Oliver Lift

[dkeen]

Hull 1703 2026 LEII

Has anyone raised their Oliver 2"?  I have a steep driveway and the approach angle from the road to the driveway is approximately 12%.  To back the Oliver up the driveway I currently have to back up until the trailer is just about to hit and then place boards under the tires until we are started up the driveway and then we are fine.  Raising the height by 2" should solve my problem. 

[jd1923]

I have not read here that anybody has done so to date, but John E Davies who was active years ago wrote some about modifying the Oliver suspension from an Under- to Over-slung suspension.

I tow in the NF and BLM of Arizona often, descending steep and deep washes and have so far never scraped the rear. This suspension change would give you a 5+" lift (diameter of axle plus height of leaf springs), and this comes with negatives. Mainly just climbing into the cabin would be a pain, reason why I tow with a 2WD truck, vs. a 4WD truck with a lift! No, I'm done with trucks or trailers where I'd need to climb up like that! 🤣

I'm not seeing a 2" lift option and only 2" may not answer your needs.

I've got neighbors with driveways like yours, wow! I'd suggest leave the Oliver alone and fix your driveway. You'd appreciate it when driving your grocery-getter too. Talk to a concrete contractor or build a proper set of ramps specifically for this purpose.

Please let us know and post here with pics and comments if you do convert your Oliver to an Over-slung suspension! 😎 

[Steph and Dud B]

Haven't done it to our Oliver but we "flipped" the axles on a previous trailer to gain approximately 2" for the same reason. If your Oliver axles sit on top of the springs you can have a spring/suspension shop "flip" them to put the axle tubes underneath the springs. You basically gain the diameter of the axle tubes. (Note that this could slightly affect handling since it raises the trailer's center of gravity, but we didn't notice it on our other trailer.)

[Ronbrink]

I have seen videos where skid rollers are mounted at the rear of a travel trailer to keep the bumper/under carriage from scraping on steep driveways or road grades; check out etrailer.com for such products. I welded some on a skid plate that’s mounted on the front of my TV to protect the expensive ebike rack, works great! 

Edited 12 hours ago by Ronbrink

[Steph and Dud B]

1 hour ago, Ronbrink said:

I have seen videos where skid rollers are mounted at the rear of a travel trailer to keep the bumper/under carriage from scraping on steep driveways or road grades

The problem with this is that it puts a reverse stressor on the trailer frame. Instead of bearing a load (trailer body) pressing down from above, when the rollers are dragged on the pavement they push up on the rear frame of the trailer and carry part of the load usually carried by the axles. This can bend a trailer frame and cause damage to the body (although I would think a molded fiberglass body is stronger then other RVs).

[topgun2]

A former Moderator and Oliver owner is/was renowned for relatively extreme mods to his Ollie.  One of these mods occurred during construction where he had requested Oliver raise his Oliver to get more ground clearance - primarily for off-roading purposes.  Someone here on the Forum might still have more pictures of this Oliver.  Once the Oliver was "lifted" it was decided (by all concerned) that this would cause the trailer to be too top heavy and/or would impact the road handling of the trailer adversely.  Therefore,  it was returned to the original design.  The trailer's name was Snowball and the Forum name of the owner was Overland.

Bill

p.s.  Here's Overland's discussion of his "attempted" lift.

 

[Ronbrink]

2 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:

The problem with this is that it puts a reverse stressor on the trailer frame. Instead of bearing a load (trailer body) pressing down from above, when the rollers are dragged on the pavement they push up on the rear frame of the trailer and carry part of the load usually carried by the axles. This can bend a trailer frame and cause damage to the body (although I would think a molded fiberglass body is stronger then other RVs).

Understood, valid concern; much the same forces from dragging the frame on the pavement, but perhaps with less resistance. I would suggest the OP contact Oliver for their take on the matter. Another solution may be to lower the hitch ball and thus, raise the rear a bit for better clearance prior to backing up or driving down a steep drive. Just a thought. 

[jd1923]

18 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:

we "flipped" the axles on a previous trailer to gain approximately 2" for the same reason.

I believe going from from an Under- to Over-slung suspension adds quite a bit more than 2" but you've done this on another trailer and I have not. When I study this simple graphic focused on the top of the axle, it appears the top of the axle drops 1) the 3" diameter of the axle plus the ~2" height of the leaf pack. This adds to about 5" for the Oliver.

Then Bill posted a picture above that looks about 5" taller and the link supplied wrote re an Under- to Over-slung suspension change. (Graphic posted again for ease of viewing.)

[jd1923]

9 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:

The problem with this is that it puts a reverse stressor on the trailer frame. Instead of bearing a load (trailer body) pressing down from above, when the rollers are dragged on the pavement they push up on the rear frame of the trailer and carry part of the load usually carried by the axles. This can bend a trailer frame and cause damage to the body (although I would think a molded fiberglass body is stronger then other RVs).

Agree, these are not very helpful. First where they touch is lower than where the frame would touch, so you will bottom more often. Also, if too much pressure is exerted, then what Dudley wrote.

Application for skid rollers is for a trailer with very thick steel frames like Toy Haulers or car haulers. I would not expect them to play well with the relatively soft Oliver aluminum frame. 

[Steph and Dud B]

40 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

19 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:

we "flipped" the axles on a previous trailer to gain approximately 2" for the same reason.

I believe going from from an Under- to Over-slung suspension adds quite a bit more than 2" but you've done this on another trailer and I have not.

You may be right. I don't have my notes with me. It was 27 years ago and I was shooting from the hip there. It did solve our problem and didn't affect handling much, BUT, that trailer sat much lower than a stock Oliver does. 

Another thing that we learned that may be helpful to the OP is that angle of attack to the grade makes a big difference. Worst case is driving straight into the grade change. Crossing the grade change at an angle helps reduce tail dragging. We found that our best option to clear our grade is a right turn leaving and a left turn returning.