rideandfly

Removed the flexible hose yesterday and ordered a new one, waiting on it to arrive. Will do some cleaning, too. Here's a closer look without flex hose in the bumper storage area:

Repacked bearings & installed new seals last week. Probably have about 12,000 miles on the Ollie, so far. The brakes were in good shape, bearings & races/cups were in good condition, and original seals were not leaking. Towed the Ollie about 1000 miles this week without any issues.

We enjoy camping at State Parks, Army Corps of Engineers, and other Federal parks around the nation. We camped at Cumberland Mountain SP Crossville TN earlier this week. There's a Jack Nicklaus designed golf course next to the State Park, too.

Bob, Believe we saw y'all this morning driving a dark pickup with Maine tags? We were in a white pickup with Ollie in tow at Fall Hollow restaurant. If it was you, gave us a thumbs up! Congrats on the new Ollie, we're no longer in the area to see your beautiful new Ollie, but looking forward to seeing photos!

Bob, Congrats on your new Ollie!!!!!!! We're camping in TN right now, had thunderstorms yesterday afternoon and light rain last night. The light rain on the Ollie roof last night was music to sleep with! Look forward to seeing photos of your new Ollie!!!!

geO, What rack is that one? We use another bike rack in the pickup bed, but like the looks of your rack. Thanks for posting a photo,

"If there is any underlying moral to this story, it is don’t get locked into a travel plan that may be less fun than the lesser known things you may wander across". Larry, Agree, we have had great times camping while being less structured and more spontaneous!

Reed and Karen, Beautiful TV! Is this the truth? AMG GLA 45: "Best in class: the engine of the GLA 45 AMG fully lives up to this claim, as a look at the figures shows. The AMG 2.0-liter turbo engine is the most powerful series-production four-cylinder turbo engine in the world. It produces 280 kW (381 hp) of power and develops a peak torque of 475 Newton meters. A power density of 140 kW (191 hp) puts the AMG high-performance turbo engine on a par with the world's most powerful super sports cars". http://www.mercedes-amg.com/webspecial/gla45/index_eng.php#press AMG S65: https://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehicles/model/class-S/model-S65C

Another Thanks to David & Matteo!!!! Want to buy a 2000 Watt Quiet Yamaha or Honda GenSet that will run the 13.5K Dometic AC unit for short periods on the Ollie. Will purchase the EasyStart 364, too.

David, Hats off to the development of your Easy Start, solar, and battery system!!!!!!! Very impressed when you first posted your system here. If we install the roof solar charging system on our Ollie, will borrow yours and everyone involved in development ideas, if you don't mind. On the 28' Ollie, there are rumors floating around.

Welcome from North Carolina. Congratulations on your beautiful Ollie!!!!!

Stan and Linda, Welcome and congratulations on your new Ollie!!!!!

Len and Pen, Welcome! Beautiful Ollie, hopefully meet you while camping!

Jason, Welcome! Look forward to meeting you while visiting Oliver!

GrayGhost, We currently have (installed new at Oliver) LT BFG Commercial TA 225/75R/16 Load Range E installed on 5200 pound capacity axles on our 2015 Ollie. Our Ollie weighs in around 4950 pounds ready to camp with empty water tanks. Here's Tire Rack information on a LT BFG tire: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=Commercial+T%2FA+Traction&partnum=275QR6COMMTAT&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes Here's Michelin's LT load and inflation tables for their 16" LT tires, have not found BFG load/pressure tables yet. Michelin recommends different pressures according to load. http://www.michelinrvtires.com/reference-materials/load-and-inflation-tables/#/ When we replace the LT BFG tires, plan to go to Michelin LT tires next.

Steve, Excellent installation and photos. Like the parts list breakdown, too.

Steve, Agree, We finished re-stringing another one yesterday. Hope that's all we need to do for a while!

John, Good observations. The Master lock shank is .25" outside diameter. Most of the padlocks I use have larger diameter shanks. I was lucky I had that padlock with me when picking up the Ollie from the previous owner. Might not need to cut the hitch bolts off, should have reversed them while in the R&D mode fitting the Sway Master, letting the Sway Master cover them on the other side leaving only hex heads and flat washers on the starboard side of the hitch, don't remember if I've already tried this. Will see if reversing them will work. The longer Grade 8 bolts and washers were purchased for a different mounting arrangement for the Sway Master, found a better installation not needing the longer hitch bolts. The telescoping bolt behind the hitch was previously cut off before purchasing the Ollie from the previous owner, but I need to file & coat the cut end, not going to cut it shorter since it's already close to the fiberglass cover. Also use the long padlock shank to hang stuff on while not towing. With the newer Ollies using cables instead of chains, longer shank may not needed:

Used 1.5MM cord on the rear window and got away with it on the smaller window. While installing 1.5MM cord on a wider side window tonight, found the 1.5MM cord to be too thick with clearances too tight where the shade slides into the longer shade frame. I may get away with using 1.5MM cord, but recommend using the original cord size. Looks like the original cord size is 1mm.

Pete, Good tip on adjusting tension! The original owners probably used the shades a couple times daily while campground host causing pre-mature cord wear. Ordered a spool of 1.5MM cord and hope it arrives later this week. Have another shade in need of new cord, too. Thanks,

Used 1.5MM shade cord which is about 30% larger diameter than original cord. Cord routing in end of each shade handle: Cord routing in 90 degree portion of frame:

Springs maintain tension on the cords. Each cord is fixed and taped in place where indicated in the previous post. Cord in shade handle is not fixed allowing the handle/shade to slide up and down on the cord. Hope this helps.

Had some extra time today and started making better sketches of my Ollie's shade cord routing. The following shade sketch shows the cord routing on the day and night shades. If the night shade is being threaded (shade in top of frame), the taped side of shade is positioned at the top. If the day shade is being threaded (shade in bottom of frame) the taped side of shade is positioned at the bottom. The cords from night shade are routed to the spring in the bottom of the frame. The cords from day shade are routed to the spring in the top of the frame. I'm working on additional information and will post as soon I have it. Hope this helps!

The folks at Trailerlife, "Oliver's Twist" article, evaluated the Tacoma/Oliver Elite II rig yielding 13.1MPG and stated, "On the road, the 23-foot 6-inch Oliver towed like a dream".

StoicJim, Welcome!!!!! We have two Toyota pickups and really like them, too!!!!! We tow our Ollie with empty water tanks ready to camp coming in around 4950 pounds with about 450 pound tongue weight. The Ollie has great towing manners, too. We picked up our used Ollie in MO, the previous Ollie owner had towed the Ollie 6,000 miles with a 4.0L Tacoma between New England, FL, and MO. He had Timbren rubber block rear suspension installed on his Tacoma to reduce sag. We towed the Ollie home with a 4.0L Nissan Frontier Crew-cab 6300 pound tow capacity, we were amazed how well the Frontier handled the Ollie and fuel economy in the NC & TN mountains, over 15MPG. Even had an emergency stop when a vehicle pulled out in front of us in the TN mountains with the rig stopping easily. Eventually traded our Fronty in for a 2016 5.7L Tundra. The Tundra tows the Ollie easily with fuel economy of 13.5MPG with cruise control off in the NC/TN mountains. We purchased the Tundra as our Ollie's TV for now, the Tundra's tow capacity is close to 10,000 pounds. The 38 gallon Tundra fuel tank is very nice to have, too. If we only had one TV for the Ollie, it would be the Tundra. Our long range plan is to replace our 2003 2.4L Tacoma with a 3.5L Tacoma if the 2003 Tacoma ever wears out, only has 143,000 miles, so may take another 143,000 miles or 14 years before replacement, will see! When the 2.4L Tacoma is replaced, plan to use a 3.5L Tacoma with tow package to tow the Ollie east of the Mississippi River and use the 5.7L Tundra for towing the Ollie in the higher elevations out west. Please correct me if I have this wrong, last time I checked it's possible to currently buy 3.5L TRD Tacoma with up to 6800 pound tow capacity.