jd1923

Jason, in your beautiful East Texas, buy a couple!

But could be in a pinch. I get 40A when idling, and with a diesel you can idle long, as long as you’d stand hearing the engine. Under idle, we can run A/C at 60% consumption, and if I had the wonderful Atmos unit Ron has it would be closer to 40%!

Yes, boondocking means no electricity unless you bring it with you. Generators aren't campsite cool any more, and more so for EV owners. Many of us use solar and the alternators on our combustion engines to charge the house batteries. We enjoy time at the campsite, and it's hard enough to find a good one, without worrying about where to charge in-between. EVs are great for commuting and for trades people who drive 100-200 miles on the job and come home each night. They are not practical for travel, let alone towing a trailer for weeks at a time. OK, I'm done having fun and will stop, so that we stop insulting one another. I wish you the best with your new Sierra and Oliver when the time comes for you.

Thank, Bill. I stuck product label onto the Bulldog paperwork and placed it in my Oliver file. I definitely always remove and trash those stupid warning labels, added for .gov regulations, for the sole purpose of dumbing-down the American people. 🤣

Yep, no Boondocking in store for @DanielBoondock! 🤣 Get a Tesla Model S to scratch your EV itch. Then after all the nonsense, being a GM guy, get the GMC Sierra Denali with the 6.6L Duramax Turbo Diesel and 10-speed Allison. 😂 When I win to the Lotto, I'll get one too (though I'd have to buy my first lotto ticket)! Daniel has not yet responded to the dozen EV TV criticisms posted in this thread and the first one he started. So Daniel, especially since you've updated your forum signature, I'm asking and I'm not alone. I'm not interested in performance specs, blah-blah-blah, instead wondering how you believe you can charge while traveling across the country, even boondocking, going anywhere you want without the chronic worry of the next charge station. Those of us with diesel TVs can drive 300 miles one-way up a dead-end road, boondocking along the way, we have enough fuel to return. You cannot make that claim with any EV. Likely your one-way trip towing will be limited to 100, 120 miles or so. And when you run out of power on some stretch of highway, you cannot merely grab a gas can and hitchhike down the road or walk to a local farm where there's always some diesel to borrow. You'd need a tow. Most Oliver owners worry enough about SOC% on their house batteries. We carry enough Ah, fresh water and fuel to camp 10 days off-grid.

And I thought we were the only ones to do this! 😂

And here is the Bulldog before and after pics. The OEM gray matches my truck and the labels came off easily. Not easy to drill these holes. They used 1/2" 4" #8 bolts and OTT had drilled 9/16" holes, so I did the same (started with a 1/4" hole and stepped up, using a HD Unibit to finish). I placed them on the workbench side-by-side and used a Sharpie to circle the hole position through the old coupler onto the new one. I was so happy that both bolts pushed through first try! Torqued to 86 lb-ft (11Kg-M), DONE!

After I got done, I emailed the Andersen rep again and asked if she would mail me a new Andersen label and she replied the next morning, "of course." Now that everything is clean (used 3M Skotch-Brite pads to sand), you can push down the ball and it grabs with friction. And you can pull it up and it turns easily (about 4mm free play to the snap ring). If this persists after towing some it will allow for any hitch angle, just lift and turn. I'll let you know. No grease going on this new build and it doesn't matter if the ball looks like it's wearing, it's all solid steel at a rating 2x the GTWR!

For 2 years, I've been wanting to lose the Andersen WDH. I have an older Ram 2500, unlike newer HD 2500s the user manual for my model states to use a WDH hitch when towing over 5000 LBS. Also when I hitch the Oliver, the rear hitch drops 2". Though tighten the WDH and it raises the rear back up to level and it keeps the trailer from “porpoising” from the light Oliver tongue weight. My Ram has helper springs, part of a Camper Special option, but after a few posts on the Cummins Forum, I found out that this option was made for truck campers and does not engage when pulling a relatively light trailer. The 25-year-old rear leaf springs are perhaps worn out. The easy out was to continue using the Andersen WDH (for now). However, I wanted to upgrade to a 2 5/16" and our 10-year-old Bulldog and Andersen had seen their better days. I'm an old-school critic of ridiculous prices today, but I truly believe a total of $200 for this upgrade is very reasonable, for both a new coupler and Andersen ball, It's nice that with Andersen you can upgrade the ball without having to replace the entire hitch assembly. Pictures show the old parts and new. Do what Andersen suggests in not greasing the ball, since it became obvious that grease on the ball worked is way below bringing dirt along for the ride. The friction cones had flakes of residue and horizontal striations which put wear on both the ball cone and the friction cone. $90 for the Anderson parts and $110 for the best price I could find on the Bulldog from a seller that included free shipping and did not charge out-of-state sales tax! https://andersenhitches.com/product/wd-tapered-replacement-balls/ https://www.trailerjacks.com/bulldog-collar-lok-trailer-coupler-2-516-ball-12500-lbs-3-channel-tongue-w-high-profile-latch

I think that was back in the @John E Davies days, many years ago! I just purchased the 2 5/16" ball and friction cone. It is the friction cone ONLY that has a lifetime warranty but you must pay shipping ($18 part and $13.50 for shipping)! 🤣 My total was $90 just purchased this month.

That would be my Chris too! I’m not into fans, so for me just one fan is needed on her side. Thanks

Scotty, some Amazon reviews state the fan is practically silent. What is your opinion on this? Is this the same model and manufacturer as yours? Thanks! https://www.amazon.com/SEEKR-Auto-Sensing-Omnidirectional-Low-Power-Installation/dp/B01LDY4TE4

What is "auxiliary power?"

Gorilla tape OK for a trip to Depot or True Value… Get this instead and at this price, buy two and keep a roll in the Oliver. Since I found this for you and the price dropped from $20, I just purchased an Oliver-only roll! https://a.co/d/dMG8apM

That is a nice shelf, John. And yes it's a "simplified approach" which are the best designs! I had not thought of that space before, but yeah it is a void. I'm thinking now of maybe a couple of wire baskets back there for towels, if that would work on the curve. Hmmm...? (and the list gets longer, when I thought I had done enough in 2 years.)

And the 2 5/16" ball will help. I just upgraded our Andersen ball to 2 5/16", new friction cone and Bulldog 12.5K coupler and will start a new post on that. Not going to grease our new ball since I can see what grease (from prior owner) did to the Andersen internals.

A 300A should be between the battery + and the inverter and a fuse is much preferred over a breaker since it protect both sides, the batteries and the inverter, where a breaker is directional. Our Victron Multiplus specs a 400A fuse for this (ANL or better yet a Class-T fuse). A 60A breaker or less (40A or 30A depending on your equipment) would be used for internal circuits like the 12V fuse panel or solar chargers, etc. I don't see any need for a 100A breaker in the Oliver circuitry, but maybe they're doing something different in newer hulls.

It’s just nice even at a campground to not bother with any hookups. We have all the water and electric we need. Just dump gray every 5 days, black every 10, and where we Boondock most places we can drop some gray in the BLM or NF.

These hand-held options don't work for us. We do not carry small water tanks to the rear of the Oliver. I fill a 35-gal FWT in the truck bed every time we fill water. With the onboard FWT full and our extra tank we can boondock, not worry about water for 10 days. I use a 25' and 10' rigid hose to connect the two while still being hitched. Fill about 18 gallons after a few days out and the rest of the tank after a week. I must use rigid hoses and never seem to have an issue stretching them out since I wind them in large 3' circles and curve them oval to fit in the Oliver trunk over other stuff. Flat hoses would be cool, but will not work for us!

Keep one if you ever need to use the boondocking port.

You are golden! My old Ram had 130A OEM, I replaced with a HO 180A and I’ve gotten as high as 48A outputted from our Orion XS 50A charger.

Glad for you that David @Coddiwomple reached out. I could not answer for an EI. Also check into the amperage capability of the alternator on your Jeep. Some of us have had to upgrade that to guarantee available amps.

Last year I purchased a Timbren bumpstop kit for the rear axle of my truck. When installing I had broken the u-bolt mount (a poor design since it did not fit flush and I had overtightened it not realizing this). I called eTrailer for a replacement part, thinking I would have to pay for it and/or shipping. The CSR took down my info, asked me to email a picture, and said she would speak to Timbren. She called me back the next morning reporting that Timbren approved sending me an entire new kit at no cost, no additional shipping. I got it in 2 days. That's why I continue to buy from them. I also purchased Timken bearings for the Oliver from them, knowing they would not be Chinese knockoffs! I don't see self-adjusters causing this issue in just 300 miles. I would first consider incorrect installation (which they would not admit) or perhaps the "bad batch" reason. Maybe they didn't get the top of the shoe on the post correctly. Also, smoke is not normal, or the shoe holders were not installed. And a minor smell of new materials can be expected, but visible smoke no! But who would think such a disaster would occur in just 300 miles.

How did you attach it, fix it so it will stay put?

Rob, don't think or use torque values for rubber mounts. I've seen some pictures here that look right and some showing over-tightened bushings. You want to tighten them enough for the rubber bushings to pillow nicely, not enough so that the rubber will mushroom beyond the mounting plate which will cause premature failure of the bushings. The nuts are Nylok locking nuts so they will stay put.