John E Davies

No, but it sure is sexy, like a brand new Andersen that hadn’t yet corroded😬 You have to imagine how it will look after the new has worn off…. John Davies Spokane WA

I think that if I were in your shoes I would give GM a month to figure out their next step, they are without a doubt as freaked out as you are by the parts fiasco. If they can’t assure you of having a working truck by then, have it towed to that other shop, pay out of pocket and plan on joining the huge class action lawsuit that is sure to come. It is very worrying to think of the bad things that can happen when you are in the middle of a long vacation trip and get stranded on the other side of the country from your home…. Good luck. John Davies Spokane WA

This is a great random orbital polisher and the instructions are very, well, instructional. https://www.griotsgarage.com/content/pdf/10901.pdf It is critical that you use a low rpm variable speed polisher, do not try to use a high rpm random orbital sander. Even though they may look the same. John Davies Spokane WA

How many man hours of labor to fix the pulley and seal? Does the radiator have to come out? At this point I guess you are going to have to decide, do I just have an independent diesel shop fix it with a higher quality aftermarket part, or park the truck and trailer until mid summer or later? That is a sticky situation, but at least you do have a bright side, the engine is OK and there is at least one option for you….. We bought a new Acura in December, the local dealer parts guy told me that he had a 30 page stack of backordered parts. He had one car gathering dust because it needs new head bolts, and none are to be found anywhere. Good luck on your truck. John Davies Spokane WA

A compressor fridge like my medium ARB unit works great, but it uses around 60 amp hours daily, and it also provides continual “amp anxiety”. With marginal solar when the days are short or grey, it makes me constantly worry about recharging the batteries. I am much happier and laid back if I just leave the fridge at home. If I had a larger solar array, I would be more likely to bring it along. It operates off the alternator when moving, and off the trailer batteries when stopped. I hate the older three way fridge for a number of reasons, but I do have to admit it works well enough and doesn’t drain the batteries if you tow with it set to propane. I would rather use those truck amps to recharge the trailer batteries than operate the fridge….. it is a very heavy draw when set to 12 volts. John Davies Spokane WA

I found this comment at Amazon. “Also, plugging a heater into a GFCI outlet, which are common in bathrooms, can present problems. GFCI outlets not only protect against ground faults (arcing) but they also provide current limiting for over current. If the GFCI is upstream of another outlet in use, it will limit the output to the heater. The heater will still try to pull enough current to operate and this will cause the outlet breaker to trip. Even if there is no other appliance on the circuit, the GFCI outlet could sense the heater cycling as an over-current situation and trip the breaker. I would suggest you do not use the heater on a GFCI outlet but if you do, be sure no other appliance is on an outlet on the same circuit. - Vornado Consumer Service Team see less “ I had never heard that before. But I would not hesitate to run it in my Ollie, I run other brands of heaters and they don’t do anything strange. OTH I wouldn’t run it on high continuously, nor would I have any other high wattage appliance running at the same time. Use common sense, most of what you read in the electrical warnings is pure legal “cover your butt” language, to protect the manufacturer from idiots. As an aside, I have four circuits in my house that are hyper sensitive to heaters and to electric motors (washer and dryer), the new style arc fault circuit interrupter out in the garage usually trips after a couple of hours of running a heater. So I plug that unit into the nearby bathroom circuit, which obviously is GFCI protected. That works perfectly. The washer and dryer trip theirs once every month or three, randomly. I hate AFCI breakers. John Davies Spokane WA

You are correct, there needs to be some air flowing in, more than the natural leakage through the hull. Cracking the bath vent half way is enough. I actually measured the amp draw of the fan running on high with everything closed up tight, and also with a little ventilation. The fan definitely struggles in the former, and draws a little more current as well. It is just common sense really, don’t run an exhaust fan if there isn’t enough airflow to exhaust. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/5790-how-to-window-dust-pollen-smoke-filter/ John Davies Spokane WA

Please, never never install an electrical device like a solar controller in the same compartment as a lead acid or AGM battery bank! Especially one loose and on top of the other connections!!!!! A plastic bag around it will NOT stop a wire from coming loose and sparking! These batteries can vent hydrogen gas and this installation is a recipe for an explosion or a fire. The bag will also prevent the unit from cooling properly. It is an incredibly bad design. When your trailer is destroyed the insurance company will likely deny payment. I don’t know which is worse, this, or the inverter in the engine bay of this truck: https://rvnerds.com/2017/11/01/electrical-myths-part-4-agm-batteries-dont-need-venting/ John Davies Spokane WA

That is cool but the $24 price seems pretty extreme. Especially since they will just slip it into an envelope and put a stamp on it…. I would check with a local sign shop to see what they charge. My VIN sticker still looks like new, but it is fully protected by the Stone Stomper fabric, I had an aluminum utility trailer that was so badly gravel blasted that the tag was illegible. I ended up stamping the numbers into the tongue manually. That turned out well. The condition of the tongue was one reason I wanted the SS for “Mouse” to eliminate that cumulative erosion of the metal and the gelcoat.. John Davies Spokane WA

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/ccw_reciprocity_map/ny-gun-laws/?amp If I were to go to NY (about as likely as my growing a tail) I would be very sure not to have any handgun, anywhere. The mere possession of an unlicensed one in NYC, even if it is disassembled and locked inside your Ollie, can get you charged and imprisoned. Federal transport laws have nothing to do with it. Consider a fighting cane. As a medical device it can go anywhere, I have even taken mine on a plane. I use it routinely as a walking stick, and in winter I install an ice tip with a retractable stainless steel spike. https://canemasters.com/tactical-canes-and-sticks John Davies Spokane WA

Do any other manufacturers like Airstream do this? I was quite pleased when mine arrived a while ago. Thanks for the history lesson. I would like to see a company FAQ page with the full story of the early days, with comments like the one above. John Davies Spokane WA

Dave, that is a great post! John Davies Spokane WA

A quick search for that Ascent Limited shows 1485 pounds "as delivered". I can't vouch for the accuracy, but it is a pretty decent figure for a unibody SUV.. John davies Spokane WA

The larger ball does not wear nearly as drastically as the 2” one when the chains are set tight. I am not sure that can be called a horror story….. but it is very disappointing if it happens to your hitch. (The real horror is the old style Andersen that locks up and shrieks like demons when it gets wet. They did fix that with the latest sealed versions.) For a part that retails for about $90 - the same as the smaller one - I think that $250 fee seems quite inflated. Oliver probably pays $50 wholesale, the rest is labor. It would only take 30 minutes or less to replace if the holes in the Bulldog are pre-drilled. I suspect that Oliver is resisting installing these at the time when the frame is built. Does anyone know the reason? If I were ordering the big coupler, I would definitely check that box, but I would also complain about the excessive cost to Sales. And I would ask for MY removed part so I could sell it. BTW, if you are going to refer to other threads, please post the link, since most members probably have no idea what you mean. Dale C, is this what you mean? https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2418-fyi-andersen-wd-hitch-ball-locking-up-or-load-noise/ https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/3483-how-to-upgrade-the-bulldog-coupler-and-andersen-hitch-to-2-516/ I will finish by a comment about the Fast Lane tow videos. Those guys used an Andersen hitch for a quite while, and claimed that it was wonderful. Now they use a different brand with steel spring bars.I would like to know why they stopped, does anyone have the answer? John Davies Spokane WA

I figure that my solar panel “curb feeler” will save the hull itself. So, maybe $5,000 to repair that? As long as it doesn't wipe off the air conditioner too. I have a 14 foot tall door on my RV bay, the first year that I had the Ollie, I used to just raise the door part way, to save wear and tear on the door springs. It worked great until the time I misjudged the height. As I was pulling forward the front of the hull caught the bottom edge of the door and trashed two full panels. I backed up and unhitched and kicked the door more or less into shape so I could close it again. The overhead door guy was unimpressed. He has seen everything. The repair was around $800, if I recall correctly. I think my wife was not amused. The Ollie damage was confined to the sewer waste cap, which ended up on the floor, and some light scuffing on the gelcoat. Cost of that repair was less than $5. Ollies are tough, as long as you stop in time (as soon as you hear that horrible SCRIIIIIITCH!) Now I always raise the door to its full height. Back when I used to ride bikes and carry them on the roof of my car, I would tie a bright orange surveyors tape flag on the garage door, to remind me to not drive in yet. That worked well. John Davies Spokane WA

This is most excellent, if you want to understand why lithium batteries are so cool. "You have just sold your first-born into slavery, remortgaged the house, and bought yourself a lithium-ion battery! Now you want to know how to take care of your precious new purchase: How to best charge lithium-iron batteries, how to discharge them, and how to get the maximum life out of your lithium-ion batteries. This article will explain the do’s and don’ts." How to Find Happiness With LiFePO4 (Lithium-Ion) Batteries John Davies Spokane WA EDIT: That is a pdf that doesn't print well. I made a Pages doc out of it, that can be printed and added to your Ollie records, if you like. JD How to Find Happiness With LiFePO4 (Lithium-Ion) Batteries - Solacity .pages EDIT 05/16/23. Thanks to Jim and Francis for converting the article to a PDF: How to Find Happiness With LiFePO4 (Lithium-Ion) Batteries

Hi, you probably saw this already, is this yours? https://www.technomadia.com/oliverforsale/ Or this? https://www.technomadia.com/zephyr/oliver/ It would be helpful if you could provide a build list and any current add-on equipment, or at least post a bunch of pics. Batteries, solar, suspension …? What do you plan to do with her? Boondocking? How many people? John Davies Spokane WA

They will CERTAINLY upload perfectly directly from your iPhone. And I have to ask, why do you still have a Windows laptop? Are you doing all these posts at work? Most Apple users have an iMac or Macbook, they don’t want the constant agony of dealing with Microsoft products. Our two person household has two iMacs, a Macbook Air, two iPhones, two iPads, plus a number of older iPhones that are backups. You could not give me a PC or Android device….. Good luck on your quest to make your Windows work right. Because it never will, but it keeps you employed I guess...😬 John Davies Spokane WA

Alberta and Randy, the Maxx Fan is another possibility, this was mine. A properly sealed joint should not have all that dirt underneath the mounting area! I was seeing drips falling from the inside trim piece, pulling it off showed dirty water stains. I think a fan leak would probably show up this way, but water can also migrate sideways, since the inner trim piece is sealed around the outside by the factory 🙄 https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/4003-how-to-maxxfan-remove-and-service-preventive-maintenance-to-avoid-water-damage/ Good luck. John Davies Spokane WA

Posted height is supposed to be the minimum, so it would be directly over the edge of the pavement. Look for damaged concrete from truckers who ignored that😬. For a two lane tunnel I don’t worry much, I just shift over to the middle a little. Here is one from Colorado National Monument: Those single lane low ceiling round tunnels are another thing entirely, they can be butt clenching, pardon the allusion. John Davies Spokane WA

Lliana, the Voyager instruction manual is quite complete, did you not get one? https://www.renogy.com/content/RCC10VOYP-G1/VOYP1020-Manual.pdf The optional temp sensor is useful IF you never get further away than about 10 feet from the batteries. The harness is not very long. https://renogy.force.com/helpcenter/s/topic/0TO4W000000kvumWAA/accessories-wiring-faqs BTW, if your batteries are the original ones, get them load tested before your next camping season, their life is probably close to finished. And if I were buying individual components, I would choose a better MPPT charge controller. The only reason I used the Renogy one is that it came with my suitcase kit. It would not be my first choice, or even my tenth one😬 John Davies Spokane WA

I fixed that statement for you. 😬 I suggest that you seal it properly, regardless of what Service says they try to do….. that bracket is a mess. At least fill the center hole so water can’t pool in there and freeze….. How do the other ones look? John Davies Spokane WA

I would like to see a video of that. Yes, it is prudent to watch the person filling your tanks! Thanks for posting. John Davies Spokane WA

Only Oliver Sevice can tell you for sure, but it looks like the standard Dicor Self Leveling sealant used on RV roofs everywhere. It is quick and easy to apply, so less man hours, and it looks like crap. I personally would be quite pissed if they did that to my trailer. That is for stick and staple Elkhart trailers with rubber roofs. It requires routine inspection and touch up. https://dicorproducts.com/product/epdm-self-leveling-sealant-for-manufacturers/ Trailers with “boat hulls” should get marine sealants. I will probably never return to the factory, but if I did and they were going to seal something up top on “Mouse”, I would tell them what type to use and have them charge me for the extra cost and labor. John Davies Spokane WA

That tank has not been updated, I annotated your last pic so you can see where the new plumbing parts will be installed, roughly. John Davies Spokane WA