Raspy

hellsbay, Thanks for your note. I've been hoping to find a coydog for years.

Yikes!

I've been curious about the NuWave. You never know with the infomercial hype. Glad to hear it's working out. Does it control the lower heat with a steady current or the off and on method that boils and then cools over and over?

Darrell, I second John's comments. You do not need a WDH with a 3/4 ton truck. It will settle about 2-2 1/2" or so with the approximate 450-480 lb tongue weight, ready to go. Plus maybe more if you load stuff in the bed. End up with about 23-24" top of ball when loaded. There may be some variation on the ball height as the tongues were re-designed at some point in, maybe 2016. You could get about three to four people to stand in the rear of your bed and see what you'll need as far as a drop hitch. My Ram has a factory backup camera that allows me to drive right up to the ball in one try. Excellent. You could add an aftermarket camera.

Overland, I suggested "additional cross bracing" in my last post. That's important. Also, wider tires and/or wider wheels will not clear the shocks, unless the offset is changed. Then they'll stick out beyond the fenders. Bad idea for an off road trailer, or even one that travels in the mountains in winter. If someone really is going to drag an LE2 into places where these changes are needed, it woud be a good idea to go to the 5200 lb axles too. Now, how much are we up to? New axles, modified subframe, new wheels and tires, fender flares. Now it's wider and taller!

If the spring over modification isn't practical, it might be better to re-design the subframe and add a section of 4" steel box tubing between the subframe angle iron and the spring hangars. This would have the existing steel angle, then the 4" box section below that. Then the spring hangars would mount to the box. It would need some additional cross bracing. This would keep the shocks and hardware all the same and raise the trailer 4 inches. It would be a bolt on option that Oliver could offer with no changes to anything else. Simply check the "high model" or the "low model" box on the order form. The method I'm suggesting would also be an easy fabrication as the existing subframe is steel and just bolts on. That frame could be unbolted and rolled out from under the trailer where it would be modified and rolled back into place to be re-installed. I don't think this modification is really needed in any but the most extreme conditions. Olivers already have excellent ground clearance and will easily go into some pretty rough spots. Since it could easily be altered later, it would be better to try the existing setup before deciding in advance that it's not good enough. How much stability and overhead clearance are you willing to lose to get more ground clearance? I've had mine in spots that were just about all that my Ram could pull it through with big holes and rocks on steep rocky trails. Clearance was not a problem as much as traction as we crawled along in four low. Even though these are not off-road trailers, they are far better than many because they don't have hanging down plumbing or tanks. I feel that individuals should do this on their own and not expect Oliver to do it. Lifted, the trailers will not be as stable and you can't expect Oliver to be responsible for that. These are not designed to be off road trailers. If you need something you can drag over boulders and up cliffs with a winch and a Jeep, this isn't the trailer to consider. They are heavy, they don't have huge tires and they only have leaf spring suspension. The bodies are not set up to accommodate bigger tires either.

This could be a very positive change.

Just in case you have the valves in the wrong position, or for some reason the pump is pressured up and working against a closed valve, try simply loosening the outlet connection on the pump to see if it pumps. This union/hand nut can be seen in the photo Reed posted and is where the hose connects to the output side of the pump. With the pump switch turned "on" and the water outlet loose, the pump will run unless it's defective or has no power. If it runs, find the valve closed problem. If it doesn't run, look for a power problem after the wall switch, like a bad connection.

I did the same as Canoe. My front graphic was gone when I got the trailer so I designed and ordered our howling coyote graphic based on a photo of our coyote, Sandy. You can see this in the Modifications section under Ongoing Mods to Hull 92. I had waxed the body, so I first cleaned the surface with TSP and then with denatured alcohol. The decals go on easily with a little care as you go.

David, The "umbilical" I'm referring to is the trailer cord that connects to the tow vehicle with the seven pin plug. That big rubber cord is the umbilical and it enters the trailer under the tongue. It contains a white wire which is the negative 12 volt wire that must complete the 12 volt circuit to make the brakes work right and to charge the batteries. It must be connected to the batteries and the brakes somehow. The white wire you pointed out on the negative bus, (BTW, that is the negative buss you showed) is, I believe, the brake negative. It completes the circuit to the brakes. You can follow it and see if it goes through a hole and out to the brake wiring under the trailer. One of the other yellow wires in the picture is actually your ground that is somehow connected to the umbilical white. On the later trailers, like yours, the negative path is harder to follow. But since yours is charging, it seems you don't have the problem. The next time you take a trip, notice if the battery voltage is clear up to about 14 volts after a long run and before you shut off the TV.

George, Thanks for the post. Sounds like Oliver fixed the problem somewhere between hull 200 and hull 216.

John, It's a very simple test. Unplug from shore power and note the voltage. Back the TV up close to the trailer, but don't connect the hitch. Plug in the umbilical and start the tow vehicle engine. Look at the trailer volt meter and see if it begins to climb. If it is charging you are good to go. If not, find the negative buss under the rear dinette seat and see if it has a white ground wire attached. There should also be a white ground wire going from the buss to the frame grounding lug which is only about 7 inches away and can be a bit hard to locate. If you have no obvious negative wire connected from the buss to the umbilical, see if you can find the end of the umbilical under the front dinette seat and locate the white wire in that cable. That is the one that should go to the negative buss. You can also make a temporary fix by connecting another white wire inside the male plug and routing it to a connection on the frame, maybe a hitch bolt, for instance. Then, if it still doesn't charge, connect a wire from the frame lug to the buss under the rear seat. Mine was easy (#92) as I had access to the umbilical and was able to extend the white ground wire to the bus, but Reed's (#200) was more difficult and we had to make a temporary fix from the plug to the frame. Once connected and charging, the voltage should slowly climb to 14 volts on the meter. Then back on the internal charger while plugged to shore, the voltage should drop to 13.2. Completely disconnected from the TV and shore, the voltage should drop to 12.6 or lower with loads. Let us know what you find.

First, that is not true. The grounding process was not changed in 2015 and I can prove it. Hull #200 had the same problem until Reed and I fixed it. Second, where does it say in the manual to do regular maintenance of the ball in order to make the brakes work? And what about the Anderson hitch? Third: why is the "industry standard" an excuse for making the system not charge from the tow vehicle and make the brakes weak. We bought an Oliver that we thought was better than the "industry standard" and now it turns out we have to design fixes and figure out how to install them while Oliver refuses to accept any responsibility. This acknowledgement clears up all of the speculation as to why Oliver wired the trailers this way, year after year. It's a bad design, and now it has turned into a denial of responsibility and a lie. Worse, Oliver, while saying they are better, is actually only barely meeting what they call "industry standard", as though that justifies this problem. And even worse than that, is denying any responsibility for the mistake which leaves people with poor brakes and no trailer charging. This is just like the water tank problem: More denial, which is another and separate issue. Oliver's true expertise is in fiberglass work. These trailers are undeniably beautiful and the glass is very well done. But, the mechanical and electrical design is a different issue. As good as their intentions are, they have made mistakes, and now it seems they are attempting to fix the issues by denying them. I went into this believing Oliver was better, not only in mechanical design, but in spirit. I've designed and installed fixes at my own expense. I've helped others with my knowledge and experience. And now, once again, Oliver presents a denial by hiding behind the term "industry standard" after constantly telling us they are better and worth the cost. Maverick fixed his electrical problem, I fixed mine and Reed and I fixed his. None of these would charge while being towed and the idea that a current carrying connection through the ball makes sense, is ridiculous. It's a ridiculous design and it has been proven to not work by actual owners who can't get the batteries to charge and have weak brakes. Now Oliver is lying to us about it. To say it's OK because it's an industry standard is denial and a way to get out of responsibility. Oliver should never be in the position of justifying a bad design by saying that others do it, so it's fine. And further, denying problems that stem from poor decisions is a recipe for disaster as your very best form of advertising, the owners of your trailers, are having problems and being told Oliver is not at fault and not going to correct the problems. Oliver: get ready for a business failure unless you accept responsibility for poor decisions as well as fix them and use sound engineering in the future. The water tank issue is another example of poor design and denial of responsibility. I believed the water tank problem was an honest mistake and I came up with a good fix. Then Maverick found the electrical problem which lead to a lot of talk and analysis to make it work. Now, Oliver is denying responsibility for either of the two. I'm disgusted. I really like my Oliver, but when I hear the factory is hiding behind excuses and denying mistakes, it pops my bubble and my willingness to promote them is lost. I'm afraid Oliver has not yet learned the most basic lessons of customer relations and standing behind their product. Becoming "part of the family" is a nice saying they use, but when the rubber meets the road, they won't help you with their design mistakes. Think about it. I certainly hope I have no problems where I need Oliver to help me!

I feel very fortunate to have the situation I do. I built my house, with attached garage, long before I thought about getting an Oliver, but it turns out it fits in! How nice it is to have it there ready to go, or convenient to work on and out of the sun. I keep it plugged in and we even go out there for movie nights sometimes. When getting ready for a trip, the fridge can be on for days as needed, or left on for days after we get back. No winterizing is needed because the garage has a solar heated radiant floor. One of my neighbors has a motorhome they keep inside a metal building built just for that purpose and open where they drive it in. Dirt floor. Very effective cover that is much easier to build than a conventional garage and allows their unit to be at home. If you have room, this is a good alternative to outside storage off your property. I remember when I first went to look at our future Ollie. It was parked in a storage yard, outside in full sun in the summer. Had been for three months or so and was all closed up tight. It didn't seem hot inside and I was impressed. I was also impressed at how it stood out amongst all the other trailers there.

At the risk of going off the rails here with a story unrelated to Oliver trailers, I will tell you that I met a woman whose father, as a boy, had a coyote. I anxiously asked her to get more information and get back to me about his experiences. After a few weeks, I saw her again and asked her about it. Her disappointing response was that she couldn't get anything from him as he didn't want to talk about it. Why? I asked. What's up? After a bit of probing, the answer became clear. He was in his 90s then and his mind was clear. It had been about 80 years since his experiences with that dog and he remembered it well. The problem was that it was so painful for him that he refused to revisit it. I was silenced and will never forget that response, mainly because I understand it completely and it's the same for me in the intensity. I'll openly talk about it, but for at least two years I could not do so without my voice breaking and having to stop to regain my composure. Even writing this I feel that emotional, physical grip. An unsatisfiable dilemma. The outcome I want, to live, learn and play with her as I would and do with my other dogs, can never be realized. She did no harm, but must be locked away. She is the most interesting and fun dog ever, but can't come home. She could do immeasurable good for her species, but precious few will ever know she lived. And finally, as my years slip by and someday someone asks me about a coyote I used to knew, what will I say that really conveys the story in a way that is worthy of telling? This is where I'm stumped: The combination of an independent and highly intelligent friend from the wild, that completely accepted us as her family, while being playful, inventive and responsive, and while living a very tenuous life, is incredibly powerful. She was and is, all in, full of life, emotional, loyal, fun loving, independent and completely oblivious to the dangers that could cost her her life at any moment. Dangers that domestic dogs don't face. She lives in the moment and yet plays games and has habits that reveal a much deeper understanding than I ever expected. My fear of losing her in a stupid way was a strong driver in my efforts to secure her future and protect her. I, at once, played openly and joyously with her and watched very carefully for ways to help her. All while studying her, learning from her, writing about her and sharing my experiences of living with her. Sharing in a way, hopefully, that would never jeopardized her, but would reveal her goodness and value. We've settled on an difficult compromise. She is safe. She is emotionally and physically cared for. Has medical care when needed. She has been given the opportunity to select a mate and found the perfect one amongst the offerings. She has chances to interact with her keepers and volunteers who are also amazed by her and spend time with her. But she will never run free, singing her song into the night as she prances with her siblings and pals. She will never have pups. She will never live the life of a wild coyote. She is physically perfect, but she is generally understood to be disabled in that she has never demonstrated affective hunting and she is not afraid of people, only cautious with them at first. So therefore, she cannot be released and will live her life in a sanctuary. As an ambassador, she is amazing. The folks that care for her have never seen anything like it. First, she is incredibly healthy because we figured out what she needed for nourishment and supplied it in abundance. Wild rabbit is her favorite. Second, she has never been under stress, so she is mentally stable. Third, she is used to people and after a short standoff, will climb right up into your lap. Imagine being able to sit and pet a coyote, or have one in your lap, or have one challenge you to a game, or walk with you, or come and get you in the morning to begin another fun filled day. While reading the story, listen to the firsthand experiences of some of the caring writers about their love of their dogs. Notice the knee-jerk hate of coyotes that drives some of the posters who are unable to learn from what is right in front of them. And the real experiences that have lead to others hating them for good reason. Understand why Sandy could have been taken at any moment by a bullet or a county official. Sandy's story was never meant to convince the reader that all coyotes are harmless or friendly, but it is intended to show there is a lot more to these dogs than is generally understood. To show the good that is never seen. To reveal some of the intelligence that underlies their famous "trickster" behavior. To report on the development of a tiny pup from a couple of days old and nearly frozen, to a mature dog. She has eyes so powerful that they see intention in those around her because she sees subtlety and studies it. I've been breaking new ground, trying to show how much more there is to these fascinating song dogs than what is commonly perceived. During it all, and over the last 5 1/2 years, she has never been dangerous. A lot of eyes have been opened. Nobody who has ever met her, has forgotten the experience. Here is one of my favorite questions: "what is the difference between a coyote and a domestic dog?"

Here is the link to Sandy on tractorbynet.com http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/238908-found-coyote-i-think.html This is a forum thread that goes on for a lot of pages and has some great pictures. When you get up to pages 25 -29, or so, I wrote some conclusions about the experience and why we could not keep her and about the trip to Southwest. I hope you read these and give me some feedback about the whole experience. What is the real difference between a wild dog and a domestic dog?

Canoe, I know what you mean about wanting the connection near the stern. But for me the difficulty of getting it there in a clean way was more trouble, by far, than just running a 30 foot hose form the front. The long hose has worked out well with setting the fire pit way out where it is safe and not under the awning, or behind Ollie when parked that way. The underside is so clean and it has those small cross pieces. It also has zero clearance where the axle Ubolts touch the frame. Plus, I don't like the idea of drilling in a bunch of holes for the mounting hardware, etc. I'd like to see what you come up with.

Dave, It seems to me that Oliver only wanted to run the trailer lights from the TV. They somehow spaced out running the brakes, or they decided to rely on the tow ball to receiver for a brake connection that might be reliable and able to carry the necessary current. That is not acceptable, although it did work for me. I'm now wondering if this is why my brakes were so weak in the beginning. I'm also wondering if the folks with the Anderson Hitch have brake problems. Since we are seeing this issue on all ages of trailers, it must be a design decision. The only reason I can think of to deliberately leave the TV electrically disconnected from the trailer is to ensure the trailer battery doesn't pull down the TV battery and leave someone stranded. Please get back to us on your findings when you can. All you have to do is plug in and watch the volt meter for a few minutes. BTW, how is it going with the water tank mod? Oliver is now installing a setup nearly identical to what I came up with. Have they expressed a willingness to help you with that?

Kathy, The jack stands stack, so they take up less space than the previous set of random blocks. Thanks for the comment on "Sandy". She is the most interesting and smartest dog I have ever known. Pure coyote from the wild and extremely healthy. We raised her from two days old and she blossomed into the most amazing friend, teacher, ambassador from the wild and trickster I could ever imagine! Just incredible. Her story was documented as she grew and now has an international following with about 100,000 views and many comments. This has lead to an ongoing discussion about them and some very interesting input. I'm always looking for more information about coyotes from those with personal experience and I share the link to her story with anyone interested. Her and I played for many many hours. Chasing and rolling around on the ground. Snarling and play biting, playing keep away, going on mock hunts to train her and see if she could support herself. We traveled thousands of miles in the pickup, visited friends, camped out, went into supermarkets and restaurants, and generally developed her into an ambassador. I'm slowly writing the book about her and I can hardly express how powerful the experience was. A once in a lifetime chance to have a very intimate relationship with a wild animal. Not just any wild animal, but one extremely intelligent that interacted with us and could outsmart us, while at the same time accepted us as her pack and actually lived with us. She is a normal dog, with a twist, that makes her extremely interesting. She fit in to our world and retained her identity at the same time. I could go on and on. If you'd like the link, I'll send it to you. Meanwhile, where we live, here in Northern Nevada, the coyotes (probably Sandy's siblings), travel around at night and we often hear their songs. They all have different voices and they bring life to the quiet high desert nights. When I hear them I often go out at night, in the dark, and sit still to listen.

Canoe, I just bought a quick disconnect set, which has the male and female ends that plug together. The male piece has a 3/8" pipe female on it's other end. It's a 3/8" MPT by male disconnect. Then each of the hoses have a 3/8" MPT end and a female flare. So to connect the three 10' lengths you need a 3/8" female pipe thread (FPT), by 3/8" male flare. Then the end MPT screws into the disconnect. At the tank area tee and ball valve, you just need to assemble fittings to get you to a female flare. Then the whole assembly screws together. I discovered that there seems to be no standardization with the quick disconnect fittings and I did not want to use compressed air fittings. So I just looked around until a found a nice brass set that was for gas and got it. Then I adapted as needed to put it together. The hoses come in 10' lengths and I got mine at Lowes. The disconnect came from an obscure Ace hardware. It's just a little puzzle to put together and make nice. And it works very well. The same hose works for both appliances, so I can switch between the camp stove and the fire pit by unscrewing the female flare nut and screwing it back on to the other appliance. Then plugging in the other end to the trailer. I used it this weekend with the new 8" port and that works well too. We had a nice propane camp fire. I hope all this makes sense. I'll send more pix if needed.

Next is the jack stand modification. I started with three jack stands. I threw away the adjustable center pieces and cut off the ratchets. Two of them got modified to flat on the top with a piece of 3" channel. These are the rear jacks . The other one got modified to accept the front jack, with a piece of 2" diameter tube. This works out very well where the ground is nearly level, or they can be set on blocks, if needed, on slopes. They are very strong and stable. Much better than stacking a pile of blocks.[attachment file=73096] [attachment file=73099]

Dave, This John (Raspy), Disconnect from shore power and solar. Rest the batteries and note the voltage on your internal monitor. Plug the trailer into the TV and start it up. Watch the voltage and see if it changes over the next 15 minutes or so. You should see it climb slowly to about 14 volts and this will confirm that the TV is charging the trailer. If the voltage doesn't change, you are not charging. If not charging, the reason seen so far is, no negative connection to the batteries from the TV. No plus and minus to the batteries. Mine had not 12 volt negative to the frame or to the negative buss bar. This meant the trailer ball to receiver was the ground path and completed the circuit for the brakes, but the batteries had no + and - to the batteries from the TV. The trailer batteries could not charge from the TV and the brakes were only connected through the tow ball to receiver!

Canoe, I had a 4" port for a while, but it was hard to snap in the quick disconnect while the hose with strain relief was coming out through the hole. So I installed an 8" one and it is much better. A saber saw blade goes through the fiberglass like butter.

The next is the new front logo. These decals are easy to order and very durable. This one is based on a picture of our coyote "Sandy" as she howls. Beautiful.

The next one is the 12 volt ground wire fix. Maverick mentioned that his was not charging from the tow vehicle and I found out mine wasn't either. So, while tracing it out I discovered the umbilical ended under the front dinette seat and only had a two small white wires that went somewhere, but not to anywhere that grounded the system. So, I extended the white wire in the umbilical cable with a #10 to the ground buss under the rear dinette seat and then from the ground buss I ran two #10s to the frame grounding lug that is close to the buss. This fixed the problem and now the tow charges the trailer batteries. It also properly grounds the brakes which seemed to be grounding only through the trailer ball to hitch! This fix may help those with Fords that have been chasing an electrical gremlin related to the brake controller