topgun2

Today I drove from western NC Virtually due north via I-26 to I-81 to I-77 south of Cleveland. Cheapest regular gas was around $2.69 while the highest price was $3.59. TN and VA generally had the cheapest. Bill

Nope - Remember that the "ball" is in one piece connected to a "shaft" that extends from the ball down through the "body" of the Andersen and comes out at the bottom - this is where you then attach the "whale tail". When the trailer is attached to the Andersen there are two points of contact - 1 - the ball and -2- the whale tail. When the shaft "rotates" inside the body it creates friction and the "brake" material inside that housing expands due to the heat. This, in turn, applies more and more pressure on the shaft as friction is increased due to these rotational forces inside this body. When "sway" occurs - never have I heard of this happening with an Oliver - the rotational forces are greater and greater as the sway gets worse. The friction and thus the braking material continues to expand until there is enough force applied to the shaft to slow the rate of sway/rotation. This is how the Andersen controls sway - which basically we Ollie owners do not really need. Greasing the ball will tend to allow the ball - hitch connection to move more easily against each other than intended thereby negating the "benefit" of having this connection force help to move the shaft inside the housing. Yes, you still have the whale tail that will rotate that shaft but you are then relying on the whale tail's connection to the trailer via the chains to slow the rotation while when the ball is "solidly" also connected to the ball and therefore the shaft and therefore the whale tail you have all things moving (or not moving) at roughly the same speed/force. In older models of the Andersen grease ( and water and dirt and all kinds of stuff) often seeped down into that "brake" material somewhat negating its functionality. But, with the newer designs this old problem has been virtually eliminated. Bill

Yep - Leaf blower or electric pressure washer should take care of those leaves. Bill

Death isn't all that bad - once you get used to it.😁

🥶🥶🥶❄️❄️❄️

Bill and Nancy - Sorry for your problems with the furnace. If it makes you feel any better (I doubt that it will but misery loves company) several years ago I too had warranty issues with Dometic. Got the same kind of "run around" that you seem to be getting. After spending two trips to an RV service center, hours on the phone with Dometic and numerous emails I finally decided that I had invested too much time it getting them to warranty a $60 CO/Propane detector. Therefore - I gave up and they won. Bums me out to this day to say that.☹️ Bill

Let the "fun" continue and the real adventures begin. An official and warm welcome to the Family! Bill

I would think that your best bet would be to give Oliver Service a call tomorrow morning ask ask these questions. They should be able to help you with particular specifics about your specific hull number. Good luck! Bill

I think that Rivernerd was talking about the plugs for the drum brakes.😇

This is usually because the wiring/power source for the camera is the backup lights. When I installed mine I used a dedicated circuit for the power source - with a switch so I could turn it on/off. Bill

Bakflip - the maker of tonneau covers for pickup trucks - is having a Black Friday sale. If you contact them - DO NOT simply buy anything at the posted prices on the website. If you either call them or "chat" with them you can get an additional discount. Bill

I have camped above 10,000 dozens of times without any propane issues. However, all of this camping has been at temps generally above freezing and certainly nothing below 20 degrees. At very cold temps propane has difficulty "gasifying". Good luck! Bill p.s. I recently saw something about propane tank heating blankets to warm them in colder weather. You might try a Google search.

25 feet is what you get from Oliver. In seven years I've only needed an extension one time and I used a 10 gauged regular extension cord for that. Assuming that Oliver still uses the same type plug as always then - a regular (non-locking) plug. Hopefully a 2022 owner will confirm that. Bill

BuiltRight's Black Friday Sale can be found HERE

The Harbor Freight rubber chocks are presently on sale at $4.99 each for Black Friday. Bill

TechnoRV's Black Friday Sale can be found HERE.

Well - All of the brake drums that I've ever dealt with are not "sealed" by any stretch of the imagination. Therefore, water, dirt, etc. can fairly easily enter into virtually any of the working parts of these brakes - with or without the plugs. Having said this - I think that keeping as much of this out of the inner workings as possible can only help make the performance and longevity better. Yes, these holes were originally designed as a port to be used to manually adjust the brakes. And, some engineer (hopefully with a much better understanding of all the details surrounding these brakes) also designed a plug to cover that hole. Without any firm evidence to the contrary it seems prudent to plug the holes. Bill

Perhaps for a better understanding or at least a more complete background knowledge on this topic everyone should review THIS thread. Bill

BuiltRight Presently all BuiltRight dash mount racks are 20% off regular prices. Unfortunately this is too late for me!😭 BuiltRight Racks

When I took delivery of my Oliver, the very first thing I did was to mount a camera through the spare tire cover just above the license plate light. Over the years I've noticed that at least one person has mounted a camera on the top of the spare tire cover. In both cases the wires were run down the inside of the cover, under the trailer (basically on the curbside ) and up into the "doghouse" area (where the propane tanks are stored). From there it should be easy to get the wires run along with the "pigtail" to the rear of the tow vehicle. Bill p.s. One of the "problems" with this camera location is that when it rains the camera is subject to greater road spray and can become virtually useless. For this reason, I now still have the spare tire cover camera in operation but have mounted a Furrion camera in the "normal" location on the roof. The spare tire camera gives a better perspective when backing into a spot while the Furrion gives a better picture in rain or for generally traveling down the road such that you can see not only the vehicle behind you but even ones further behind that.

Coastal Aggie - I've been down this "rabbit hole" a couple of times now with these cameras - not the Ford one though. Be a bit careful with wiring runs greater than about 6.5 feet. These cameras generally operate at very low voltage and there will be voltage drop that - obviously - increases with the length of the wire run. I thought that I'd found the "perfect" solution with a Garmin camera tied into my Garmin 890. Unfortunately, while generally this combination worked well, there were times when either the voltage would drop to a critical point and/or the WiFi signal would be momentarily interrupted. This cause the map screen of the Garmin to change to the camera automatically. And, this change seemed to always happen at exactly the wrong time when I really needed the map. Eventually I simply gave up and a good friend happened to make me a killer deal on a Furrion. Good luck with finding a way around the Ford system. I'm certain that it can be done but the solution is probably above my pay grade.🤪 Bill

See the 1st, 3rd and 4th pictures in Rivernerds post above for the supply vent and both the front and backside of the vent that "returns" the air into the area between the shells just aft of the black tank under the forward dinette seat. Bill

Certainly so many things to be thankful for and our Oliver Family is certainly not the least among them. Bill

Don't forget about those "out of sight" scupper holes in the bottom of the Ollie. While each of those holes are not all that big, they do add up to a reasonable open space to the interior between the hulls. Having said this - I virtually always have at least my bath vent open while camped. Bill

If I understand at least one of the "issues" that you are trying to deal with - the ball is held in place via a snap ring on the bottom of the ball which prevents it from being "lifted" out of the top of the Andersen housing. As for the "whale tail" and the chains - I've either removed them (from both the ball and from the frame of the Ollie) or wrapped the chains over the tongue or attached the whale tail to an "S" hook that I've suspended under the frame up near the hitch. Which of these three I use depends on all the factors associated with the "off road" situation. Having said this - in seven years I've only removed the tail and chains once. But, I really do not do a bunch of true off roading while hitched. Normally I'll simply find a place that is a bit more "comfortable" to park the Ollie and then go out looking for trouble. Bill