Boilermaker Chemist

Just to emphasize that point, if you would be involved in an accident, you can be sure that the insurance companies will look into the details. If they find that you weren’t using a weight distribution hitch even though one was recommended, there’s a good chance they won’t cover the damages to your vehicles nor your liability for any damage or injury to other parties.

Several years ago on a trip through CO, we made an overnight stop at a campground near Gunnison. It was dark and since we were in a level site I didn’t unhitch. In the morning, I noticed that the trailer battery was dead. As I looked around I discovered the pin from the BAS had been pulled out. I must have snagged it while getting something out of the truck in the dark. No matter how I tried to reinsert the pin, it wouldn’t go in. Upon reading the installation instructions I found that if the pin is pulled out for an extended period the high current from the battery will weld the contacts together! Needless to say our departure that morning was delayed. So if you pull the pin to test your BAS, be sure you don’t get distracted and end up forgetting about it.

This is very interesting data. I made a similar comparison before and after I had the hitch put on at the factory and found a similar result. I am surprised at how little weight "re-distribution" this "WDH" provides. I don't have the data, but my guess is that a hitch using spring bars would do much more than that.

@Rivernerd I had a very similar experience. Just like you, legendary reliability was one of the main reasons that I bought the Toyota. Having already read comments on the Tundras.com forum, I was aware of this potential issue. So soon after I bought the new Tundra, I did some testing and confirmed elevated transmission temperatures while towing upgrade. I purchased a complete installation kit from GenuineCoolingSystems.com and had a local transmission shop install the auxiliary cooler. The true test came when we drove N on I-17 from Phoenix towards Flagstaff on a hot day in June. There is a steady and steep (4-5%) grade for about 7 miles starting near Black Canyon City, exit 244. A sign along the way states “AVOID OVERHEATING TURN OFF AIR CONDITIONER NEXT 5 MILES”. With the ambient temperature at 100 degrees, we passed several overheated trucks and cars while towing our fully loaded trailer at 55 mph with the AC ON. The transmission temperature never exceeded 206. So I am obviously very pleased with that modification to my truck.

I might have to report you, calling my Toyota Tundra a Nissan is offensive! 🤪

Now I have truck envy 🤪

@roguebooks You might find this article has some good ideas for you: https://www.rvtravel.com/wheretosellrv-2475/? I find that the RVTravel newsletter has a lot of excellent information and I have learned a great deal from it.

@Rivernerd BTW have you ever checked your transmission temperature when you are towing? For some reason Toyota eliminated their cooler from the 2019-2021 models.

I ordered my Tundra from the factory as 2WD to max out the payload (1540 before ARE cap addition). On our last last trip out I was only 20 lbs under GVWR. I gotta believe that a 3/4 ton truck would have a much higher payload. At the risk of hijacking my own post, any 250/2500 owners out there want to chime in? 😀

I would love to have a 3/4 ton truck and be done with the hitch but our garage is under the house and there isn't enough headroom. In fact, the Tundra was the only half ton with tow package that wasn't too tall to fit.

Thanks again for the suggestion, ordered the Curt 45804 version from HomeDepot with free shipping. Hopefully one less annoyance with the Anderson hitch.

Thanks, I will definitely pick one of those up. But I will go with the Curt version from TSC, I tend to avoid HF stuff for anything safety-related.

I tried the jacking up the rear end of the truck approach since that's the way it worked for my Reese WDH on our Micro Minnie. But for some reason, could never get enough slack that way. Thanks for sharing this other approach. I will definitely give it a try.

Our new-to-us OE2 came without the Anderson hitch so I had one installed at the factory. First let me say that I was very impressed with their excellent service. And the free, on-site campground was a very convenient plus. After hitch installation, Jason told me that on my Tundra the chain bolts would likely need to be loosened every time that I unhitched to provide enough slack to remove the sway control plate. This is a bit of a PIA and is just one of the many reasons why I dislike this hitch (I feel another post forthcoming). Anyway, he said to just count the number of threads on the bolts to get back to the same tension on the chain. I found that counting the threads was just another little annoyance and decided to make a thickness gage instead. After measuring the length of the exposed chain bolt, I cut a piece of ¾” Schedule 40 PVC pipe to the exact same length. The ID of this pipe just fits over the bolt and I can easily feel with my finger when the edge of the pipe is even with the bolt. I believe that this is easier and likely more accurate than counting threads. I hope this simple tip this will help others with the same issue. Now if anyone has found a way to attach a WDH with sway bars to their Ollie I would love to hear about it!

This won't be helpful for anyone with an OE I but on used pricing for the OE II, here is a plot of asking prices since early 2023, mostly from RV Trader. I stopped updating this about 2 months ago after we bought ours. FWIW.

I happened to find our Ollie on CraigsList but saw several good leads on RVTrader. I had alerts set up on both sites for several months so I had a good idea of what the typical asking prices were, how quickly they sold and could also see when the prices were reduced. We sold our Minnie Winnie through RVTrader in just 2 weeks, but it's a little pricey, CraigsList is free. There are a lot of on-line scammers out there, just be careful to only deal with someone that you can actually meet in person. Good luck!

How is access to the sewer hose termination fitting? Looks like it might be rather difficult.

I just installed a LevelMate Pro myself, pretty handy.

I’m contemplating doing that. Can you describe your installation?

I have the same issue. When I had my OE2 in for service at the factory Jason told me that the drain pan on the Truma is very shallow and can easily overflow at the front without flowing out the drain line. Note Truma manual states operation at an incline of over 4% can cause damage to the unit due to running the compressor dry.

Thanks for the tip on checking the compression fittings. I will do that.

I would assume that it is Marine Grade Tinned Copper UL1426.

Well, it says WAGO on the side of the connectors. Here's what Xantrex tech support says: "As for the levers, you may be able to get one or 2 to stay open, but usually they do not, and they have a strong spring. It is normal." Thanks for the tip on the ferrules, I was thinking about something like that but wasn't sure what to use.

I don't think so. But the locknut on the romex connector was loose so I speculate that may have allowed some movement as we traveled on the bumpy interstate highways.

I am posting this in case anyone else has the same issue. Recently I noticed that my Xantrex Freedom XC Pro 2000 was not charging my batteries when hooked up to shore power. However, the microwave was working so the inverter portion of the Xantrex was working properly. The EMS showed good shore power voltage, 60 Hz and no errors. No errors were shown on the Xantrex external display. However, I learned on this forum that there is an app for the Xantrex (FXC Control). Upon downloading and launching the app I saw the following alert: “Utility Power Not Available/Qualified”. This indicated that there was a problem somewhere with input power. I removed the small cover at the back of the inverter. The input and output AC connections are made by WAGO lever connectors. There is a small hole in each lever to allow the voltage to be checked with probes and a multimeter. I measured 120 V at the output of the inverter but no voltage at the input. It turns out that there was a bad connection at the WAGO connector, perhaps caused by road vibration. After disconnecting shore power and upon removal I found that the stranded AC input wires were rather mashed together rather than twisted together. I cut those ends off, removed 10 mm of insulation as specified in the install instructions and used electrician’s pliers to gently twist the wires together. (Note: the install instructions also specify that the exposed copper wire should be tinned with lead-free solder). I found the reinstall to be very difficult because the levers are spring loaded and will not stay open so each wire had to be inserted in sequence. The short length and heavy gage of the wire combined with having to hold the lever open with one hand made this a very difficult task. Nevertheless, I was finally able to insert them properly using a pair of needle nose pliers. This resolved my problem and everything is working properly again. I will also note that the app makes it much easier to check or change the settings on the Xantrex unit compared to doing so on the external display. I highly recommend it.