rideandfly
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Posts posted by rideandfly
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Comparison of Anderson and Beech Lane Leveling systems:
The majority of our camping is in Federal and State Parks. We use the Camco leveling chock system, should not have said blocks earlier, for raising the Ollie's low side with rubber mats underneath to prevent slipping, Then chock the high side. When we purchased the leveling system, read reviews about slippage on hard surfaces like concrete and asphalt, so started using rubber mats underneath.
The Camco Leveling Chock system we use, photo taken several years ago when we still had BF Goodrich LT tires mounted on Ollie:
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4 hours ago, Patriot said:
Just make sure your bride keeps its under 100 Bill. 😄
David
Yep, 100 kilometers per hour 😁
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We camp on many campsites that are not level. Always put the level blocks under wheels on low side leveling Ollie (we use Camco Level Blocks) and chock the wheels on the opposite side. Then before jacking Ollie's hitch off of the ball, place the tow vehicle in neutral letting the trailer settle on the level blocks and chocks, next place TV in park and jack hitch off of ball without much movement.
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Not sure if this is the exact model EZflex system Oliver installed on your Ollie.
Installed a K71-653-00 EZ Flex system on our Ollie several years ago. Here's this kit and part descriptions/numbers in the following dexterpartsonline link. Complete kit prices are lower on Amazon. Individual Dexter parts can be purchased at most trailer supply stores. I damaged at least one bronze bushing during installation, extras are helpful. 🙂 If you order parts on-line, Etrailer has been good to deal with in the past.
http://www.dexterpartsonline.com/product/K71-653-00
https://www.amazon.com/Dexter-K71-653-00-Complete-Suspension-Kit/dp/B01HOAGBHO
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Really like using the orbital buffer on Ollie and our other vehicles. Never had time to do a good detailing job on our vehicles, until buying the buffer. Just finished waxing Ollie’s tow vehicle yesterday. I’m still in the weekend warrior category, but slowly learning about detailing. 🙂
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Our original 5200lb axles & springs (5 leaf) on our 2015 LE2 have not given us any trouble, believe Scuba/RX said there have been no failures with these springs reported on Ollies.
We try to avoid rough roads as much as possible and go slow over railroad tracks.
One time in Montana we came to a construction zone and was directed to a temporary road. It was terrible (we drove really slow), so terrible three of the four AC mounting bolts broke in a another camper before Ollie. Should have turned around and found the long way around, my fault.🙃
Should try what MaxBurner tried, if memory serves, riding in Ollie with my Wife driving the TV to see how good or bad the ride is in Ollie. 🙂
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12 hours ago, johnwen said:
Well, now that a second blind broke a string, I had better get busy with a new plan (Stan) 🙂
John
30 minutes ago, johnwen said:Thanks for the encouragement, Mike. Reckon I'll try to find some replacement string soon as I'm trying to make plans for the Maine rally and maybe someone there has attempted this ... I may need supervision.
Initially it looked complicated, but after working on the first shade, it was not. Like Mike said, be patient. 🙂
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During a service visit to Oliver a couple years ago, talked to one of their detail guys and he gave me a sample of their buffing compound, at that time they were using Buff Magic, a Shurhold product. Tried it out on Ollie's roof last fall with good results before waxing. Still using Surhold orbital buffer (weekend warrior equipped) 🙂 and started using their compound/wax products last fall.
Gloss meter could go in the same drawer with my digital thermometer. 🙂
Gloss Meter:
Buff Magic:
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Impressive video! Really like his three step process, results, and gloss meter.
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1 hour ago, Patriot said:
All this said it is imperative that owners inspect and maintain ALL areas of their Oliver. Olivers are extremely well engineered and well built in my owner experience.
3 hours ago, MAX Burner said:(Copied and pasted from the leaf spring thread):
Regarding frame cross member welds - visually inspected all yesterday and photographed each weld to set a baseline for our records.
Yep, Pre-Flight aircraft inspections have saved my bacon more than once. Ollie cross member inspections can be made easy with a telescoping inspection mirror during the walk around before towing.
Still need to inspect all welds a few times a year using a creeper, too.
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13 minutes ago, Geronimo John said:
Following is rabbit hole conjecture on my part for your amusement:
- The G-forces on loads behind the center point of the twin axles are lineally amplified by the lever arm distance. It therefore is good design to have more structural supports behind the axles than in front of them as reported.
- As the EZ Flex raises and lowers the axles based upon up/down road bumps/holes/trenches, it could also be adding additional loads to the areas in front and behind the axle center points. If those are in-phase with the road induced G-forces, the structural member loadings would be increased beyond that mentioned above.
John,
Hate to be a Monday morning Quarterback, but did you add Coriolis Force?
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10 minutes ago, CRM said:
It was the first LE2 sold to the public and the last one sold before the shutdown. The only 2010 titled Ollie too.
Like my Grandchildren say,
Sweet!
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1 hour ago, CRM said:
Hull 45 has 1 x 2 rectangular tubing and not the stitched channel.
It has 5 of these from levelers back to the bumper and only one of them has a very slight bow to it.
Was your Ollie a LE2 prototype? Wonder if the older Legacy Elites had the same 1X2 tube crossmembers.
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At least 3 that we are aware of.
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2 hours ago, jd1923 said:
Now I'm thinking it's the double channel at fault and after this weld failed it put more tension on the one in front that also failed on our hull. I found our broken welds upon purchase.
Just my opinion,
Agree, too much concentrated stress on the doubled cross-member welds. Load needs to be distributed to additional cross-members (one way to do it), especially for those doing overland type camping. We probably have the lightest LE2 with ready to camp weights of 4900 to 4950 pounds running under 50psi in the tires with 99% of travel on paved roads and empty water tanks. We still had a weld to crack.
I am not a mechanical engineer, just lots of experience in industrial machine rebuild and manufacture, before retirement.
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Just returned from a road trip looking at Patriot's 2020 LE2 Ollie Hull #634 with the later frame compared to our original frame on our 2015 LE2.
There are some differences on the newer Ollie compared to our 2015 Ollie #75, but the newer Ollie still has the doubled channel cross-member under the hot water heater area. The newer Ollie has more angle replacing some of the cross-member channel when compared to the older Ollie, but my older Ollie has angle cross-members over the axles, too.
You can also see on the 2020 frame the inverted suspension saddle (my description) over the main frame giving a jack location that the older 2015 frame does not have extended as far for a jack location.
Aluminum channel cross-members on both Ollie's appear to be the same size.
2020 LE2 Ollie's cross-member doubled and stitch welded under the water heater:
2015 LE2 Ollie's cross-member doubled and stitch welded under the hot water heater, you can also see the cracked weld in some of these photos, plan to have the crack repaired tomorrow:
If you look at the doubled channel cross-member in this photo of the older LE2
Looks like a downward bow, probably found on most Ollies, I did not look at this on the 2020 Ollie. Would probably need a straight edge to measure the downward bow.
Downward load on the doubled cross-member that is cracking welds.
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1 minute ago, Patriot said:
Bill,
You’re always welcome to come by and take a look under XPLOR. 😊
That would give us all a chance to go out to eat, too? 🙂
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1 minute ago, Patriot said:
My local Dexter rep told me the yellow paint swatch is to quickly identify a particular spring in their warehouse. I noticed the painted end is also where the leafs are steel banded together.
David, Does your Ollie have any doubled cross-members?
Thanks,
Bill
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The added piece of channel is only stitch welded (doubled) onto the channel welded to the mainframe on our Ollie. The doubled piece could be removed by cutting the stitch welds off with a 4" grinder. One side is stitch welded on the bottom and the other side is stitch welded on the top to the other channel.
To give more strength additional cross-members could be welded on (added) in different areas, if needed.
This has me wondering why the original cross-member was doubled when all others were not. I have not inspected the campers with new stye frame like Patriot's, but guessing none of their cross-members were doubled. Hope someone will let us know that has the new style frame without telescoping hitch tube.
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Thanks,
Another friend here thinks it may be some bad welds. Will see how the repair goes Friday.
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It might take longer than normal for an answer if your question has to go to engineering.
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The weld cracked on our Ollie where the cross member was doubled under the hot water heater.
Scheduled to have the crack welded on Friday.
Question, would doubling the crossmember material create more stress on the welds due to less flexibility?
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jd1923's following thread about a crossbeam weld break posted earlier in this thread, just wanted to re-post so it is not missed, jd1923 hope you don't mind:
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13 hours ago, routlaw said:
Good point, thus far I have not contacted Oliver about this but your advice is well taken. I will add this in all fairness, we have owned this TT for 9 years, some 25K miles and driven many backroads in that time and this is the first time we experienced this failure. However I still stand behind my previous comment, this is a poor design for its intended use. Like you we also camp most of the time where fresh water is not available, and just as important its deep backcountry for our adventures which requires gravel backcountry roads. Thanks
Will be interesting to see Oliver's solution.
Started looking at this yesterday, there is 11" between the failed weld crossbeam and next crossbeam to the front on #75 LE2. The crossbeam behind the crossbeam with failed weld is over 13".
The same size and length of aluminum 6061 channel could be welded equal distance between the crossbeam with failed weld and crossbeam to the front to reinforce this area with rubber sandwiched between the channel and fiberglass like the original channel. Probably not needed, but the same could be done between the next beam to the rear, too. Just a thought.
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Unhitching
in General Discussion
Posted · Edited by rideandfly
This is what I like about forums, inspected our chock leveling system and the components are showing a lot of wear. Decided to replace them with Rophor leveling system, like the looks of this system! Just ordered a set today. Our chocks have use expiration dates, too, already replaced them once, going to replace them next with the HF chocks from the local store later this week!
Appreciate the information!