topgun2

I think that I might be of a little help here regarding the brackets that are used to bolt the jacks to the Oliver frames. Historically Oliver used two pieces of flat aluminum, welded together for these brackets. However, in 2016 there were a number of these brackets that were put into a jig, tack welded and then the operator went "out to lunch" so to speak. Next these tack welded only brackets were then installed all was good - UNTIL - one of them broke (I believe that this was on my brand new Ollie). At this point Oliver switched to brackets made of angle steel which required no welding. I was told that all potential owners of the effected trailers were notified and either parts were mailed to those that requested it or the Service area replaced the defective parts as requested. Apparently, there were owners that either were not notified or simply disregarded the notification by Oliver. Bill

I'm so sorry to hear that you feel this way and am sorry for the "problems" that you have had with your Ollie. My personal experience with both the Oliver Company and its travel trailer product has not been without "issues". But, those issues were either not Oliver's fault or were taken care of by Oliver with few (if any hassles). Just for my own frame of reference I took a look at the current warranty for Corvettes - it is three years for the fiberglass panels. This does not make your experience of having to deal with the crack in your Ollie, but, at least it is covered under a warranty that is a full two years longer than a Vette's. I also looked at the warranty on Bigfoots and found that it is either three years or five years depending on a number of things (so, it is unclear which it is and for what items). In any case, Bigfoot's warranty is no greater than Oliver's. Good luck with getting the crack repaired. I truly hope that this will be the beginning of a better relationship. Bill

So - I'm confused - are you saying that, indeed, there are times that the dish works better if it is moved? 😇 Bill

Kind of difficult to put a "turtle neck sweater" on the Ollie! 😁

I'm thinking that this will be a fairly easy fix. If it were mine - I'd send a note to Oliver Service asking what they think. Bill

Be a bit careful in that there were MANY reasons Oliver chose to go the route they did. Actually one of the reasons was that WE (the current owners) were asking for ways to get service, delivery, and even new Oliver sales in locations other than Hohenwald. Oliver considered the risks associated with external dealerships and service centers and decided that as long as they could align themselves with ongoing operations that mirrored the family oriented operations of Oliver Travel Trailers, they would stand a chance of actually developing a "win-win" for the company and its customers. Unfortunately, it appears as though finding these family oriented businesses that treat customers and their product in exactly the same manner was a bit more difficult than planned. Obviously the aftermath of the Covid era has not helped either Oliver or the entire RV industry in general. Bill

Is it safe to assume that you didn't forget to also pump a bit of anti-freeze into the black tank clean-out port? Bill

As you might already know - Those tank gauges are "GasStops". They are primarily designed to automatically stop gas flowing in the event of a major "leak". However, they can also be used to detect a slow or minor leak and they are a "gross" source of determining how much gas is left in the tank. GasStops can be found at Camping World, Etrailer, and a bunch of other places to include HERE on Amazon. Installation is very simple. Bill

Will there be a video coming to a Forum or YouTube near you soon? Bill p.s. safe travels for you and the pup.

Assume that you already know that the "third brake light" is nothing but a decal placed (on the outside) over a red lens?

Our Ollies are very close in age. I have never had any issues with any of the tanks and/or regulators on any RV I've ever owned and up until this year I too had a similar experience to yours. However, for this year's 2 month fishing trip to Wyoming I noticed that I seemed to using a bunch more propane than I should. This got me to looking at hoses that connected the tanks to the regulator. Even though the hoses were only about two years old, one of them was leaking. Fortunately, while I was in Dubois, WY there was a relatively new Ace Hardware store in town that had a new hose that would fit. Great - problem solved! Not so fast Bucko! I was still using propane faster than I thought I should. As with the story above, I broke out my propane sniffer that I happened to carry on this trip. Bummer, the readings were not consistent, but, seemed to confirm that I still had a leak somewhere. I even used my Gas-Stops to detect a leak and they confirmed a very slow leak. Fortunately I was headed to Hohenwald for my annual visit and I asked Jason to have the guys take a look. It took awhile, but, they finally confirmed that the regulator was leaking. New regulator, new hoses and full tanks of propane make for a happy camper. Bill

Happy Halloween everyone! Beware - that Oliver just might be some over-grown ghost?

I feel your pain! Still being used to the old lead acid days I really get worried at anything below 50% SOC no matter how much my brain tries to tell me that "its all OK". Bill

Another reasonable discussion on this topic can be found HERE. Bill

Least we not forget - virtually all of our Olivers still have the Oliver name at the "third brake light " position. As this discussion lingers on I would hope that everyone would re-read my post in this very thread from this past Saturday at 2:38pm. We are working on finding the real and complete story on the situation with decals. I will post back here when I have answers. Again, please be patient during this process. Bill

Sorry for the tire issue but at least you had a level spot and help when you needed it. I have steel valves and have never had a problem with them. However, for anyone considering a change to these valves it should be done with the knowledge that the steel valves are simply not as "forgiving" as the rubber valves are when they are bent or hit with something hard. I certainly had to consider this fact when I changed to the steel because I travel over a bunch of dirt and/or two track roads every summer. Even a sage brush could possibly be enough to bend or break one of these valves let alone a rock. Of course, that same brush or rock could possibly damage a rubber valve but .... Bill

Nice mod - I never thought about putting a bar on the closet door. Another thing that should be mentioned - The bar on the screen door is great for catching the entire door assembly in the event that the wind catches it. However, no matter how it is attached to the screen door the fact remains that the screen door itself is made from rather light weight aluminum. Anyone that places a bunch of weight on that door risks either the catch bar being ripped out of the mounting screws or brackets or (worse yet) the door frame becoming bent. I always try to tell people that are unfamiliar with this issue to please use the Oliver installed grab bars if they feel they need the extra support while entering/exiting the Ollie. Bill

I forgot about those marker lights on the nose. Does that make it more "balanced with the rear "Oliver third brake light"? 🤪

Sure - but you look sooooo good in that "skimpy two-piece!

You might want to take a look HERE - there are a number of these shower heads that have the same kind of shut-off valve as the original plus several that have a female fitting and extra hose or even some with different spray heads. But, be careful that anything different will still fit inside the compartment without causing you additional problems. Bill

Initially I ordered mine also without the side label. But, Anita talked me out of that and I'm glad she did. Her reasoning was that if there was something on the Oliver that told people what it was, the number of times I would be "bothered" in a campground or out on the road would be dramatically reduced. I think that she was correct - as she is with most things. 😁 Bill

I actually ordered Twist WITHOUT the nose logo. My reasoning was that this area is a target for bugs. Since gelcoat is easier to clean than a decal, I just figured that it would save me a bunch of time and trouble over the years I planned to keep my Ollie. So far, I still feel that I was correct. Bill

At this point I do not know if these are still produced in house or are sourced externally. But, (hopefully) I'll have more answers to all of these questions soon. Bill

You're not alone and (as I mentioned) this was one of the reasons that Oliver stopped supplying them. Other reasons were that the side stripes were difficult to apply properly (and the lady that did that job moved on to other things) and, of course, it saves material costs in both producing them and applying them. Bill

Yep - these used to be produced "in house" on a really neat machine. In fact, there is still some unused material that was used in the loft above the Sales area. I wouldn't be surprised that if someone were to make Oliver an offer for this material they would be more than happy to get rid of it (suggest sending Jason Essary a note if your interested). When the decision was made to stop producing the side decals (basically at the suggestion of current owners) much of the materials used were not replaced and the few people that knew how to use that fancy machine went on to other things. Since I've not actually seen the machine is a couple of years, I'm not sure that it still there. Bill