Getting to know more about Oliver TT

[GatorDave]

I have seen only one in person and was overly impressed.  Seems to be the ideal camper to travel over rougher mountain forest service roads to the ideal Boondocking site

[SeaDawg]

Welcome to the forum, Gatordave.

Many of us indeed do believe this is a great boondocking trailer. 12 years of boondocking in ours has confirmed our initial opinion.

Lots of folks here to answer any questions you may have.

Sherry

Edited August 7, 2020 by SeaDawg
Typos

[John E Davies]

Welcome to the forum.

An Ollie is a tough little tank; however there is nothing at all special about the suspension other than the greasable EZ Flex shackles. It has extremely limited travel, so towing over potholes or washboard requires a walking speed. Smooth gravel is no worries, it tracks extremely well even at unsafe speeds over 40 mph. It's those bumps and deep holes that cause the trauma. My trailer has 1.5" of up travel before the axle ubolt smacks the steel subframe (there are no rubber bumps stops).

Tell Sales you want them to offer a more offroad worthy suspension option, one with decent travel (4 or more inches). There are many great options in the aftermarket, but I haven't heard of anyone doing this mod yet. It is a bit terrifying for an owner to be doing the R & D on such a major component.

If you truly plan on doing lots of forest roads you should probably be looking at other brands, like a single axle Black Series trailer, or a compact truck camper. The secondary forest roads I sometimes travel in the PNW, withOUT the trailer, tend to be tight and twisty with no pullouts, and are often brushy. Not a situation for a camper you want to keep looking nice. The main access roads in the valleys are maintained and plenty wide, but sometimes lots rougher due to high traffic.

An Ollie will go most places that it will fit and that the rear frame will clear, but sometimes it is a sloooooooow process.

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited August 7, 2020 by John E Davies

[Jairon]

6 hours ago, John E Davies said:

My trailer has 1.5" of up travel before the axle ubolt smacks the steel subframe (there are no rubber bumps stops).

Would a different shock alleviate some of that travel or would the entire axle need to be upgraded? We're interested in pushing ours a bit so I'm curious about what options might exist.

Edited August 7, 2020 by Jairon

[BackofBeyond]

Speed, just slow down, and you will be fine in a good many places.  I've taken mine down some rough spots, go slow and the travel is not a big issue, unless its really large elevation changes in the road surface.  Then its about clearance - The axle is fine. 

RB

[John E Davies]

Slowing way down works OK but it is a bandaid method for dealing with a crappy suspension. If you want to drive a few miles of potholes from a good road to a NfS campground, that is doable, certainly. If you need to drive 75 to 100 miles of rough ranch roads, that is just not feasible at 5-10 mph.

Have you ever hit a deep pothole at 60 mph on a paved road? Sometimes you just can’t avoid it due to traffic. When the axles smash into the frame with a huge bang, you will think the frame broke in half. It is simply unsafe and it scares the bejesus out of the occupants of the TV.

Leaf springs are crude at best, as are drum brakes. There are way better options.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[John E Davies]

1 hour ago, Jairon said:

Would a different shock alleviate some of that travel or would the entire axle need to be upgraded? We're interested in pushing ours a bit so I'm curious about what options might exist.

The shocks are not the issue. Here are a few threads to read.

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/1674-spring-over-axle-lift/

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/4105-turn-your-oliver-into-an-aussie-beater-anyone/
 

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/4265-timbren-independent-rubber-suspension/

If I were to do this, it would be with the last method. But I really don’t want to be the first to do it.... 😳
 

John Davies

Spokane WA 

Edited August 8, 2020 by John E Davies