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Everything posted by jd1923
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True Induction Stove Top will not turn on
jd1923 replied to Lamar's topic in Mechanical & Technical Tips
This should be @Lamar’s goal in negotiating. And for OTT it’s the right thing to do! -
Geoff, from what I've observed over the last couple years, you know more about electronics than most of us who posts on our Forum. There is electronics in brake controllers but NONE at all on the Oliver side brake wiring. I do not mean to offend either, but is there such a beast as an "Auto Electric Specialist?" Some believe in Bigfoot! 🤣 We don't have this kind of service in our area, so are you offering a solution? So, how does this point to a trailer wiring issue? Why not a bad ground or faulty controller on the truck side? Aren't you just guessing without at least touching the Oliver, running the most basic tests with multimeter or clamp ammeter in hand? The U-Haul rental idea was a simple binary test to see if the error would occur towing another trailer. If the error could be reproduced it would eliminate the Oliver wiring as cause. Of course, the rental trailer must have brakes and 7-blade connection. Only one U-Haul counter person thought the 7-to-4-pin adapter would fit the need! 🤣 Also, in trailer wiring the white wire is ground, the black is 12V+ which is why in the picture the black is fused in the junction box. Am I wrong on this? If there is a ground issue on the Oliver side and there very well could be but we just don't know that. If it was my issue, I certainly wouldn't spend more money on specialists, just replace the ground. Attach a new ground wire at the junction box, test for continuity to the ground on the 7-blade plug, then run the new wire directly to the main ground bus under the rear dinette seat. This would eliminate trailer ground as cause in an hour with 10 ft of new wire, a simple solution. There are only 3 places where a connections, positive or ground, could be bad on the Oliver: 1) the 7-blade plug and wire harness back to the junction box, 2) the connections in the junction box and Oliver brake (blue+) and ground (white-) wiring from the junction box back, and 3) the wiring to the streetside brakes and through the axles to the curbside brakes. I would do some current and ground testing in these 3 areas and replace the most likely culprit. The entire trailer brake wiring, on the Oliver side, could be replaced in a day with $200 in parts. However, simple current and ground testing would determine one of these 3 areas to be at fault. It could be determined the factory brake controller is defective or has wiring issues. Four (4) GM dealers already struck out in finding a solution here, too much money spent. If true, I would bypass the factory system and install a reliable Tekonsha P3. There are only 4 wires in this controller harness, install new wire with +/- connected directly to the battery. Yeah, it's "piece-meal" but simple. But I can hardwire all of this at home (or any trailer shop) with hand tools and when done count on its reliability for many miles to come! 😎 I don't expect we'll agree on this one and that's cool. When I do yardwork, the weed-whacker is my tool of choice. I'm not planting a new flower bed. It's just not me. I know you like electronic switching systems, and you have demonstrated some great ones! Very cool, but some are a bit too complex for my liking. When I restore a used vehicle, like our Oliver, with factory or prior-owner aftermarket additions, once again I reach for the weed-whacker! Love your work, Geoff. 🤗
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True Induction Stove Top will not turn on
jd1923 replied to Lamar's topic in Mechanical & Technical Tips
Yep, by design a cooktop is basically for quick meals on a skillet. Of course, the more Ahs available the longer you can cook. But as you well understand, all campers should know the limitations of their rigs. You're welcome, Lamar! My goal was to provide you with correct information for your decision making. I'm always very happy to help and this forum is the best! 😎 Steve, I agree with the points you made, but you may be giving OTT too much credit in your first statement. It was stated as more of a "1750 watts with a 2000-watt inverter" simple comparison without full understanding of the dynamics I presented. I would love the be the fly on the wall as @Lamar explains induction cooking usage to OTT Service! 🤣 OTT and all RV manufactures wire microwaves to 2KW inverters all the time along with the 110V wall outlets. My wife uses a blow-dryer after washing her hair. The 1800W blow dryer pulls a hard 1800W which is the same load as the Dometic P2, or FreshJet 5 for that matter. You can't keep the dumb from being dumber, but those of us who are experienced would simply know, don't use the microwave when blow drying! 🤣 Of course, that's with a 2KW inverter. Perhaps Lamar could parlay this poor customer service situation into getting OTT to remove the 2KW Xantrex for a 3KW model. Then pull out the oversized Lithionics and the unnecessary sliding tray and the EI battery bay could house 600 Ah in two 300 Ah Epoch Essentials. Then you're ready to wire your A/C into the inverter circuit as well, and you could do induction cooking with the A/C running. But if you need to run your A/C for more than 3-4 hours, you'd have to scrap the inefficient FreshJet (spec 15A on 115VAC) for an efficient inverter or variable-speed compressor A/C model. Add a 3rd battery and you'd have the system I installed for hull #113, but two 300 Ah batteries is all that would fit in an EI. Now I'm having way too much fun, but it's food for thought! 😎 -
True Induction Stove Top will not turn on
jd1923 replied to Lamar's topic in Mechanical & Technical Tips
Oh, boy... I'm going to attempt to explain how "the engineers" in drawing this conclusion are naive! A trained and experienced engineer should know there is much more to this than a simple comparison of data sheet specs. 🙃 Please allow me to explain. You could have used your True Induction cooktop every day on your trip, if only they had wired it correctly to the inverter. Your system is just fine for occasional induction cooking. I was hoping you would have rewired it on the road, it's what I would have done, but I do understand the warranty ramifications. I cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast this morning using a 10" Smithey skillet on our 1800W DUXTOP induction cooktop. It cannot be much different than your 1750W built-in unit, meaning the numbers I will present will be relative to your True Induction cooktop, 2KW inverter and 260 Ah batteries setup (your solar may vary). This induction burner starts at the medium #5 setting and within seconds the bacon started sizzling, so I turned it down to 3.0. After the bacon was done, I increased the setting to 4.0 and cooked a batch of scrambled eggs. I did not measure cooking time but maybe about 12 minutes total, I'll use 15 minutes to be conservative. You'll be amazed how many actual Ahs it takes to cook a simple bacon-n-egg breakfast or boil a pot of water (wait for the punchline). 😎 Reading such nonsense from "the engineers," the engineer in me had to prove them wrong! So tonight, I went out and plugged in another DUXTOP that we keep in the Oliver to run an amperage use test. When it turns on at the 5.0 setting it quickly ramped up to 68A (DC amps) which comes to 816W (W = 12V x A). Your Xantrex 2KW inverter can handle this with just a low hum. I tested the induction cooktop at all settings (1 - 10). Here are the results! (I'm an IE and used to do this kind of reporting professionally for 30 years.) The first row shows the induction cooktop settings (1 - 10). The second row shows Amps produced by our Victron MP2 inverter, read from the Victron Connect app. The third row shows Watts calculated (amps x 12V). The fourth row titled %Spec is the actual Watts used divided by the 1800W maximum. Note on FULL this induction burner pulls watts at ~80% of spec. We call that a 1.25x engineering margin, therefore... Your inverter will NEVER use 1750W! The actual maximum will be closer to 1400W on FULL which can boil a 5-qt pot of water in just minutes. I could not read actual amps out of the inverter for any setting less than 5.0. For example, at the 3.0 setting the amp reading ramped up to about 60A for a second and then wound down, then repeated this pattern. I believe the heating element is not capable of a lower amp setting, so it would turn ON and quickly OFF to some timed algorithm. More OFF time than ON as the settings go lower. This is likely why the unit starts up at the 5.0 setting. In the table above, the amp readings in BOLD are actual readings, the lower numbers calculated. There is an obvious linear relationship, so I used a graphical extrapolation method to calculate amps for settings 1.0 through 4.0 which looks like this: Let me tell you how many Ahs I used to cook breakfast this morning! Estimating 15 minutes cook time, half of that at setting 3.0 (40A) and half at 4.0 (52A), so on average I used 46A for 15 minutes. Isn't it amazing, the technology where it is today, that I used only 12 Ahs to cook breakfast! (46A x .25hr = 11.5 Ah) On the #10 setting, you cook boil a large pot of water for pasta in say 10 minutes. This would use 20 Ah of your 260 Ah batteries. You could simmer a red sauce, chili or any fresh made soup for 2 hours on the 1.0 setting using 28 Ah. Sorry, you're under powered to get into the food truck business, but quick meals 2-3 times a day, np. Our 10-year-old less efficient 320W rooftop solar nets +12A when mostly sunning. This means an hour after breakfast in our hull SOC / Total Ahs would be back to where it was just before we cooked breakfast. Your 2K inverter and 260 Ah is just fine for your "Baby Ollie." We couldn't live on it, but I demand induction cooking while Chris toasts bread in the Emeril Oven and we stay cool running the Chill Cube A/C, on our 3KW inverter and 900 Ah. Please don't retrofit to an LP burner. Induction cooking is FAST, well measured, it's just GREAT! In our home kitchen, Chris now uses a single-burner induction cooktop regularly while our GE 4-burner natural gas cooktop sits idly by! 🤣 She can't be without it, now that she knows it. Just ask @Ollie-Haus, who convinced me to buy ours! Just get OTT to rewire your circuit breakers so that induction cooking and everything else is on the inverter circuit except for air conditioning (or have any electrician do it). Thanks for allowing me to learn with you tonight. It was fun "engineering" again! Going into this study, I had no idea the numbers would be this good! 😎 When we need advice, our forum is the place, great collective knowledge here! We thank OTT for providing us this platform. We should expect the company to continue manufacturing the best fiberglass hulls in the travel trailer marketplace, no doubt! 🤗 -
Exactly like ours but not sure for how long. Don't think I used it the first year we had our Oliver and once I did it would not close completely on the rear. We use a rear strap as pictured. Anybody know it there is an adjustment? Mike, good work as usual. You've been first on many great Oliver Mods! 😎
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Thanks Scotty, this is very helpful and adds a new twist! The Oliver has LED lights for brake, reverse and taillights. The low amp draw of LEDs may not register with the factory brake controllers, cause for the error codes. @Boudicca908's truck is GM vs. Ford but could still be the same issue. This is worth a try! If true in this case, there could be nothing wrong with the factory brake controller, nothing wrong with Oliver trailer wiring, just the factory controller not playing well with LED trailer lighting, wow! Learning this, the U-Haul trailer test I suggested would not be conclusive! If U-Haul trailers have standard automotive incandescent lights the factory controller would not show error with the U-Haul but only trailers like the Oliver with LED lighting. Yesterday U-Haul failed to rent a trailer with brakes and 7-blade connection. I would try this $30 device asap and scratch the U-Haul idea for now. At some point, if you're able to tow a second Oliver and the error messages go away, that would be a viable test showing issues with your Oliver trailer wiring.
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Reset 2.0 has started squeeking when backing up
jd1923 replied to DunnYet's topic in Mechanical & Technical Tips
Hmmm! Squeaking one day backing up. RR wheel squeaking another day with the spin test. Spin test today all is quiet after 180 highway miles. Starting to sound more like brakes. They should self-adjust, so yeah issue "diffuses" as you wrote. In automotive issues it's always sound reasoning to think, "what did we work on last that might have caused this?" In your case it was Alcan Springs installation. They could have banged the wheel or dropped the axle on that side. Easy enough to do working on leaf spring replacement. Or maybe they noticed your brakes needed adjusting and tightened the self-adjusters which do not always adjust as they should. You changed your gain from 7 to 5 noting they were grabbing better. A lot of maybes... Try the spin test again on all 4 or... Forget about it until you hear something again when driving or backing slowly, like you did the first time. Enjoy your trip, maybe this was nothing. Two suggestions:1) If you do not have one... Get an Infrared thermometer digital laser gun. When you take a break after a bit of highway towing, asap measure hub and drum temps. Temps on all fours should be close to equal. One hub measures higher than the others, could mean a bearing issue. Higher temp on one drum (or lower meaning shoes not engaging) points to brake issues. You must remove your center caps to measure hub temps. Many of us have. You should like the Texas Star emblems stuck on my Nev-R Lube dust caps in lieu of those standard (big ugly) center caps designed to fit over the old-school bearings. I like Klien tools and purchased this model. It has saved me when my brakes faded coming down a steep range as my brake controller was acting up. I read temps on my truck front rotors up to 400F and waited roadside until they cooled to under 200F. Yeah, when you stop take temps on ALL 8 wheels! Amazon.com: Klein Tools IR1 Infrared Thermometer, Digital Laser Gun is Non-Contact Thermometer with a Temperature Range -4 to 752-Degree Fahrenheit : Industrial & Scientific 2) When you get home follow my how-to on axle maintenance: -
Adding a Matching Rear Porch Light and some Front Lighting
jd1923 replied to jd1923's topic in Ollie Modifications
Let me first revise this statement a bit. Love the Rear Porch Light installation, which copies the design and same product used for the Entry and Side Porch Lights! 😎 Not as much love for my new front light, but it's finished and it's not bad. I made a new mounting bracket for the front light from a simple flat bracket. I chose this part since 6" is a good total length and it's 2mm thick. Many SS brackets are thicker which would make it more difficult to form into a U-shaped bracket. Amazon.com: 4 Pieces Stainless Steel Straight Brace (6.1 x 0.7 inch,156 x 18 mm) Flat Straight Braces, Straight Brackets, 24 Pieces Screws Included : Industrial & Scientific Not easy working stainless steel which is a hard steel. I measured the required 2 3/4" width at center. After applying rings of black tape to keep the SS from being marred, I clamped the bracket tightly into a vise at the marked point. I used a jigsaw to cut the groove, running the moving blade right against the vise to keep it in place. I'm not a metal fab guy, so this is the best I could do. I used a "heavy metal" blade, but it wore out after one cut, needing a second blade for the other side. The grooves I cut positioned the correct location and space for the bend. I also believe the heat from sawing helped in hammering a clean angle. Then the bracket was too wide, so I used a bench grinder to cut down the width in the upper portion where it connects to the light. Filed the edges and used steel wool to shine up all sides of the bracket. Sounds like a lot of work but was done in about 30 minutes, (after days of thinking it over)! 🤣 It looks much better now. It's shorter than my previous install and I moved it forward a little. It's visually more pleasing since it doesn't conflict with the lines of the belly bar. It lights up the truck bed fully without shadow. You can see shadow only on the tailgate, but when it's closed the light reflects down to see the trailer hitch and cables if needed. We're good now! But these LED lights are BRIGHT! Maybe later a mini hood attached to the light, so it doesn't hit your eyes when standing to the side. There's always something in the minds of engineers! 😎 -
Adding a Matching Rear Porch Light and some Front Lighting
jd1923 replied to jd1923's topic in Ollie Modifications
But not much room at all. I looked at this yesterday and there's about 3-4" between top of belly bar and the sink countertop. Measure thrice! -
Thanks Rich, his frank language is funny too! 🤣
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Seeking New Air Conditioner for Hull # 145
jd1923 replied to ScottyGS's topic in Ollie Modifications
My friend Ron, of course you know! Our son Adam played a USTA Tennis Tournament in the very nice Houston suburb of Clear Lake 15 years ago. I remember sitting outdoors, large-brimmed hat on for the sun, I was drippin' wet just watching! 😎 The 16-year-old boys had drenched shirts before the first set was won. Traveling the west vs. the gulf states is night and day. Wish we had a forum member in the east with a Chill Cube for comparison. The Chill Cube condenser fan wets the condenser by design. To my knowledge, no other A/C unit has this feature (perhaps Furrion has a patent). The water-cooled condenser increases the overall cooling efficiency. In very dry climates (the spring is our windy dry season), the little bit of condensate it pulls out of the dry air quickly returns to the air (evaporates). I have yet to see any condensate drip on our hull. When greater cooling is needed and it's humid, the fan should create a visible mist blowing from the condenser coils. More mist means less drip. But when the volume of condensate gets large it would overflow the condensate trough and run down the hull. -
Reset 2.0 has started squeeking when backing up
jd1923 replied to DunnYet's topic in Mechanical & Technical Tips
Just two years old and squeak!!! 🤣 RE the gain on your brakes. My take is the old 1750 LB leaf springs were quite forgiving! The 2750 LB Alcans not so much. The old suspension would allow the hull to porpoise when the brakes contacted. The new suspension will not, so brake contact to road is immediate! More so because your springs have not had break-in time. Put your gain higher when you get back on steep mountain roads, maybe up to 6. And maybe you don't need 7 anymore. My older truck does not have a factory brake controller. The default gain on the Tekonsha is 6.0. I bring it up to 6.2 in the mountains and sometimes down to 5.8 around town. Looking forward to what you see from you inspection tomorrow! -
Seeking New Air Conditioner for Hull # 145
jd1923 replied to ScottyGS's topic in Ollie Modifications
Scotty (or Greg), you may know I’m the only one here with the Chill Cube installed on an Oliver. So you may say I’m biased! I just ran a test which I’ll post soon on my Chill Cube thread. Ran it for one full week on batteries, set at 80F (it’s parked at home). Daily high temps low 90s! Without A/C with the AZ sun the cabin would be high 90s or more. Not a drop of condensate down the hull. The Chill Cube has a condensate trough that the condenser fan runs through, picking up the water like a water wheel. But can’t promise there wouldn’t be any in humid climates. There would be much less. Ran it for 7 days using on average 96 Ah per day ONLY! We have 320W rooftop solar which adds power in addition to the 96. Your Oliver and ours are both 2016 models. Maybe you have the same solar. Without solar say it adds to 240 Ah per 24 hours. That’s about 10A per hour average. On full blast, it pulls 60A but not for long. Our Dometic P2 took 150A minimum and would take forever to cool down. I'm starting another test this week with set temp at 74F. 80F is a good summer storage temp and at 74F it will be very comfortable inside. I'll bet I can run it 3-4 days at 74F in 90F+ heat. I cold never imagine this when we had LA batteries and the awful Dometic. BTW, I’m talking DC amps that can be read with Bluetooth connection to a shunt. We do everything on 900 Ah batteries, usually un-plugged (600 Ah is a good number). I now know for a fact the Chill cube takes 30-50% of the power compared to ANY RV A/C in the market today that is not an inverter or variable speed compressor! If there is a little drip, level front and curbside jacks up 1/2” and the excess will run down the back corner. It’s basically distilled water, so will not stain the fiberglass like rain water catching all the chems they put in our skies. The Chill Cube will run on batteries twice as long as the Freshjet and it’s also quieter than any other model out there, no compressor bang like the Truma, Houghton, Tosot or any US market Dometic product. And if you’re dead set on the condensate issue, the Freshjet is your only choice. You couldn’t pay me to own anything else now that we’ve experience the Chill Cube (a non-paid advertisement)! 😎 -
Excellent - You'll know more tomorrow! Not sure if we should be routing for the error to show with the U-Haul trailer or not! If it shows, then the issue is with your truck, and 4 GM dealers already couldn't figure it out. If you do not get a trailer error, make sure you give it a fair test. Pull it out, down the road. Turn your truck on and off several time. Pull the 7-blade plug in and out a few times. Still no error? Then we must conclude wiring on the Oliver side is bad.
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Doesn't matter. Your mechanic thought this was the correct junction box and all the right colors are there for a trailer wire harness. This is referring to my comment on the black wire. The black provides constant 12V positive. In a cargo trailer that has no batteries it's used to power interior lights from the TV battery. In the Oliver and perhaps other travel trailers it uses the truck batteries to charge the house batteries. OTT disconnects it when installing LiFePO4 batteries. I believe it's a dumb and perhaps dangerous practice since a light gauge wire should never be used for this purpose. Anyway, this is not your issue. The only thing that connects power from your TV brake controller to your TT brakes is the blue wire. Just check to see if the blue wire connection tight. No, the Amazon link you provided has both male and female ends, its listyed as an extension cord. If you want to replace the male end, head only, get something like this. If the issue is at the truck to trailer connection only then this is the easiest route. Only takes an hour to replace this, Amazon.com: MECMO RV 7 Pin Trailer Plug Splice-in Replacement Trailer Side Male End 7 Way Round RV-Style Trailer Light Wiring Harness Connector, Heavy Duty 7 Prong Trailer Wiring Tow Plug for RV Boat Trailer : Automotive I like the idea of this one since it has a waterproof cable gland built into it, but it would be too long to fit on my truck. Amazon.com: Oyviny RV 7 Pin Trailer Plug with IP68 Waterproof Seal, Detachable 7 Way Round RV-Style Trailer Side Connector 7 Point Trailer Wiring Plug : Automotive If you need to replace the entire cable from the male 7-blade connector all the way back to your junction box under the vanity, you need something like this: Amazon.com: CheeMuii 7 Way Trailer Cord Heavy Duty 8 FT Trailer Wiring Harness Kit 7 Pin Trailer Plug Inline Wire Harness Cable for Trailers RVs Campers : Automotive Amazon links are to show examples. I'm not suggested these products specifically. No way you need a GM part and the picture of a part description you showed above is a combo 7-pin and 4-pin unit (4-pin for little trailers without brakes). You asked RE the clamp ammeter? I purchased a more expensive Klein product, their rugged version, but any will do just as long as it reads AC/DC, for the 120VAC systems and 12VDC systems we have on the Oliver. This one looks decent. Amazon.com: Klein Tools CL120 Digital Clamp Meter, Auto-Ranging 400 Amp AC, AC/DC Voltage, Resistance, Continuity, Non-Contact Voltage Tester Detection : Industrial & Scientific
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Reset 2.0 has started squeeking when backing up
jd1923 replied to DunnYet's topic in Mechanical & Technical Tips
Good find, Detective Columbo! 🤣 First time I heard the terms curbside and streetside was on this forum. The automotive industry uses left and right from the driver's point of view in the driver's seat. Whether I'm working on my Dodge truck, one of our Toyota products, or any vehicle if an auto part is unique left to right, you will see an L or R printed on it or in the part#. Go figure the wheel you are having an issue with is one that had a prior issue, also the one OTT replaced! Now you must enter a Service Ticket since OTT is already involved. Strange no date on this receipt. Maybe you have a larger picture showing it. Looks like they replaced everything on your right rear. They usually remove the entire braking plate and replace it with a new one that has the shoes, springs and everything. This is the way these are serviced. Nobody just replaces shoes on trailers anymore. The full assemblies are not very expensive (the drum/hubs with bearings are). It states ALL BRAKE ASSEMBLIES AND HUBS which means more than one but above it does state RIGHT REAR. The "HUBS" are integrated to the drums and the bearing is in the hub. This means regardless of where your squeaking is coming from it's coming from a part replaced already under warranty. When you spin your tire tomorrow, inspect the tire carefully for any bald spots or even scuffs on the tread surface. The tire was also replaced since it was "flat spotted" due to the brakes locking. Question is WHY? Why is squeaking occurring at the same RR location? The brakes locked last time but we cannot conclude it's the same cause today unless you find some flat spotting which would indicate brakes. Everything was replaced with new parts. I sure would like to know when. Maybe you can determine the date from related paperwork you have. Back to work, Columbo! 😎 -
Reset 2.0 has started squeeking when backing up
jd1923 replied to DunnYet's topic in Mechanical & Technical Tips
Good thought Tom (and Dudley). Could be the brake shoes, but I would think @DunnYet would have noticed more than a squeak when spinning the wheels if this was true. The shoes, when the self-adjusters are working correctly, should just slightly drag on the drum and you should hear and feel drag as you spin in either direction. Correct the brakes are worn in rolling forward, something to consider for sure. The circular pattern of the shoes is not perfectly round like the drum. If the squeak has some pulsating pattern this could be true. If it's a constant squeal when spinning, then more likely the bearing. A three-year-old trailer should not have bearing or brake issues. IMHO, 3 years would be minimal time for a first inspection. This is supposed to be a 5-year 100K system. Also understand to check the brakes the outer circlip and spindle bolt must be removed. The bolt is on at 150 ft-lb and you must be able to replace it and retighten to this spec. I don't think a buildup of brake dust would do this. If the trailer was dragged through a lot of water on and off, then perhaps. I just lifted our Oliver and spun the two wheels on one side. I heard the constant drag showing the shoes are adjusted nicely. On one I heard a slight chirp in reverse, it went away immediately. Nothing you would call a squeal, but it plays to your hypothesis. Mine are like brand new though. I installed new D52 axles 10 months ago and have only 3,600 miles on them. @DunnYet, next time you do the spin test, try to focus on what kind of sound and where it's coming from, dead center or on the perimeter. You could use the tube in ear approach in lieu of a stethoscope. Constant squeal or something more dragging and pulsating? -
Truma Furnace: Basketball / Thumping Sound on Startup
jd1923 replied to DunnYet's topic in Mechanical & Technical Tips
Must have been getting tired last night! Truma in the title made me think HWH since there have been so many posts. Today I clearly see 'furnace' in title and body of post. There is something called a "wall cowl" and several flaps in this system. One of them is banging when it changes speed producing this sound. -
Truma Furnace: Basketball / Thumping Sound on Startup
jd1923 replied to DunnYet's topic in Mechanical & Technical Tips
Be very careful my friend! Certainly, take a look inside. -
Reset 2.0 has started squeeking when backing up
jd1923 replied to DunnYet's topic in Mechanical & Technical Tips
Excellent work! You got a lot done today. 😎 I have no idea how long these bearings are good for once they give the first clue. We're going to find out though, yours being the first experience on our forum. Some of y'all who boo-hooed my bearing replacement thread, time to rethink your position. A little noise in reverse. I think that's better than noise going forward or both directions. I would continue on your planned trip. Every day or two when you're leveling, lift that wheel and give it another spin. You have pinpointed your issue and can see how it progresses with miles towing. Exactly, there is no need. My bet is you'll get back to Texas on that bearing! But what do I know? If it gets bad, the bearing is easy to source, and a good trailer shop can replace it. I'll link my bearing replacement thread below. An Authorized Dexter Reseller should be able to replace it under warranty. You have a 2022 date on that axle and given the 5-year warranty is correct, you should be covered. I do not believe there is an original owner clause but find the limited warranty statement online to understand your rights. OTT, another authorized shop or Dexter direct. Your choice, OTT will just take more time. I'd go with a local authorized shop, hopefully back in Texas. If it gets bad when you're still in Wyoming, you always have the Alcan option. I usually forget it's Saturday too! If needed, you could call ahead to order the part. If so, send them your label picture. BTW, Dexter may not provide warranty replacement for a minor squeal. It needs to get worse and truly fail, the noise will be somewhat louder! 🤣 Don't wait 'til you get home. Given they were correct and Alcan just reinstalled them a bit tight, they have not yet been damaged. Loosen them as soon as you get a chance. They're Nylok nuts and will stay put. You'll be under the trailer with your torque wrench anyway, LOL! The rubber should oval-out some but not mushroom over the support metal like in your picture. I see 7 threads on that stud and 4 +/- might be the right count. Make them all the same. Buy new bushing sets later if they get bad. Keep us posted and do enjoy your trip! So cool, you got this worked out quickly! 😎 -
Adding a Matching Rear Porch Light and some Front Lighting
jd1923 replied to jd1923's topic in Ollie Modifications
Sorry John, somehow I missed this when you posted this earlier! This is turning out to be my lamest mod! I usually do better. Dudley came up with the switch idea, and I didn't take the time to realize the light wiring would come in below the vanity countertop! So I have the doghouse mount with wires showing, new switch hole drilled... I'm bummed. 🙃 I was at first thinking of another porch light up front at the same height as the others. When that didn't seem right, I did not think of mounting something lower. Yes, for sure you can do your idea! You could pull power and put the lamp fuse inside the jack head. You would run the switch leg down the jack post, along the incoming line with the 30A fuse. Catch ground inside. Some kind of loom would make for a clean installation to cover the two wires and the jack fuse. You could use the same lamp as the porch lights. There is also a surface mount version of the light I purchased for the front. I just finished making my custom light bracket today. I'll post a picture when I get it installed.
