jd1923

Save the frustration and some $$$. Buy from Tire Rack or Simple Tire and have them shipped to a shop of your choice, or one of their installers. Both of these companies offer 2-year damage protection and DT charges $35 (each) or more. I recently purchased tires for our TV from Simple Tire and one of their listed installers was a local repair shop we frequent. Two years ago, I purchased tires from Tire Rack and one of their listed installers was the Pep Boys just down the street. I saved considerable $$$ on both purchases and much more if you are considering buying DT "certificates" (damage insurance). I've found more than one DT location, where there 20-something sales guys act like your stupid (like telling you must have ST tires) and I've left the store twice for this reason (not again). The only plus I see for DT is if you lose a tire when away from home.

Also, you want to clean up all the excess grease after every lube job. You can see in the pics above how grease left there previously collects more dirt. In the pic below, clean Zerk caps were fitted on clean Zerks.

It may be the photo, but the shackle looks bent. If so, perhaps that side was overtightened. BTW, number of threads will vary rig to rig and even left to right, since for them to be exactly the same, the installation point of the rear brackets must be identical which likely is not the case. I always check the tension a few blocks down the road. Drive exactly straight for a say 100 yards, stop and check. You want the tension to feel tight, not overly tight. I kick each side and watch the vibration, and even listen to the pitch of each chain (must have good ears). Like a guitar string, shorter vibration stroke or higher pitch is tighter. Try to even out the tension regardless of number of threads, but once you get it down you should know how many threads works for you on each side.

Not sure about the Cradlepoint product. I installed a Pepwave router and in their brochure the suggest a Starlink connection through the WAN input. I imagine it depends on the automatic switching capabilities of the router. However, 2018 is a bit old in router-years!

I will add that if the total assembly is 60-70 LBS, and you ride nicer suburban roads/eastern Interstates, you should be OK. Keep in mind that in the Jeep picture shown above, the single mounting bolt is mounted to a steel frame, not fiberglass. We just got back from 2 1/2 weeks, from here and throughout SW Utah. We would hit a cattle grate on a side road and even a simple bridge seam on a major US Hwy, and the TV and TT would bounce heavily! You try to see them coming but it will look fine and then bounce hard.

Whoa, Pilgram! 🤣 Did you look at what/where the spare tire bolt is connected? This design has the weight of 1-2 bikes on one (1) threaded bolt! What is it, just a 1/2" bolt? Came back from our last trip and the spare fiberglass housing was loose, the large, winged nut to hold the spare was also loose many turns. This bolt is designed to hold up the spare upright while its weight is held by the frame below. I'm not crawling into the Oliver basement/trunk to see what is supporting the main bolt for the spare, but you certainly should do so before you go on a Rocky Mountain excursion, or anywhere else. It may look good in the driveway but as a seasoned engineer, and 45 years a car mechanic, I'm not seeing it! Do you due diligence. The downside would be your precious bikes and spare tire bouncing down the highway, leaving a hole in the Oliver fiberglass hull the size of the bolt head and washer, or whatever support bracket may be there. To boot, ask anybody here, I'm more the risk-taking person, but I would not risk this! When you lose your bikes, you will not know it until your next stop. Keep on checking, keep that one wing-nut tight. Actually, the tighter you make that bolt, the more likely it will bust the fiberglass. This would drive me crazy! Certainly, I can be wrong, we all are at times. Please let us know what you experience. BTW, welcome to our Forum! God Speed and best wishes. JD

So, two members have purchased the Dexter brand 2400 LB springs and more than 10 of us have purchase the Alcan product, rated at 2750 LBS. When I upgrade, it's Alcan for sure! It's not that everything made in China is bad, just literally millions of MADE IN CHINA products are of extremely poor quality (go ahead and take your chance on your $100K investment). The marketing slogan is Better-Faster-Cheaper though they often forget the first word is BETTER! When give choice, I will NEVER purchase from the CCP and will pay hundreds more for first choice MADE IN USA and second choice ANYTHING BUT CHINA. I need a bumper sticker that SCREAMS this sediment. I believe I also wrote this on page 6, or maybe it was page 9, no 12! I'll bet this thread hits 20 pages... The design of the Alcan has the second leaf fully extended to the full length of the main leaf. @ScubaRx just wrote it clearly in B&W, @MAX Burner mentioned it at least twice and I wrote of it before. No brainer, this is the cause of failure. Good ol' Dexter can make a heavier spring, but not a better one. EOF

Safe travels to all. Wish we could be there. Hope y'all have the very best time! 😂

We made two more stops getting us back home. After the 24 hours of 50 MPH winds it was nice to get to a relaxing place. BTW, there is a large boondocking location just north of Lake Meade NRA and Valley of Fire SP on Northshore Rd SH-169. Would have stopped there, but it is on high ground and was still quite windy. We remembered from the way up that there was another campground at Callville Bay. Two weeks before it was in the 90s, so we stayed at the Trailer Village (ugly, but full hookups). The weather was much cooler this time and we stayed at the campground. They have about 50 nice campsites and they only had a 1-2 campers. We took site 30 with the view of Lake Meade. I covered our next stop, in an "We saw an Ollie" post. We found Grand Canyon Caverns campground on old US HWY 66 just past Peach Springs AZ and to our surprise the only other camper at the campground was an Ollie! The campground was a bit run down, way past its heyday! There was no attendant, office locked when we arrived about 5PM. WE asked in the restaurant, no answer. Left leisurely late morning and still nobody to pay for our night. All we did was park and level, spend the night without their hookups anyway. The next morning another hour down Route-66, then an hour down US-89 and we were back home. Chris and I really enjoyed our first real Oliver excursion, finding nice stops along the way!

From the order of your steps, it appears you got more gray water in the black, than vice versa. As others have said, not a big deal. Never tried Dawn in the tanks, though Dawn is great for so many cleaning purposes it does get very sudsy (laundry detergent is less sudsy). This company has cleaning videos, and we use the solution they suggest. The Pine-Sol is a disinfectant and the Calgon Pearls are a lubricant for the valve seals. Get Kleen Tank's exclusive RV tank solution recipe I like rinsing the tanks with just volumes of water. Use the black tank fill port and connect to City Water and run the sinks. Afterwards when rinsed and empty, we put a 1/2 cup of this solution in the black and a gallon water (fill the bowl 3 times). For the gray, add a cup of solution with 2 gallons water. Not too much water in each since we will travel this way and not drain these small amounts and just use the tanks as-is. If you smell Pine-Sol in your coach, you either left some in a sink trap or you have a gray plumbing vent that is not sealing.

Sorry I did not notice this a month ago... I and others would have read your post sooner if it was listed under Campers and Ollie Modifications. Houghton and Honeywell being mods. Also, many would not know the answer. Thermostat cables generally have 5-6 wires, and each one has a designation. I have a whole spool of 6-wire thermostat cable. One colored wire is for fan, furnace, A/C, heat strip, etc. You need to find the wiring diagrams for both products, the Houghton and then the Honeywell.

We have Brooklyn Bedding of Phoenix AZ, at home. It's a Cali-king in our MBR and their high-end unit that cannot be rolled and shipped. It's the best bed we've ever owned. We bought a queen from them for a Bigfoot Class-C, it was excellent! Last year we bought these single mattresses for our Oliver, just last fall: Dreamfoam Essential - RV (rvmattress.com) We tossed out the "OTT upgraded mattress" (OMG terrible) gave one away on Craigs FREE Stuff and the other my son keeps for his buds that stay the night. They are rectangular (no radius end), but they fit as-is, only being a little tight on the outside corner. A summer project for me is to use an insulation knife to cut a radius into one corner, but I may just leave it alone, TBD. We went with the 10" mattress since it was the first level that has 3 different layers of foam, from hard at the base to soft at the body. A 10" mattress does make the bed are high, if you have the need to sit there. They have 6" to 14", take your pick. For less than $1K you get two amazing mattresses ship to your location, in two boxes. 😂

I see you first booked sites 41-57 and those are reserved by 16 Oliver Owners in your original group. Was there a reason you selected those sites, or is it what the park allowed at an earlier date? Wow, the park map shows over 300 sites! It also shows lots of availability in the period two weeks before which is a good sign. This park likely has every site booked for Labor Day! October less popular. Hard to tell what a good site # to book. Should we try to get a site number close to your group? Is any part of the park suggested, or not suggested? Any advice would be helpful as May 21 is coming up very soon. Thank you for your time and for arranging this meet. 😂

Even my wife's blow-dryer does not cause interference like that (though I installed a high-end Samsung monitor). If it only happens with the hearing aids, and no other device, then they are the cause. Just a bad product? Defective unit, then get a warranty replacement. I would not wear them until you know more.

I forgot about the custom axle length. That does complicate matters. What you’re doing could be me next year. An OTT visit tied in with the 2025 Rally, get my FWT fixed too like you. Are you doing the CGI Detailing too? I’m getting rather jealous of Casablanca #226. You know that’s 2x hull #113!

@John Dorrer I would certainly call tech support for your hearing aide co. You have considerable electrical interference, and it may not be safe to have those in your ears.

Yeah, price-point $3k vs. one, would not be in our budget! I wonder why so many want 12v appliances? Perhaps there is something I do not understand on this. We use our inverter whenever needed and alone it only takes an amp, maybe 1.5A.

Nice! I know of that route. I was not sure if it was a road for 4x4s, or instead a road where you could tow your Oliver all the way down. I'm assuming you pulled your Oliver down to the Colorado! Please confirm quality of the road. Is it some paved, all dirt, OK for towing? Ample level boondocking sites at the river? That's a local trip for us, so we should do it soon. BTW, I can't stand I-40 from Flagstaff to Kingman, the trucks at 75 MPH, steep descents, construction always and bad pavement regardless. I found on this trip that we can get from home to Kingman, a trip I do several times a year, only traveling on I-40 for 7 miles. We take US-89 from Prescott to Ash Fork AZ (47 miles from home) and 7 miles west of Ash Fork you can exit on Hwy-66 and take that to Seligman, up to Peach Springs and down to Kingman. It's a beautiful route too and only adds a half hour to the route.

BTW, I would ONLY think of this kind of HD bike rack, mounting a relatively heavy dirt bike, AFTER I do some of the upgrades that @MAX Burner has completed; Alcan Springs and 5200 LB axles with 12" brakes and perhaps Monroe 555025 shocks if it's determined they would be a good upgrade and fit. There's quite a bit of money in doing all this and it makes sense to do this work all at the same time, for me time is TBD.

This is certainly worth taking another look, for those upgrading to the Alcan springs. +3/4" would likely fit well, given the Alcan leaf springs make the trailer sit a little higher and compress less for the same load. I had written to @MAX Burner in an earlier post to measure the before and after in spring height. Not sure if Art or others who have upgraded have made this measurement. @2008RN could you please supply a link to the specs for these shocks? I spent a few minutes searching and all i could find was installation instructions for Monroe shocks by part number. I would also like to hear what @ScubaRx thinks of adding a stiffer shock, 3/4" longer.

And now we know the reason for the Made in USA Leaf Spring thread, now 15 pages and counting! 🤣 Thank you, and I truly mean it.

Yes agreed, and yes pics would be appreciated! I haven't yet touched any exterior lighting. It kills me to see 3-4 screws into the fiberglass to mount something that weighs just ounces! I'm thinking, fill the holes with an epoxy or whatever plays well with fiberglass (to which I have no idea). These trim pieces can simply be mounted with a circle of 3M VHB tape, no holes in the fiberglass required, except for an 1/8" hole for the wiring. OTT should redesign the exterior thinking minimal fiberglass intrusion. Believe it or not, your antennas, solar panels and evening your awning can be mounted to the surface without drilling screw holes. Adhesives today are stronger than screws into fiberglass, certainly.

Love ya buddy, but you're not getting my old a$$ on a Trail 90! 🤣 Two e-bikes are 150+ LBS, more likely closer to 200 with accessories and keep in mind the rack weighs LBS. My '03 Honda CRF230 (bought barely used in VA late '03, totally rebuilt in 2019, new performance springs, new tires, and much more) weighs 238 dry, let's call it 260 LBS with oil and a full tank (1 gallon gasoline). We have ridden dirt in most of the Prescott NF. Chris cruised a Polaris 600 quad for years, though I prefer 2-wheels. I can make this work. Will post a mod at some point. I do need to measure our current tongue weight and front to back balance. OTT has built the frame structure for this with 7-8 crossmembers rear of the wheels. It would be great! Recently, to test I climbed on the back bumper of the Oliver, jumping up and down hard with myself of 225 LBS. It was solid as a rock, though a bike rack would be further back, a longer lever per the center of the trailer wheels.

Let’s do it Art! Your Beemer and my Honda dirt. The trip we just finished, I could have ridden dirt trails for miles! I will do it sooner or later. For now you have a great bike rack too.

I will likely do this upgrade too; this fall or early next year. Tempting when I see this unit at a good price, and I'll bet we can find an even better price online: Amazon.com: Dometic FreshJet 3 Series, RV Standard Mechanical Rooftop Air Conditioner, 13.5K BTU, White : Automotive Mike, it appears this is a plug-n-play install that you and a strong guy (for me that's my son Adam) could do in a comfortable afternoon, a couple beers, ... BTW, when we did a like install on a Class-C, Adam went up on the roof, after I disconnected the mounting bolts from inside. Ours was an old jammed unit, so I told Adam, just throw it off the roof but don't hit anything but the gravel drive. WE hauled the new one up using an extension ladder and a simple pull cable.