jd1923

Normal highs in Prescott AZ (at 5,400 FT) late September/early October are high 70s. We had those temps a couple weeks ago and I thought fall had begun, summer was over. Instead, we've had more than a week of highs in the 90s and it will take until next week to drop again. City of Prescott has broken high-temp records every day for the last week. I've been in the driveway, sun burning down (sun here hotter than the dry air) installing an 180A HP alternator which turned into a bigger job replacing lower radiator hose and all heater hoses (9 of them on a 2001 Dodge Cummins). Another half day should be done tomorrow. At least when I duck back into the garage it's better. Should have moved some stored vehicles to get the Ram into the garage. Just thought it was going to be a quick alt swap, a two-hour job! When I got the old alt out, I noticed how I could get to the lower hoses (can of worms).🤣 We are always 20-25 degrees cooler than the Phoenix Valley and the desert down to Yuma, Lake Havasu, etc. Flagstaff and the White Mountains, all at 7,000 FT, can be up to 10 degrees cooler than us. Looking forward to the cool down next week and camping in the White Mountains!

That’s a good point! First time I did it on the Class-C we had, don’t remember the projectile part, but I was soaked in calcium goo from belly to shoes!

Yes thanks Dave, releasing the pressure is key. I did not realize such pressure in the tank since I had not had the water pump turned on in weeks, but pressure was still there. Yesterday, I drained it again since it had so much calcium buildup the first time. I had tested the HWH on electric and on LP (then tested all LP appliances ahead of our upcoming trip). I released the pressure, not at the faucet, but at the relief valve top of the heater. Removed the anode slowly and did NOT get wet at all, yay! I made another tool for rinsing the HWH. The anode, with all its weight, is not easy to level and thread properly. I recently replaced the anode with a new one. I sawed the anode off the old one to create a simple drain bolt. This is handy for when you just want to fill the HWH, heat the water, and drain again.

And recently you invested in LiFePO4! Hopefully, where you drilled will fit a lock. If not, there is always the other side of the tray.

I noticed the existing hole in your picture the other day and then forget about it when I asked the question. Once fished through to the exterior bottom, the rest is straightforward. It's great there is an existing hole and thank you for your help!

Yes, planning where to drill is not trivial. Choose your padlock before you drill. You need a short shackle lock (measurement D in photo) so that it will fit between the wall of the battery bay and the tray. Mine was very short at 0.91". The shackle is actually longer (7/16" on mine) than this measurement with the section inside the lock, but you will angle it in to insert. My lock is 5/16" thick (measurement E) so a 3/8" hole allowed for the insertion angle. I kept drilling with bits 1/16" larger dia until I could just pass the lock through. Drill your hole center of the tray slide. Measure in centered just less than the inside width of the lock (measurement C). Getting all of this right is key. I don't plan on unlocking this often with LiFePO4 batteries. Also, I can now remove the ground cable to disconnect 12VDC without opening the tray. Hope this helps!

Leaving to the Texas Rally next Wednesday. Five nights in the Arizona White Mountains on the way followed by 3 nights in Ruidoso. Highs should be 65F at 7000 ft, lows about 40F. We dislike the heat, reason why our Oliver has been parked for maintenance and mods for the last 5 months. Central Texas should be warm, daytime highs in the 80s, but hopefully not too hot since we still have that noisy Dometic Penguin.

Leaving next week for the Texas Rally. Ordered this interior fan today and should have time to install it in the next few days. Ron, how did you connect this interior fan to available 12VDC?

We often do a one-night stay, where we stay hitched, still need to level. BTW, camp these days anywhere near the border, stay hitched in case you need to leave in a hurry Not a good time to Boondock south of Tucson or anywhere from McAllen to Del Rio, TX! I stopped using the 1” blocks everywhere but the front jack where we may need a few inches or over a foot. I’ve gotten to where I only want to use the levelers up or down 6” at the most, usually less. Love these for the back levelers. Magnet on and down a few inches. When we leave, I only go up enough to free the block and leave the leveler at that height, it’s high enough! 🤣 OMG, everything is so expensive these days! Thank you .gov. I bought ours at $60 on eBay last year: https://a.co/d/aWFURPk

Looking forward to understanding this. SDG recommended to replace the Dometic thermostat with a simple furnace thermostat. That's what I was told when I called SDG. I've been wondering why I could not just keep the Dometic thermostat where only furnace operation would be controlled, the other functions would be null, wires taped open. This assumes you control the Atmos via the Atmos remote. I have this model thermostat:

You should post what fridge make/model. Yours will be a newer model than ours. It may not help, but first cut all power to it for 10 min or more. Trip the 120VAC breaker or no shore power, LP doesn’t matter. Pull the DC fuse or all DC battery power. Ours has a 40A DC circuit breaker for all DC circuits (have a flashlight ready). This will force a reboot. If it goes back the same way, likely the switch panel or a control board could be bad.

Revived an older thread here with an easy mod. Our $1800 Epoch mod is the largest single-dollar addition we've made to our Oliver. Tried to change the Southco latch with a model that has the cut key. though all keyed alike is not cool. Don't like the round key model, as it looks like it could be opened with a screwdriver. One reseller said 88 days for shipping on the Southco cut key model M1-20-81-78 (88 must be the default code for lots-a-luck). This only took me only a few minutes today. The tray steel is very hard, does not drill easy which is a good thing. Started small and finally drilled a 3/8” hole. The tray will only slide out an inch when locked. I tacked a 4x6" piece of 1" Styrofoam in the corner of the battery door so the padlock will not bounce around when towing. Had the old lock in a parts drawer for a zero-cost mod!

Thanks, Mountainman for all your input on this thread. Mine does not have a label like this (see pic). I had a conversation with @mountainoliver who has a 2017 and Ken sent me some specs of what he had ordered. They all seem the same. This is what you suggested: Amazon.com: TexTrail 9150014 Double Eye Trailer Leaf Spring for 3,500 Lb Axle - 4 Leaf - 25-1/4" Length - 2 Pack : Automotive What does everybody think of the items below? The leaf springs are almost double in cost, but both of these items are Made in USA. Do we really need the heavier leaf, or just something dependable? These would be half the Alcan cost, but of course 4-leaf 1750# springs. They do not have the 5-leaf design where the second leaf is longer, so these could have the same failure point. TruRyde® 4 Leaf 25 1/4" Double Eye Trailer Leaf Spring with Bronze Bushings 1750 lbs. - SW4B-BR | Southwest Wheel® SOUTHWEST WHEEL® Southwest Wheel® U-Bolt Kit for 5,200-7,000 lbs. 3" Trailer Axle - APUBR3BX | Southwest Wheel® I remember reading where some Oliver owners were concerned with mounting heavier springs that were basically for 5200 LB axles.

Our hull, older than yours and @Ronbrink's has only 5 levels. We run on #4 unless it's really hot outside. Have not tried out the new Beech Lane dual fan yet with fridge on and full of food. Leaving a week from tomorrow for the Texas Rally (a slow 10 days getting there)! The fridge always ran pretty well, freezer great. Hopefully with the fan will allow for better cooling in the fridge section, getting water bottles in the door shelving cold more quickly.

This could cause more issue than you would want, as the valve is harder than the pipe it's connect to and the pipe can get damaged or unthread on the opposite end (especially on one manufactured way back in 2015). There is no way to get a wrench on the pipe itself, only the valve.

What I learned from a post a year ago, this is mainly the calcium from hard water that is released in the heater, due to the heating, the anode or whatever. @John E Davies had mentioned this and suggested a water softener, but I was brought up in N IL with extremely hard well water and water softeners. Never again, as I cannot stand the never-rinsed feel of softened water. I rinse the Oliver Suburban HWH 2-3 times a year. In a way it's good the calcium ends up here vs. in the plumbing. Get one of these wands to rinse thoroughly. The soft plastic wand can't hurt anything. Push it all the way in and out, turning it 360 degrees to get everywhere you can.

I know somewhere in the 23 pages of this thread, somebody posted the OEM part number for our leaf springs that can be purchased on eTrailer. Was under our hull today and all 4 OEM leafs look excellent, but at $60 I’m thinking of buying one for the toolbox. Also making sure I have the long sockets to replace one on the side of the road. Thx

Thanks Mike. Yeah, I could not see any other way. Just got blasted again with the water and all the hard water white flakes. Second time now, even though I was trying to stand to the side. 🤣 Like to replace this with the tankless model one day. Just dreaming…

Is there any way to drain the HWH besides pulling the anode bolt? Don’t think so but thought I’d try! Thx

They do have mostly tent sites. They advertise some RV sites up to 25 FT (depending on your dates). I believe you will find the Oliver Elite II is actually 23.5 FT not 26 FT. I always enter 23 FT when reserving a campsite.

I have...

Can't see how the "fridge burner is burning" and it's not cooling. Your fridge may be fried, sorry to say. We're hoping ours lasts forever as I have not yet seen a single compressor fridge that can freeze two steaks and two trays of ice at the same time!

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I wrote previously our "fresh tank appears empty" which was not a good choice of words. Our FWT and some others were installed incorrectly by OTT, yes just some older hulls. We ONLY get 18 gallons of water (measured MANY times now when refilling) when the water pump starts drawing air. I never use the tank gauges which are inaccurate even when the Oliver is perfectly level. We know after 3 days the 18 gallons will need refilling. We know when we have emptied the fresh a second time the gray will need emptying the black needs it every other time we empty the gray. Just our water usage. I gave up on tank sensors years ago, hoping these external sensors would be better, but not. I recently opened a service ticket on this. Mike Sharpe replied, "I am looking into if we have the parts and even the tools to be able to do this as we have not done this modification in the last three years." He never replied whether he did "have the parts" or would still do a repair not done in over3 years. When I asked could you confirm availability of the parts ship me the parts, this was his answer The ticket was later closed, and I received no real answer other than this: "If you are able to find someone local to you to do it the spin weld tool they have may be a different size than what we use and then they would have to use the parts that they keep in stock for the job." have no idea if I towed our trailer all the way to OTT that they would fix this issue anymore. Our Olivier went back to OTT in 2018 and 2020 for service and you'd think they would have fixed this already! I'm going to have to live with it. At least we have a 35-gal FWT in the TV. How in the world would a FWT be installed with the suction line only halfway down such a flat tank? It should be designed to touch the bottom.

So first, are you sure you have enough water in the freshwater tank? Our fresh tank appears empty when half full due to an OTT installation defect on some older hulls. When it starts to pull air from the freshwater it will gurgle first and then run continuously. We refill frmo the boondocking port and we're good for another 18 gallons. This certainly could be the cause, but a water leak from ANYWHERE will show up dripping in one or more weep holes. Our kitchen faucet had a leak coming from the extension hose built-in to the faucet. It was not even hand tight. See picture for what a leak looks like. The center water spot is fridge condensate. The two on the ends were coming through the weep holes via the kitchen faucet connection.