replace tires, but it's worthwhile to continue watching for improved quality tires as they become available for any trailer. Here's a quote from the following article about the new Goodyear Endurance tires: "And it’s not just consumers who have taken notice. Several RV manufacturers outfitted their product with the Endurance as standard equipment including Jayco Inc., Airstream Inc. and Lance Camper Manufacturing Corp., to name a few". http://www.rvbusiness.com/2017/10/buzz-goodyear-gaining-traction-with-endurance/

GeoFish, Been reading about the new Goodyear Endurance ST tires, looks like a fine ST tire. I have radial ST tires on another trailer and have not had any issues with them, so far. Have not had issues with BF Goodrich LT tires on my Ollie so far and plan to install Michelin LT tires on Ollie in the future. My Ollie's wheels have a 60PSI maximum pressure stamped on the casting. Like to look at the following charts for application. Here's a Goodyear Endurance inflation chart, don't see the same size as the LT tire used on my 2015 Ollie. https://www.goodyearrvtires.com/pdfs/rv_inflation.pdf Here's a Michelin Truck inflation chart, could not find the chart for Michelin LT model tires currently installed on Ollies: https://www.michelintruck.com/reference-materials/manuals-bulletins-and-warranties/load-and-inflation-tables/#/ EDIT: Found this thread on Air Forums about Goodyear Endurance ST tires, looks like several there started using them: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f438/goodyear-endurance-st-tires-made-in-usa-157249.html

Dean, Enjoyed your campground review!!!! Liked the town name, so took this shot a few years ago during a camping trip:

Found the article interesting, too: "So, when should you replace tires on your RV trailer is something that I know everyone has an opinion on. I know when I go to replace mine I will get another RVer saying something like “why would you want to replace those? They look like new!” And they are right. They do! But all evidence to the contrary since one of them blew out just a few weeks ago. So, I am looking for a good RV ST trailer tire to replace my five-year-old LT tires. As an RV inspector, I can tell you that five years is the amount of time I recommend for a replacement. When there is so much riding on your tires it is not worth taking a chance. I am not a gambling man like some are". Sounds like the writer is going to replace LT tires with ST tires, too. I'm happy with the LT radial tires installed on the 2015 Ollie so far, they are about 4 years old, plan to replace at about 5 to 6 years as per DOT manufacture code with LT tires.

If I remember correctly you have Battle Born Batteries. Reading their following link how 100% DOD of their LIFEPO4 will not have long term effect giving 3000 cycles or more at this DOD: https://battlebornbatteries.com/depth-of-discharge-li-ion-deep-cycle-batteries/ Edit: I really like Battle Born LIFEPO4 Batteries, but decided to go with AGM batteries to replace the original batteries for our type of camping with shore power 99% of the time.

While visiting Walmart today purchased a 14OZ cartridge of SuperTech grease that meets NLGI Grade 2 spec. Also started looking for a better way to store the grease gun while on camping trips. Purchased an inexpensive $7 Hyper Tough 16" plastic tool box that will allow the grease gun to be stored many places in Ollie or TV.

John, Thanks, Plastic bags secured with tie wraps could work to catch grease drips. I would use new bags/tie wraps every time the grease gun is used. Will keep my grease gun in a small plastic trash can in the covered pickup bed with other camping gear while camping.

I like the 14OZ cartridge grease gun with flex hose, too. Keep the gun in a plastic container because the grease drips a little out of gun when above 90F and could make a mess. Bought a 14OZ cartridge at Northern Tool two years ago, used on lawn mower and Ollie. Heading to Walmarte' tomorrow to buy another cartridge. Was not sure about grease spec until removing old cartridge tonight.

Agree with Steve, That's how I lift Ollie, too. The method Overland mentioned, should work, too: https://www.amazon.com/Trailer-Aid-Tandem-Changing-Change-Trailers/dp/B000I4JPZE

I should have cleaned and painted the steel mounts during EZ Flex installation. Had some oxidation on the Dexter EZ Flex/axle steel mounts. Just finished cleaning and painting parts of the steel mounts on both sides with Rust-Oleum. Greased before cleaning/painting, too. After a couple thousand miles the excess grease collects lots of dirt/dust if not cleaned off after lubrication. Plan to do a better job keeping excess grease cleaned off of springs/pins/EZ Flex unit in the future. After:

Pin grease galleys are installed on the horizontal plane for the pins/bushings to take grease easily. One of the bronze bushings was still a little tight and had to take some weight off of that pin with Ollie's jack for it to take grease. After a few thousand miles of wear on the bushings, no longer need to use the jack for the pin to take grease. We're ready to go camping soon, too!!!!!!!!

There are six fittings per side you can see easily including two fittings on the left & right sides of the tires not seen in this photo. There are also two additional fittings hiding above the EZ Flex assembly per side where I'm pointing, making eight fittings per side. Hope this helps,

Matt, Agree, I had a free Photobucket account with one to two thousand low resolution photos uploaded. They started charging a fee last year to post on forums, so I stopped using Photobucket. Started using SmugMug with a reasonable annual fee. Thanks,

Found this thread, they are anodes: http://olivertraveltrailers.com/sacrificial/

Looks like anodes on both sides of Ollie's steel Dexter axle shackle bracket. I need to clean, prime & paint Ollie's steel axle shackle brackets, too.

Bill, Thanks, The center section has hinges for both doors. Both doors have keyed locks using dead bolt style locking rods in pickup bed rail system. The center section has sea clamps secured on pickup bed rails, too. Remove or install all three sections in about 30 minutes. Complete cover weight of 80 pounds. Diamondback has different configurations, too: https://diamondbackcovers.com/collections/covers https://diamondbackcovers.com/collections/atv-sxs-carriers https://diamondbackcovers.com/collections/accessories

Bill, Bak-Flip MX4 is an excellent cover. Assume you wanted information posted about other covers, too. Been looking over a year and decided to go with a Diamondback SE cover on our Tundra. It's not hard to remove, if needed. Used the Diamondback on a camping trip earlier this week and it works great! Some folks transport ATVs on top the cover. Our cover is rated for up to 400 pounds weight.