jd1923
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Posts posted by jd1923
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On 3/13/2024 at 2:21 PM, Rolind said:
Did you have to change the charging profile in your truck? I know sometimes, depending on the truck and the recommended charging parameters for the battery, the truck won’t fully charge the battery. Some AGMs like a higher charging voltage than flooded lead acid batteries.
It's been two months now and I have a few thoughts. There is no way a truck alternator can supply the same charge curve as a dedicated charger can installed in an RV. I have an accurate voltmeter and while driving I get mostly 13.7V, then 13.2V and the highest was 14.1V (rarely). I may need to install a new HD alternator, especially if I install a DC-to-DC charger. Voltage an hour or so after driving is usually 12.6V, sometimes 12.7V which is a hair better than lead-acid batteries. It's not the 13.1V that I used to get in our Class-C AGM house batteries.
I also have a Rid-Rat device and a Pepwave router setup in the TV, running 24x7. At home when the truck sits for a couple weeks the voltage can get down to 12.1V (lowest reading). I have a toggle switch for the router, but this is with it running.
I bought this charger and the hardwire kit and it has an AGM setting. Seems like a very nice unit. I have collected 5-6 chargers through the years, but all old technology. This will get the two truck batteries up to 12.9V, again an hour or so after disconnected. They say you can leave maintenance charger on for extended periods, but I don't as many will fry the batteries at some point. I extended the hardwire kit, so that the terminal is sitting in the air intake in the front bumper. I can charge the TV now without popping the hood. That's nice. I plan to charge it overnight every few weeks to keep these AGMs in good shape. 😂
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Hey @MAX Burner I'm trying to send you a PM and it says "@maxburner cannot receive messages.
Do you have a full mailbox, or do one of the moderators know what's up?
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@rideadeuce Hey Mike, you are really doing a great mod-job on your Oliver. So many great improvements, and excellent work too. I LOVE your ladder-scaffold setup! Can I borrow it? Oh, and can I borrow a lot of flat land to work on? I would need levelers for that setup, or perhaps ladders with adjustable legs. Hmmm, you have me thinking. It's certainly not easy working on top of the Oliver given its shape. Kidding aside, thanks for sharing so many great posts lately. 😂
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3 hours ago, Donna and Scott said:
Just a reminder that starting May 21st you can book your site at Inks Lake State Park online or by calling Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. I have reserved the open pavilion for the BBQ dinner that Princess Craft RV in Round Rock (an Oliver approved dealer) is providing for Oct 23. The campground bookings fill quickly. Looking forward to seeing you there.
Yes, we're making reservations and thank you for your invitation and the work you are doing. It will be our first chance to meet some Oliver Owners!
We've not stayed at Inks Lake Campground, though years ago my son Adam and I camped at Colorado Bend State Park, a bit upriver west of Lampasas. Adam also played tennis tournaments at Horseshoe Bay Resort several times and even brought Gold home once! We loved being there, once or twice a year, and Marble Falls is a nice town too.
At the time we lived in Georgetown and later in Lakeway (2006-2014). We always had our AZ home and drove the roundtrip twice a year, staying off the Interstates, there are so many great routes. This time we'll stay awhile in Ruidoso/Lincoln Co. NM on the way and who knows on the way back!
It will be nice to be back, see a few old friends, and meet many new friends in this Oliver family.
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On 5/16/2024 at 1:59 PM, SeaDawg said:
If you're treating grey tank with pinesol, be prepared for a lot of heavy pine smelling vapors coming from the sink drains, etc...
We're used the Pine-Sol-Calgon solution 4-5 times over the last 6 months, and I did not smell a thing. My sense of smell is acute. Last time out, I smelled some in the toilet, since the toilet had been left without any water in the bowl. With a good seal and water in the bowl, and clean water meaning no Pine-Sol in the plumbing traps, you really should not smell it. Cause can be plumbing leaks or plumbing vents that do not seal. These vents are designed to allow air in and not out. But who knows, when the TT is bouncing down the road!
That being said... In the future, I'm going with @Geronimo John's suggestion to use dishwasher soap pods. Do you really need 2-3? I would think 1 should suffice. I like this option because the pods are light, small and travel nicely. With Pine-Sol you really have to be careful, not only in transport but in application. If you do not very carefully put a cup of the liquid down one sink, no spills, flush the trap, then yep as @SeaDawg wrote, you're going to smell it.
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17 hours ago, John Dorrer said:
However there is a dangling sky blue wire.
I don't know whether you bought this new or used. I buy mostly used vehicles and there are often wires disconnect for various reasons. I have disconnected wires at a fuse box intentionally when I retire some device, but then I would also label and tape down the wire. You really want to know what it is that you are connecting.
Given you bought this new, you would think all wires should be connected. However, the wire could be from a standard wire harness for an option you did not purchase. The only way these would get disconnected is from somebody working down there or perhaps placing something lose in the area. These spade terminals do not fall off by themselves from regular use of the trailer.
If you want to connect this without knowing what the wire powers, it does not matter to which terminal it is connected. It's all a 12V bus bar. What matters is the amperage of the connected fuse. Without knowing what it powers, it would be impossible to know the correct fuse amperage. Are slots #14 or #15 labeled with fuses inserted? That would help to determine purpose.
Perhaps somebody, not only with a 2022 model, but with the same 12V accessories you ordered, can help. I suggest opening a Service Ticket, providing this picture, asking first the purpose so the panel can be labeled properly and then where it should be inserted.
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Welcome to our OTT Forum @Fernando Alicea!
Hull #6 - WOW how cool.😂She looks great! New windows would certainly improve the whole trailer. There are some experts here on the older Elite I Olivers. Everybody is quiet this week since so many are at the annual OTT Rally. I will mention @SeaDawg and @ScubaRx since they are a wealth of historic and general information and so they see this thread soon.
If you want a quick answer, I would call OTT Service tomorrow before the weekend. They could look up your hull # and let you know the manufacturer or perhaps supply the windows you need. Best wishes and keep us posted on the maintenance of your classic Oliver.
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11 minutes ago, John Dorrer said:
Per my original comment, the bushings were between the cab and frame, and bed and frame. Nothing to do with shocks. Replaced shocks due miles and bumpy ride.
Just reread your post and yep, that’s what you wrote. This was a thread about tires and shocks, so I assumed as such. Wow! This is crazy! Body mount bushings are NOT a service item!
There are guys on the Cummins forum that replace these after 500K miles on commercial hauling rigs. Just had my bed off on my 2001, and all mounts are supple rubber on this 23 year old truck, that spent its life in the desert of the Phoenix Valley. Highly unusual is your experience.
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3 hours ago, Chukarhunter said:
Does your water pump cycle on from time to time even when not using water? If so, that probably indicates a slow leak somewhere in your plumbing system.
When you first turn your water pump on, it will pressurize the tank and then turn off...
Even though the leak was in the rear of the Ollie, the leaking water was dripping out one of the forward weep holes.
Our pump will not cycle on at all even when left on for hours. The pump should pressurize the plumbing, but hot the tank given the overflow is always open.
I noticed a minor drip on the far rear weep hole at a different time. What you experienced could have been your level a a bit off. We get the level spot-on with the LevelMatePRO and it was level at the time when the leak was pictured. I have never noticed any drip on the driver's side, all curbside, and this points to a plumbing leak vs. condensation.
I want to thank everybody here who made suggestions, add pictures, etc. This is very helpful. I'm not getting right on this work very soon, but I will update this thread as I do. Our Oliver is parked now and until after Labor Day and I have much M&R planned for our off-season (home, TV and Oliver projects)!
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1 hour ago, rich.dev said:
Would love to hear/see more about your peplink setup jd, and not sure if I've missed it, but do you also have the Starlink, if yes do you have it connected via the WAN port on your peplink? We're going semi full-time end October and I'm thinking of getting a peplink and Starlink.
Sure Rich, thanks for asking! We have not yet added Starlink because of the $2500 cost. We are very much parttime (90% home), but I rationalized the Pepwave and a T-Mobile Business account as a backup to my business as an online instructor in Project Management. When have Internet issues at home, just connect to the TV in the driveway and Wi-Fi! T-Mobile is the only carrier that provides 5G all the way up here at 5400 FT in little Prescott, AZ!
This is the bundle I purchased: Speed Demon Mobile Internet Bundle – MobileMustHave.com and they have an option to add Starlink. It should be plug-n-play as @rideadeuce mentioned. Just plug it in the WAN port. I purchased their $49 configuration fee (strongly suggested), since I did not want to learn and do that work. All I did was install the hardware and answer a questionnaire (select Wi-Fi names, etc.) and it's good. Starlink setup would be included if bundled.
I STRONGLY recommend installing in the TV, unless a pretty truck is important to you, or you trade them in often. You're not always at the campsite, but you are always in the TV, or it's parked by your Oliver. Not much room on the Ollie roof and no drilling into the Oliver. The fiberglass shell of the Ollie allows for strong Wi-Fi (AS TTs have to run a Wi-Fi access point due to the metal shell). Get the best, the PARSEC PRO antenna too. We camp in many canyons in the Rockies, that have no service (radio, TV or cell). Just drive our truck up to a ridge and we can use our computers. If you add Starlink this is a moot point, but I drive this truck down to the valley often w/o the Oliver, teach a class in Las Vegas for the week and the router goes where we go. Chris uses her laptop often while I'm driving. We've gotten anywhere from a low 20 Mbps download speeds out in the boonies (slow but can stream TV) to 860 Mpbs high speed where 5G is available! Here is the mod post I made a few months back:
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Like to get to this upgrade (I hear buy it in Mexico for <$) after new leafs and a quiet AC unit, and more... Spent $1600 for Christmas on our Peplink setup and that has served us well. I could just magnet mount mine nextdoor to your Parsec antenna on the TV! The Pepwave router has the WAN input too and has the SW logic to seamlessly switch between Internet sources.
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@rideandfly are the diameters of the pistons and shafts the same?
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Thank you @Townesw. I appreciate your pictures and will check that.
Yes, we certainly had water in the FWT, filled 2 days before using the boondocking port, filling the FWT from the extra tank in our TV, at our previous camp. Our tank only fills to 20 +/- gallons due to the tank issue in the older hulls (not yet warranty repaired by OTT). Between camps, we drove 165 miles, parked and this was the next morning. You would think if water was going to come out of the overflow it would be while on the road, water in the tank sloshing back and forth.
We used water for dinner, bathroom during our stay and Chris was doing breakfast dishes while this was leaking. I'm trying to figure out, how would the overflow tub have any water in it to leak through this fitting? Thanks again.
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Thanks @rideandfly agree they are different builds. Hoping the internal seals and other components are superior. Time will tell. Those of you with these, going on long trips this season, please inspect your shocks afterwards to see if there are any leaks. They can only be better! 😂
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I understand the several weep holes around the perimeter of the Oliver are designed to drip water to remove condensate, but how much is normal? This picture was taken at 10 AM on a sunny day at a campground north of I-40 in dry Arizona. You can see the 3 water spots. The center one for the fridge had twice the volume of water than the two weep holes.
Chris was cleaning up breakfast dishes and I noticed this when breaking camp outside and took this picture. My first thought was a leak in the kitchen plumbing.
I have read here that some of you in other climates have condensation issues, talk of dehumidifiers. In the SW, this time of year is the windy-dry season, and we run 4 large humidifiers! I had not witnessed any moisture on windows during our trip, or down below when I worked upgrade projects, and the wet bath dries in minutes after a shower.
Is this normal, or should I check the plumbing under the kitchen sink?
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1 hour ago, rideadeuce said:
Chose to drill a 1" hole next to the one for the Cradlepoint modem. Used a Blue Seas clam filled with Dicor caulk. Finally, got to use my black Flex tape to bottom out the hole I made so I could fill it with caulk sealant. Waiting on a Trio Flatmount with rubberized magnets and swivels mounts to arrive for semi-permanent attachment to front area roof.
Very nice! Of course, magnet mounts won't hold to fiberglass. The video mentions other options. You wrote "semi-permanent attachment." Not permanent?
Long cable run up to the front. Did you consider mounting it somewhere in the rear or even on the AC cover? I imagine it doesn't weigh very much at all. I see why you suggested a flat roof in another post! 😂
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19 minutes ago, John Dorrer said:
After 160,000 miles on our original shocks (2013 F250), it was overdue for new ones. While inspecting the underside of the truck the Ford service guy found the rubber bushings between the frame and cab, and frame and bed, were either gone or rotted, allowing steel on steel. The truck rides so much better. Next time I won't wait so long.
Ours is a 2001, so much older, but also just over 160K miles. First thing I did was to rebuild the entire suspension (ball joint, bushings, etc.) and steering and 4 Bilstein shocks. I'd say 100K miles or so and 10 years max for TVs.
A 2003 Ram 2500 we had for years, one day had a banging sound under the hood while driving. Turns out the top shock mount was like yours, no rubber, just metal.
These OEM Oliver shocks however, seem to go too quickly. Waiting to hear if the Bulldog is truly a different build.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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6 hours ago, Just Joe said:
For anyone who doesn't already have a bumper mounted system, this spare tire mounted bike rack is a great option for taking along two standard bikes...
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
Fire Ring Mods
in Ollie Modifications
Posted
Yep, you can even mod a fire ring being creative. We love our fire ring! We prefer to camp in cooler weather, and in the evening we sit by the fire ring for drinks and conversation. I understand the purists want a real campfire, but more often than not in the SW open fires are restricted. Also, I'm a hardworking sort but I dislike spending effort on something that is later "dust in the wind" with no resulting value. No smoke, no fire danger, just warmth.
Often when Chris is starting dinner, she'll call out, "start the grill please." I'm thinking it's early for dinner, but she wants to start a couple baked potatoes. I've learned Irish women got to have potatoes, at least mine does often. So, I was sitting there by the fire thinking, "why should I need two fires going?" Being conservative (in more ways than one), the waste bothered me. After dinner, we sit by the fire ring again.
I acquired this grill grate a few years ago from a guy that was renting our outbuilding. When moving out, he threw it away, so I saved it. Now I have a great use for it. Love reusing old stuff I've saved! It's some kind of weird form of accomplishment within me.
Actually, the first mod to our fire ring was to replace the rocks. They come standard with some cheap version of lava rock, lighter than air, useless. We purchased these HD lava rocks and although it does add a few LBs to the ring, the amount of heat is certainly doubled! Amazon.com: Stanbroil Lava Rock Granules for Gas Log Sets and Fireplaces - 10 lb.Bag (0.8"-1.2") : Patio, Lawn & Garden
You put these two upgrades together and you can cook anything that does not release grease: baked potatoes, other veggies, boil water, etc. It gets hotter, cooks faster than our small Weber grill. And this way I can turn the potatoes, butt in chair, drink in hand!
I bought this item too. Got the 100-pack since we use them as a drip catch for the Weber and you can use them for this purpose too. ttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BRGWLGDG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 These will also keep any juices from bleeding onto the rocks.
A couple of pics to follow from our recent outing. I call the second one "campin' au gratins" and oh, they were sooooo good!