jd1923

I installed a Furrion 13,500 BTU A/C unit in our Bigfoot Class-C three years back. It was a ducted system in a 30 ft Class-C and cooled it nicely. We don't camp in hot summer weather, but I run our RV A/C units during the summer when parked at home. I would guesstimate the large Class-C has twice the cubic ft of our little LEIIs. The original Dometic failed, condenser fan dislodged and stuck in the casing. Buy another Dometic? I hope y'all find a better alternative. My feeling is you need to be down at perhaps 11,000 BTU as was suggested above. The 13,500 BTU (or greater) A/C system will likely not cycle enough in most climates, which means less air movement and less humidity management. It is important to engineer an A/C system at the right BTU rating, not too much or too little. We're keeping our old clunker original Dometic, for now. It's parked outside with A/C running now, only part of the day, and we've been high 90s to 100. I have it set at 84 degrees, so the interior stays nice. Yes, it's noisy (LOL, I can hear it from the front door of my house, and my 100' hose doesn't quite reach the Oliver)! Keep in mind, we live in the dry Arizona high country. The A/C does not run at night at all, and it would have to perform better, perhaps require more BTUs, if for say you live in the SE United States, or camp in the Midwest during the summer months.

Hey JD, thank you for these ideas. I will say, I have read so many of your upgrade posts, some amazing work! Thank you for sharing and I will study your work in the months and years to come, as we get to know our Oliver better. As far as warning labels, they're not of interest to me. The insurance industry and Federal Government have dummied down America, to make everything idiot-proof, with WARNINGS! I have already taken my heat gun to several labels (use a little Goo-B-Gone after), the one by the smoke detector, those by the cooktop, other labels outside are soon to go. The visual noise removed, all clean white fiberglass. Thanks for the sound quality app. I will show it to my son who is a sound engineer. Perhaps he can run the test. More to come soon on this post, as I have time not working. I will add a post re adding the Dish receiver, configuring the Weingard Satellite, and adding a rack in the attic for multiple A/V input sources. My final post will be to show how I made this TV monitor fold up to the attic ceiling, being out of the way of the rear view and emergency exit window. It's not a simple push mechanism, what OTT uses on their smaller 24" TV, but given the thin profile of this TV, you will hardly see it when folded, all parts white! Thanks for reading!

I see sale pending on JD's classified. Congratulations, John! You're going to miss your little Mouse!

A few pics of the TV install to follow. When I first installed it and connected to the Internet, the movie Fletch was streaming on the Samsung network! 1985 OMG! Then pic with TV off and soundbar installed. Next pic shows the slim profile and a final pic shows the Samsung network, and notice the HDMI input, currently no HDMI input powered up. The TV can swivel left and right and front and back. Pushing the TV back gives the best viewing angle when lying in bed.

So, you do not need a 1 1/2" ID opening as in the grommet OTT put in the corner. I drilled a 3/4" opening for the 2 TV cables (power and HDMI). I seal this all openings simply with a round of white Styrofoam. For the large original opening I took a piece of Styrofoam, that you get in any electronics packaging, use a hole saw without the mandrel bit, and by hand, just cut a round piece of Styrofoam just a little larger than the opening to get a tight fit. Next step was the soundbar. I chose another Samsung product (Amazon link above), for compatibility, like wanting the TV remote to adjust the volume (it does way more than that!). Another requirement was the soundbar needed to connect by Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, since this TV Monitor does not have an audio output. Wow, this product synced both interfaces automatically, take your pick. My TV and soundbar are now connected to our Oliver Wi-Fi VPN defined by the Wi-fi Ranger. Like the TV, the soundbar does need AC power, and thankfully there is already AC power at the foot of the street-side bed. See my install pic of the AC outlet. I drilled another 3/4" hole there, since the soundbar has an inline power supply, the "brick" which I wanted inside the center nightstand (tied up behind the drawer) and not outside, tucked under the mattress! I mounted the soundbar about 4" off the back wall, since it has rear speakers too. The soundbar is mounted to the nightstand tabletop merely with Velcro tape. No way I'm using the wall mounted Furrion player, anymore to play CDs, since I can play CDs in the Blu-ray player with high quality audio output to the Samsung soundbar.

Thanks again, SeaDawg! BTW, no that's not reflection of safety glasses. LOL, looks that way! That is a reflection that shows OTT did not get the back corner round, just an imperfection in the round and finish of the back corner. When I received the SAMSUNG 32" M80B 4K UHD HDR Smart-TV/Monitor, my first thought was, "this is a thing of beauty!" The picture is amazing, as the picture has a 3D look to it, with 4K UHD HDR resolution! The entire monitor measures 12mm thick (<1/2"), across the entire screen except for a 4x4" input panel in the rear that protrudes another 1/4" or so. Looking at the input panel, I was worried at first, since there is only one micro-HDMI input and a USB-C for computer use. NP, I could add an HDMI switch up above for additional inputs. I require 2 HDMI inputs, for the Blu-ray player and the Dish Satellite Wally receiver (more on this later). This is a smart-TV/Monitor, meaning it has no TV tuner, nor RF cable input. So, I cannot add an antenna for broadcast TV (one project off my list) and you cannot connect cable TV from an RV park. NBD, I think I tried that once, never again. A real TV would be 2-4" deep and black. The TV was supposed to come with a VESA mount adapter, to be connected to the ceiling mount. Well, this was Amazon used and it was missing. They got me one later, but I installed without it. I decided to mount the screen merely using 3M 4950 VHB Tape. This tape is STRONG! On our Class-C, I used it to tape the Solar panel mounts to the fiberglass roof, no screws used here, and this TV is only 14 lbs. I used my jigsaw with a medium steel blade, to cut a 4x4" opening in one end of the TV mount, to surround the input panel behind the TV. I covered the entire face of the mount with VHB tape (clean both sides with rubbing alcohol) and pushed it, massaged it onto the rear of the screen. There must be a good 20 square inches of tape contact, and this TV is not going anywhere. I don't have assembly pics, and it was difficult to get a decent picture after everything was mounted, but here it is -

CRM, does your added fan have an integrated thermostat? This is a smart upgrade, given the Dometic fridge gets that hot. Is it always hot when running the fridge, or hotter when running on LP? Amazon item? Let us know if you have a part # or source. Thanks

Thanks MAX Burner, i appreciate it, though I'm not near done yet in describing this installation! Please come back for more. And thank you SeaDawg, the Caframo fan is a great idea. The curb side is where my wife Chris sleeps, and she loves her fans. We had a hole in our Bigfoot, when I replaced and moved the thermostat with an AC upgrade. Chris found a pretty little butterfly artwork piece that we taped in place to cover that hole. I think for now I will just plug the holes with white Styrofoam. Pull out the plugs for the correct fix later. Next year, we will camp by Lake Mead and that would be the place to find a boat guy! If there is a way to mount a fan using the existing holes, or at least cover the holes, that would be awesome. Too bad it's near impossible to run power wires behind the interior walls, for anything not near a cabinet opening. There is power above and a huge grommet from the original TV install. A rechargeable battery-operated fan could work nicely.

Notice how far back the TV screen is in relation to the rear window. To make it solid, I bolted the mount through the attic ceiling and used long brackets I had in my shop to distribute the weight across the width of the attic ceiling.

I received the mount, disassembled it and reversed the direction of all parts. I removed the latching mechanism, cut and ground the latch metal from the frame, so that in the reverse direction it would not damage the TV screen in the folded position. The install looked like this:

I purchased a Samsung TV and soundbar. I wanted Samsung, South Korean made, running their Tizen OS, not the TCL/Roku TV I had years ago (is China watching?). Not the Sony TV I have in my living room, running Android, Google owned. And, it was the only white 32" TV monitor I could find! Samsung HD 32” TV monitor white (monitor means no TV tuner, no antenna input): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B89L2WNV?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details SAMSUNG HW-S61B 5.0ch All-in-One Wireless Soundbar w/Dolby Atmos, Alexa, Bluetooth: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09X61YYJB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I like that Amazon sells used electronics and parts. Generally, when items are marked in like new or good condition, another customer opened it and returned it, perhaps damaged the packaging. If not working, just return it. The TV new was $500 plus tax, now it's listed at $400 new, I paid $328 with tax, in used like-new condition. The soundbar was $182 and the TV, soundbar and mount total came to $550.

Given my goal is to mount a hi-rez 32" screen, my first thought is why does OTT only mount these small 24" screens? Then I realized the answer. When they are corner mounted, there is barely enough real estate to go much larger (it can be done, barely). The newer installs are center mounted. You would think there is ample room in the center of the interior living space. They want to the screen to fold up. I agree, there are times when camping when you want the TV screen out of the way to enjoy the view out the rear window. TV mounts that fold up, also fold back. They all work this way. The height of the 24" screen truly is all the room you have. When folded, you must have depth (under the attic) equal to the height of the TV monitor plus approx. 2" for the mechanics of the mount. In our Elite II, there is not enough ceiling space under the attic to fold back a larger screen. My next thought is that I need a TV ceiling mount that will fold forward. If this can be sourced, or if I can build one, the TV in the down position would be far back close the rear window. This would be great! Watching TV, lying in bed, it makes sense to have the TV at my feet, close to the rear window. I do not want it to fold down and closer to me, like by my knees. Closer, given a low-rez 24" screen OK (not!). Back near the rear window, the larger hi-rez screen would be perfect! Well, they do not design folding TV mounts this way! So, I'm thinking, can I buy a standard mount and turn it around? Turns out it worked fine. I bought this mount on Amazon, for $41 total and reversed everything and removed the funky latch mechanism. I will later design something for the folded position. I do not trust these latches anyway. I got to believe many of you get to your campsite to find your TV has bounced and is sitting in the down position. This is the mount I used. It is solid and fits my criteria of being low profile and white! VIVO Manual Flip Down TV Mount, Folding Ceiling Mount for Flat TV Monitors: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BDSPGZWY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

New TV, ceiling mount and cabling all have to be thin profile and white in color.

Being confident, the old has to go... Next day, I just pulled everything old! Request for those reading... How should I fill these holes? I'm an engineer/mechanic, not an artist or autobody/paint guy. I want to be able to later finish the fiberglass and polish the corner, without evidence of original installation (finish work TBD by a professional).

The first thing I did, as an upgrade our new-to-us Oliver, was to upgrade the A/V system. The prior owner recently replaced the original lame corner-mounted 24" TV (TV means television in this post, not tow vehicle) with an Insignia smart TV running the Amazon Fire TV OS. OK, it was an upgrade, since it was then capable to stream from Amazon, Netflix and other services. But come-on, the TV was ugly and BLACK, 4" deep, had a ginormous black 1 1/2" wire harness, etc. I could go on-and-on! (see pic) I have never watched TV on a 24" screen, and do not plan to do so going forward. We enjoy TV and watching movies and I not going to start squinting to watch a low-rez 24" TV. I'm thinking 32" hi-rez would be perfect in this space! 🙂 First thing I did was to realize and test all the accessories we have in the new Oliver. Like the Weingard Sat dish upgrade, nice! The Furrion radio audio system, can play CDs, DVDs, but not Blu-ray. OMG, I looked at Amazon and other providers to replace this head unit, and still today, now that Blu-ray has been around for 16 years, you cannot replace this system, with a wall mounted unit, that also plays Blu-ray. In our beautiful Oliver, view of the rear living space, let me ask you, what stands out as being out of place? It's of course the BLACK, UGLY TV!!!

Thanks Mike, if we weren't living in Prescott AZ, we'd want to be in Boerne, TX! No better state to work in and bring up a family than Texas. Many great spots in Arizona, more retirement locations. Boerne is a very special central Texas hill country town, what a great community! Say hi to Chaney, for me next time you wander into Hearts Home Acoustics. I bought my first Collings dread from him, and he taught me how to play Bach's Sleepers Awake on classical guitar. If there is a day, I cannot play this song, I will have to hang up my guitar after 50 years! It was about 2008 or so, when I found Boerne to visit Hearts Home, and we've been back 3 times. Will visit you and the hill country again next year for the solar eclipse meet. I could not believe the meet location. What a find, we're going, campsite or not, for our first long-distance Oliver trip!

I'll likely rebuild the front-end, check the brakes and shocks this fall. This truck is totally solid and after buying Oliver, I had a $20K budget for our TV. I will reach my budget, after buying all the suspension parts I need! Look for my Audio/Visual system upgrade post soon. I did this upgrade the first week we owned our Oliver. We decided, we are going to call ours Oliver, not Ollie like many of you. Think of Eva Gabor, saying Oliver, in the iconic show Green Acres! "Land spreadin' out so far and wide, keep Manhattan just give me that countryside." I love that phrase and it changed my life when I first heard it. This verse tells much about the RV/camping experience. We travel mainly over the winter, including camping at 3-4 Pickleball tournaments a year. Thinking to meet up with all, y'alls in Texas for the solar eclipse, we love Texas! We lived and worked in the Austin Texas area from 2006-2014. We've been to Fredericksburg 4-5 times, took family there! It's awesome, going for German draft beer and food. Schnitzel and spaetzle! OMG! And my son won a major tennis championship at Kerrville, great memories, and my favorite guitar shop is in Boerne TX, Hearts Home Acoustics!!! Of course, I'll post my suspension rebuild project in the Towing an Oliver forum. I really love this Oliver TT forum already. You guys are great and respond with good advice quickly. I've only been here 5 weeks and plan to be fully involved here. Thanks

I was just out washing the Ollie. I had pressure washed it when we got home with all that road dirt, but it's still dirty. It's so hot out, I only got the roof washed and dried and will do the rest tomorrow. I did take a minute to remove the Anderson, everything but the frame mounts for now. That's a relief. I'll go with the OTT suggested 55 PSI for now, even though the load tables say you can run as low as 45. 80 PSI does make the trailer skate around a bit, squirrely is right. The TV likely has worn ball joints. I know the tests. When I have a bad ball joint, I replace all of them, bushings and other parts along the way. This way, I don't have to do the labor again, and should get 10 years worry free out of a full rebuild. Shocks, yes certainly if they're original or worn-out replacements. Thanks, everybody!

"Design flaw" I see is it's an EV. Yes, the range is too short for highway travel. Then find a charge station and wait how many hours for a recharge? Trucks will likely continue to be diesel, for many, many years to come. Maybe when the EV batteries run low, they can be charged by our OTT house batteries! Ha-ha

John, you must have really disliked your Ram seats! I drove an '03 Laramie for 18 years. It had the leather seats and I loved them. This '01 is a "Laramie/SLT" really the SLT cloth seats. They seem comfy to me and the interior on my truck is perfect, looks more like 4 years old than 22. Will be keeping these as-is!

Suspension work and brake jobs are a specialty of mine. See pic of the front-end restoration I worked on our Class-C, an '03 Ford E-450 chassis, all new Moog ball joints, steering, Super Springs, Hellwig sway bars, and Bilstein shocks. So yeah, I need to go through this new truck once the weather cools down some. I'm ashamed to report, that I received the Oliver with 80 PSI, knew it was wrong, but then read on a few websites that trailers should be at the max pressure. So, I had a weak moment and thought more pressure is better than less and we drove our first trip at max pressure. (I read John's post about tire pressure after we returned.) Reading John's answer this morning, I'm thinking that this is likely all there was wrong, making my "ride really hard and squirrelly" not truly trailer sway, just squirrelly. I already dropped the pressure to 60 PSI and I'm thinking to bring in down to 48. Yes, proper pressure will certainly make it track better on the road. Next time I hook up, I will measure TV ride height before and after to see if the rear truly sags. I'll be happy to ditch the Anderson. I'll pull all the parts eventually and save some more weight. Thank you, John and others who commented.

Thanks SeaDawg, and I believe DunnYet, got the answer requested, now ordering a new truck! You have great memories, of a long-gone Maverick. Honestly, the pic looks way better than I remember, though no fancy black racing stripes on ours! I'm sure we had basic steel wheels too. 😉

And there are likely many other models, by this panel manufacturer and others, that have a RHS door opening. BTW, they could have mounted this same unit upside down and turn the label 180 degrees. It would be as easy as that! I will make the correction at some point. I'll Check JD's post. Issue is, they are selling $100K TTs this way and it only would take 10 cents of reasoning to deliver a better design here, one that we would not have to modify. This will sit at the bottom of my list for a long time, and I'll cuss each time I have to lay on the floor to check a fuse. Wow, that breaker panel in your attic. Looks like something from Lost in Space! I'm glad I have a fan fuse and not have a secondary breaker panel. Thanks for showing this. I'm learning all I can about these OTT works of art!

Fuel prices are high here in AZ! Any of you on the Kroger grocery fuel points program, get their credit card! We have Fry's here in AZ and it's a Kroger company. No fees on this card. Kroger Rewards World Elite Mastercard® | Home 1-2-3 REWARDS Credit Card (krogermastercard.com) SAVE AN ADDITIONAL 55¢ PER GALLON OF FUEL! Each time you redeem at least 100 fuel points at Kroger Fuel Centers for the first year! After the first year, you get still $.35 off instead of the $.10 per 100 grocery points. We could not survive the current inflation/economy without it!

So, we only have a couple hundred miles on our new-to-us Oliver and TV. It's 100 degrees outside, not motivating for maintenance activities, and likely we will not travel again 'til October or later. We usually camp Oct-Apr down here in the SW. Of course, the '01 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins pulled the O with ease, with 4-5K lbs more tow weight capacity available. We did have some sway on I-40, with some wavy asphalt, many semitrucks and wind. The Anderson mounted easily a couple of times, but one time not so much, causing a few foul words, and yes, I watched the video. I've only owned this Ram for a few weeks and have not yet had time to check the front end or much anything else, and at 22 years old and 161K miles it may need a ball joint, tie-rod end or something. I've read here (that's all I've been doing lately) that most of you with newer Rams or F250s, ditch the Anderson WDH and all is good. I read some of you are using helper springs. My Ram dropped rear height quite a bit mounting the 6K lb TT, more than it should. The Anderson did correct the front-to-rear height a bit, though I felt the same minor sway, with the chains tight or loose. It does not appear the WDH changes anything. I really want this ride to feel solid as a rock at Interstate speeds. The Ram has a ridiculous rear sway bar. Without measuring, it's looks like 7/8" diameter. I can replace it with a Hellwig sway bar and that's one option, but that will not correct sag. When I clicked on an e-Trailer link, one of you with a newer Ram supplied for a helper spring, it stated it would not fit my older Ram. When I queried, what will, this came up: 2001 Dodge Ram Pickup Vehicle Suspension - SuperSprings Intl (etrailer.com) Reading the description, it states; "They significantly reduce sway and prevent sagging, which is perfect for towing" and "to compensate for minor spring fatigue in an older automobile." It reads like it's everything I need. Reasonable cost and easy to install. I will do some research on Ram and Cummins forums. Though can anybody here help? Do you have experience with this kind of product? Or do you have other suggestions?