jd1923

@Geronimo John you made a brief mention of China, so I'm guessing their heavier springs are also made there. Too bad, and I see other issues too. Several members here, going back 12 pages of comments, were worried about going too stiff on replacement leaf springs. I had written earlier that 14% stiffer is a nice bump - perfect! You're suggesting 2400 LB rated springs which are 37% stiffer. That's a big difference, that personally I would not at all advise this option. The Dexter "Tech" was selling the only option they had. Rethink this? Anyway, when it's time for me to upgrade I'm going with MADE in COLORADO, U.S.A. For $310 more NP and getting the right weight rating. Besides I also trust @MAX Burner and he showed us a quality installation using Alcan parts. I have for years paid a considerable premium so NOT to purchase from that large land mass in eastern Asia. This country stole IP from Motorola, where I worked during the 90s. and so many US companies. Come visit my garage to witness a 50-year collection of Made in USA tools. I'd say 96% Made in USA, and 4% from quality Asia manufacturers (also US Allies), specifically Japanese and Taiwanese made tools. Amazon has read my comment 100 times when I return junk. I click "Not as advertised" and just write "China" for the stated reason. They take them back with a smile!

Pretty area! Have never camped on such a HD asphalt pad. The pad looks level in the pic, but your trailer is way up in the front. Best wishes.

@rich.dev am I seeing things, or are you? Hard to see the orientation fully, but it looks vertical to me. Notice the curve of the Oliver shell and the Furrion which is laid flat in the cabinet. Yes, the vertical direction allows air flow to aide in cooling.

I get it, but I don't have time for waxing, nor the patience for therapeutics! 🤣 Some of you may feel different if you were still working, had 3 trucks, 2 cars, 2 motorcycles, 3 dirt vehicles, a 4000+ SF home on 3/4 acre and 8 gas-powered yard tools to maintain. Spring has sprung and in a couple weeks we will be knee-high in grasses and weeds to whack. I've also been rebuilding our Sundance spa lately, new wet heads on the 3 pumps, new control panel and FLO switch, new skirting is next. There is always something else needed here, so I cannot see hours buffing is utilizing my core competencies. Before it gets too hot this year, I need to pressure-wash and stain two levels of redwood decking, should have done that last year! I may have to also contract this work, if we can afford to. I'll be getting back to all this work soon, after we leave Sunday, to get away for 3 weeks in the Oliver! What's nice about the Oliver is after some prep work it is ready for camping. Last time out, I was working fulltime 'til the day we left. I had plugged in the day before, so Chris could fill the fridge and I merely packed some clothes the night before. Next morning, I filled water in trailer and TV since the lows were in the 20s, got the TV loaded up with gear stored in our adjacent shed, and hitched up the Oliver. In under 2 hours, we were on our way! I think we can get this down to an hour, nice! Pickleball is our therapeutic, and so much more fun than power buffing, waxing a vehicle in 2x2' sections, 3 times over. I truly prefer yard work over detail work which can be therapeutic as well. Our Oliver was new-to-us June of last year and it has been prioritized in our first year of ownership. Going forward it must be just one of the toys, with home and trucks being more important. I don't wax cars anymore, but we do 98% of all maintenance & repair work on our property, every family member included. I don't trust contractors or mechanics to work on our home or vehicles, but I know for sure there are many experience detailers that can do a better "wax job" than me and it's not a safety item. I will spend hours perfecting a brake job, so I know it's done right. And I've been known to drive old cars for years needing paint. It comes to priorities. Shine on the Oliver would be more important to us, if we had had made the big investment in purchasing a new one. Ours was a bit dull to begin with. In the fall, I hope to find the right shop to put a good shine on her.

Dicor is generally used as an RV roof sealant, where the roof is penetrated, vent openings and screws holes. Using VHB only, there are no holes, no need for a roof sealant. Add Dicor if it makes you feel better, but it's unnecessary. 3m writes this re VHB 4950: "Resistance to solvents, temperature extremes, and U. V. Light make VHB products suitable for many interior and exterior applications." 4950.WD6 (3m.com)

I used 3M VHB 4950 on the panels on our (ex-) Bigfoot. The project was 4-5 years ago. I double the standard solar mounts, 8 vs. 4 to be extra safe. Each panel had eight times 3x1" VHB tape ONLY, no screws. VHB is CERTAINLY all you need! Still holding strong and you don't have to put Dicor mess over top of it as VHB resists sun and weather nicely.

I already had this feeling, but you have all thoroughly convinced me that there is no way in the world I will ever polish our Oliver! I'd rather install new leaf springs, a new fridge, new A/C, add lithium and upgraded charger/inverter, and rework the furnace ducting than buff the Oliver in 2x2' increments, three times over! This detailing sounds like prison life working a rock pile. Save money on that buffer. For now, our Oliver stays oxidized. The upper front is/was pasty flat when we purchased it used last summer. When we get home from our next trip (leaving Sunday for 3 weeks) I will pressure-wash it quickly upon return and cover it for the summer. After Labor Day, I'll look for a local detailer. If we were any reasonable distance from CGI, I would make an appointment there for sure. I already contacted a Phoenix based ceramic coating chain. They advised me that they would not work on our Oliver due to its age and oxidation. They prefer to quickly coat new paint on new vehicles only. I need to find a company like CGI in the SW.

OTT Forum members reading this really, REALLY need to carefully read the 100s of posts, already provided in the 12 long pages of this thread. Every question asked in the last many days has been asked a good 2-3 times already and answered in considerable detail in the pages above. Bottom line, have your suspension inspected. If your leaf springs show anything but a natural arc, have them replaced. The Alcan product is a good upgrade at a reasonable cost. Mine look fine now, so I have no concern or worry. When needed, replace your leaf springs. It's just that simple.

You received good advice already on the storage box. This subject has been covered in dozens of threads. I wrote an upgrade thread last fall and have read many others before and a few since. There is a lot to consider here, no quick answer. Study the subject, measure your water flow rate, and ask specific questions. You will get good advice here!

Yeah, if I was to buy another Beemer, it would be a K1600 for sure! Had an '08 R1200 for several years, commuted around Austin with it. I still have an old K-75c for grins, but the only one I will keep is my '84 Goldwing Standard. Not sure how the K1600 truly rides, but this old Goldwing will outlast and be much more comfortable than any BMW 1200 cc or less, jury out on the K1600.

It's GREAT when a repair and upgrade come together nicely. Also had time to clean everything under the bed and worked some Forever Black into all the black trim I had removed. Got the truck 100% yesterday, filled the tank (with 2SO/ATF additive), ran some errands and this truck has considerably more power. Levels 1-2 on the Juice are really strong! (Levels 3 and above are for built engines AND transmissions only.) Running previously at 6 PSI +/- was starving the injection pump to a point, and likely it was running hot. Now fuel pressure is 15 PSI at idle and a constant 14 PSI when driving. Love the Juice, love the Fleece, love being done with positive results.

@Geronimo John will certainly need to talk to OTT service. When I read pre-wired, I assumed only to the roof and that you would have to wire a solar controller, etc. So, did you just drill a hole into the roof at a measured location and the #6 cable was there as promised? That takes nerve!

I wonder what that means, pre-wired? For "pre-wired" to be viable you would have to have a roof mounted junction box. Do you? How would you add solar if not? Not easily! How would you run cables from the roof to a solar charger in near proximity to the battery bay? I took another picture for you, Gj. The only way an Oliver is truly pre-wired is if you have a junction box, like is what's pictured on ours.

@HDRider coolers are very heavy when full, a tank tote is light when stored empty. Pull your 1 1/4" hitch bar off completely, buy some 2x2" Aluminum stock and build something like what @rich.dev showed above (an excellent example). You really need the two receivers, so it doesn't wobble up-n-down and left-to-right. The beauty is OTT already installed two perfect receivers for any kind of well-supported shelf or basket. They say 150 LBS MAX for the bike rack. I would think Rich's design could easily hold 250+ LBS, if you want that much weight, that far rear. You want to over-engineer such a cargo carrier so that it is safe and sits nicely for years.

Blacked-out is for kids, but when I had all this disassembled, we detailed the taillights, license plate surround and bumper covers and then all black trim on the TV! I degreased all parts, getting off all the sloppy car wax and rubbed them down with rubbing alcohol several times until the final paper towel was clean. Used Mothers Back-to-Black in the past, but it never really did the job. Recently, I purchased "Forever Black" and it works great, covering in deep black without brush marks: Amazon.com: Forever Black Bumper & Trim 6 Oz. (New Improved Formula & Larger Size) : Automotive Looks amazing for 23-year-old trim! Right?

No idea, but "westbound I-40 near Santa Rosa" you must be back home now!

This is the way to do it. You need dual receivers for a viable carrier. Not a 1 1/4" receiver, but TWO 2" receivers! @rich.dev has a great example, see picture above. The 1 1/4" single receiver with something like the cheap Kurt carrier (Amazon link above) will bounce and wobble all over the place. Just for a "tank tote" as @Rolind suggested OK, but not much more! Even though our hull is older, ours has the 2" receiver but I removed the whole crossbar and it's sitting in the attic of our shed. I much rather have the weight in the TV. Even the rear basement storage of the Oliver should not contain much weight. We keep only about 30 LBS of stuff back there; the shore power cable, 25' hose, a small tool bag for hooking up accessories and tools, our camping mat, an empty gas can and 2 empty antifreeze gallon bottles for emergencies (they weigh next to nothing). I do understand many of you have SUVs as TVs, so are always looking for more room. Think 3/4-ton truck for your future and these needs go away! @HDRider not sure why you would need one, towing with a 2500 Duramax.

Not getting much love on this thread! Though I do realize it's not an Oliver! It only took an hour today, to hoist up the bed, pull the side-by-side out and back the truck in (Adam holding up the rear and Chris guiding the front). Got two corner bolts on the bed and drove her out!

I believe once you have torqued the nuts 2-3 times and get to "no more stretch" you should trust the installation that they're good and you're done. The U-bolts need to be well seated, but they are not a maintenance item and once set will stay put for years, decades even.

We almost always leave home with a full fresh tank and will continue to do so, unless we are heading straight to a full hookup campsite. It's not that heavy. Full at about 250 LBS across that wide area is not a concern.

I had the double C-channel and the one closer to the wheels break (see pic). If you were to take the time to remove the doubled piece, I would weld it in place halfway between the two that broke on mine. It's great that you found the crack prior to the weld failing, as mine had pulled and bent the LP line. Reasons that I had thought of was NOT the fresh tank, which is flat and long, its weight distributed across many support beams and over the wheels. Instead, running at 80 PSI was one reason I had thought of. Also, given the location, perhaps prior owners had used RR leveler jack wheels up in the air. Now I'm thinking it's the double channel at fault and after this weld failed it put more tension on the one in front that also failed on our hull. I found our broken welds upon purchase. The prior owner had never noticed it, even though he claimed to have just lubed the suspension.

I would install a switch at the fuse box.

@rideandfly wrote this first and I have to side with this argument: "Question, would doubling the crossmember material create more stress on the welds due to less flexibility?" Yes. You must consider vibration. When materials are flexible, they absorb vibration and put less stress on the connection, in this case the weld. The stiffer the material, it will move less and the vibration is passed it on to the connection. I've never seen Aluminum C-channels or even angle iron welded together in the manner. I believe the hulls with this design will always fail at this weld point.

Today was the day to prime the pump and filter. I have the tank so low that first thing was to buy a couple gallons to add to the tank. Bumped the starter a couple times which causes the fuel pump to run for about 20 seconds. The new Fleece pump groaned a bit to fill at first and then it's much quieter than the ringing sound of the OEM pump. I just loosened the nut on the return line of the VP44 (injection pump), a little fuel came out and that's all she needed. Started right up and sounded good. No leaks anywhere. Nice! First pic tells the final story. I had lift pump PSI from 8 PSI idling to 2 PSI with a heavy foot. Now I have a solid 14 PSI (top right corner of the display). I've only idled so far, hit the pedal while standing and still 14 PSI. Friday I will replace the bed and take her out for a drive!

@routlaw hull #70 and our hull #113 have the same doubled support. @Patriot with hull #634 does not appear to have the same doubled support. Perhaps the newer hulls will not have this same issue in the same location.