jd1923
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Posts posted by jd1923
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5 hours ago, Sam Heumann said:We're new Oliver owners, 2025 E2 Hull #1590. We purchased MeriWether in Florida before Christmas and towed it home to Texas, about a 1,200 mile run. TV is a 2025 F-150 PowerBoost with the 5' bed, 4WD and tow package.I installed an Andersen WDH before the journey, in the configuration I thought was correct.My initial observations during the trip were, TV almost level, bow high on the trailer and the rear axle tires ran 5° F warmer than the front axle tires after a couple of hours on the road. The overall towing performance for this trip was acceptable, but I wanted to fine tune the hitch setup.....level the trailer while being towed, optimize the steer axle weight transfer with the WDH, and allow the tailgate to fully open without hitting the top of the Bulldog hitch.
Welcome Sam! Please add a signature, when you have the time, and we all would love more of your input on our great OTT Forum.
I went through similar thoughts when we started towing our Oliver a couple years ago. Our tow vehicle is borderline on requiring the WDH, but the user manual does state to us one when hitch weight is >500 LBS or trailer >5000 LBS.
I believe set the Bulldog at the height OTT recommends as Ron stated above. When I hitch the Oliver, the rear of our truck drops 2". Checkout my pics. First is hitched and second is adding the Andersen WDH tightened correctly. You can see in the second pic a good level front bumper of TV to rear bumper of TT! But yes, the WDH does add lots of stress at the ball for sure and likely elsewhere.
In two years, 135 overnights and 15K+ miles, I've only felt comfortable with WDH attached. Without it the under-sprung Oliver will waddle through intersections and porpoise over bumps and dip. Until...
Recently, I upgraded adding Alcan Leaf Springs rated at 2750 LBS each vs. the OEM 1700. The difference is night and day. I haven't beefed up the TV rear suspension at all, it's just that now the trailer suspension is handing the trailer and not moving the TV all over the road, like the tail waggin' the dog! 🤣 Our Andersen WDH is now in storage, until somebody wants to buy one. Better springs will likely give you what you want. It's not whether your hitch is up or down an inch or tension +/- on the Andersen.
The other thing is ALL Oliver Owners should purchase is the LevelMatePRO (get the PRO model which can be wired directly, no battery changes needed). Find the most level place you can park, set the 3 stabilizer jacks and get as level as possible (us a sight level in many places like you've down). Then you go through calibration steps on the app. I wired my PRO model out-of-sight, under the rear dinette seat where 12VDC is easily available. We use it every time we're parking the Oliver. I turn the app on from the driver's seat to get the best possible spot. Then Chris get's out and places the Andersen Rapid Jacks under the correct side (when needed). I roll up, set the parking brake, and we're done! 😎
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22 minutes ago, Mike and Carol said:
When a serious freeze is forecasted I bring the trailer home and use a couple of electric heaters inside with the inner hulls open.
We set our furnace at the 40F min on our thermostat. Yes, this uses some LP but the furnace is in proximity to most of the plumbing. I would worry more with any kind of space heater, and we’re all about NOT moving beds!
But I don’t do it because I think my compressed air winterizing isn’t 100%. I do it since barely a week goes by where I’m not in the Oliver for something and don’t want the interior sub-zero! At 5400 ft elevation, we get a lot more overnights in the teens than in Texas or other SW locales.
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44 minutes ago, John and Debbie said:
JD, do you have a picture of how the black looks on your trailer. I noticed that my white strips are getting mildew spots. I read that it's nearly impossible to clean that off so I am interested in the black. John
The consensus is go BLACK! IT does not show stains and the window is black anyway.
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15 minutes ago, Roger said:
Do you blow all yhe lines or just the freshwater tank?
I blow ALL the lines, but many here are concerned with this practice since it is not OTT recommend (they used to and then legal got in the way of practicality)! To me it takes me 10 min (half the time) when we get home from a trip and not draining or fussing to get ready again. I use compressed air in my garage every day, so it's right there and ready.
To clear the Fresh Tank inlet is a straight run from hull to tank, so there should not be (false) concerns of damage to the water pump or anything else.
See this procedure which I wrote up a couple years ago. BTW, step #13 was suggested and I added it but I don't believe it's necessary and have never done this step. I've never used RV antifreeze in three RVs we're owned.
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40 minutes ago, 2008RN said:
Did you get the black rubber from Oliver? If not who?
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2 hours ago, Roger said:
Just flushing the city lines doesn't get rid of the anti-freeze pumped into the fresh water tank when the freshwater line was winterized. This is what I am interested in flushing, more so than the city lines.
I don’t use antifreeze, only compressed air (OTT does not recommend this). With antifreeze, yes use it in your plumbing since that will empty sooner or later into your gray tank.
But do not pump antifreeze into your Fresh Tank! The tank is very slow to empty and difficult to rinse clean. Just blow compressed air to empty the fill line and drain the tank. Two seconds of air while you're waiting 30 min on the tank. No worries next season, just fill 'er up and go! 😎
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On 12/28/2025 at 10:21 AM, taylor.coyote said:
I like the idea of running without to test for heat with an infrared temp gun.
There are a lot of us towing without the center caps for this reason, starting with @John E Davies who suggested it many years ago.
I wish they made flatter centers for Nev-R Lube axles. The standard centers stick out 4 1/2" made deep for the old-style conical bearings. I believe they detract from the look of most mag wheels.
I just added these emblems to dress ours up a little! I won't have to read "Nev-R Lube" anymore. Just search for "70mm emblems" and there are hundreds to chose from.
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On 1/4/2026 at 1:21 PM, Geronimo John said:
I don't have the courage to do that. It is very delicate and difficult to change if damaged.
I can’t see with windows locked shut how anything can get damaged. Should a violent thunderstorm damage our window tracks too?
And I don’t get why we’ve never had a drop of water leak to the interior and many of you have leaks, mildew, etc.
No idea how you know your weep holes are clean, open and functional without running water! Can the “cleaning” process be creating the problem?
Definitely replace the exterior rubber if it has shrunk at all. $100 in rubber, I replaced all with black stock first year of ownership.
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1 hour ago, Geronimo John said:
the Dexter PB4's
Haven't we had this discussion? (And ours is closer to 7K GTW.)
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On 1/3/2026 at 5:17 PM, Dumbyellowdog said:
many people have ‘reckons about an EV when they’ve never even driven in one, let alone towed across the country.
Yes, that would be me and about 99% of truck owners!
We purchased an older, used Oliver at half the price of a new one, and an older truck for the sole purpose as the tow vehicle. I’ve made MANY upgrades to both vehicles and total money invested would just pay for an averagely optioned new GM EV truck! Then there would be near another $10K in AZ sales tax.
I understand the power/torque EVs have and other benefits. If I was a young man, I’d buy one for daily use. I'm not sold on practicality as a tow vehicle, especially in the West where 200 miles towing is just the first half day on the road.
In a similar vein, I would LOVE an electric dirt bike (not an e-bike). Seen the Varg bike, for example. Way faster than my Honda! Ride mountain roads in pure silence, Wow, it would be great! Bought my Honda in 2003, completely rebuilt it 5 years ago, new tires, HD Springs, hand guards and other accessories. It does all I need, paid for years ago and it’s a great ride, perfect for me. That $15K Varg would be cool though. 🤣
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1 hour ago, Chris Scarff said:
I'm not sure how the WDH relates to the springs.
I found the OEM springs to be under-sprung, too soft for the near 7K top-heavy load of the Oliver. Mine used to waddle left and right and porpoise up and down at the hitch. I needed the WDH to keep the Oliver in control when towing.
With our suspension upgrade, both D52 axles and HD Alcan leaf springs, the Oliver is towing straight and even, no more waddling, no porpoising. The tow vehicle suspension no longer has to compensate for the weaker trailer suspension. So cool. 😎
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On 1/3/2026 at 11:35 AM, C&MCurrie said:
We will be there and would love to join you all. It will be our first time at Quartzsite and are really looking forward to the experience. We are debating whether we should bring our e-bikes. Any advice?
We don't use e-bikes (hoping somebody else would comment). If you have the fat-tire kind you'd be good to get around town. Lot's of dirt, sand and gravel and a paved service road from Dome Rock to town. I would think it would be easier to get around vs. parking a truck at the big tent.
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Chris, most of us went with the 5-leaf version. I'm VERY happy with them! The HD springs create a much better towing experience where the WDH is not longer needed for me.
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19 hours ago, John Dorrer said:
The key is keeping it clean when camping
Yep, or each time we get home. To wash the Oliver, I use a car soap foam-sprayer and first I get the entire Oliver soaked in soap suds. Then I mount the pressure washer gun and clean the entire body. I hit the windows with the pressurized water and you can see the dirt coming out of the weep holes. When you see clean water coming through you're done. I've asked Chris to go inside to see if anything gets wet inside, but it never does. She'll clean the interior window tracks as needed with a damp dust rag.
I use a battery-powered leaf blower to get most of the water off the Oliver, preferring not to rub/towel dry. Hit the windows with air too. Now that we're ceramic-coated she cleans up nicely and quickly!
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14 hours ago, Steve Gorman said:
Water leaks from the little holes around the rim, when hooked up to city water. And fills the toilet in just a few hours.
I'm reading this like it's slowly filling on its own, without the foot pedal valve being actuated, when pressurized by City Water. Extreme calcification is likely the cause and what Bill @topgun2 mentioned, some kind of vinegar decalcification process is necessary throughout your plumbing system, and also clean the filter at the water pump, soak all faucet aerators in CLR, etc.
But at this point, you have your toilet fill valve crusted up enough so it will not fully seal. Looking at the picture it's hard to know if it is a serviceable unit. If not you will need to replace it with something like this: https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Dometic/DOM93FR.html
Your first step is to get off City Water. Fill your fresh tank and use your water pump. This way when the pump is OFF it will not fill the toilet bowl! This would get you home or give you time for the repair. Then when you can, remove the foot pedal and the valve. See if it can be disassembled for cleaning or read the part number for correct replacement.
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3 hours ago, Tideline77 said:
Don’t know if it is correct or incorrect but I was told Pioneer is owned by Gree
Maybe a parent company? Not sure.
The Pioneer and Turbro Greenland are same (or similar) Inverter A/C models.
The Gree Eco-Cool, the Tosot and what was the Atmos are all the same (or similar) models, with standard on/off compressors not variable-speed inverter compressors. These are very quiet dual-fan models.
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3 hours ago, rideandfly said:
Really like your installation! We just purchased new Epoch batteries to replace the BB batteries, really like Epoch's App, too!
Thank you Bill, and I'm happy for you! I remember reading re your BB situation, and I'm glad it all worked out for you. 😄 Yep, Epoch batteries and their app are great!
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13 hours ago, Dumbyellowdog said:
We have a Silverado EV with 450 miles of EV range / 225 miles towing our 7500lb Bigfoot 25’. We’re currently on BLM land near Death Valley. Coming from Ram 1500 Hemi you’d be surprised, the range differences to gas aren’t that big. In a pinch you can even “fill up” via a 50A RV
Sold our Bigfoot Class-C for an Oliver! Their trailers are very popular, especially in Canada. I was on their forum for 3 years, added inverter/solar and other mods to our BF.
The one and ONLY reason to own a Ram is to tow behind a Cummins! Hemi 1500 not. 🙃
Our range is 500+ miles, 400 fully loaded, towing on mountain roads, based on using 30 of a 35 gal tank.
Take 50A charge from campsite for free? Not cool. We camp 2 of 3 nights without hookups.
Agree with @taylor.coyote re range anxiety. Finally with 900 Ah LiFePO4 house batteries we have no SOC anxiety!
Fill up the TV tank, have two 30+ gal water tanks full, waste tanks empty, no worries for 7-10 days in the wild! 😎
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Final touches on the battery door to seal the vent openings and insulate the door...
I put a bead of clear silicone around each hole. Then pushed in the 1" rubber disc into place (pic1). The silicone oozed through the perforated openings as I wiped off the excess with many small pieces of paper towels. Final step was to clean the silicone from the outside with paper towels soak in rubbing alcohol.
Then I used some bubble insulation that came in a recent shipment. The lines you see are carpet tape to hold it in place (pic2). The insulation is only 1/4" thick and now the door is nicely tight when locked.
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3 hours ago, topgun2 said:
OK - Who is going to repair a flat tire with one of THESE new tire repair kits (screw in plugs) and let me know how it performs? Bill
If I had a hole in my tire as big as the LARGE size, I'd buy a new tire! They are also not long enough for the heavy tread of LT tires (the large size is only 1/2" deep).
I'm not going to try them. I like the simple rubber ones that have been around since the good ol' days. With them, you push them in so there's material inside of the tire which creates the seal with air pressure. These may creep out, nothing but adhesive keeping them in. Just an anal engineer's take. 😎
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Here's a picture of our hull showing the gray tank waste valve, joining the main waste drain, coming from the right from the black tank. For reference, look top-center of picture to see the carriage bolts of the streetside stabilizer jack. The gray tank will only fully drain when the curbside is positive in height wrt to the streetside.
After 2 1/2 years, I have a few thousand Oliver pics showing every before and after picture in doing my restoration work. This one was taken after replacing three (3) Oliver waste valves. 😎
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1 hour ago, Snackchaser said:
The trick is to use a stiff fiberglass sectional rod made for this purpose...
Geoff, if anybody could do it... It would be you or me or perhaps another one of our highly capable OTT Forum compatriots! 😂
I've never looked seriously at 12VDC A/C products, thinking they are designed for the Van-Life sorts, but who knows...
I truly like this special Furrion model and I could spend money refunded to... 😎
Happy New Year to you and your family.
I would relish the day where we could camp, our families together! JD -
16 hours ago, Steve and MA said:
We installed a Furrion Chill Cube on our Pleasure-Way Excel class B last August.
Thanks Steve, see this --
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From the YouTube channel Mortons on the Move, by Tom & Caitlin Morton who previously tested the Greenland Turbro have more recently tested the Furrion Chill Cube. They now have the Turbro unit cooling the living area of their RV and the Furrion Chill Cube cooling their bedroom!
Honestly, I wish I had seen this video prior to my purchase of what turned out to be a defective Turbro product. I believe I would have changed my purchase decision. Turbro refunded my money, so this model could be in our future, TBD Spring of 2026.
This is my take after watching this review. I LOVE Tom's knowledge and ability as a electrical engineer coupled with their family RV experience!
The PROs – so many benefits!
- Variable speed compressor and efficient dual brushless DC fan motors, though not truly an inverter compressor it achieves similar energy efficiencies
- The HUGE low-speed evaporator fan in the non-ducted unit is the game-changer, adding to cooling efficiency and allows for extremely quiet operation (see 14- and 24-minute marks on the video)
- It becomes even more efficient, producing higher EER, When cooling demand is lower
- Interior air handler is mounted flush to ceiling allowing for more headroom and clean interior appearance
- Small 29x29” rooftop footprint at 60% the weight of standard A/C units
- Unique oscillating vent for greater air movement which can also be set to one stationary position
- The follow-me remote puts the thermostat reading wherever you want it
- A simple remote key will turn off all control sounds and interior lights
- Low-energy, eco and gear modes to efficiently run the AC at 50% or 75% power levels for longer runtimes when running on inverter/batteries
- The evaporator condensate is channeled to the rear where a water wheel on the condenser fan brings water up to soak the condenser coils for more efficient cooling, which also minimizes condensate drip down the body of the trailer (in dry climates condensates should fully evaporate)
- Can run easily on 2KW generators or inverters, no soft-start requiredThe CONs – the disadvantages seem much smaller in comparison (to me)
- With its unconventional looks at 14.5” tall it is 3.25” taller than the Dometic P2 and close to 5” taller than low profile A/C models
- Only a simple A/C unit without heat pump capability
- IR remote works line-of-sight only in close proximity of unit
- No app for monitoring and control
- No thermostat interface on the non-ducted versionWe’re OK without heat-pump, since in 3 RVs we either did not have one or use it. Prior owner had replace the reportedly “noisy” Suburban furnace in our Oliver with an Atwood model that now that I have deleted the bedside duct and added an intake filter, runs well and is quiet enough to my noise-sensitive ears. Here is the Mortons on the Move blog post and YouTube review:
https://www.mortonsonthemove.com/furrion-chill-cube-variable-speed-18k-review/
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weep hole cleaning
in General Discussion
Posted · Edited by jd1923
Hope so, not always, but much more often since Chris and I have lived life together! 😂
Of course, very little rain down here, but my HD 3000 PSI pressure washer likely creates more direct pressure than most thunderstorms.
I don’t wash the Oliver often, but more than 6 times I’ve pressure washed it and every time I hit the windows at a few angles and observed each weep hole draining and flushed clean. Never a drop of water inside! First two times, I asked Chris to watch inside, but stopped doing that.
I’ve replaced the outer rubbers and all tracks are good and supple (considering our heat and always parked outdoors). They work as designed.
I’ve got to think if your windows leak, you have a defect of some kind. It could be from manufacturing or installation. Maybe for some, cleaning was ignored for a period of time and the path to the weep hole exit is blocked. Perhaps some have damaged interior tracks or seals in their cleaning process. Who knows, but if it was my issue, I’d be working to correct it, not mask it or tip-toe around the issue.