jd1923

Yep, pulled our Elite II once with our '08 GX470. Not a LX, but a similar Toyota 4.7L v8 (the Tundra 5.7L might work). It was fine around town, with the Anderson hitch, but I could not at all see it going down the 4000 FT drop on I-17 to the Phoenix valley and in the SLOW lane coming back up. Two weeks later, I found an older Ram 2500 Cummins so we can now climb anything! Love the GX on the Arizona dirt when not towing!

So, it's been a couple of weeks. I rebuilt the left side. Waited on correct rear sway bar links and another UCA bushing (after I crushed one in the press, OMG!) Got everything suspension wise buttoned up, BTW, you have to jack up each control arm, on each side, ride height to final tighten the bushings. Meanwhile, I replaced the trans filter and fluid (all of it), and flushed the brake fluid (yes, all of it). I will write another post on fluids, ah the most important maintenance! Hey, when you take the time to put your truck up on all fours, do everything you can. Hoping my build here will outlive me! The left side looks the same as the right, so no more suspension pics. Got done in time for my alignment appointment yesterday. I asked them to review all of my restoration work too. They said all was good and they finished with the hour. We need confidence when driving our tow vehicles, and when a reputable local repair shop says; "You're good." It certainly helps. I spent a total of $1,120 on steering/suspension/shock rebuild and 60+ hours of my hard work. The cost was mostly on parts (which btw, was 2X cost when I built another truck, just 2 years ago). The alignment was $102 (included in the total). This may sound like a lot to some, but including this cost, my amazing Cummins Diesel tow vehicle is still just under $20K total! (LOL, I'm not done yet. I will spend more!) I know some of you have wonderful late-model Dodge Ram Cummins TVs, and you truly understand what these numbers mean. Wife Chris thought of a great idea to test everything today. She suggested we drive to a favorite lunch spot, just 30 miles away. Yeah, she's great! I have a busy week coming up and will hook up the Oliver soon. Next job, the Oliver axles and more. All is good. and we could not be happier!

I end up spending more time cleaning than wrenching, but that's me. it's got to be done right, fully restored and looking like new. I got the right side 100% done today and it will not take much longer to build the other side, since I have everything ready, parts and tools. I'll start with one pic, as-was and then the rebuild...

It appears you added an electric operated valve to empty the fresh tank only. I'd like to do this too, plus add two additional motorized 3-way water ball valves to switch the under-bed plumbing from drawing from the fresh tank, to drawing from the rear winterization port, and back. I had talked to ScubaRX about the latter, an upgrade he made some time ago. This US Solid product looks great, and the stainless-steel valve is spec'd for potable water. Steve had suggested a Misol product that is a China made brass of some kind. I'm hoping to find a US Solid 3-way valve for this other application. I'll let you know if I find one, or please if somebody has, please let is know. Here is the Misol product: Misol Motorized Ball Valve 1/2"(bsp) dn15 / 12vdc / 3 Way/Electrical Valve/Ball Valve with Acuator / Cr01 / Reducet T Port: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

For sure Steve, I sweat all day in the garage and the same when we play pickleball!

Decided to work on the rear end today, as I didn't feel ambitious enough to clean up the front end. Worked on three tasks on the rear; install new shocks, replace rear sway bar bushings and links, and changing the differential gear oil. The oil in the rear was BLACK, with black sticking to the back cover (maybe limited slip additive). Wondering if this had ever been changed. It had no gasket, just gray RTV, looking like factory original. I pulled and cleaned the tags to see I have a 3.54 limited slip diff, nice! Installed the shocks too and waiting on special aftermarket HD rear sway bar links. Rear end all clean and back together. I purchased a Fel-Pro gasket, as I cannot stand RTV in any color! I use Permatex High Tack Sealant on the gasket. Since the gear oil and cover were so black (magnet not too bad, nice), I'm going to drain and fill again soon. With this gasket and sealer, I will be able to loosen the nuts to drain and then just torque down again. The Permatex will stay tacky and seal again. I've bought Triax lubricants before and I'm going with this gear oil: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QPPTG5N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Another day, another dollar, as they say! And I got the other side done... Both sides now have ball joints removed, parts cleaned, and new parts installed. I will get a lot more work done this weekend, so more progress to report soon. 🙂

Yes, agreed. The replacement kit had standard #5 bolts, threaded all the way. They should have bolts threaded only at the end for greater strength. If the OEM part had bolts, I would have reused them. Dealer repairs replace the entire control arm. They had one side, still in stock today and the other side discontinued. We'll see and hope for the best! Moog parts have done me well in the past.🙂

I was going to make a fall project out of this, but Monsoon rains have brought us a cool August after many 100 degree days in July. The control arm bushings were in decent shape. I could have left them alone, but now that I‘m into it, I will replace all serviceable parts. The ball joints are another story, with quite a lot of slop. The real fun on 2WD models are the riveted ball joints. I have never seen such an odd design, OMG! The first picture shows a steel cutting blade in my compound miter saw. You see the heads of 3 rivets removed and the 4th shows one cut of the saw blade. I cut and folded the head over with a chisel, cut again and again… After you remove the heads, they still cannot be punched through! I hit it with all I had, various punches with a heavy hammer. I had to drill the back side deep to weaken the side walls of these ½” dia steel rivets and they finally punched out. The second picture shows the remains of 2 rivets from the lowers and 2 heads from the upper control arms, which thankfully came out much easier. The final picture shows a finished lower control arm, new Moog ball joints and bushings. Nice and clean, using Gojo hand cleaner and a toothbrush.

Many of you have a new or late model tow vehicle, so this post may not be of interest to you. I always buy older vehicles, love the classics, and as the builder in me, enjoy my time restoring them. Every time I buy another truck or car, Chris says, “when are you going to start taking it apart?” The usual answer is as soon as I can clear a stall in my garage! This beauty, our Gen2 Dodge Ram 2500 HD Cummins, has only 161K miles at 22 years (that’s 7300 miles/year), with like-new body and interior, and it just needs some mechanical love. I will rebuild everything under the truck! Lol 😊 So, she’s up on HD jack stands and here are a few pics of the as-is condition and initial disassembly!

We received the replacement rubber from Pelland quickly and they sent an extra foot+ in length. Installed it last week, starting from the bottom, pushing hard to compress as much stock as possible. I used an automotive hose cutter tool. Cut it 1/4" longer at end and pushed in the extra length, so that when it shrinks, we should be good. The black does look so much better, as it is recessed, and the white frame is still prominent. Thanks all for your help! 🙂

I don't bother with a chock when coupled. The truck parking brake is quite enough, as it ain't going nowhere! I will chock to decouple a trailer for tire repair, since I prefer to drive the wheel in for repair, not the whole rig, unless we're many, many miles to a tire store and then the spare makes sense to me. I see so many vehicles stopped, just one foot from the white line on a major highway and I'm thinking why, in the world, did they stop there? Why not coast a little down the road to a safe place. This is first and foremost. Your tire likely needs replacing anyway, you can't hurt it any further, maybe scrape the rim little which is less important than your safety! Just keep rolling, don't hit the brakes, flashers on, and coast slowly to a safe place, while looking ahead to eyeball the best safe level spot available! And Steve is absolutely correct, if you are going to mount the spare, drive truck & trailer in for repair, there is no reason to decouple.

Thanks Bill, the driveway entrance had a 2" bump, and I was taking a left turn (had jacked up the left side) at a good 10 MPH! Just another way to do it. Lol 😀

Well, y'all got me thinking of being ready to change a tire on the road - TY. I had the Oliver hooked up this weekend to do a few things, like measuring rear ride height before and after coupling, and while I was at it, I tested my EZ Jack to know whether it works on the Oliver. The one I bought 30 years ago is the same brand as this one: Blaylock EZ Jack and Wheel Chock for Tandem-Axle Trailers - Aluminum - 20,000 lbs Blaylock Industries Wheel Chocks EZ-JACK It does work on the E2, lifting the other wheel barely off the ground. Then I used the rear leveling jack to bring it up another inch and it was very solid for changing a flat tire (chock the other side if you are going to decouple the TV). All was good, then as I pulled into a gas station, up the driveway on an angle, I heard a loud BANG, and quickly checked my right-side mirror to see if I had hit the curb but was 2-3 feet away. I'm thinking a shackle got turned upside down when I drove up the jack, lifting one wheel allowing the other to drop. Now it's reset, all by itself!

In reference to the edit mentioned in my post above... I just check my spare, it is a BFGoodrich P215/70R16 99T. The stated load rating at 44 psi is 1705 lbs. 1704 x 4=6820 so this spare is a bit short of 7000 lbs. The BFGoodrich tire your found is not only a 100T rate, but it's an LT (light truck) tire vs. P (passenger tire rate). It has additional plys (belts) being an LT and with max 50 PSI rated will carry more weight. Good find! Of the 81 tires this size, shown in a Discount Tire web search, it is the only LT rated tire. When Mine needs replacing, this would be a good choice. 215/70R16 Tires | Discount Tire BTW, when I've had trailer flats before, my first choice is to remove the rim, detach the TV and drive the rim to the tire shop. I use the spare as a last resort, and mine usually collect dust, so i worry less if they are older. I've had several car-hauler and cargo trailers, carrying no spare. I'd rather drive for service without the trailer, drop the spare, go eat lunch, and not change the tire twice!

The OEM tire spec already has greater weight load capacity than the dual 3500 LB Dexter axles. This is why we fill EII tires at 55 PSI (or lower). 7000 LB gross trailer weight is maximum for the suspension (axles and leaf springs). You can upgrade to 5200 LB axles, but why do you need more than 7K LB? We weighed ours coming back from a camping trip at 6K LB. Another 1000 LB is a lot of stuff. However, those of you who travel months vs. days can need. The place for this extra weight is in your tow vehicle, which is why a 3/4-ton truck makes good sense as you need and collect more stuff! EDIT: I'm sorry rideandfly, I misinterpreted your statement and took it out of context. See my post below.

Actually, this is not true. See USFS publication: Dispersed Camping (usda.gov) In most of the eastern US, states that were originally part of the Louisiana Purchase, and much of the northwest, it would be quite difficult to "carry water 200 feet away from streams or lakes." We camp in the high desert all the time, and drop our grey, when necessary, as written in the Dispersed Camping guidelines. Talking to locals, yeah that's the way. I imagine some of you are appalled, but realistically bacteria cannot survive in the sun, on the desert ground, for more than a few minutes. Arizona is 51% public lands (FS and BLM). Drain slowly, before you leave, and all's good. We have found, it's a full grey tank that limits # days out when dry-camping, but that's when we had a Bigfoot Class-C with a 63-gal fresh tank and 35 grey. And a 15-gal black tank will keep you a long time! The fresh tank on the Oliver is way too small. We only have a little experience with OTT, but both times I filled our fresh tank from home, we only got it to take 20+ gallons before it overflowed. It's a bad design these wide flat tanks without baffles. There is absolutely nowhere on our property to level the Oliver within 100 ft of water. A 5-gal water bottle will not suffice either, not for us. Bladder in the truck? Why, I'd rather just have a tank, strapped front of the truck bed, 35-gal tank from TSC. So now we leave home with 50+ gallons fresh. Grey tank converted to fresh, what are you thinking?! Keep in mind the concept of Dispersed Camping, where we camp it's miles from water sources, other campers too. Not legal in cities, even Quartzite, and not on any city, county, or private property of course. Years ago, we lived in N VA, western Loudoun County, on a 13-acre property. The grandparents were visiting, and we were all out at our swimming pool. When grandpa told our son Adam (then 6 years old), he had to walk back to the house to pee. Adam said, "Grandpa, let me show you. We pee behind the pool house. Come on, nobody can see us back here!" Grandpa laughed and followed. Not that a little pee is what's filling your grey tank! Carrying your dish pan outside, doesn't help much either.

Well, given this thread has well deviated from "water pump weirdness" so I'll add my observations! 🤣 30 years ago, when we first moved from a city home to a country home, I explained to the family, when you hear something, say something! Good job btw, your wife hearing and reporting the faint sound! I cannot stand the minimal water system in our older OTT! Slow trickle in the shower, while the kitchen sink is good. I rinsed the HWH twice already and my whole driveway was full of cr@p! I'll vinegar rinse the plumbing soon. Removed both faucet heads, they're now soaking in CLR. I rebuilt the water system in my last RV, adding silencing tubes and a water small accumulator. The job turned out pretty nice, so one could flush a toilet late at night and not disturb the spouse sleeping. OMG, why do they always install the water pump under the bed? (Same in class-c and many class-a RVs). I understand many of you have newer models with an accumulator. I recently found this product and would love to install it, but the 2-gal tank is really way too big to fit for anywhere under the bed. Killer product though! Amazon.com : SEAFLO 55-Series Water Pump and Accumulator Tank System - 12V DC, 5.5 GPM, 60 PSI, 2 Gallon Tank : Sports & Outdoors This pump (made in the USA vs. Mexico, Yay!) runs at 60 PSI, approx 10% greater than the original, running at 55 PSI. Engineering spec limits are always much greater than +10%. So, I can replace our old crawdad (see) pic, with this amazing product! (P.S. look for my upgrade post, sooner or later). If I could only fit this tank, I would be able to take a 2-gal shower after Chris goes to bed, without cycling the water pump - amazing! Yep, she sleeps on that side. But this size tank will not fit. 🙃 I just purchased the pump alone to increase water flow from 3 to 5.5 gal/min (using less current, 4A vs. 7.5A), now priced used for only $75, (Amazon Used Like-New usually means damaged packaging only, and if bad, request a replacement). I will have to find another accumulator or install 2-3 of the little ones in series. Great deal for anybody needing a water pump or a backup pump, buy one now, seriously: Amazon.com: SEAFLO 55-Series Diaphragm Pump - 12V DC, 5.5 GPM, 60 PSI : Industrial & Scientific We already have an extra 35-gal freshwater tank in our TV. We might need another tank with near 2x GPM flow - lol! Don't we have fun with our babies?

We likely do not camp as often or as long as many of you. I'm still working, not retired nor want to be, so we take short local trips and once a year we take a 3-to-4-week trip to the NF and BLM lands of the great Southwest (thinking hard now about Texas April 2024 to meet many of you). Chris & I would not think of drinking from the fresh tank, filtered/sanitized or not. Besides, we need water in the OTT, and extra tank in the TV, for washing and showering. When we get to traveling longer, what Steve showed makes good sense. For now, we always have a case+ of water bottles and 4+/- gallon jugs for coffee and of course our pup Charley! Keeping these on hand in our TV. Every week or two we're buying groceries anyway. Best wishes -

We went into it on gut feeling -- Ah, the Golden Gut! Sometimes it works and when it does, it's all the better. I had no idea of the valuable research, like what Boudiicca908, and others have worked. Just so happened there was a nice older used one 4-sale in our town. Bought it 2 days later! Thinking, when will this opportunity happen again? Not likely and no regrets. We joined the Oliver Forum two weeks after our purchase. We started the other direction, thinking you wanna RV, gotta get a Class-A diesel-pusher. Bought a good used one and sold it a year later, getting our money back, TG! Then we bought a Class-C that had trouble climbing the mountains out west, and after 4 years, sold it just 3 weeks prior to buying our Oliver. I say go for it! Yeah, make sure you want a travel trailer (TT). I never thought to rent, it takes time and it's not yours, but that is the cautious route. If you buy a brand new one and it doesn't work out, you'll take a hit. There are great used ones listed right here in the classifieds. If you are going to buy a TT, buy an Oliver no doubt, absolutely not one of those overpriced nostalgic tin-can models! Lol Best wishes and enjoy your next adventure!

They're flexible too, so if you hit something, np. I've used these before, had them on a class-c, decent quality and inexpensive, not much to go wrong. Good eye! I was going to remount those funny little chains, but didn't want to take the time, at the time. I removed the bottom screw to remove them and replaced the screw in the hose bib. Last time I just placed the cap inside the rear storage bin where we keep the hoses. Thanks for asking!

I went with 6" extensions, since I really dislike craning my neck to reach under! They connect easy, hand-tight without leaking. The 4-pack is perfect for an Oliver. Amazon.com: Hourleey Garden Hose Protector, Hose Extension Adapter with Coil Spring (4 PCS) : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Nice Art, that's a HD truck! Sold my '03 for half of what I paid new in 2004, after 236K miles needing a whole lotta work! 50% depreciation in 18 years, not bad. The buyer understood, and we all know what new trucks cost. After buying our Oliver, the TV purchase was on a tight budget. Just looked at Rock Auto for suspension parts and they are double the price of what I paid 2 years ago for another truck! Your Tundra and I believe JD's LC200 have the powerful Toyota 5.7L (both awesome trucks). If I had found a Lexus LX570, instead of our wonderful '08 GX470, then we would not have needed the Ram. Ah shucks, too bad I have to have two trucks. It's funny, both of my trucks have 162K miles. This baby (after all my work) is really too pretty to be a TV anyway and the Dodge looks better pulling our Oliver.

Chris, and your guess was certainly correct! When I said, "the truck drove better with a trailer attached" I meant from my history with Dodge Ram 2500 HD Cummins. I owned a 2003 (gen3), from new 'til just a year ago, had 236K miles, and it pulled horse and stock trailers, and even a 14K lb. racecar trailer! With my new TV (2001 gen2 Dodge 2500 Cummins), I only have a few hundred miles experience. It drives great around town but did drift some on I-40 with the Oliver attached. The weight of the Cummins likely keeps it planted, then add a trailer and the front end gets loose in its current condition. Jacked a front wheel up today and did the crowbar ball joint test. You can hear a clunk and the lower showed movement (John Davies knew this). Then I removed the wheel, and all the suspension is original and worn. The pic shows worn & torn upper ball joint, sway bar link bushing and tie rod end. Brakes were just serviced. I expected to rebuild the front-end at some point. Still VERY happy with my TV purchase. For <20% the cost of a new one, this clean Cummins starts with one click of the key, shifts nicely (which can be an issue with some years) the body is excellent, the interior is perfect, like how did they drive 161K miles without sitting on the driver's seat! Come Oct-Nov in nice fall weather, I'll get it up on blocks and rebuild the suspension & steering, with all new parts.

Once the front frame was jacked up and placed on an automotive jack stand, I removed the leveling blocks to lower the jack to the bottom for cleaning. This is what is pictured. BTW, the jack pictured is close, but NOT even touching the ground! Now that the work is done, and always when the Oliver is parked, the jack is sitting on 6 or more leveling blocks, so that the jack does not overextend. Barker, the manufacturer of the VIP3000 power jack, has owner's instructions that includes maintenance instructions. Greasing the powerhead is described, with no mention of grease required on the post.