jd1923

Excellent work Chris - Wow! It also looks way better than the raw edge of the panels too. 🙂

Our old Hull #113 has needed service in many areas! And she still does. Serviced the axles recently and all of our original stainless-wrapped lugnuts were good, no cracks. Do realize, cracks in the stainless wrap are merely cosmetic. I cleaned mine up with the steel brush on my grinder and they look great. Maybe because ours has lived mainly in the dry SW?

Could you please share a picture of your "deck plates" install. I already purchased 12V motorized ball-valve switches and DPDT toggle switches, my install not yet started, though the thought of a simple access panel really makes sense! I'm interested in seeing your installation, though with the motorized valves, I will only have to drill 2-3 1/2" holes for the toggle switches. I'm upgrading the water pump too for more GPM and adding a couple of .75L accumulators so the pump cycles less often vs. every time you use the water. Looking at adding a dual canister water filter system too. I'll post my installation, in a mods thread, likely before or after Christmas when I have a few weeks off!

I also use a Melitta, their cone and carafe setup. Then I pour a cup and the rest goes in my Stanley Thermos. The #4 filters are a little smaller and convenient for one person. Chris uses a French press to make a special half-caf brew. Anybody using a manual pour, gotta get one of these. We use it when on shore power and have a backup tea kettle too for LP. Amazon.com: Aigostar Electric Kettle, 1.7 Liter Electric Tea Kettle with LED Illuminated and High Borosilicate Glass, Hot Water Kettle with Filter, BPA Free, Auto Shutoff, Boil-Dry Protection, Cordless, 360° Base: Home & Kitchen This little electric kettle is great. The black and white ones are 1100W and for some reason the new stainless model is 1500W. We have two of the 1100W models, with one in daily use at home. Heats up quicker than the kettle on gas. Why waste LP when on shore power? And when the batteries are charged enough, I'll run this off the inverter too! 😄 I thought the main question Doug expressed, was not about coffee likes, but about counter space and fitment! Doug, let us know if you need any measurements.

GJ, there was only one option for my truck and likely the same for an F150. I believe mine are the RED, since they were colored red on the surface of the pads (the break-in surface). Red makes sense as the best option for most trucks, unless you're racing a HP truck! It states low dust, excellent hot friction (brakes certainly get hot with downhill braking) and good life, which are the best choices for any truck and TV. Mine was a major upgrade, because I replaced both the stock 16" wheels and rotors with 17" (Dodge Ram OEM 2nd to 3rd Gen). The upgrade added a 1/2" radius of contact surface around the perimeter of the rotor, and the pads (see pic above) appear to have about 60% more contact area. Every year in the auto industry, stuff gets bigger and heavier. The curb weight of my 2001 Ram is 750 LB less than the weight of the a like 3rd Gen truck. So, I have brakes made for a considerably (12%) heavier truck. The EBC product is A+ premium, all manufactured in the UK or USA! I have done 20-30 brake jobs in my life, and I was grinning ear-to-ear as I unwrapped the parts. 😀 So, just putting new rotor and pads will be better. Can you upgrade your F150 with what is installed OEM on the F250 Super Duty? That would be added stopping power. I do not know what is involved in such a Ford upgrade, but there are forums for that. All I had to do is buy this kit and purchase left and right caliper mounts (Cardone reman for $20 ea). Just the mounts, as the calipers are the same. How cool is that?! The new mounts merely hold the calipers 1/2" further out. There is a similar upgrade for my '08 Lexus GX470. Many off-road enthusiasts prefer the older GX, as it had the dependable Toyo 4.7L engine, was lighter (600 LB less), slimmer and better looking! You can mount the new model brakes on the older GX. Same kind of thing and when mine needs front service, or I run out of things to do 🤣, l will make this upgrade too. Hope this helps and thanks for asking!

We lived in Austin and Georgetown Texas for 9 years, while we had our Home in Prescott AZ, driving that round-trip 2-3 times each year. That's at least 20 times the 2200-mile roundtrip. We have many great routes to make this drive without using the Interstate system, unless there was winter weather and then we'd take I-10. Still all paved roads, there and back. Sure, there's dirt/gravel roads where we all camp and more of it out west. But a HT tire is highway tread is an AT tire is designed for off-road use. LT HT tires and all-season P tires have a rib design with multiple rain sipes and 4 main rain grooves, they all do, and AT tires just do not. Just compare the perfect example above, the picture of the Nitto Terra Grappler vs. the Michelin Defender tread. Not saying everybody buys AT tires for looks, but many do. You can read it all over the truck forums, from Dodge to Ford, to Toyota and the others. They buy AT and even MT tires and some never leave the city or burbs. They buy larger tires to fill the wheel well and wider tires with greater positive offset. There was a comment above about 35" AT tires. Unless that size came with your truck, or they installed taller rear gears, it can cause real trouble when towing. AT over HT tires, less fuel mileage. Taller tires, heavier tires, less fuel mileage. Wider tires, less fuel mileage. And if your tires are oversized from OEM, you can have trouble climbing elevation and possible trans failure.

Yes, overkill for a tow vehicle period. Guys just like the looks. The 3 Nitto AT brands mentioned above, the differences are minor, as they are all AT tires, not at all HT tires. Suggesting that any Nitto Grappler is mostly highway is not accurate. All weather HT tires have 4 main rain grooves. And the outer treads are connected for steering control, NOT staggered like an AT tire. See pic below of the Nitto Terra Grappler (yes, the mildest AT of the brand) and you will quickly see there is not a single highway groove (a rain groove in line with the road) and no outer treads are connected like HT tires. @John E Davies summed it up nicely above, re the soft flexible tread of AT tires. Michelin has softer sidewalls, 4 rain grooves, very hard treads connected inline for pavement, designed for long highway miles. If you live east this, where gravel is scarce, Michelin is the way to go for a tow vehicle. I wanted tires to excel on the highway yet have stronger tread and sidewalls for the rock we have here in Arizona. AT staggered tread in the steering wheels will wander left and right across bad pavement (most of the US these days). Check out the tread in the Continental Terrain Contact AT below. The outer treads are connected for highway control. Just inside these are two huge rain grooves. Only the inner treads are of the staggered AT design. For me, this was the best design for our tow vehicle. Only time will tell as to whether I made the best choice. First pic is the Nitto Terra Grappler tread, then the Continental Terrain Contact AT mounted on my truck and lastly, for comparison, the Michelin Defender where you can see the essence of highway tread in design. Notice the 4 rain grooves and outer tread all connected inline.

Finished my 17" brake upgrade on the driver's side today. Chris helped me with bleeding again. She has a strong right foot; from all the brake jobs I've done! Mounted the front wheels and dropped it off the jack stands. Backed out and WOW these brakes are crazy good! I need to stay off any hard braking for 1000 miles, except if needed for emergency purposes. I drove around the neighborhood, getting up to speed and then dragging the brakes gently. When I got home the brake rotors looked perfect. All the black coating had worn off evenly and nothing there but a perfectly flat steel rotor surface. Nice! 🙂

I had no idea this thread was here! We love it. 😃 I was stuck in the Oliver Campers section vs. this Oliver Camping forum. Thank you @Mike and Carol When we first brought home our Oliver, just this June, everybody kept asking, "Have you gone camping yet?" There was and is a lot of work to do, and the heat of the summer was coming, but it was time to try out the Oliver on a short local trip. Since the heat of the summer was coming, I thought let's head north and camp at high elevation. We picked Kendricks Peak Wilderness Area. It's a lesser-known northern AZ mountain, as compared to say Mt Humphries of the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff, or Bill Williams behind Williams AZ, the gate to the Grand Canyon. We can see ALL of these peaks from our deck at home in Prescott, so I've had my eye on Kendricks for years now (distant view, as it is the furthest north peak in this volcanic range). To get there you exit I-40 just west of Flagstaff, head north and very soon you hit washboard dirt roads. We drove another 25+ miles of dirt until we found our spot. Arizona, and I believe other western states have Forest Service (FS) road maps. When you look closely at these maps (see pic), they show dispersed camping (camping allowed, not campsites) where you see the 'dots' left or right along the side of minor roads. You need to get these FS maps and quadrant maps for where you are traveling. If you do not yet have the Avenza Maps app, get it and download every map where you will travel before you leave home. The map picture is from my phone and the GPS blue dot is where we ended up camping for the weekend.

Back when we had our Class-C, and before we added solar, we would run a built-in Cummins Onan 4000 generator. The PD51 transfer switch automatically connected generator power to house "shore power." We would run ours only during the afternoons. I would start it when we were leaving on a hike. This way you don't have to hear it (even though it wasn't too loud), and neighbors are also usually gone for the day. After I added a small 400W Solar, 315 AH AGM, 1800W inverter system, we rarely ever used the generator. I would start it every month or so to let it run, keep the carb in fresh gas. We had a neighbor in Texas, who mowed his lawn 2-3 times a week, always about 6 PM, when we wanted to sit by the pool with a drink. Not nice, same goes for generators! Plan on enough available battery AH to last 24 hours for your needs. Your generator choice should be capable of recharging your batteries from 60 to 90 percent in a couple of hours, a couple more to 100%. For our Oliver, with solar onboard and ample battery bank, traveling mainly in the great southwestern US, I have no plan to carry a generator. We camp some in the fall, and mostly from Jan through April. We don't want to be out where we need the A/C running overnight.

Congrats to your son, great article! I will say though, the Nitto Recon Grappler®, is about the most HD A/T tire you can buy! Some might call it a hybrid tire (AT to MT). Great offroad tire. I was aiming for something with better highway manners, which was the design goal of the Continental TerrainContact A/T.

I just started using the Pine-Sol/Calgon solution that @HDRider suggested. I learned this from the Kleen tank guy: Kleen Tank, the nationally-recognized, independent RV tank cleaning service Not enough experience with it yet, but the idea is the Pine-Sol keeps tank surfaces clean and the Calgon Beads will keep tank bottoms and drainpipes slippery and lubricate the valves. Not just used for occasional cleaning. These are flush tanks and NOT septic tanks. Given this works, the idea is to have this in your tanks only and stay away from other cleaners and septic tank additives (which I never use, even in 3 homes where we've had with septic systems). Since having this in the Black and Gray tanks, I have not once smelled the strong smell of Pine-Sol in the Oliver. This means all inside is sealed well, venting off the roof as designed.

Hey Scuba Steve, I can still play Bach's Sleepers Awake on the classical guitar. For me, a guitar is always on board. Though, you would have to buy me a few drinks, to get me to entertain!

Quartzsite is not at all our idea of boondocking in the wonderful state of Arizona. However, it is an RVing Snowbird paradise, yes! 🙂 Before or after Quartzsite, if any of you, who want to venture just 3 hours north to visit Prescott AZ (5400 FT elevation during winter, with a low very probability of snow) are welcome here! We can park and hookup water/power to 1 or 2 of you at a time, with a dump station down the road at the local RV dealer. There are FS campsites and secluded 'dispersed' camping EVERYWHERE (no fees anywhere), with amazing views in all directions! Prescott is real Arizona, as it was founded by the Union Army in 1862, an amazing oasis in the dry SW. Just let me know! (PM) I have 3 gigs scheduled early 2024 and nicely this week is free for us, so timing is excellent. Chris and I, being new to OTT ownership and this forum, would love to meet all of you! Hopefully, we get critical mass of Oliver owners at this 2024 Quartzsite meet!

New 17" wheels, time to mount the Dodge Ram 3rd Gen 17" brakes, with my EBC upgrade parts and reman caliper brackets, that have been sitting on my workshop bench for a while now. Had time to get one side done today. All I can say is NICE! A shout-out to the members of the Cummins Forum to make me aware of this possibility! This is a more important upgrade, living in the mountains, than tire brand choice. Looking good so far, more to come after left side and test drive...

Totally agree with Mike, though there is an easier method... Usually, Chris is doing her stuff and I only ask for help on a job, when I cannot do it myself. The mechanics motto! Normally, I just go with my gut feeling, on how much water would half fill the black tank. But if you were the more cautious type, you could time filling a one-gallon jug of water, given you're using an unknown water source (PSI and GPM). Then determine your black tank capacity, divide that number by 2 for 50% full, and run the hose for that amount of time. If you go less or longer NBD since you are only targeting 50%. I do this 2-3 times, until the drain water looks clear and clean. No way you want to come anywhere near full. The cr@p and TP is in the bottom 10-20% of the tank, given you empty regularly. Best wishes and keep the brown stuff downstream! 🤣

OK, enough about tires on other vehicles (sorry about the tangent)... Had my new tires mounted on our tow vehicle today!!! Everything worked out better than expected, as I was truly worried (whenever I'm not personally doing the work myself, I worry)! I asked the shop to mount BSW out (I really wanted to mount OWL out this time, since our truck is white, but the white lettering was scuffed on most tires, not like back in the day, when you would read BFG, Goodyear or Cooper clearly). Also, please use tape-on vs. clip-on weights mounted to the rims, and finally please let me know, call me if any wheel needs much more than 8 OZ of weight to balance. Everything worked out great! Today was a very good day. Drove the truck home and right away I could feel that these tires track better. I will need to go out again, when I have more time, to get up to highway speeds, though all is looking A+ positive. I was able to mount the newer model 17" Dodge Ram wheels and mount the original center caps from my 2nd Gen Ram. So, we have 2023 high-end Continental TerrainContact AT tires, on 2010 Dodge Ram wheels, on an older yet amazing 2001 2nd Gen Dodge 2500 Cummins. Ya gotta love it, but what's important is we love it! Two wheels took 8 oz weights to balance. One took only 4 oz and the best tire took only 2 oz - amazing! When you're considering truck wheels, these weighing 56 LB each, 8 oz is .009 of the total tire weight. When you consider the weight of the wheel, the brake rotor and all moving parts, the number would be more like .004! These are good numbers, very good! Before the weekend, I will have the 17 front brakes shown above installed and we are on our way to an amazing tow vehicle. Our 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 was under 20K at purchase and will be under $30K when done, with more improvements to come! I'm very, very happy today after our rebuilt and tested suspension, a well-balanced drivetrain, including these amazing Dodge Ram wheels & new tires! 😆

Thank you so much @Ollie-Haus! I also placed ribbed rubber toolbox liner under the batteries for cushion, came up with a better solution to fill the 3/8" extra depth in the box. Looking again at my pics, on next maintenance, I may drill a recess in the copper bars where they mount to the battery posts, so that I can mount the nuts deeper so that all threads are holding strong. First, we may just take an outing to see how this install holds up. Thanks again

Was REALLY, really hoping to get some help on this thread! Asked about the grommets, no comments. Asked about the additional wires, the 8GA wires, two + red ones and two grounds, a yellow and a black, yet no comment again. OK, I'll figure it out for myself, like most things in life. So many times, people ask for help, when with a little testing or research we are able to and can figure out so many things for ourselves. (I tell my PM students that almost every day!) Going to finish and close this post. Grommets epoxied into place, not my idea of the best solution, but it is the OTT design. Got rid of what was referred previously as an elegant solution, perhaps, but battery posts mounted too high is NOT a good idea, not near an adequate solution. As another great Greek once said 🤣, "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." (Archimedes). You do not want the lever to pull you battery posts out of the casing. I am not interested in elegant solutions, as KISS, Keep It Simple Silly, is a long-lived and currently viable design philosophy. Most of you will not like my solution, fear may engage your mind. I found 100 varied electrical bus solutions for this need, ranging from $40 to $200 on Amazon and professional sites. Why? I just bought a piece of copper. Copper is about the best affordable conductor. For $20 taxed and delivered, I received a 1" wide, 1/4" thick, 8" bar of 99.9% pure copper. I guarantee any manufactured bus you would buy would have more resistance than this copper. Decided to mount the + connections on the left side, so they would not be stressed into the corner like the previous install (as @John E Davies had warned of earlier). Like it or not, here it is. So, we're done here. Thanks for reading and I would certainly appreciate your comments! 🙂

John, I should have bought yours! The 1998 has the higher HP engine, variable timing, etc. Mine is the first year 1992, 90K miles for $12,500 in Phoenix. I love driving 2DR HT rear-wheel drive cars and trucks, won't buy a FWD car. We also have a 2000 Lincoln LS, a 4DR but also v8 with RWD (found it up in Gillette WY 3 years ago with only 11,600 miles). Need AWD, then we drive the GX470! Had more in the past, but currently are a 2-car, 3-truck family (got an old T100 on the lot too). Pretty copperish color with good maintenance history, was dealer exec owned. No issues yet, but will keep you in mind, thanks. In one year, only changed the oil, flushed brake fluid, new wiper blades, hood struts and a beautiful set of wheels and tires!

So GMC made two diesel engines in the same model year. That's great though highly uncommon. The article states the LBZ boosts torque from 605 to 650 (605 is more than enough)! Seeing $45K, even $35K makes me very happy with finding my low mileage Cummins diesel under $20K. Not near as much torque as these newer GMC trucks, but more than any gasser, and enough to nicely pull an Oliver EII and a truck bed full of outdoor camping gear.

These GMC are amazing trucks! My personal problem is having owned 5 Dodge trucks, and for near 20 years restoring a '59 Chrysler 300E. With my history, gotta go Mopar. Hoping it's OK to go on a slight tangent, given the OP has answer and a recent AAA truck purchase! Always looking at everything automotive, I pick this one for those of you new to OTT, perhaps having a new Oliver coming soon... This is a great truck for 40% the price of a new model: Used 2007 GMC Sierra 2500 SLE w/ Convenience Package for sale in American Fork, UT 84003: Truck Details - 695093986 - Autotrader Need a TV? Buy this one! Don't settle for any 1/2-ton or worst yet the SUV. This GMC with only 72K miles, Turbo Diesel w/ 6-sp Allison, 4WD SB Club-Cab, and in white to match your brand new white Ollie! Can't get much better than this!

Purchased my new tires this week. I went with SIMPLETIRE, after dealing with a young 'know-it-all' at Discount Tire, having upset me with his spiel, obviously on commission, wanting to sell me a house brand nobody has EVER heard of, but of course it's "in stock today!" Should I forego my endless hours of online research, and go with the opinion of a 20-sompfin? No. I have purchased 5-6 sets of tires from this chain, but not this time. I had NO idea that I would buy the Continental brand for my truck. Last year was the first time I purchased this German brand for my '92 Lexus SC400 sport coupe. Need a tire for something sporty, I promise you, go with these: ExtremeContact™ DWS06 Plus | Continental Tire However, we NEED high-end LT tires for our trucks. I went with these: TerrainContact™ A/T | Continental Tire. Sorry you Michelin guys, but I believe their corporate mission is mileage over performance, and I will forego 10K miles on a set of tires for performance ANY day. I was thinking Cooper AT3 to start, and we have these on our GX470 and very happy with them, but I wanted something new, and something stronger higher performing! I have purchased many sets of tires from Tire Rack also. I ordered these from SIMPLETIRE since they have local installers and one of them is a shop we use for service, when I'm not wanting to do the work. Ordered Wednesday, they shipped Thursday from Phoenix, and they arrived on Friday. Too bad their first available appointment is Monday, not too bad. More info coming soon. This guy was the straw. He's just an old-school tire guy and his message hit home with me! The feature that really stuck me with this AT tire is that it has outer treads that are connected inline like a HT tire with extremely large rainwater channels. This is the best of AT and HT designs for your LT tire!

Good work Ray! 🙂 You'd be surprised what only a little foil tape will do to close off wrong paths, keeping the cold air going where it's supposed to go. I've been into a couple of these, and after being a professional installer back in the day, it depresses me to observe the average installation these days. I spend hours correcting shoddy work on everything I own (now that installs are now more a hobby). Work ethic is needed, but not found less often today. Can't wait (kidding) to tear apart the A/C on our Oliver someday (1-2 years out). Thinking, did OTT seal the 14x14" standard opening, or does air flow into the area between the fiberglass shells. 🤣 I hope not, but we'll see soon. I used this tape for prior RV A/C installations and several other projects since (like for the exhaust duct on a Jenn-Aire down-draft gas cooktop). Love this tape, when you need an air-tight seal: amazon.com/3M-Metallized-Flexible-Silver-109-6/dp/B00A7I5Q0E/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1OW71NIMMYN48&keywords=3m+foil+tape+3350&qid=1697936285&sprefix=3m+foil+tape+3350%2Caps%2C176&sr=8-3 And PLEASE do yourself a favor and do NOT save a few pennies on ANY tape, or most glues for that matter, that is not 3M (Yay! Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing)!

Yep, no DEF here either. Still no pics! Don't get me truck shopping again. Yours is a special truck: 2006-2007 GM 6.6L LBZ Duramax Buyer's Guide (xtremediesel.com) Though I doubt Mark with the 2024 would trade!