Battery Box Separation

[Geronimo John]

Physic's 101.  

On 1/19/2026 at 4:54 PM, Geronimo John said:

Yep weight and G-forces will tend to find weak parts.  At least your Litho weight is way under what the OEM's were.  

We now have seen frame fractures and battery boxes being damaged by trailers likelly exceeding their design limits in one way or another.  Just a reminder that stiff Frames/Springs/Shocks and high tire pressures are things to avoid or at least mitigate where we can.

The above includes airing down tires and running with light gray and black tanks when going off road.  

GJ

 

 

[dewdev]

@topgun2

 

Did Mike say what product OTT uses to attach the bulb to the fiberglass?

Thanks

[Geronimo John]

JD:

I suspect that the root cause is the slotted two piece stiff-leg that was utilized for installation & adjustment purposes.  I am concerned by several aspects of the picture:

• All structural two-piece columns must utilize at least two GOOD bolt connections. Single Point of Failure Rule.
• There does not appear to be sufficient aluminum angle to angle overlap.  A two piece structural column must have significant overlap to allow for both compression and angular deflections.
• The slot appears to have been hacked into the angle, not milled.
• Only having a single bolt.  This allows the connection to act like an "elbow".  

Combined the above structural member could not effectively resist the battery and tray mass from moving out of the trailer.

If it were mine, I would take a magic marker and physically strike the top of the lower angle for use as a witness mark.  Then unload the batteries and determine at what height the support plate requires for proper elevation, flush alignment for the horizontal rivets, and to (hopefully) provide a slight slope to the outside for drainage.  I would also add 1/8" in height for grins.

Then of course add two bolts for permanent fitment.

GJ

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 11:45 PM by Geronimo John

[topgun2]

10 minutes ago, dewdev said:

Did Mike say what product OTT uses to attach the bulb to the fiberglass?

No - sorry but I didn't ask.

[carnivore]

I just received a call back from Oliver parts so I just ordered from them what they use. Someone on here asked what type of adhesive Oliver uses. I’ll know for sure after I receive the replacement part but looking at what I removed, it appears the adhesive was  probably already on the gasket. 

[David and Gail]

After seeing this thread I decided to check my battery support this morning. I really didn't expect to see any problem, but I received a surprise. My battery box support had two holes with no bolts. After some searching I found the bolt heads peeking out from around the wiring harness and after getting those I lifted the wiring harness and found the nuts. The idea of using a small bottle jack in this thread worked for me. I was able to place a 4 ton jack in there and raised the bracket until the holes were aligned enough to start the bolts, but I could not get them to go all the way. The angle of the bracket was off. I chose to use a small c-clamp on the bracket going from curb side to street side, that allowed the bolts to go through enough to get the nuts started. Finished it up with some blue Loctite on the threads.  I have enclosed some photos of the repair. 

Finding this on my one year old Oliver was not expected. I would encourage everyone to check this support bracket on your Oliver to prevent future problems.

 

[topgun2]

David & Gail - 

Hopefully you either have or will have time to submit your repair to the Oliver Service Department.  There is obviously a problem in this area.

Thanks!

Bill

[jd1923]

6 hours ago, David and Gail said:

After seeing this thread I decided to check my battery support this morning. I really didn't expect to see any problem, but I received a surprise. My battery box support had two holes with no bolts. After some searching I found the bolt heads peeking out from around the wiring harness and after getting those I lifted the wiring harness and found the nuts. The idea of using a small bottle jack in this thread worked for me.

David, excellent work and thank you for proving my hypothesis re the bottle jack and that some lift will be required to set the battery box straight.

I’ll be working mine soon even though the battery door on ours has been straight for 10 years.

I believe the angle re the two beams is due to the curve of the hull, all pics show the same.

I’ll bet, you did not expect this on your brand new Oliver! Yours should still be under warranty for anything that may come up. 

Edited 2 hours ago by jd1923

[topgun2]

 

I know that the general subject of quality control has been on the minds of a number of members of the Forum - particularly recently concerning the issues with the battery box support post.  I can tell everyone that Oliver does have a fairly extensive quality control system and procedures.  Unfortunately, these systems and procedures simply didn't exist back in the day when 2015, 2016 and probably 2017 units came off the production line.  However, it does exist now.

In the Forum guidelines the Moderators have requested:

"Some have asked why our forum is linked to the Oliver website. Valid question. Since the beginning of our forum in 2008, Oliver Travel Trailers (OTT) has paid for our Oliver “sandbox”, including our web space and an administrator who knows way more than we do about maintaining the software, for which we are very grateful. OTT DOES NOT CENSOR OR INTERFERE with the moderators’ management of the forum content. Moderators are not employees of OTT. We are Ollie owners, and receive no remuneration. OTT does have a employee designated to read the forum for the purpose of improving the “Ollie Experience” for all, but that’s a few minutes a day in a busy job description. If you should ever have an issue or a warranty claim, call tech support. Your post might not be seen on the forum by an Oliver employee.

With that in mind, we moderators ask you to communicate directly with the company and afford them an opportunity to satisfy any serious needs before flaming OTT on the forum. We are not asking that anything to be swept under the rug. Just, please, let Oliver Travel Trailers have the first shot to meet and exceed your expectations."

Specifically in answer to the question, "Are they reading?" the answer is more than likely - NO.  Therefore, the only way that we (the owners of an Oliver trailer) have to inform Oliver of a quality control issue is to fill out a Service Ticket.

Bill

p.s.  for those that have not recently viewed the full set of Forum Guidelines, they can be see HERE