BBL

Yes, we are getting the willies! We recently sold our 30 Airstream so I have a good amount of the needful but still have things to prepare. We are 90 minutes away from the factory in TN up by Murray, KY so if you need a stop over on the way back home, we have a driveway and 30 amp. Where did you end up putting your twin ARB compressor? Do you have pictures? That is the one I am looking at but cannot decide where I want it. Brian

This is a fairly well known artifact of LED headlamps in general. People find them too bright. I like you approach (same as mine) little taste of SuperDuty high beams usually does the trick! Brian

John, I agree with @snakeriveridaho - the airbags will level your headlights and then some. The trick is to find the happy medium where your headlights are level and you are not bounced out of your seat when you hit a bump. I usually run about 20 psi when loaded down and 10 psi unloaded. I cheaped out and decided not to get air on board, or the remote, or the app, etc. Old school, manual air fill is fine by me. One week before we pick up the LE II. Brian

John - this is a common problem, esp with trucks. First, they are higher off the ground and even if the headlights are level, sometimes they blind on coming traffic. To make matters worse, fully load the bed and attach a trailer and you get just enough squat to make matters worse. For those of us without the “magic switch”, airbags are the next best thing to getting back to level. I measure the height of the tailgate to the ground and inflate to bring the truck to factory level. Seems to work. Brian

John, I have Firestone airbags on my current F-250 and have used them before. I also run Bilstein shocks on my truck and Timbren soft stops up front. The SuperDuty is a solid front axle and has a bit more of a rough ride than the F-150 so I added the Timbrens - noticeable effect on sharp potholes or rocks. Regards, Brian

DewDev - Nice setup, I see your Ford backup stickers on your tongue and tray. Do they work there? I was told that vertical would not work and to avoid a straight line on the tongue if possible. My trailer will not have the basket so I will have more room for the decal but just wondering how yours works. Thanks, Brian

@John E Davies I really like those panels. I will be looking into them for sure. I use a company called Felt-Right for some of my applications and am thinking about putting a nice design on the ceiling of my Oliver to cut down on some of the reflective sounds inside. I think the ones you chose are more appropriate for the application you used them for. The reason I asked about the fan motor was I had an air handler in my HVAC system years ago that had a squeak in the fan motor. You could hear it at every vent in the house. I opened the unit up and lubed the bearings with some spray white lithium grease and it was totally silent again! Regards, Brian

That is a great idea, I think I will do both! My rationale, with that large vent opening and no intake filter, it will suck in lint, pet hair, human hair, even insects could get sucked in there and then, right into the Truma opening. It just doesn’t seem like it should all be wide open like that. I will certainly detail what I come up with but I do like your solution as a first step! Great idea. Brian

John, For sure this is a huge difference, especially in the area of “human” hearing. I am not a sound engineer but have been in communications (wireless and wired) most of my life and read graphs like this on a regular basis. The scale, db (A), is what is called “A” weighted used to match human hearing. We typically have a perfect hearing spectrum of 20-20,000 hz (perfect hearing), but it is not LINEAR. In other words, when you listen to music at a low volume, the bass and treble are perceived to be less and the ear focuses on the voice range. That is why some sound systems have a “Loudness” curve to boost bass and treble frequencies under low volume but curve them down as you raise the volume. Just a little background. By smoothing out the curve, you have removed many of the sounds in the normal speaking range, which could interfere with you processing voice and actually irritate you. You have smoothed out the lows so they will not be as disruptive. All that will be good, especially for you (humans). Dogs have a different hearing curve and they mainly don’t like the irritants in the voice and especially really high frequency (e.g. dog whistle) which you don’t seem to have. Did you do anything to the actual fan motor in the furnace? Like lube the bearing and such? Just curious. Very nice work. I have sound panels all over my radio room and my home theater/listening room and might just follow suit on those lower compartments. I will be getting the Truma and it is VERY quiet but I never liked the location of the air return with NO FILTER. I got the strangest looks down at Oliver when I asked why the air return didn’t have a filter…mine will! Cheers, Brian

Right there with ya Mike! One, Four, Five — but on guitar. I doubt I will be bringing mine but I do love to sit around a campfire and listen. Brian

You beat me to this post by about 23 minutes! Good thing I checked the sidebar to see what the latest trends were. You were much more thorough that I was planning to be, by the way. Thanks for the share. Brian

Question: Are people using these Jack to “level” their trailer at a campsite? It was my understanding that these were “stabilizer jacks” NOT “Leveling Jacks”. The sales and service team say to never use them to level your trailer. You just drop them after your trailer is leveled using blocks and they help to take the bounce out of the trailer. We are on-schedule to pick up on 3/8 and very much looking forward to it finally being here. Thanks - Brian

Thanks John - great reference. These are the guys I use: https://www.uscargocontrol.com Brian

@John E Davies Thanks John - that is helpful. I wouldn’t want a door either, I think we will use the nook thingy all the time. Some of the ones I have seen have installed knurled knobs on the outside where you can just remove them by hand and then open the compartment. I am guessing that could introduce water in that compartment as it would certainly be less watertight than one that was sealed with caulk. I like the cargo tie down in the closet. I have a few strips of these in the back of my truck on my bedslide. Got very used to “seat track” in the Air Force flying on the heavies. Brian

@John E Davies have you modified your under sink storage “thingy” to be quick-disconnect? I have seen some people have done that and briefly looked through your video list but didn’t see it. I would certainly want to creat access to this area when I get my trailer. (not long now!) Thanks - Brian

Our backyard Cardinals…

@John E Davies That is a great article and the authors have some really good credentials. I did not like the absorption fridge in our Airstream. It was “ok” at keeping things cold once it did get cold but it needed to be defrosted often. I didn’t like running on propane while traveling but also didn’t want things to get too warm. For that reason, I always ran with GAS STOP devices and will have them on my LE II. I was happy to see Oliver went with the Isotherm AC/DC fridge. I am not sure as to “why” but I heard it was because many trailers in the industry are moving to all-electric compressor style fridges. This could account for a low supply of the absorption fridges in this size. I also like that if you are not level when parked we don’t have to worry about damaging the fridge. I think you made a good choice. My brother-in-law has had Isotherm on his boats for as long as I can remember and they always perform. Another great share, thank you! Brian

Bryan, Welcome to the Ford family! I have an F-250 with a 7.3L V8 so I don’t know how yours will tow but I do know you will be happy with it. I have towed with Ford and Toyotas and I strongly feel Ford knows towing much better! I am originally from New Bern, NC and still have many friends back there. Hope to meet and see you at the rally in May. We get our Ollie next month! (Former Airstreamers..) Cheers, Brian

John - I have looked closely at this Isotherm for the last six months and have never seen/heard of this item. It sounds like a nice product and I am interested but not sure of what level of integration I am willing to endure for a brand-new trailer (in March). Thanks for the share, very interesting. Brian

@SeaDawg Too funny, every time you mentioned the “truck fridge” I was thinking you had an Isotherm in the back of your TV as an additional fridge like I have a Truma in my truck. Never would have guessed you had a truck fridge in the Ollie. Looks good - I like the drawer but I also like the additional height of the Cruise 130 with the interior drawer. Brian

@John E Davies I don’t think the newer compressor fridges are going to draw that much. @SeaDawg has two AGM batteries and does just fine with the compressor. I run a Truma fridge in the back of my truck and it is powered by a second battery that is approximately 650aH (it is a 750 CCA) that gets charged by the alternators. I run that thing 24/7 on trips and it has never run the battery down. Take a look at the specs for the Isotherm Cruise 130 just for reference. Brian

I was told this upgrade was scrapped and they are staying with the fiber-granite. It was a bit disappointing to me as I was told about it when we first started looking and then they changed the story after our deposit. Not that this would move the needle but when you look forward to something different it is kind of a let down. Brian

@John E Davies The new fridge is the Isotherm 130 (99% sure of that). It is spacious but like people said, the freezer is smaller yet it still advertises 2 liters for the freezer. You asked about the Furnace (Truma), I can tell you it is MUCH quieter than either a Suburban or Dometic. The air flow is fantastic, warms up quickly. It is NOT the combi unit, it is the Vario-Heat. Truma spec’d it out with their own ducting too. The furnace, A/C and hot water heater (Truma Aqua-Go) all run on the same control panel, the CP Plus. Here are some pictures from my last visit to the factory. The first shows the Truma Furnace, Vario-heat, second shows Truma duct work, third is inside of the Isotherm and last is the Isotherm exterior. Brian

@Patriot great solution, we love ANKER products and we didn’t realize that the outlets were all on the ceiling in the newer models. Most of my opinions on that have already been expressed here so I won’t re-hash them. This one is more expensive but I really like that it indicates your grounding status. Very nice install - thanks for the share. You cannot see it in the first pic but it does have AC outlets on the back of the device. Cheers, Brian

Patriot, No worries and thanks for the clarification on the headlights. I have a list of all TSB’s and Recalls for my truck so I was aware. - Tailgate, cameras, and some sort of heat shield under the truck. All taken care of. As for the price, it is a GREAT price. Also, NO TAX when shipped out of state and I got a Black Friday special where the paid shipping! I did it myself, there are two really good videos on you tube about the install. One is a Master Ford Technician and the other is linked at the bottom of Levittown Ford site. They say it can be done in 3 hours but it took me close to 5 because I have to stop, read, think, re-read, think some more - gather tools etc. Between the instructions and the videos, your really cannot mess it up. This is all providing you have the dual battery set up which I am sure you do on a 350. The local dealer told me it would be between $600 and $800 to install because they had never done one. BL