jd1923

I prefer to call it “Cimate Change” and it’s whether you believe Mankind can affect it to any significance. Like the Ice Age and you must know the great dinosaurs were cold-blooded animals, so climate must have been significantly warmer than today for them to thrive, and later they didn’t. Dan believed I was against EVs, not true. Give me a Tesla S, WOW, but he was biased to GM only and the last time I wanted a GM was in the 60s or a few Cadillacs I’ve owned through the years. I wouldn’t buy an EV truck as a TV and I wouldn’t buy a Cyber Truck because they’re ugly and they’re not a pickup! Where’s the bed? EV trucks cannot Boondock, it’s as simple as that, without scheduling hours of time every other day for charging. He said “there’s electricity everywhere” and I replied, “that’s not Boondocking!” Last 5 days of our trip will be on one tank of diesel, two full FWTs, 600 Ah house batteries, solar and DC-DC charging, inverter running 110v outlets and appliances often. Simply no EV charge stations in our path! He stated 500 mile range. Several members replied lucky to get 200 towing. Most of us get 400-600 miles towing and under my truck and many models you can install an AUX tank to double those numbers, not possible in EV-land! Design experience is not Boondocking experience, period. Though I was told I do not understand and will learn one day. Dan stated his decision affirmative to buy the Sierra EV, absolutely this year. And MAYBE an Oliver next year, later. Last time Dan logged in was end of May.

Got back from dinner and the Host had changed the entrance sign to “FULL.” Got here at 12:30 and after we quickly setup camp, a neighbor stopped by and said, “You got the best site, #12. A trailer pulled out just before noon.” We’re sitting at 9,550 FT and not a bad view for our last two nights before heading back to AZ!

Camping at Sunshine CG, dinner at Floradora’s Telluride! They’re ready to celebrate America this week. Wish I had come here when still a skier!

Who said Iowa was flat? I always knew Iowa was rolling hills of farms and cornfields. I had no idea of how steep some roads could be! This is from a few weeks ago on our current trip. We rounded Omaha on I-680, crossed the Missouri north of Council Bluffs, the same town Bill had mentioned. Somehow Apple Maps showed me what look like an interesting country route to our destination at Arrowhead Park... I could NOT BELIEVE the roads, steep limestone dirt roads, sometimes a 10% grade which on dirt you better be careful. And we live in Arizona where steep is normal! Hard to see how steep in a picture, but you'll get the idea. Iowa was beautiful in the 2 campsites we stayed and the country roads in-between! (So was every state we traveled, every state in the union!)

It comes down to the surface area of the contact patch, pad on disc or shoe on drum. Disc brakes likely have some efficiencies but certainly not 10” discs over 12” drums. The main advantage of disc brakes is the cooling which is much greater since air cannot flow inside drums where the heat is created, and brake fade is caused by the materials over-heating. A simple way of looking at is, I (we) replaced axles rated at 7K to 10K. The brakes must also be capable of stopping the rated weight. Simple conclusion is it provides a 43% increase in braking power (10 / 7 =1.43).

Nope, you Army guys are tougher than me. Don’t like turbulence either!

But if you already have them at 100# they're OK, leave them alone for now and do 90# next time.

First off, to stick to the purpose of GJ's post, it appears that Dextron dealers carry the Nev-R Lube axles. Alcan does not carry the other. OTT does not install EX-Lube either and perhaps they can be special ordered. Everybody who has upgraded to D52 axles has purchased Nev-R Lube axles, which is what I also did last week. Alcan called me first thing Monday to confirm Dextron will build my special order D52 50.00 axles (they stock the more common D52 50.50 size). I high-jacked this thread the other day, something often tolerated in Ollie-and and wrote the statement, quoting myself above. Mike @Mike and Carol replied with this: Simply put, I'm chicken! Our TV can do it, the 1/2-ton TV can do it. I've watched the YouTubes on this dangerous road, so no thank you! When young, I used to ski the mountains of USA and Europe, like Kirkwood at Lake Tahoe or Cervinia (the Italian side of the Matterhorn). Later in life I've become afraid of heights, don't like 2nd-story ladders, don't enjoy gondola rides anymore and we're going to Telluride today! 😞 Somehow I can still bomb up the steepest dirt road in AZ on my dirt bike (slower on the downhills), but won't ride ATVs traversing a mountain, don't like that leaning sideways feeling and same on some roads. I believe it's an inner ear thing I've acquired through the years. And towing down a steep mountain can bother me at times, like AZ I-17 +/- to Black Canyon city, which I run a dozen time a year because I have to! It's the most direct route from home to The Valley, or I can drive/tow Hwy-89 down Yarnell mountain which I do to go to Wickenburg or Quartzsite. I drive slowly down, keeping an eye on the sideview mirrors allowing the speed-demons to pass whenever possible. Our older Dodge Cummins 2500 is fine TV and I've rebuilt it to like new. With it's 2500 rating and Cummins, it surpasses the Tundras and Eco-boosts many of you regularly use (maybe this post should be in the towing section). I was online shopping for more modern TVs the last few late nights. Those with greater than 440 torque, more than a 4-speed trans and with the exhaust brake! I could not find one used on Auto Trader and Craigs that fit my needs! We MUST have and 8-ft bed and I prefer 2WD for its lower stance and stability. Do not want a quad-cab or worse a crew cab. I've seen what y'all back into your back seats! 🤣Love our half doors which keep the cab short, making up for the longbed and back there is only our Pickleball bag, extra shoes under and behind the driver's seat and Charley's bench seat that he loves. In upgrading our TV, we could not find these features! 95% of trucks are 4WD quad-cab short beds. I would love a 6 or 10-speed Alison trans, or the 10-speed Ford but $7500 will get my an awesome stage-2 rebuild on the old Dodge and there is a premiere rebuilder in Phoenix. I believe the exhaust brake which @Patriot mentions often would make me feel much better on 8-10-12% downhill grades that are everywhere out here and I can add the recommended Pacbrake system for $2K which is possible since we already have a Cummins, btw no DEF required which you all know is a PITA. On the other side, I could sell the '01 Ram for a little more than the paltry $18,200 paid and not re-coop most of the additional $10K invested to-date in its rebuild. Uninstall and reinstall our Pepwave router system. And pay $50K, or $60K for a good used truck that would be better in many ways but not have the features we like. And they just look good together. What was I thinking, we're family!

90 lbs is the better number. Generally a stud will snap from over-torquing. Studs should also be clean and dry. If that single stud happened to have some grease or oil on it plus the 100#, that would do! To repair, remove the drum. On a workbench hammer out broken stud with a HD center punch. Line up the splines from back side and hammer in place. If you have the old-school bearings, removing the drum means repacking the bearings, not necessary with Nev-R Lube of course. Thought I would also copy instructions from the 2016-OTT-Owners-Manual.pdf here, where it states to use the stabilizer jacks to change a tire and provides the 90# torque spec (Oliver jacks and 6-bolt studs have not changed, from the first hull to the last). Loosen the lug nuts on the tire you want to remove. Check for a stable footing under the jack and place an ABS footing pad or block of wood about 4” in height below the jack foot plate. Raise the jack until the tire clears the ground, then finish loosening and removing them. Pull off the old tire, slide the hubcap out backwards and insert it on spare. Set spare tire evenly on the lug nuts and hand tighten lug nuts. Retract jack back to travel position. Now tighten lug nuts completely. Lug nuts should be torqued to 90 ft lbs. Place the flat tire in the spare location.

Please, please, please just use your stabilizer jacks! It’s safer and easier, recommended in the OTT 2016 Owners Manual, later OTT lawyers changed their recommendation. “What do you call a thousand lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?” a good start. 🤣 i suggest using a jack stand close as possible or on bottom-center of leaf springs for safety except for a quick tire change. Yes, connected to TV is always safer, yet not possible in my driveway or other locations. I wrote all this up in another post last week and quoted the 2016 OTT manual. Floor jacks don’t fit and bottle jacks can slip. Do it the easy way, takes just 2 min!

My feeling is Atmos was designed in Germany and the company made the mistake of manufacturing their product in China, where the copied the design and rebadged Knock-offs as Tosot and other names we’ve seen. This happened to ALL the technology patents that Motorola had, witnessed while I was there during the 90s. One of the reasons Motorola finally closed in 2011 (Motorola trademark purchased by the Chinese computer company Lenovo)! Question remains is are they quality knock-offs? SDG must be getting better wholesale pricing on the Tosot brand. Hopefully they made the decision knowing that it is at least comparable quality. If not, they will have future service and warranty issues.

I was thinking about this and nobody can be sure without real experience. However, the fact that the inverter A/C runs the compressor ALWAYS, and slows as it gets temp down to target, it may not produce the effect of the standard compressor A/C that shuts off and blows air across the cold frosted coil fins producing humidity. Give this idea a thought. Since the Atmos/Tosot discussion came up again, and let's keep that on the other thread, I started looking at these again. After travelling 5 weeks and getting more summer temps than we expect in the Dakotas, WY and CO, we've had to run our awful P2 more than I expected. I watch TV with expensive noise-cancelling headphones! I've learned that low power consumption is a feature that is more important to me than the quietest unit, since all of the models discussed likely produce half the noise of the Dometic. My need is to run A/C on 600Ah and the unit that can do that for the longest time would be the best for our needs. Anything new out there? We've all read @Treasure Coast Vault's post on the Pioneer which appears to be a Turbro Greenland clone, or vise-versa (can never tell when made in China which company owns the IP and which company stole it). Treasure Coast Vault reported exceptionally low power consumption, but if you read the Pioneer and Greenland specs, the Amp and Wattage usage specs are as bad as the Dometic P2. It's hard to make sense of it. And there is ALWAYS a difference in calculations EEs make and what is actually produced given climate differences and current conditions. I just found another option, running on DC which some of you like, but not me given our Victron MP2. I think it would be a pain to run heavy gauge DC cable up to the A/C when #12 is already there for 120VAC. 10K BTU should be enough for the Oliver, unless you regularly camp in the muggy summers of the southeast! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DW3TYSNR/?th=1 I'm still waiting, but please if anybody sees something new in inverter A/C for 14x14 rooftop RV application, even a new YouTube, please add to this post!

Kevin should know as soon as SDG has installed a few Tosot units.

I got this style from a guy on eBay that sells Mopar with 100% feedback. There are cheaper ones but be careful re quality. The smaller 8mm stud is to fasten to battery post and on the larger 10mm bolt you can insert 2-3 lugs on each side. Not sure of the kind of battery posts you have on the Nissan but there are 1000s of varieties. You want to get all connections solid and if you wire like I did with extra ground and extra run to alternator, you’re adding 2 lugs to each post. https://a.co/d/hn9O1Ak

Likely no experience yet, not sure. Call them and ask, they are great on the phone and in person. Everybody speaks of Lew. He is the lead guy, but Tim answered my call and serviced me when we arrived. All staff is great! Take a picture of your axle label and stamping on the leaf springs. They will ask to email pics. That should do you. They can build any custom leaf spring and charge like it’s a stock item. Best wishes, JD

Same height, 220 lbs here and no way my shoulders fit. I can just touch the line with one hand, then there goes my neck! I’ll ask my son to get in there and remove the two end screw fittings. Then I’ll make the replacement parts, longer PEX to make up for the restrictor delete. New check valves likely unless the originals clean easy with CLR which would be preferred to leave those connections alone. Then Adam again to reinstall. I might need a six-pack on ice for my helper! 🤣

Yes true, this is the standard EE calculation which is based on 50A at 90-100' length of the wire, total length up and back. I believe I got away with 4 AWG since I only used 65 ft of wire. I've been working aftermarket automotive installations professionally since the 70s, so figured the shortest possible run for our TV. This heavy wire is soooo expensive these days. You're paying for every additional foot and increase in gauge! Ran the wire through the frame to reduce distance and provided protection for the wire, no wire ties required most of the length. I also used the truck frame as ground, using only 2' of cable from rear connecter to frame (file ALL paint off), saving a good 15' of wire on the B- side, not running the ground all the way back to the battery which is truly unnecessary. I know of other another installation using the frame ground using only 6AWG for a 30A charger. This is not suggested, but the report is, it's working fine. In addition, I ran two 2-ft 4 AWG legs from battery B+ to the alternator and B- to frame ground up front. I believe, not doing so is the issue with many installations not producing good charge output. Most trucks have much less than 4AWG from battery to alternator and battery to frame ground. If you run 2/0 all the way, but from your battery has only 6AWG, you can guess the result. I understand length in the engine compartment is shorter, again the diff between theory and practice. It's HOT under the hood too! My mod post can be found on the forum where I show my installation in detail. Our system has run flawlessly regularly pushing 30-40A to charge the house batteries. I believe even though I upgraded the TV alternator from 130A to 180A, if I spent more money on the 220A model numbers would be a little higher. I've seen +48A max and with our 320W rooftop solar it can add to +60Ah max towing (10% per hour on our 600Ah). Recently I'm running the A/C 1-2 hours while towing prior to arriving to a campsite with electrical hook-up, and we arrive with a nicely cooled cabin! Gary, good thing you purchased the Orion XS 50A. Only a few of us with the 50A model for greater capacity and efficiency! My budget much preferred the cost of 65 ft 4 AWG vs. 90-100 ft of 2/0. But if you really need the extra length and believe as some do that the truck frame is somehow not an adequate ground, buy the 2/0 as Gary did. Many of you want to over-engineer your mods and there is nothing wrong with that. Me too most of the time. I just did that buying D52 Dexter axles and Alcan springs rated at 2750 lbs. Our wheels are rated at 3200 lbs each and we're on Load Range-E tires. Except for the Oliver frame (weight capacity?) we could functionally carry 10K lbs, although who needs to. We're under actual 6500 GTW now, which will go up a bit with the heavier suspension, yet still under the 7K DOT label to be legal. To me over-engineering the suspension made sense given the road conditions today and the washboard we drive on regularly in Arizona! We all want improvement, though some of us, some of the time, need to consider budget as well.

Love Starlink, SpaceX, Tesla and Elon, but sure wish they would use industry standards in Starlink design! I can understand needing greater voltage, like 30V for the dish over distance. Why in the world 9V for this mobile solution when there are 100s of millions cars, trucks and RVs running standard 12VDC systems. If it can run on 9V they could have spec’d 12V just as easily. I’ll wait ‘til I get mine next week to figure out what will work for me. I’ll then contact MobileMustHave where I purchased our Pepwave cell system and they will know exactly if Ethernet interface is possible. Again, it would make better sense if the input was proprietary Mesh Mode and the output was the industry standard. That would have greater market appeal vs. daisy-chain one feature only to achieve greater distance. My fear from when I wrote my post last night is your answer may be correct! Boy this mini router would be the perfect answer if it could connect to any brand router. Elon is usually for open source! We’ll soon know a definitive answer. Thanks again Geoff for being the Oliver Community pioneer in this and many new applications!

Gary, I believe you will want to drill to the right of the 3 pictured cables, but do this to be sure. Open the front dinette seat and get a mirror down there, pointed towards the front a get a visual on the 3 OEM cables to see there is room. You want your cables running under the dinette but it’s not a good idea to drill blindly. https://a.co/d/7amvqcN Some go with a large gland to hold both 4 AWG cables but I drilled two 1/2” holes using simple plastic grommets that were a tight fit. My goal was to remove the least amount of fiberglass. EDIT: you’re using 2/0 which is better, so two holes will certainly work better. You’ll have 5 holes in a line when done.

We must be skeptical of specs on websites. Check the product label. Likely the R32 is correct and the 15.5K BTU is incorrect, 15K instead. i had ordered Epoch Essentials 460Ah batteries and if the website was accurate 2 would have fit in the Oliver battery bay with the tray removed. The website had width and height numbers reversed. Called Epoch and they could not confirm but the distributor did and they changed my order for two 300Ah which fit in the tray. Often bad data on websites. So much on auto parts websites for sure!

The Victron Multiplus II and many other capable inverter models have a built-in ATS. The 2KW Xantrex OTT originally installed in our hull had an external ATS and remote power switch. These are two different worlds. True for those not connected to shore power, without rooftop solar and/or who store long-term indoors. If not, as in my case the solar produces 10x parasitic draw on a daily basis. In fact, I can be 60% SOC on 600Ah LiFePO4 batteries, running exterior courtesy lights and in a few days SOC is 100%. Even in winter sun in AZ, and yes as you wrote in our "home area." However, I truly recommend those who have full inverter/charger capability, 3KW with built-in ATS, Xantrex or Victron, leave your inverters ON always when your Oliver is in use (I know some manufactures say not too, but I have trouble being told what to do without valid reason)! It protects against power outages, brown-outs, if Victron it provides power-assist and more. Heck, I've been running our A/C one hour prior to arriving at a full hook-up site and when we get there the cabin is cool and no hurry plugging in unless SOC is near 20%. Of course, you must have viable Ah capacity in LiFePO4 to do so. Use the technology that God and Mankind has provided us! It's wonderful and we finally had a wonderful 5-week trip to truly experience the amazing features, in all the upgrades I've made to our Oliver and tow vehicle! 😂

OK, now you got my attention! A cabled solution between Starlink Mini and Mini Router is not of interest to me and your test results show the true value of the Mini Router! Thank you, Geoff. I just ordered one through the app Shop menu. I also noticed the travel kit for $45 and got that as well. I did not order a cabled power solution, as of yet. I thought you had written about a 3mm male plug but could not locate that statement tonight. Would something like this work or is it another style plug? Does it also need a waterproof version like the Mini? https://www.amazon.com/ZEPFJHE-6-3mmx3-0mm-Connector-Replacement-Computer/dp/B0DKJN9L37/ Earlier when you had written your initial Starlink thread, this was all new to me and naively I thought it could be roof mounted. Immediately upon use, I realized the Mini is so particular to dish Alignment and Obstructions. So I ended up with a simple battery-powered solution (pic1) using the built-in Wi-Fi. This has worked well in the two months experience we have, but it is a pain to switch between Wi-Fi signals (Pepwave to Starlink) for TV streaming, laptop use and cell phones. Before realizing this I jumped the gun and had installed a wired solution using a Victron 12-24 DC-DC charger like you had used in a different configuration (pic 2 and if you look closely you can see the external cabling strapped down in pic1). To date this installation has been a waste and sits idle. Now shooting in the dark here... Could I use my roof-top wiring, change the power plug to the correct style for the Mini Router, connect Ethernet between the Starlink Mini Router and the WAN port of my Pepwave router? This would be so cool if possible, one Wi-Fi login and my installation would finally have purpose. I'm over my head, re whether the Ethernet port on the Mini router could be used in this manner or ONLY to connect to the Mini dish.

Ours work as designed after 10 years. Not an easy campsite install unless you’re very small. My size, I can’t reach them and that’s why the job is still on my to-do list! 🤣

It really depends. Geoff really explained every facet nicely and fully in detail. Everybody should read his post a few times! When we had the OTT installed 2KW Xantrex, when OFF shore power you had to turn the inverter on to run anything 120VAC, but not the air. You wanted it off most of the time if you're running on LA or AGM batteries, when not needing AC appliances/outlets so you would not loose SOC%. With a 3KW inverter installed, generally all AC circuits run through the inverter including the A/C. This is also how I installed our Victron Multiplus 2. I see no reason to ever turn off our inverter, so we don't. In fact since I installed it a year ago it has been on 24x7x365 unless it's on high amp charge when I'm trying to get to sleep and it's making some noise under my bed. Then I turn it OFF via the Bluetooth app and turn it back ON when I wake. With ample Ah LiFePO4 batteries and rooftop solar and the fact that our hull sits outdoors and does not get winterized nor go in storage, our Victron MP2 in ALWAYS powered on ready to use anytime.

There is a question that I do not believe has been verified. Tosot a year ago was using R-134a refrigerant. Are they now using the more efficient R-32? Anybody getting one should know this ahead of ordering. Ron can confirm, but I'm pretty sure his and other Atmos use R-32 refrigerant.