Raspy

The next is the center TV mount that flips up for travel. Thanks to Windwalker for this idea. I used an aftermarket bracket and added a loop of 1/8" nylon cord to help hold it up during travel:

The next is the water tank fix: I designed a dip tube and spin welded a fitting to the top of the tank to install it. This fixes the problem of not being able to access all the water in the tank. It works.

The next is the 30 lb propane upgrade and quick disconnect:

My list of modifications is getting longer and some of these seem pretty important. So I thought I'd start this thread. One of the first ones was the stainless steel countertop with Corian side splash and IKEA faucet: The next is the Heavy Duty suspension kit and 3200 lb Star Wheel upgrade. This was prompted by breaking a wheel and wanting greaseable suspension links. I broke one of the Oliver wheels while it was on another trailer and discovered how thin they are: The next next was the spare tire modification. Mine came with an undersized spare and to fit the full sized tire I had to go to a soft cover:

canoe, I installed my own with the same concerns. I did not want it exposed to excessive weather or possible damage. So I teed it in at the propane bottles and reach in through a port to access it. This is a very easy installation and it cannot get into much trouble. The valve in the line completely isolates it and stops any chance of a leak. I then got (3) ten foot sections of hose an can set my fire pit or outside stove wherever I want.

Don't know why, but I can't open any of your pictures.

Free, You don't need any hose for pickup. The hose goes from the quick disconnect to an outdoor appliance of your choice. Once you decide what you want to run, where it should be and where your disconnect is installed, you'll know what length of hose to get. I run either an outside camp stove or propane fire pit and I have 30' of hose. My disconnect is in front of the propane bottles.

Maverick, I just fixed mine (Hull #92). The brakes had a negative wire to the bus bar but no wire from buss to the ground lug on the frame and no wire from the umbilical negative to the buss or the ground lug. Nothing connected to the frame ground lug at all. The umbilical negative had three small wires which I suspect were light negatives, but they were not brakes. Not sure as they disappeared in the maze. So, I ran a #10 from the umbilical negative to the buss bar and two #10s from the buss to the ground lug. I also kept the small (light?) negatives connected to the umbilical. Before this I had no continuity from the TV negative to the frame and no charging current to the batteries while plugged into the TV. Now it is charging. Thanks for the heads up! I've been working on other items and did not notice the charging problem. I also had no trouble with the brakes. John

Horace, I just checked mine an there is no continuity between the frame and the plug negative. The buss bar has no negative from the plug pigtail. I do have a white ground wire connected to the pigtail, under the forward dinette seat, and heading aft, but I can't see where it goes. Not to the negative buss. When hooked up to the TV the trailer voltage does not change. So, I'll continue the negative TV wire to the buss and get better brake continuity and trailer battery charging. I think my TV plug is always hot, so I'll have to be careful not to run the TV batteries down while parked. I'm also planning to install an inverter, so all the #6 household wire has to go. Your choice of marine wire is a good one for standard amp draw. Thanks for the heads up.

Maverick, Thanks for you note on this. If I understand you correctly, the the trailer brake positive lead goes to the brakes, but the negative brake lead goes to the negative bus bar, which is not bonded to the trailer frame or the negative lead from the tow vehicle. So, the brake circuit must complete it's circuit through the trailer ball. Where did Oliver connect the negative lead from the seven pin plug? When you bonded the two systems together, do you mean the trailer frame, the trailer negative buss and the vehicle negative conductor? I have hull #92 and might be wired the same as yours, but I haven't investigated that yet. My battery wiring is only number 6 household wiring and seems inadequate to me. Plus the wires were getting pinched behind the batteries.

I would absolutely hate to have to chain up the trailer to get out of a camping spot. Why not stay an extra day or two. Or chaining up to get into a spot, why not wait a bit? Or come back for the trailer in a few days? But I suppose you could get into a situation trying to get over the Siskiyous to get home. In that case ride quality would be secondary to maximum traction and that means large chain links. It also means chains running diagonal or diamond or whatever to help with sideways slipping. But, there's not a lot of clearance, so I don't know how much you can get away with. The whole idea sucks. I believe, in CA, if you chain up the truck you must chain the trailer too. I travel the mountains a lot in winter, without trailers, and I never chain up because I have 4WD and always use aggressive tires to avoid the problem. When my father was still working, he would drive a few miles every morning, before dawn, on his way to work. Then stop, remove the rear, chained up snow tires, and install a set of standard tires. Then on the way home, he'd reverse the procedure and get home on the snow tires with chains. The driveway was too steep to drive up, so he'd park at the bottom and walk/slide down every morning in the dark. He did this very day, to and from work in the winter. Yikes. One morning he was on his way down and slipped. He accidentally threw his keys up into the air while trying to recover. But they didn't come down. After looking for about an hour with a flashlight he got my Mom's set and went on. They later found them stuck in a tree. ????

David has the right idea. But elbows are seldom needed since you can bend the PEX to fit in most situations and end up with a less restrictive and better setup. Straight brass barbed fitting are very useful. I like and trust the brass way more than the plastic. When using PEX, think in PEX and bend it whenever you can. Stainless pinch rings are also very good in place of the copper rings. They are available at Lowes and the tool can be made to fit almost anywhere. If you need to remove one, the ring can be easily removed. Sharkbite is a quick fix, but it's just for emergencies as far as I'm concerned. Then fix it right when you get home.

Now, bring the campfire in and you'll be all set. No need to go outside at all! ????

The expansion, or accumulator tank is a very important addition and I'll be adding one to my LE2 soon. Beside the previously mentioned improvements it also stabilizes the pressure while the water heater is warming up. I noticed that if I switch on the water heater and use no water as it warms up, the pressure increases until the relief valve pops. This is probably about 125 PSI or so and puts a lot of strain on the fittings. The Shur-flo accumulator is a good one and I have one on my boat, but it can also be a small domestic style. It can be teed in anywhere after the pump. I'm looking at under the sink, behind the drawers.

Steve, Thanks for the kind words and the detailed information. There is another Oliver here in Smith Valley, NV that we first saw some years ago and every year since. The owners take it to the small fair we have here every year so she can hang out while he looks at the cars. It has also become an informal office during the event. I thought it was a very cute and fun looking trailer. We were trying to remember what year we first saw it and we think it was 20o9, but not sure. It's an Elite and the distinguishing feature is it's black. I doubt many black ones were made. The present owner is not the original owner. Do you know anything about a black Elite from around that time or earlier?

Excellent comments. I can hardly wait to see your modifications. Keep us posted! I'll look up the Center Point suspension. Thanks!

As far as the witness marks from the axle U bolts contacting the frame, it's not a dent. Just a small mark at each location that tells me it has been making contact. I'd like to put a rubber stop in there, but it would further limit the travel. There is a lot of flexing going on with the frame. I hear it creaking when I put a rear jack down, for instance. The whole system with a stiff body, a frame and a subframe makes for a complex system. I sort of liken it to towing a boat on a boat trailer. In that case, the trailer doesn't add rigidity to the boat, it merely supports it and pulls it along. The rear section of Ollie's frame is not very large and looks like it's doing sort of the same thing. It kind of spreads the load from the subframe to the body. Up front the frame is massive and has to resist bending down between the ball and the sub-frame. Interesting design. The five leaf spring packs will be stiffer and lift it some, but the increase in axle diameter takes back some of that benefit. My trailer doesn't weight as much as Steve's as I only occasionally carry a genny and it lives in the truck, no tongue basket and we are trying to keep it simple. I haven't actually weighed mine, but I have weighed the tongue with my scale at 485 lbs if I remember correctly. I've noticed that Ollie rides very well and is compliant over bumps. With the equalizer and very rough roads, it's conceivable that it could bottom one axle just from working it's way over a big hole. It's also a good idea to air down for extended rough areas. I run at 60 PSI regularly, but 30-40 might make more sense in the desert as it would take the jarring out of the bumps and let the tires conform. I do think though, it's easy to not notice how much abuse the trailer is getting on rough roads. On my Death Valley trip with our old toy hauler that was the same length an weight as our Ollie, it took a thrashing even though I was going slow and watching it. I aired down too. It was surprising just how much it came apart and that lead me to decide to get rid of it. So far with Ollie, only the dinette cushions, the dinette window covering and a couple of the overhead compartments have had problems. My center mounted TV wouldn't stay up so I had to run a strap under it. My Ram 3500 Cummins SRW rides so rough I'm not tempted to speed. I am curious about the spring over modification. With the right springs and stops, that could allow a very compliant suspension and better ground clearance. Excellent for following the Raptor out into the wild. I just hope it is still stable. If the suspension was made softer and the height increased won't it reduce stability?

Steve, Thanks for all the information. As I recall, in model year 2016, they advertised an upgrade to 12" brakes and that is what I based some of my assumptions on. Remember that? It turned out there was a glitch with Dexter. I guess all of that happened way after your build, but you were smart to select the 5,200 lb axles. Interesting that they started with hull number 50 when they got going again. Mine is only hull number 92 and I've seen a lot of changes in them since. Some good and some bad. I'm actually glad overall to be in the 2015 model year as it seems they've had some growing pains we don't have to deal with. But on the other hand there are some things that I don't like too. The battery wiring on mine is marginal and the small spare tire puzzles me. I re-mounted my TV on center too with a folding mount. I also designed the water tank fix and presented it here. I did mine and Reed Lukens. Oliver is now doing the same thing I designed on all the new trailers. I suspect you and I have the same wheels and I discovered they aren't very strong, so I switched mine to a stronger model after destroying one. Overall, I'm very happy with our Ollie. It's a keeper. Interesting that you only have 1.875 compression travel before bottoming. That seems insufficient. I am amazed that you have added about 2,000 lbs of stuff over what mine weighs. BTW. I did look carefully at your disk brake installation. How are they working out?

Overland, I don't want to raise mine the 4" or so that converting it to spring over would do. But you could find some rubber bump stops to put under the frame to limit the upward travel.

Bill, Just measured mine to compare. I have 3 1/8" clearance to the body, above the axle and 2 1/8" from the axle U bolt to the frame rail. So, yours has about 1/4" more suspension travel clearance. I have witness marks where the U bolts have been contacting the frame (bottoming). So, with stiffer springs and slightly more clearance it will be a bit better with the 5200 lb axles and the 5 leaf spring packs. Mine is sitting with a full fresh tank, the four trojan batteries, 30 lb propane tanks and some gear, ready to go. The rear jacks are not touching the ground. We'll probably add another 100 lbs max before we go. I installed a set of tandem 12" brakes on another trailer I have that used to have surge brakes. Love them. I also built a trailer with tandem 3500 lb axles to haul my small tractor, about 5,000 lbs plus the trailer. I can fade the brakes and the wheels seem to squat slightly when loaded. I take my Ollie on some pretty rough roads where the loads can shift from one axle to the other and it seems like the 3500 axles are close to their practical limit. I also recently read about a couple that took an Escape that weighed about the same as our Ollie up to Alaska and bent both of their 3500 lb axles going over unexpected frost heaves and holes. When Oliver announced the bigger brakes, I immediately knew it meant the bigger axles too, and I wished I had them.

Bill, That helps. Thanks. I see you do have the 5 leaf spring packs and that is what I'll need if I do the swap. I'll measure mine to see how 3 3/8" to the hull comes out at the frame rails where the axle actually bottoms. Should be about 3/4" closer there since the U bolts are the first to come in contact with the frame which is about 3/8" lower than the hull. Is that a dexter part number you included? Or is it that number that Oliver uses that also describes the length for their ordering? Did you get that number from the label on the axle? It would be sweet if I could just give them a part number and be done with it instead of having to measure flange face to flange face on my take-out axles. Thanks again for the help!

Randy, It looks like from your picture that you have different springs, and I think you must. On my four leaf setup the fourth or bottom leaf is very short and I can see four leaves in your picture. There must be five there total which would give you a bit of lift and good suspension travel with the larger diameter axles.. It looks like you are installing the EZ Flex as part of the same project and one of your shackles has flipped around in the picture to be "down" instead of "up". I installed the heavy duty kit on mine which has the same shackles with bronze bushings and zerks, but not the rubber cushioned equalizer. Nice setup. So, I think you are confirming what I thought, that Oliver did not change the GVW when they temporarily installed some 5200 lb axles. All they mentioned was the 12" brakes. Is that right? And I would like the axles to frame clearance for comparison. How do you like those brakes? The 5200 axles are very good and the brakes are powerful. Thanks for the reply.

Steve, I guess you are one of the ones with the 5,200 lb axles. I'm trying to figure out how many leaves are in your spring packs and how many inches from the top of the axle tube to the frame do you have for suspension travel, out near the wheels (vertical travel before hitting the frame). If you happen to know these please let me know. I'd be a bit careful about calling your trailer a 10,400 lb gross unless Oliver specifically changed their gross rating when they went to 12" brakes. That change was the result of a glitch with Dexter, as I recall, and so they switched to the larger axle, but advertised it as an upgrade to 12" brakes, not as an upgrade to 10,400 GVWR. And nothing else was change on the frame or the fiberglass reinforcing of the body, as far as I know. This is part of the reason I'm asking about the number of leaves and the clearance. The 5200 lb axle is 5/8' larger in diameter and the suspension travel is somewhat limited as it is. So the larger axle tube would reduce the available travel unless there is more arch in the springs and more arch would be the result of an additional leaf. The extra leaf would not be for more weight carrying capacity, but more suspension travel. I'm considering changing to the larger axles and brakes and I want to know just what Oliver did when they changed. I think they have subsequently returned to the 3500 lb axles, but I'm not sure on that either. Thanks for any info you can give me.

Since the triangle plate pivots and is held in position by the chains, the only way I can see there being a difference in chains individual tensions is because of the friction in the cone. Imagine if there was no friction in the cone and you'll see what I mean. The chains would always be equal in tension. But the tighter the friction the more the chains become unequal as the vehicle turns. If you stop while making a turn, even a slight one, the chains will be a different tension. This is normal. The difference in tension is caused by the resistance to turning the friction clutch. The failure is that the friction gets so high that it causes other problems and makes a lot of noise. At that point the chain tension difference would be extreme and adjusting them completely misses the point. One other problem the system has is the brackets that are at the other end of the chains on the trailer tongue. They have to be right or they will slip, which would cause the chain tension to be reduced and the plate to be crooked when parked straight. That would first mean less weight distribution and a crooked plate if only one slipped. The brackets are a poor design in my estimation and must be set to bind on the frame rail and must have a set screw tightened into the frame. I believe your problem with the Anderson will not be solved until they re-design their friction system and come up with something that is actually better. I'm sure they are not happy about all the problems, but the product was not thoroughly tested before going on the market. They seem to have made minor material changes, but they are not there yet. The other oddity about them is that, apparently, the amount of friction you get is reliant on the amount of weight distribution you dial in. Those two functions should be independent of each other. Remember, the Anderson has two functions. Weight distributing and sway control. Separate functions, but ones that are tied together. If you only want sway control, there are other brands out there. The only problem with the other brands is that they will require some cutting of the fiberglass shroud that lays over the frame in front of the propane bottles. In my thinking, this is a small price to pay for a well proven setup that would be adjustable. But again, I don't need it on mine. Oh, there is one other one. An electronic unit that senses sway and applies the brakes as needed to correct it. Off the top of my head I can't remember the name, but they seem to be very good and they just plug in to operate. It mounts near the front of the trailer and plugs into your trailer plug. Then another plug goes to your seven pin plug on the tow vehicle. I'll find the name and send it to you. That might be the answer to your concern. Where are you located?