Random Oliver Picture Thread - post what you have, make us smile.

[John E Davies]

I am installing new (manual adjust) brakes on the rear axle, so I wanted to check the magnets before covering them up with the drums. I pulled the breakaway switch lanyard and then performed the nifty “Big Wrench Test”:

And the “How Many Amps Test”:

Check, now it is time for the drums to go on, I already swapped out the supplied bearings for Timkens. I have never even once found a bad brake magnet, but this does check the quality of your electrical splices - it is always better to find mistakes before you go too far into the job.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[John E Davies]

I am almost finished with bathroom vents, to allow airflow out the roof fan with both the window and the door closed. I took this shot over the door a little while ago, right after I sealed the wood core with spar varnish, I thought is was kind of “UFO cool”.

I also added a set of holes into the closet to vent the trapped heat that accumulates in the top. 

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Ray and Susan Huff]

On 10/2/2019 at 12:29 PM, JMSpoff said:

Had a great trip at the end of 2018 through Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, New York (Niagara Falls, Lake Erie), Acadia National Park, Boston, Arizona (Grand Canyon and Chiricahua National Monument). Spent 14 days boon docking in the red rocks region behind Sedona AZ that was a lot of fun. Thought I'd share these shots of the Ollie in the wild. We had a blast and plan to do Utah, AZ (again), Quartzite, Tennessee and Alabama (rally time :)) starting in January at quartzite. If anyone plans on being there during the RV show please let me know would love to meet you there. yn

 

John and Marilyn.

 

 

 

 

My husband would like to trade our 2013 F350 long-bed CC for a 250 with a shorter bed.  What size bed does yours have?  How does the Elite II tow with it?  Fuel consumption? 

Our biggest hesitation is letting go of our trouble free pickup which has fewer electronic components than newer models.  We purchased it new to tow a 30' fifth wheel, and as a ranch workhorse.  Now it's a bit overkill for the Elite II and we've pretty much "retired" from ranching.   It's just so dang long . . . . . . especially with a trailer in tow!

[Ghostriderc227]

I purchased a new F250 Super Duty two years ago, the truck is a 2019.  It has the 6.7 diesel and the suspension includes the camper package that includes a rear stabilizer bar, the front stabilizer bar is one step stiffer, but less than the snowplow option.  There are two bed lengths and mine is the shorter of the two.

I did tow my LE 2 on a 1,200 trip recently and it towed great.  Smooth and no sway or bounce.  My fuel mileage is 19 combined with no trailer or load, with the LE2 I averaged 14.5 and that was through the Smokey mountains.

I am very happy with the truck and the Oliver. Recently I added the Undercover Flex Armor bed cover for the 6’ 9” bed and very pleased with that as well.

Steve

 

[Mcb]

2 hours ago, John E Davies said:

I am almost finished with bathroom vents, to allow airflow out the roof fan with both the window and the door closed. I took this shot over the door a little while ago, right after I sealed the wood core with spar varnish, I thought is was kind of “UFO cool”.

I also added a set of holes into the closet to vent the trapped heat that accumulates in the top. 

John Davies

Spokane WA

Well the project I’m working on isn’t quite as cool as yours that’s for sure, and is just getting underway.. but I thought I’d share.. All the potential storage space around the propane tanks has been nagging me for some attention… It just seems like a perfect place for things I don’t need very often but need a dedicated place to be stowed in Dearie. So I installed 1/2” hardware cloth in the bottom to keep stuff from falling out, and have got a couple of plastic “tubes” set up.. one for the grease gun and related stuff, the other for the winterization pump and the like. I’ll stash extra lengths of pex in a 3” capped PVC pipe that will be lashed to the hardware cloth behind the gas bottles, probably along with emergency short term winterization gear. I already have a garden hose that I use to flush the black water tank that lives in front of the gas bottle, and there is a fair amount of space in there for “something”… just gotta figure out what that something might be.. Judging by some of the older posts on this thread you have a very cool shop John, resulting in a small pang of jealousy on my part, though I’m not complaining about my workspace….

 

Dearie in the dooryard..

 

working out some storage solutions…

[John E Davies]

I found a great place to stash my (hot) heat gun while installing the EZE RV gutter over the rear hatch …. inside my flag pole holder. The newly repaired one, after I backed it into the stonework of my house 🙄

John Davies

Spokane WA

[ScubaRx]

John, don't you just love starting an easy project and then creating more work for yourself...

[John E Davies]

Just after reaching the north end of the Cassiar Hwy at the Yukon border. “Caution Extreme Dust” said the sign….. but it was raining steadily and had been for three days. 10 km of road construction, ripped up asphalt and single lane pilot car traffic, with 30 minute delays, followed by 60 km of very fresh chip seal (loose gravel over tar). The posted speed limit was 45 kph but everybody was doing nearly double that. Most of the lower stuff washed off, but there was this odd oily Nike Swoosh left on both truck and trailer. The windshield has quite a few new pits.

The Cassiar is a route everybody should do one time. You won’t want to do it again unless you are riding an adventure bike….

I’ll update this post with a pic of “Mouse” when I can get one from my wife, she was snapping lots of pictures with her Nikon DSLR as we gassed up right after the mud bath.

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

[topgun2]

Middle Fork Campground about 16 miles south/southwest of Buffalo, WY.

[John E Davies]

Muncho Lake BC, from the north viewpoint, Alaska Highway, headed south.

View out the back window, Strawberry Flats CG, Muncho Lake Provincial Park, at the south end. We encountered our most expensive gas near here, C$1.97/ liter (US$5.97/ gal). Average is about C$1.45, the cheapest was C$1.27 (US$3.85/ gal) in the gas/ oil fields around Dawson Creek, near Alberta.

The weather was lovely, for a change, and I took some wonderful time lapse videos of the lake and clouds, and encountered the dreaded black flies for the first time. This is 24 hours after getting bit about a dozen times around the top of my socks. Yes, they really itch! Three days later they still itch….

We are near the south part of BC now, approaching Kelowna,  and if we pass our Covid tests on Wednesday, we will be able to cross over into the USA again. Otherwise we will have to quarantine. 😳

John Davies

Spokane WA

[SeaDawg]

Beautiful photos!

As you know, Muncho Lake is one of my very favorite places. 

Glad you stopped.

So sorry about the black flies. We usually are there in spring.

[topgun2]

You have my personal sympathies with regards to the black flies.  Ouch!

[Brad-Beth]

Soak a cotton ball with Braggs Organic Apple Cider Vinegar and tape it to the bug bites for about 20 minutes.

I get big red welts and bite bumps from mosquitos.  The redness goes away in about 20-30 minutes.  I keep applying the Vinegar and the bumps go away too.

Best to apply it right after you get bit.  Hope this helps.

[Mike and Carol]

Just a pic with a lake reflection…..

 

[Cameron]

I keep my Ollie about 3 hours away up in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Last time I left it, the fresh water tank was half full and the batteries were turned off. I'm planning to go up in another week or 10 days and hopefully everything is okay, with no frozen or burst pipes or lithium battery malfunctions. I would have loved to have been in it during the snow storm, warm and cozy.

[Mountainman198]

Happy New Year!

[KWRJRPE]

Picture taken a few years back at the COE Eastbank campground on Lake Seminole near Chattahoochee, FL.  Notice the Jim Woodruff Dam in the background which forms Lake Seminole and serves as the origin for the Apalachicola River which runs 100 stream miles to the Gulf of Mexico.  

[John E Davies]

For various reasons my camping season is off to a late start this year. Here is “Mouse” half treated with Rejex.

The oily muck that got EVERYWHERE from a 80 km stretch of fresh chip sealed highway (in the rain) on the Cassiar Hwy in central British Columbia last fall took a great deal of hand scrubbing and swearing to remove. I used 409 degreaser and bar towels, followed up with 3M Adhesive cleaner to get the tar and crusty Wood Bison poop off. (They graze the grassy shoulders of the highways and leave their droppings in the road.) I had thoroughly washed the trailer with Dawn before putting it away, but the bottom part was still gross. Here are the towels presoaking so I can get them into the washer, I rinsed them four times before they got clean enough to put in the machine.

The Stone Stomper worked great to keep the tailgate and hatch of the Land Cruiser clean, but it is not a miracle worker…

I truly hate chip sealing.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[John E Davies]

Three miles of dusty washboard 8% gravel road to get to Great Basin NP Baker Creek Campground…..

No grease leaks! I seal the mating surface between the cap and the hub with a skim of clear RTV silicone sealant. The new bike rack works great:

Obligatory Land Cruiser covered in dust pic, following almost 50 miles of dust up Snake Creek Canyon (south GBNP). I didn’t try to take the trailer on that one, 

John Davies

Spokane WA

[SteveCr]

Great western Bison ranch....sometimes referred to as Yellowstone. Guess they wanted a close up look at the Ollie!

May 2022.

[topgun2]

12 hours ago, SteveCr said:

Guess they wanted a close up look at the Ollie!

Year before last I was camped at Pebble Creek in Yellowstone and the two ladies next to me showed me their white Tundra with a big dent in the driver's side door.  That dent was caused by a bull bison as he walked past and just slowly moved his head to one side - ouch!

Bill

[AlbertNTerri]

On 4/5/2019 at 9:24 AM, John E Davies said:

Love that place! That is the White Rim Road down there along the cliff edge. Have you ever driven it? The east half along the Colorado River is by far the most stunning.

 

https://www.nps.gov/cany/planyourvisit/whiterimroad.htm

 

Shafer Switchbacks, headed toward the east entry point to the WR, (very) downhill from the Canyonlands ranger station close to Moab.... 

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

Please tell me you were not towing Mouse

albert

[tallmandan]

Great Sand Dunes NP in Colorado.  Wind storm makes for a sand storm with 50 mph gusts and yes, that is the sun in the photo!  Next morning we could actually see the dunes!

 

[Frank C]

[John E Davies]

My wife took this with her iPhone 11, no retouching at all except a very slight adjustment of the Brilliance.

South central Washington Palouse wheat fields on a WA 127 pass between Dayton and Dusty, the day after a bunch of rain. We had a delayed cold and dry Spring, then it got warm and very wet and the fields just exploded. I have lived here for nearly two decades, have driven through this area many times, and have never seen it so lush and vibrant. The stems are about four feet high and no irrigation is used.

Look closely for a couple of cool “Easter eggs”.

John Davies

Spokane WA