First few months of ownership (Legacy Elite I) -

[QuestionMark]

Oliver Owners,

We picked up our new trailer (Legacy Elite I #664) on Sept 16, 2020 and have been using it on/off since this date.  Overall, our experience has been wonderful and the quality of the trailer has been much better than what we have read about other manufacturers.   In an attempt to help others with our recent learnings, I am listing some of the items were have learned about, fixed, and/or submitted a tickets for:

 

Initial Pickup:

- The bathroom interior window frame was bent due to being over tightened -  Jason and the person showing us the trailer located a new frame and installed.

- Window shade over the rear driver's side window had damage to the felt liner at the bottom of the night shade. - Orientation team replaced.

 

First Night Camp @ Davy Crockett State Park:

- Noticed that the propane alarm was not on.  - Contacted Jason via telephone and he walked me through installing the 1A fuse that was included in the box of spare fuses provided.  The fuse holder is located under the dinette seat and is somewhat hard to find as it is black and not easy to see.  

- Upon opening the rear compartment door, the bracket where the wire attaches to keep the door from swinging down came unglued.  - Contacted Jason to let him know and he said they would send me some epoxy to fix.   Ended up purchasing some a few weeks after getting back home as it never arrived.   I let Jason know we no longer needed as I had fixed per his recommendation of Gorilla 2 part epoxy.   

- Shower floor squeaks a lot - Contacted Oliver Service and have a ticket for them to repair when we take the trailer back to TN for its annual checkup.   According to Jason, the squeak is most likely from the shower tub not being cut correctly or the padding under it not installed correctly.   No biggie for now as we have learned to live with it knowing that it will get fixed.   If your spouse decides to use the bathroom at night, It will wake you up.   No liquids right before bedtime. 🙁

First Long Drive from TN to AR:

- Had someone flag us down and let us know that the rear compartment door had come open during travel.  Upon pulling over and inspecting, we noticed that the screws had come loose on the latch and allowed the door to open with the latch locked close.   I was lucky enough to have some blue lock-tight with me to use on the screws when retightening.  No further issues experienced.   We let Oliver know that this happened and they indicated that lock-tight should have been added to the screws at the factory.  I am confident they put new procedures in place to keep this from happening again.

 

First Time Back Home:

- Spent time learning about the solar system, inverter, appliances, etc....     -  Realized that both the Solar Controller and the Inverter were both set to flooded batteries vs. the AGMs we had installed.   Changed both to AGM.   No issues noted so not sure if it really mattered.   

Texas State Park Close to Home:

- Noticed a small gap at the top of the external door window frame.   - Contacted Oliver and was told that the frames are designed to click together but requires special plastic keys to take the frame off to inspect.  From my reading this is a common thing from the door factories with the tabs getting broken.   We tried several time to get the internal frame to snap together with the external frame.  No luck.   Contacted Oliver again and Jason said he would have a new frame (and plastic keys) sent to us so we can repair/replace.   The suppliers are backed up, so it has now been two months with the door window frame and glass loose.   I was successful in learning that there is a supplier zarcor.com that has the window frames (Lippert) in stock and can be purchased/delivered within a couple of days.   We will most likely end up just ordering and replacing as they also offer a clear tinted glass and window shutter for the door.   There is another post in this forum with pictures if you are interested.    Being that this repair is taking a long time to get resolved, I would recommend anyone picking up their trailer inspect this and have it repaired before taking delivery.   

 

 Arkansas State Park (Crater of Diamonds):

- Upon arrival at the State Park we noticed that the trailer was squeaking loudly with every small bump in the park.   Upon inspection, I did not notice any lose bolts, nuts, fittings on the suspension.  We contacted Jason at Oliver and he had not heard of anyone having this problem before.  We ducked our heads down and slowly made it to our campsite without disturbing the other campers throughout the  park. We did get some stares tho with the squeaks.  Once setup, I made a quick trip to the local hardware store to purchase a small grease gun/grease, 90-degree zerk fitting as the zerks are not accessible without having the pull the tire off, and some dry lube spray.   Utilized to the stabilizers to take some weight off the trailer and utilized the grease gun.   Fun fact - the top zerk fitting (wet bolt) that attaches to the frame bracket actually serves no purpose as the bolt is not contained within a bushing (Only on the single axle trailers).  I would not recommend you go to town putting grease in this wet bolt as the grease will just exit the bolt and make a nice stream of grease falling on the lower spring eye.   Not sure why dexter/oliver designed it with a wet bolt in this location.   Sad part is that, the squeak we had was between the shackle and the trailer frame bracket and without the trailer bracket having a bushing there is no real way to get grease between the two.   Only option at this point was to use the dry lube spray.   Happy to say that this resolved most of the squeak until we could get back home (~400 miles).     Upon getting home, I used a spray can of Fluid Film to spray down the area between the shackle and trailer bracket.  No more annoying squeak!   I have some pictures on another computer that I can attach at a later time if you are curious.

Other trips

- Nothing new to report beyond what has already been said above.

 

Improvements

-  As recommended by others on this forum, we did go ahead and install the black window seals available on pellandent.com due to some of the white window seals had stains on them from the factory and were cut about 1" too short.   I must say that the black seals look much better and should eliminate an excess amount of water needing to travel through the window drains due to them now being long enough.   If you do a search on this forum for pellandent you will see some pictures posted by others.

 

Once again, the point of this post is to inform others of our experience and to share some of the things we have learned.   As with anything, enjoying life comes with opportunities to improve oneself and help others on their journey.

 

Mark

Edited December 3, 2020 by QuestionMark
Added Elite I to title and fixed a couple of typos.

[Overland]

Thanks for the post.  IMO, that's a worrying number of initial quality problems. 

[bhncb]

Regarding your rear spring hanger picture: Are the hangers both sides missing the bushing between the ears? 

[topgun2]

Bummer!  Glad that you have the attitude to take these issues in stride.  Jason is a fairly busy employee - if he doesn't get back to you within 48 hours or so then I'd contact him again.  Hopefully you now have things fairly well sorted out and smooth sailing is in the future.

Bill

[QuestionMark]

Yes,   Neither side was designed with a hanger that has an integrated bushing.    Dexter sells rear hangers with and without bushings.    Not sure why Oliver went with the one without the bushing.   Biggest concern is that the bolt and/or the bracket will experience some significant wear in the near future.    I will be keeping an eye on how much wear occurs over the next few thousand miles.    In the meantime I am in the process of purchasing some spare bolts to have just in case the bolt fails out on the road.

[John E Davies]

You need to have your shackle bolts fixed, what you have described is not right or normal. All my wet bolts accept grease properly and all have bright cad plated bushings, so the grease squirts out to where it needs to go, between the moving springs and the shackles. Without a bushing the hole is open to the sky, as you discovered. Plus you cannot achieve correct bolt torque with no bushings, the nut threads will bottom out (damaging the nuts and the bolts) and the shackles can pinch the springs. As shown here, the bushings for the equalizers are pressed into those parts.

You need to open a service ticket and have all your hardware inspected and replaced if necessary. At the very least all the nuts have to be replaced. If the shackles or springs are worn from contact, they also should be replaced. Oliver should pay for it. You can get a mobile RV tech to do it if possible, rather than leaving it at some idiot dealer.

This is not something you should let slide at all, it needs to be correct. Ollies do NOT squeak and groan, it is a warning sign, a cry for help. The axle ubolts can and will bang hard against the frame, but the other parts, if greased properly, should be dead silent. OTH old style Andersen hitches can sound like the Spawn of Satan if the friction cone gets wet/ contaminated. Please keep us posted.

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

Edited December 1, 2020 by John E Davies

[QuestionMark]

Overland,

 

On the single axle (my case) the shackle is installed on the rear hanger and the shackle then attaches to the spring eye.    On the tandem axle the spring eyes attach directly to the hangers and therefore have the bushing.    Here is a YouTube video of what I am talking about.

 

 

 

Here is a photo of my front and rear hanger from the side.

Edited December 2, 2020 by QuestionMark

[Jairon]

Thanks for taking the time to post your experience and letting Oliver know where QC is lacking.

[BackofBeyond]

QuestionMark,

Thanks for the updates. As an Oliver owner, I apologize for the poor initial quality issues you have experienced, Us Oliver owners are more accustomed to promoting them, not defending. As for your items -  Many of them are just unacceptable - period. We pay a premium price for these units - and although Oliver quality is above industry average, your experience is not. 

I could guess at what caused this poor performance, but that's Oliver's problem to solve. When you have a 6-8 month backlog, with customers clamoring for product, quality too often takes a back seat.   Clearly, Oliver has some work to do, with 700 units - and growing - Jason and crew will need - yet, another building to repair the quality back in. 

Good luck 

RB

 

[Overland]

41 minutes ago, QuestionMark said:

Overland...

Yep I caught my mistake right before you posted - Elite vs Elite 2. I’d hoped I’d deleted it before anyone noticed. 😛😊

[bhncb]

1 hour ago, QuestionMark said:

Yes,   Neither side was designed with a hanger that has an integrated bushing.    Dexter sells rear hangers with and without bushings.    Not sure why Oliver went with the one without the bushing.   Biggest concern is that the bolt and/or the bracket will experience some significant wear in the near future.    I will be keeping an eye on how much wear occurs over the next few thousand miles.    In the meantime I am in the process of purchasing some spare bolts to have just in case the bolt fails out on the road.

Okay, there is no way to sugar coat this. The wrong hangers were used and your concern will be realized, on schedule. The only acceptable remedy is to replace these hangers. I'm confident OTT will be receptive to this.

[SeaDawg]

I'm really sorry to read your list of troubles. Most items should have been sorted out before or at delivery .

The single axle should not make noises. Ours doesn't,  even after 100,000 miles. 

I'm sure Jason and his crew will get it all sorted out, but it's disheartening,  I'm sure.

 

 

[Jairon]

11 minutes ago, BackofBeyond said:

When you have a 6-8 month backlog, with customers clamoring for product, quality too often takes a back seat.  

Oliver will likely churn out more trailers next year than any year prior. When a trailer costs this much, word of mouth and reputation is everything and it cuts both ways!

I have no doubt that Oliver will fully resolve all of the issues outlined. The process to prevent issues from happening in the future requires far more work unfortunately.

[QuestionMark]

Just a quick note to let everyone know that our new door window frame came in today.   Happy to report that it was easy to replace and is now as good as new.   Please note that you have to have special plastic "keys" to get the old frame to release and install the new one.   Oliver had the "keys" sent with the new frame so I could replace without having to take the trailer anywhere for repair.  

After removing the old frame it was clear that the initial install at the door factory did not have the frames lined up correctly when pressing together, thereby breaking a few of the clips.

 

As for the squeaky suspension, Jason is sending me some new bushings for the springs and new u-bolts/nuts as the factory installed ones were not "balanced" between the two sides.   I will report back once I replace both and see if I am successful in eliminating the annoying squeak.

On a lighter side, I think my wife and I have somewhat agreed to nickname the trailer as "Squeaky" due to the suspension and shower floor.

 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by QuestionMark

[connor77]

On 12/1/2020 at 5:45 PM, Overland said:

Thanks for the post.  IMO, that's a worrying number of initial quality problems. 

I completely agree with Overland's assessment...

This post was really helpful QuestionMark but also quite disconcerting.  Many of us live quite far from TN and, personally, I would have zero interest in traveling (back) there to have my trailer fixed especially after only a few short months of ownership.  Great that they're sending parts but unfortunate that they're expecting you to install them yourself.  As RB mentioned, we pay a premium for these trailers. 

Some of these issues impact being able to tow an Oliver safely - they are not just concerns around premature wear and tear.  I really hope they get their production quality and QC back on track.

[topgun2]

To be fair - I do not know about the agreement between Oliver Service and QuestionMark regarding his particular situation.  QuestionMark has been very nice in both reporting his difficulties and in letting us all know how things developed/were resolved by Oliver.  However, in all of the cases that I'm aware of Oliver Service has given the owner the option of taking the camper to a RV repair facility for needed warranty repairs or (if they feel comfortable/qualified) to do the repairs if the owner can do the repair themselves.  This is not to suggest I accept nor condone quality control issues such as those reported by QuestionMark.  But, Oliver has a long history of "making things right" when things do not go according to the way they should.  Yes, things of this sort should never happen and, yes, it is a real pain in the tail for all concerned when they do happen.  But, contrary to virtually every other company I've ever dealt with, Oliver does whatever is necessary to make things right and to correct production QC issues if that was the culprit.

Bill

Edited December 21, 2020 by topgun2
correct spelling/context

[QuestionMark]

I must say Oliver (Jason and the Service Team) has been great and have asked if I would want to repair on my own or take it to a shop.   I have chosen to do the repairs myself as the overall issues have been mechanically easy to fix, once the parts arrive, and having my trailer sit at a shop that is backed-up is not ideal.   It would have taken me longer to drive to a potential shop than it took me to replace the window frame and doing it myself ensures it meets my expectations while educating myself on the inner workings of the trailer.   The door window frame problem took a little longer to resolve due to the shortage of parts from the manufacturer (Lippert).   The suspension bushings and u-bolts won't be a problem for me to just take care of myself as well as it is the same type of deal as the window frame.  The squeaky shower floor is a lot more involved and I would rather wait until we take the trailer back to Oliver as they have the tools/knowledge to fix quickly and correctly.   Overall, we have been very happy with the Oliver Trailer and the Service Team's response to our questions/fixes.  

My objective was not to give people the impression that Oliver trailers are not the best trailer out there but rather to share some of the things we have learned since picking up the trailer as it might help someone catch it earlier than we did and get it resolved before leaving the factory.  We consider it much like the process when purchasing/building a new house and developing a punch-list of items to have fixed or addressed before moving in.   Yes, I agree that Oliver should have caught some of these but we know that nobody is perfect and sometimes things get missed.     

 

 

[Mainiac]

Question for QuestionMark? Do you have a big ? on the front of your unit? 

[QuestionMark]

In response to Mainiac's question above:

That would be a cool idea.   Might get confused with the Joker in Batman tho.   🤣

Edited December 21, 2020 by QuestionMark

[Mike and Carol]

5 hours ago, connor77 said:

Great that they're sending parts but unfortunate that they're expecting you to install them yourself. 

I  had a couple of warranty issues and Oliver reimbursed my local RV shop to fix the issues.

[connor77]

1 minute ago, Mike and Carol said:

I  had a couple of warranty issues and Oliver reimbursed my local RV shop to fix the issues.

Good to know Mike - thanks.  

[Ollieboba]

We made the trip to the factory at the end of November and placed our order and deposit for our new LE2, and though we won’t pick it up until late 2021, we’re excited and hope the year goes quickly.

Already following the forums and learning a lot.  Really appreciate you sharing your experiences with the new Ollie as it will help us when it’s time to pick ours up.  Being newbies, we’re finding the willingness of Ollie owners to share, teach and problem solve with each other, displays the greatest feature of owning an Ollie ... support from this unique family of owners.

Looking forward to being part of this wonderful group!

Bob & Deb

 

[Mike and Carol]

1 hour ago, Ollieboba said:

We made the trip to the factory at the end of November and placed our order and deposit for our new LE2, and though we won’t pick it up until late 2021, we’re excited and hope the year goes quickly.

Already following the forums and learning a lot.  Really appreciate you sharing your experiences with the new Ollie as it will help us when it’s time to pick ours up.  Being newbies, we’re finding the willingness of Ollie owners to share, teach and problem solve with each other, displays the greatest feature of owning an Ollie ... support from this unique family of owners.

Looking forward to being part of this wonderful group!

Bob & Deb

 

All questions are good questions and there are a lot of owners ready and willing to share knowledge and experiences.  Hopefully, what you learn here will get you up to speed and comfortable for your pickup!  Mike

[JRK]

Thanks ?mark for the info. I should be picking up an Elite I in March. In addition to these few issues, what have you found so far that you have done to improve your use of the trailer? What have you, and others, wished had been installed/added/available?

I am getting a few things ready for my trip from, and back to, California. My dad always carried a spare water pump, generator/alternator, starter and ignition system. What might I need to carry for the trailer?

My list of what I should have that probably won't be provided: chocks, extension cord, security -wheel and hitch lock?, adapters (electric and mechanical), water hose and filter, ground cover for beneath awning, grease gun, basic tools, antenna mount(s) (ham radio) - what am I missing?

Thanks

[Mike and Carol]

1 hour ago, JRK said:

My list of what I should have that probably won't be provided: chocks, extension cord, security -wheel and hitch lock?, adapters (electric and mechanical), water hose and filter, ground cover for beneath awning, grease gun, basic tools, antenna mount(s) (ham radio) - what am I missing?

Besides normal camping stuff (chairs, grill, etc) you might want to include a set of spares fuses to include a 30a slow blow fuse for the jacks.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GZOIR1O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also, I like to have some blocks to put under each jack and some of the big yellow Camco lego’s for leveling.  I think Oliver provides a water pressure regulator now, but if not I’d get one of those, too.  Mike