jd1923
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Posts posted by jd1923
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Searched for "freshjet" and got this. I remember reading it las year and you have me reading it again! We need to upgrade ours too at some point.
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On 5/9/2024 at 8:45 AM, DaveAndBecky_NorthernMI said:
... Pump failure was from us leaving pump on overnight while parked on a slight decline with very little water in fresh tank. We stayed in their house so did not notice until morning. We have named this O-squared E. Oliver-Operator-Error.😁
We all do it at times. I like to see that pump LED off when I'm starting to walk down those steps to leave the Oliver, has become habit. I also check my Victron app each time and when leaving for the day or going to sleep (left the fridge on DC one night when boondocking, got down to 63%).
Yes, your pump was damaged pumping dry overnight. The new pump fixed that, as you wrote "progress" in the fact that it would draw from the boondocking port. Not sure if your action could also create the leak at the tank. Stuff happens.
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6 minutes ago, rideandfly said:
John
Going to install Bulldog shocks on Ollie next week. Will do on the side by side comparison photo, both shocks are built in China, Monroe and Bulldog shocks.
https://www.4statetrucks.com/bulldog-hd-shock-absorber-replaces-555001-19-050000007
Bill
Thanks Bill, I'm certain many of us would like to see this. You'll know as soon as you pull one Monroe if they are the same, or something new, hopefully better. Too bad with heavier replacement springs we cannot source a replacement shock with the same ends, same stroke but larger diameter cylinders and pistons.
When I replaced mine last year (same Monroes but in black), the old yellow ones where all flat, meaning that when compressed they would not return on their own. Service receipts from prior owners also show mine were replaced once. I guess a few years back they still painted them yellow.
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6 hours ago, MAX Burner said:
So, here's an interesting data point... While installing the 5.2k# Dexter Nev-R-Lubes yesterday, we discovered all but one of the Monroe 500001 Shocks (installed new 11APR23) were INOP. What a bummer. Fortunately, "DBo" had 4 new-in-the-box Monroe's which he gave me after buttoning everything up on the axle job... I'll be installing them today at Mouse Tail Landing SP on the TN River in middle TN.
The point being, for those owners that R&R'd shocks last APR/MAY timeframe, strongly suggest removing that upper nut and testing each one. Doesn't take long, and just for the peace of mind - well worth the effort. We may have bought a bad lot of Monroe's last year, but I'm thinking they should have lasted more than the 14,000+ miles we've logged since installing them! Roll-On, regardless...
The new leaf springs with higher weight rating may be easier on the shocks. Your axles will also be more solid, keeping squarely on the ground more often. The sway of the body with the lighter springs certainly put more sway and stress on the shocks.
There was a suggestion earlier for perhaps a better replacement brand (or they could be the same part rebranded). Anybody getting the new brand should show a side-by-side picture of the two. If the new brand has the same casting marks, it's the same manufacturer.
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This may be blasphemy to many of you, but I've been using a pneumatic impact wrench for decades when mounting rims, without manually checking torque. I have a quality impact wrench, very much like this one (wow mine was about $140, 35 years ago): Ingersoll Rand 2146Q1MAX 3/4-Inch Drive, Air Impact Wrench, Quiet, 2,000 ft-lbs Nut-busting torque, Maintenance Duty, Pistol Grip, Standard Anvil , Gray - Amazon.com
First the "nut-busting torque" is for pulling nuts. The gun will not produce this torque when in righty-tighty position. Notice the 4 torque settings. I use the lowest setting when first mounting and get all lugs to this level (compressor set at 90 PSI). For automobiles or anything with 1/2" studs, I use the second setting as final torque. For 6-8 lug truck wheels the 3rd setting is good. I would not use the 4th setting for wheel lugs. Did that once by mistake when restoring our GX470 and broke a stud, and a round-trip to Napa to replace it.
Torque settings are based on the strength of the steel (Grade 5, Grade 8, etc.), the bolt diameter and whether it's a coarse or fine thread bolt. There is recommended torque for every bolt. Problem is when for example rebuilding a truck suspension, you cannot fit a torque wrench on 2 out of 3 bolts. Maturing into the role of being a mechanic you get used to the feel of how tight is right.
Love this Toyota guy! He taught me so much when restoring our GX, changing the CV axles, adding a 2" lift, etc. His catch phrase is "good-n-tight" which he says often, kidding in a German accent: Lexus GX470 Front Brake Upgrade - YouTube
After mounting a rim, a few days or few miles later, I check the lugnuts again, this time by hand. Not using a torque wrench, but with a 24" long 3/4" breaker bar, 1/2" reducer with appropriate socket attached. I mount it about 90 degrees to the ground and push down with my foot. If it's a car, I just push down a little. On the 2500-series truck I put a bit of my weight on it. On occasion you find one or some that are somewhat looser and only those need a little more. If they all feel about the same, then you're good. Always recheck recent repair work at least visually.
Another check I do on a regular basis is to rock the wheel. When parked flat, put your foot on the top of the wheel and push back and forth to rock the vehicle as hard as possible. Use your eyes and ears to notice anything. This is a simple check of lugs, bearings and other steering or suspension components.
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On 5/9/2024 at 6:45 AM, Cameron said:
The curb side wheels were way over-torqued and the threads were stretched on some studs. Boo. I gotta replace them now.
Excellent of you to do the follow-up and to notice something this detailed. Many would not have noticed. A good check to see if they are truly deformed is to take a good nut from the other side (better yet a brand-new nut). If it threads nicely by hand the threads are good, if it gets stuck you know the rest.
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A 1" line with connectors becomes 3/4" ID, a great improvement at 2x the current OEM drain. OTT uses 1/2" PEX with 90 connectors that have 3/8" ID. See my picture of the motorized valve installed on the drain. Yes, the 90 fitting is 3/8" ID and if any of you still have the old brass switch valves (for boondocking / winterization modes) they are 1/4 ID. Motorized valves I used in all 3 locations have 12mm ID, one mm short of 1/2" ID. It drains a little faster and the boondocking fill is now twice as fast.
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4 hours ago, MAX Burner said:
Still a bit of the white stuff in Prescott? Cool project, for sure... We've got dibs on that spot, ha!
Heck no, getting home from our trip, we are knee-high in weeds, weedwhackers going. Art, whenever you visit, yes that is your spot. I'd move ours to a less level spot w/o shore power. Not much in level land here. Here is a picture take just now from the other direction, our living room window. Five years ago, Adam and I hand-excavated the 10x20' yard area to allow the shed to be level, with pickaxes, shovels and rakes.
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1 hour ago, MAX Burner said:
This is a game changing plan you've got!
We did the same thing - just make sure you've got good quality dump hoses.
For sure, good plan @rideadeuce if you are able to do so, on your property. I pulled a Class-A into this spot several times, but after the shed that maneuver may not work. Found a used 10x20' Tuff-Shed 4-5 years ago for $4K and only $400 to bring it home (tipped the guy another C-note and these cost ~$12K today). We ran 125' of 8 AWG (correct gauge for 30A at this length) direct burial cable. Added a sub-panel for lights and power in the shed as well. LOVE doing electrical work, residential or automotive 12VDC!
Have shore power, when we need (mostly in the summer for A/C) and when we return from a trip, everything in the bed of the TV goes into the shed on commercial pallet racking. We are coded for gray water into a gravel bed, but it's on the edge of our 3/4 acre within the city of Prescott. Not going to have our own dump, but very happy as-is. Love when a project is done! Pretty pic to follow...
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2 hours ago, topgun2 said:
As far as I know - the answer is yes. Bill
Well maybe then... We need to head east for the 2025 Oliver Trailer Rally. I could make that service appointment well ahead of time, swing by CGI to get our gelcoat back in shape and meet so many of you great eastern members!
Being old-school as I am, I try not to leave the property until I lined up 3-4 errands to do in series. Hoping that would rub off on wife and son for years, still hoping. So now I have at least 3 reasons for making that very long mile trip!
I'd be OK in the meantime using our 35-gal backup water in the TV which in the current state of our FWT refills it twice. We get about 55 gallons total. I could not do it without the motorized water valve mod (not lifting beds). With TV detached, you only need a 10' hose. I use a 10' plus a 25' when attached.
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5 hours ago, Steve Morris said:
Our 2023 Platinum solar package has two 320A/h batteries, for a total of 640. A lot more solar would be needed to support long term use. Mine takes a full day of sunshine to recover 10% of the battery capacity.
Wow, only 10%! What is your rooftop solar wattage? Perhaps a third panel in your future. I dislike the idea of portable, but many here do that.
You are based in N Ohio. I wonder if your same package was camping out here in the SW, would 10% increase to 20% or some better number?
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7 hours ago, rideadeuce said:
Interesting take on this topic. To me Motorola during the late 90s early 2000s big mistake was not changing with the times fast enough, staying stuck in the mud with physical keyboards, outdated form factor, old software that was cumbersome and couldn't be updated OTA, etc. things customers were starting to demand.
What makes OTT foundation so great is the incredible build quality and use of double hull fiberglass construction #1 IMO. But not looking long term and seeing that 100% electrification of Ollies and cars for that matter is the future would be a mistake. I mean Ollie's are already essentially fully electrified hybrids just need to make the roof and battery compartments more friendly for larger solar arrays and battery banks. Great technology combined with a great structural foundation is what makes the travel trailer so uniquely usable. Pull/boon-dock almost anywhere!
Just my opinion... I would love for them to stay out front with one of the best campers ever made. We can all can continue to customize and use as we see fit. We shall see what the future holds.
My wants:
1) FLAT roof for expandable solar panels/ awnings (could double-triple the solar wattage)
2) Larger battery bank compartment and better use of empty basement space.
3) More robust, unified energy system (Victron would be my vote) from the factory so we don't have to drill holes in the beautiful fiberglass, etc.
4) Built-in water filtration
5) While wishing a 28-32 ft version with separate BR and dry bath would be awesome.
Chime in! Best, Mike
What many do not realize is that Motorola only dabbled in consumer electronics (10-20% of sales), through the years, and yes often failed from poor marketing. Motorola was an engineering company, manufacturing backend systems for commercial use and government, along with semiconductor manufacturing used by Apple, HP and so many others.
The point I was making was the useful application of technology. First point, I certainly do not need a TT that is so heavy, I would need a 550-grade commercial truck to pull it! Many locations we camp, a rig >24FT would not go. I see the 3-axles Air Streams and fifth wheels everywhere and wonder. They may soon downsize as we have. Honestly, you want these features, flat roof with 10+ solar panels, buy a Class-A RV.
We also don't need a balcony on our TT, OMG! 🤣 If you can't walk down 2-3 steps and plant your feet on the ground, why are you camping? Sure it's cool, but is it useful application of technology? I think not. I also see aluminum and rivets in their builds. They offer 100-gal FWT which is another 800+ LBS when full. I could not find a spec sheet without filling out a form and wonder re actual GTWR.
Should OTT improve their design? Of course. Flat roof? Not for me. It will create more wind drag and take away from the elemental beauty of the OTT. All the tech in that Living Vehicle and they offer the same 2000W Inverter that we have? I was amazed how our old 340W solar and 450AH lead-acid kept us dry-camping 2 1/2 weeks and battery charge never got below 80% (we do live in the sunny dry SW). I will upgrade to LI and 3000W inverter, only to run a new efficient AC to be fully self-contained. We can do all that in our old hull for just a few thousand dollars.
All those bells and whistles have their cost, upfront and down the road. The $300K base package (their 24' model) is approx. 3x the cost of an Oliver. I imagine some of you have that money, but we only had enough discretionary, for this purpose, for our used Oliver.
The Oliver cannot be considered a hybrid, as it cannot be driven down the road on its own accord. An EV Truck for camping? 🤣 What are you going to charge first? Your house batteries or the EV TV? How much extra solar wattage would be required for the EV TV? Living Vehicle advertises their product can charge the EV. Problem is when the EV TV needs recharging is when the sun is setting...
LI batteries do weigh less, but batteries in an EV TV and enough batteries in the TT to recharge the TV add up to 1000s of LBS in batteries. Some of us worry about 50 LBS of water in the HWH. Wonder when Living Vehicle will get up to over 1500 units sold?
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2 hours ago, Ronbrink said:
I always make use of the Air-Lift system on my TV when the Oliver takes a dump; especially beneficial when on an uphill grade.
Air-lift would be nice! Without it I bring ramps. At this location, I started at 7" down (reading on the LevelMate) to 3"+. Surprised to get 10" net, but you can see it in resulting the TV angle, since the drive was lower at the front wheels of the TV.
We had a free dump station just down the street from home. What was for decades, our local "Affinity RV" became "Blue Compass RV" last year and they charge $10 to use the dump station.
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Got to love the flat tank design of the Oliver! The Sunoco at Cedar City UT offers free dump station plus potable water with any fill-up. You have to back in slightly uphill to the facilities.
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Thanks @rich.dev Wow! and I hate plumbing. I can see why @MAX Burner is asking OTT Service to do it. Do they still retrofit this at their cost?
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Nothing but a buncha b$, living vehicles, EVs for anything more than a daily commute, solar farms, wind farms (that kill eagles and whales), and the like.
I appreciate the application of technology, never tech for tech's sake. Learned that working 10 years for Motorola during the 90s. We aren't there, not even close, even though too many mindless politicians say so.
Will tow with my old diesel 'til the day I can no longer drive. And our recent investment in an Oliver will be our last RV of any kind. "No brag, just fact."
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My solution, again... although we will consider other options! A more recent picture would show that I installed a tank cover, using an inexpensive BBQ grill cover to keep the UV rays off the tank and the water...
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16 minutes ago, MAX Burner said:
So, we're working with Jason at OTT Sales and Service to see if OTT can get us in on Friday for the fresh water tank mod which requires the use of a set of specialized tools that I don't have - but they do. If the planets align themselves correctly over the next few days, we'll have the FWT mod configured such that we'll be able to access virtually all the water in the tank. As of now, we can get all but about 5 or 6 gallons out - if we tilt the nose up, we can get another gallon or so...
I had no idea of such a mod! Is there a thread about it here? I've seen most threads, but I admit I do not read the OTT Service threads (perhaps I should), since our hull is well out of warranty and I'm not able to go to OTT for service.
We get 20 gallons max out of our FWT. Thank goodness we have a 35g fresh tank in the bed of our TV and refilling via the winterizing port is painless with the electric motorized valve upgrade.
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On 5/5/2024 at 1:10 PM, MAX Burner said:
JFTR: Considering all the mods and upgrades we've made to our 2017 model, it would be cost-prohibitive to buy a new Ollie with the capabilities designed/engineered into ours... I'm thinking we'll stick with Hull #226, Casablanca, for the duration, even though it might be a good time to upgrade... We've got Casablanca where we want it.
That's one of the key attributes of the Oliver Travel Trailer - except for a few minor design modifications since early days, its basically the same super-tough RV that Jim Oliver started with -- no reason to swap out, IMO.
Roll-on! Cheers! A & D
Agree 100% and Art @MAX Burner has invested more upgrades than we have to date. Those of us here who do our own M&R and mod work can do well with sweat equity in these hulls that are 98% the same, as the newer hulls add some age. And I fully agree with @Mike and Carol, as ours too is "nicely broken in."
Just got back from our 5th trip in 11 months. We don't have near the miles or days out as many of you and ours will continue to be for occasional use. We just got back from our biggest trip to-date, a whole 17 days! 🤣 Everything we needed was present and working.
Reading all the repair and mod posts, since we joined the forum, I feel many of the newer hulls have more issues than what we have experienced. This is likely due to the care from past owners. Our 8-year-old Oliver had made it back to OTT in 2018 and 2020 for considerable work (new blinds, new furnace, Dexter EZ-Flex, new tires, and much more). Ours also has a lot of options that add a lot to a new purchase (solar package and more). We can't afford a new one in many ways!
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3 hours ago, Wayfinder said:
I was also thinking of Jerry Rigging cloth strip of something to better support that silver show hose, to take a bit of pressure of that plastic fitting. Also, I will likely add line marks or colored electrical tape (yellow, then red) as the... "do not pull any farther out" warning markers.
Better than tape would be some kind of donut clamped to the hose, so that it cannot be pulled too far.
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21 hours ago, topgun2 said:
You da man! My fingers can't type that fast!
Bill, I believe you need to add some carbs and proteins to your diet!
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11 hours ago, JWalmsley said:
Navigating through the forums and I cannot believe how much faster it is since the move to the new host. Anyone else notice? That's all. 🤓
Thank you for all you do! Speaking for the majority us, the new and old Oliver owners, we love this forum. Thank you again for your work and all you do! JD
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3 hours ago, MAX Burner said:
100% concur, Steve - same rationale here... We're hauling our two cruisers to the rally - Oscar and Magnus get connected to the seat post lanyards and trot along with us. It's actually fairly hilarious watching the "dog/bike ride" drill. You'll see. HA!
Two bikes, two knuckleheads, two adults (maybe just D), do you always do everything in twos?
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Dometic FreshJet AC
in General Discussion
Posted
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.