John E Davies
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Posts posted by John E Davies
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That is very disturbing. In the past we have mentioned on the forum draining a fresh water (or grey water) tank en route from your campsite to lighten the trailer. I can’t recommend draining either one, especially since incidents like the Walmart dump do happen. Somebody might see that water draining and call the coppers on you. At the very least it is a bad reflection on responsible RV life.
I admit that I did this one time, I opened my fresh water tank drain as I drove away from a forest service campsite on gravel roads. The water had stopped flowing by the time I reached a civilized road. This was around 1988.... in the only other RV that I have owned.
Please dump responsibly.
John Davies
Spokane WA
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Bill, they should also consider the effect of a shoddy website on loyal members who may eventually get so unhappy that they just leave and never come back. There is NO excuse for sloppy, slow and unresponsive code. Losing posts is irresponsible. Of the many dozens of websites I use routinely none are even a tenth as bad as this one in terms of access. I have no problem with ads or a reasonable membership fee if the revenue would make the system work right.
A professional website is a company’s front door to the world, it needs to present as good an image as possible, to attract and embrace new customers and keep the old ones coming back. It needs street appeal. The forums are where people come to learn, to see if they want to buy an Ollie. This forum door is unattractive and all too often hard to get through or completely stuck..... it sometimes gets cleaned and grease on the hinges. But I think it should be replaced with a new one.
John Davies
Spokane WA
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Does anybody know what happened? The forum has been very slow for a few days, and it and the Oliver Trailer pages were down for quite a few hours Monday morning, and one of my replies completely vanished (in the “Water quick connects” thread).
Disturbing .... the host server doesn’t seem to be either fast or reliable. There have been a lot of issues in the past. What’s going on?
Thanks,
John Davies
Spokane Wa
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I know the bigger Airstream has tinted glass single pane windows. Do the smaller ones (Bambi, Caravel) use glass or plastic? The Ollie windows are thermal glass, double pane. They are pretty good at insulating the interior but not nearly as good as the hulls themselves. I wouldn’t want a bunch of extra area for additional heat loss or gain. This is a winter camper, it can’t have a bunch of additional openings in the hull and remain as capable as it is.
The view out the three rear windows is fine. It isn’t panoramic but it works.
John Davies
Spokane WA
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The BC 40 has a max range of only 26 ft. There is no way the signal will reliably reach the dash of your TV. Plus it can’t be hard wired, needs expensive lithium batteries every three months and is only compatible with a few of the very newest nav units. I wish there was a higher res camera that would work with my RV660.
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/591686#specs
John Davies
Spokane WA
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Pretty! May I suggest....https://www.griotsgarage.com/product/microfiber+foam+pad+cleaner.do?code=PPCPLG&gclid=CPDUwdHA3OICFQEcfQodj8QGHQ
John Davies
Spokane WA
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You could mount the camera on the rear license plate, and pick up power and ground from the plate light. Turn on the parking lights every single time you tow, like I do. Easy peasy. However, I am pretty sure the signal will be not be strong enough without the booster up front. The radio waves would have to pass through the spare wheel, propane bottles and truck tailgate. A low position will have the image obscured much more, especially if you have a rack or drive in rain. A high position for the transmitter gives the signal a direct line of sight through less dense materials and into the truck cabin.
Why don’t you try a temporary installation on the plate and report back. Maybe it will work OK.... but I suspect not.
John Davies
Spokane WA
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I tied into power up front just behind the bathroom door, left side, for two reasons. I wanted to mount the booster there, which I believe is needed. And the switch worked really well there next to the cellular booster switch. I just spliced into the cabinet lighting power circuit. It has been working satisfactorily for going into season three.
http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/how-to-install-a-garmin-bc-30-backup-camera/
I leave it powered up all the time when hitched up so I can use it when in heavy traffic. Connecting to the backup circuit is not good enough. The video resolution and frame rate is not so good, but plenty adequate.
John Davies
Spokane WA
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This gets discussed all the time, you need to decide how much you want to carry, gas or diesel, and how many miles you will tow, before you start looking at specific vehicles. Payload (which includes the weight of the hitch and the tongue weight) is normally the limiting factor for lighter trucks. The big advantage of a HD truck towing an Ollie is that you pretty much can forget about overloading it. Bigger tires, canopy? Check. Tools, generator, anvil, aftermarket foofooraw? No worries - load her down..... with a light truck you will constantly be thinking about weight.
I really like the idea of the Titan XD but from what I have read, the execution is lacking. It really doesn’t pull much more than the regular gas model and the engine doesn’t deliver the performance you would expect from the much higher cost. If you are OK about doing deletes and aftermarket tuning, it could be a great rig. Not so much with the emissions junk....
John Davies
Spokane WA
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Very nice indeed, How much of a job will it be to run power? It makes you feel good to have cover and security for your investment and travel companion..,..
John Davies
Spokane WA
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9300 ft Silverton CO
Where is that spot? Official NFS campground? I love that area, after the Moab area it is my most favorite place to go.... I hope you are planning to stay a while. I think it is a bit too early in the season to get up into the high passes of the Alpine Loop (in a Wrangler) due to snow and runoff. Which way are you headed next? If you need some suggestions, just ask. I have to admit I am jealous. Last year we tried to go there and got smoked out . ... https://www.denverpost.com/2018/07/12/what-caused-416-wildfire-durango/
John Davies
Spokane WA
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Spokane had the dubious honor of having the worst air quality in the country last night due to a rapidly growing 5000 acre wildfire directly upwind in the center of Washington. It was a sudden and completely unpredictable spike.
The previous bump was due to smoke from the massive northern Alberta blazes drifting southwest for a while. (That system is at 700,000 acres and still growing.) The AQ here was in the green before that one. Other than the tree and grass pollen .... ☹️ I can’t stress enough how valuable a HEPA filter is if you live in the West, or just travel here in your Ollie. It could mean the difference between comfort and distress, or worse for those with respiratory issues.
John Davies
Spokane WA
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Neat! Can you post the design drawings or photos of the cross beam and braces before they were installed under the frame?
It appears that the frame bolts go all the way through, and are there inner spacers?
For me this design would never work due to limited ground clearance (reduced departure angle) but the steel receiver would act as a skid plate on a hard surface like concrete and protect the softer frame.... on a soft surface it would dig in and possibly catch on a rock....
Do you worry about expansion/ contraction issues? I see a cushion under the one frame bracket, is that for sideways movement or corrosion protection? For those who are unaware, steel expands about half what aluminum does, for a given temperature change.
https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/linear-expansion-coefficients-d_95.html
As long as a hitch can shift some due to the way the mounts attach, this should never be an issue unless you plan to tow your Ollie in outer space where it gets quite hot and chilly at the same time. FYI, I fabricated a steel bumper/ skidplate for an aluminum utility trailer and I never had any issues. I drilled the mounting holes a little oversized so things could shift if they needed to.
It’s great to see folks engineering stuff to make their trailers more useful and personal... thanks for posting.
John Davies
Spokane WA
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Not yet, but have a couple nice used ones picked out if I decide to go the Oliver or NL tc way, a 2012 2500 Ram Laramie diesel w/ 48k miles, and a 2012 Ford F350 Lariat diesel dually w/ 39k miles.
If you decide to get a trailer, the SRW trucks are fine. If you want a heavy truck camper, the F350 dually would be perfect with its much higher payload. The additional rear tires provide significantly better stability with a heavy constant load. The only downsides are they are much wider, which might be a pain at times,, and they are not as good off pavement. They will beat you up more driving around empty.... but it is just a matter of degrees, most 1 ton trucks ride pretty rough when they are not loaded.
I bet you already have been here, but just in case you haven’t.... https://www.truckcampermagazine.com/ .... Beware, they have never reviewed a product that they did not like or love.... nice pictures though.
John Davies
Spokane WA
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Nan , Ken's Tundra looks like a great truck fo you. The Leer canopy is a high quality fiberglass unit and is attractive when color matched like this one - I had one on my last truck. It provides secure storage and improves highway mileage. The overall truck specs are great, the tow package is a huge plus (the axle ratios are 4.30 which gives more power), you will enjoy the Limited trim interior and seats, the only thing we don't know is if it has the standard gas tank or the big one. Probably the former, in which case you will be stopping more often to refuel in mountainous terrain. On an Alaska or Yukon trip it could be a worry, and you might have to bring an extra 10 gallons in cans. (Changing the small tank for the bigger one sourced from a scrapyard would be possible, I think, for not too much money.)
However I don't believe you ever told us how much your animals weigh and how much personal stuff you plan to bring along. As with any light duty truck, weight is always going to be your primary and constant concern. If you want to bring a bike, generator, normal camping stuff and a small generator, it will be no worries. You can't pack this truck with six adults and their luggage and still have enough leftover capacity for the trailer load..... for a solo traveller that is a non-issue. But I would caution you to keep the trailer tongue as light as possible - do NOT order the tongue cargo tray. A rear rack for a bike is fine and actually lightens the front significantly. Your enemy in this situation is weight in the bed and weight on the hitch.... keep them light.
Have you thought about how to carry your dogs? In my Ram 3500 I removed the rear seats completely, that frees up over 100 pounds of payload. I built an elevated wood platform with hidden storage under the hinged plywood. I used a Pet Loader (folding steps) to get my two 40 pound Labradoodles in and out, it is way too high for them to jump and it is awkward to lift them that high. A cargo net separated them from the front seats so they were secure. A pet hammock and door guards kept the interior claw and drool free.
But there was lots of drool on the glass...
I have a bunch of pics, if anyone is interested I will start a new thread about it. Here is the Raingler high quality net that fits the Tundra: ... https://raingler.com/collections/toyota-truck-heavy-duty-cargo-netting/products/2007-newer-toyota-tundra-access-cab-and-crewman-barrier-divider-rfeb
John Davies
Spokane WA
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Fool the thermostat with a bag of frozen vegetables held up to it for a couple of minutes. They have to be organic baby peas or it will not work. It’s right there in the owners booklet. Sheeesh.... Kids these days know nothing.
John Davies
Spokane WA
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KWR, does your truck have the tow package (4.30 axles)?
For getting the pictures oriented and cropped and so on, just open the picture on your iPhone or iPad, then click Edit in the upper right corner. That opens up your editing menu. The way to reclock a wonky image is to click the second icon down, the box with arrows. That will cycle the image 90 degrees each time until it is right side up. You can crop it also at the same time by dragging in the “frame” to where you want it... there are other buttons for adjusting the color and contrast, redeye etc. - if you screw up you can click Revert and it goes back to the original image. FYI you cannot edit pics on the forum, you must do it on your device, before uploading them. .... https://iphonephotographyschool.com/how-to-edit-photos-on-iphone/
John Davies
Spokane WA
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Welcome to the Family.
John Davies
Spokane WA
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I like the Power Wagon too but you lose quite a bit of payload capacity. A generic 2500 6.4 4X4 has about double the payload of the Power Wagon.
Aftermarket rear airbags..... the only thing reducing the load rating on the PW is the soft springs. With air assist you can level the truck and carry a much heavier load safely, though technically this would not be legal. This is what the Raptor guys do. But I would feel much safer carrying more than the rated payload in a 7000 pound HD truck than a 5600 pound light duty one, since it has such a beefy frame and drivetrain.
BTW, the PW comes factory equipped with a stout steel front bumper, 12k winch, heavy skid plates, lift, big AT tires, front and rear differential lockers, swaybar disconnect, etc, and those parts are figured into the payload number, and they have a full factory warranty. So if you bought a regular Ram Bighorn, for example, and then did all the same stuff to it, you would have to subtract off the weight of all that gear from the usable load, probably about 400 or 500 pounds. And it would cost about double. If this sort of truck is what you want, you really can’t match it for the $8000 cost of the Power Wagon package. You can, this year, order a stripped Tradesman with that package, if you wanted a great offroad, no-frills pickup truck, for about $50k MSRP.
John Davies
Spokane WA
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I will try Steve’s idea for dumping with valves closed to maybe avoid sucking the p traps dry. I probably should plug both sinks when I drain the grey tank for insurance of that.
If everything is closed up tight and the tank is full, it will not dump very well. There has to be a big opening for outside air to enter to prevent a vacuum from forming. Some air will go back up through your stinky hose if it isn’t blocked by a drooping section full of water, but that isn’t reliable.... Just always pull the isolation valve forward (opens the vent) and don’t worry about plugging the sinks. The air will come down from the roof. You can always run the faucets for a second afterwards, if you want to make sure there is some water in the traps, and that is the time you can add a few ounces of tank deodorizer. Don’t forget the shower trap, if you don’t use the shower that one may dry out through simple evaporation.
John Davies
Spokane WA
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Do the new tax laws allow you to take the solar credit if you don’t itemize deductions? I took the credit in 2017 fo the solar package, batteries, inverter and external solar port when I bought “Mouse”. I don’t itemize any more.
The credit for residential owners is going to be phased out by 2022.
2019: 30%
2020: 26%
2021: 22%
2022: 0% (10% for commercial projects)
John Davies
Spokane WA
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KWR: The Tundra is way overdue for an update. But like all Toyota trucks it is extremely reliable and you could put 300k miles on it without too many problems. This cannot be said for any new diesel, or any GM, Ram or Ford product. Buy an extended warranty and expect to have expen$ive components fail.
In your shoes I would keep the Tundra, or wait until there was a new model and trade it in. If you want more towing power you can change the ring and pinions for $2000 and that would really wake it up. Or if you are running big tires, put back OEM sized rubber to restore lost power. Airbags will inexpensively correct a saggy butt.
I have never understood why Toyota avoids the HD pickup market. They would never sell as many as the big three, but there are plenty of folks with bigger toys that would love more power and that stellar reliability. The Toyota company is a weird duck, they seem to be very reluctant to invest in vehicles that are only sold in the USA. Maybe they will do moderate upgrades, maybe they will just let it percolate along as is, and make all their money on Camrys and RAV4s. Maybe this 500 ft lb twin turbo ten speed hybrid with 30 mpg.... https://www.motor1.com/news/351355/2021-toyota-tundra-engine-rumors/
I would buy a (three year old Certified Used) Land Cruiser 300 with that drivetrain, in a heartbeat. Toyota’s truck drivetrains are so bulletproof you could easily tweak the boost for 600ft lbs or more and not lose much reliability. You betcha!
Final comment, since your family has had Toyotas for a long time, I think any brand switch would be a disappointment, hopefully just a small one...
John Davies
Spokane WA
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You are smelling gas from the grey water tank. There are four ways for that tank to vent ... through the sink or shower traps, or through the 2” pipe roof vent. (The black tank is always vented through the roof, and through the toilet bowl.) The galley traps and roof vent are closed off when towing because of the grey tank isolation valve. That leaves just the galley sink.
If you travel on steep mountains passes or maybe when the weather gets really hot, the tank pressure increases and it may burp stinky gases past the water in the trap and into the galley.
The tank needs to have a second OUTSIDE vent in back to prevent this while towing. It is a design flaw and I just don’t understand why they build them this way. All you can do is treat the grey water so it smells like lemon instead of swamp gas.
As a test, close your isolation valve, fill the galley sink full and then remove the drain. The water flows out fast then slows way down. Open the isolation valve and the water disappears fast because the trapped air in the tank can now escape out the roof vent.
Complain to Oliver. If enough people do, maybe they will correct the defective vent system. I started a thread a couple of years ago suggesting a second vent and most people responding did not feel it is a problem and felt that we should just live with it. But would you tolerate this in your home?
John Davies
Spokane WA
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In your opinion, how does this RAM compare to the soon to be released 2020 GMC 2500HD Duramax? I realize this topic has been exhaustive, but I intend to upgrade in the Fall and want to hear all opinions before making this large investment.
Well, the Power Wagon is an offroad truck with a gas engine and soft, long travel suspension. It would tow an Elite II very well, but you couldn’t carry a bunch of stuff in the bed also. It’s kind of like a HD Raptor but it isn’t designed for high speed desert running...The Duramax is a brute tow vehicle with very heavy payload. It has over twice the torque and won’t go offroad. They are about as far from each other as you can get in the pickup world.
Or did you mean to compare the regular Ram diesel to the Duramax? What do you want to do with your TV besides tow?
https://www.motor1.com/news/300890/2019-ram-heavy-duty-revealed/amp/
I would not commit to a GM truck until you have looked at and driven a new Ram. They are completely new inside and out and they don’t have the completely butt ugly front end of the Chevy. The 2500 HD Rams drive very well with the rear coil or air suspension. The new Cummins offers up to 1000 ft lbs.
John Davies
Spokane WA
Anderson sway bars
in Towing an Oliver
Posted
Welcome to the forum!
Yep, I agree 100% with all the comments. All you need is a cheap ball mount with the correct amount of rise and a 7500 pound rated 2” ball. Maybe add a set of big gravel guards (Rock Tamers or similar) if you venture off pavement. This is a light, cheap, simple setup that is perfect for towing either Ollie behind your HD truck.
I have never heard of a single owner having sway problems. It might possibly happen if you had the trailer’s butt overloaded with bikes and no weight on the tongue, if you had a marginal short wheel base light duty tow vehicle. With your big heavy LWB truck, you would have absolutely zero problems. Hook up and go, no worries. This setup was on my ‘06 Ram 3500 Quad Cab 4wd.
BTW I like the long shank ball that is intended for mounting directly through some factory bumpers. You can add Grade 8 washers and shift them around if needed to fine tune the height.
John Davies
Spokane WA