First few months of ownership (Legacy Elite I) -

[QuestionMark]

13 hours ago, JRK said:

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

JRK,

I just saw this after responding to your private message.  Please see my response there and let me know if you have any additional questions.

[TexasGuy]

As someone getting a new trailer in 2021 I really appreciate this thread.  This also has me worried about quality control. Are you still getting level of quality build and control expected for the price point.   I’m happy to pay for a quality product but your experience would leave me disappointed and questioning if the premium is still justified.   

[BackofBeyond]

3 hours ago, TexasGuy said:

As someone getting a new trailer in 2021 I really appreciate this thread.  This also has me worried about quality control. Are you still getting level of quality build and control expected for the price point.   I’m happy to pay for a quality product but your experience would leave me disappointed and questioning if the premium is still justified.   

When you pick up your unit - Oliver does a good once over to introduce you to all the various systems, and it can be an all consuming - data overload for some.   Try to take your time, take notes, and insist on reviewing anything you don't fully understand. As you go through the review - look at everything -  fit, finish, action, workability, - anything that catches your discerning eye - make a note of it - and come back to it at the end.  Run every system you can - Oliver will/should take care of your concerns. If possible take advantage of the night in the local campground - and test every system - make sure it works properly. As you are just down the road from the Service shop - any issues can be remedied quickly. 

Take time to read and review the owners manual - it is amazing what happens when one reads the instructions (note to me!!)

As I think back - There would have been a few issues to clear up - all minor. I did have an issue with the furnace (didn't run it at delivery) - which required a return.  Over time there have been other issues - but most were not initial quality failures. 

Luckily, I'm just a few hours drive from the Oliver factory - and every issue has been taken care of by the service folks. 

I am a satisfied customer - were I to purchase again- I would do just as I have posted - but mo better!

RB

[Moonlight Mile]

I am glad I found this post. Not experienced at all with travel trailers and picking up Elite 1 late Jan. 
 

I am already a bit overwhelmed with trying to figure out what I need to bring (dog, hah, and will be FT in Elite 1). Dead of winter in TN for picking up (delivery day), and gonna stay at David Crockett State Park a few extra days on my own dime to learn and — be sure all these things are working properly while I am somewhat close to Ollie factory. Then heading thru AR, one night, and onward to TX. 
 

I’m sure Josh will get me in for any issues if they exist — while I am at DCSP that first week.

Gotta admit though, this made me a bit more nervous than I already was.

 

Edited December 26, 2020 by SherMica

[Moonlight Mile]

On 12/23/2020 at 1:23 PM, BackofBeyond said:

When you pick up your unit - Oliver does a good once over to introduce you to all the various systems, and it can be an all consuming - data overload for some.   Try to take your time, take notes, and insist on reviewing anything you don't fully understand. As you go through the review - look at everything -  fit, finish, action, workability, - anything that catches your discerning eye - make a note of it - and come back to it at the end.  Run every system you can - Oliver will/should take care of your concerns. If possible take advantage of the night in the local campground - and test every system - make sure it works properly. As you are just down the road from the Service shop - any issues can be remedied quickly. 

Take time to read and review the owners manual - it is amazing what happens when one reads the instructions (note to me!!)

As I think back - There would have been a few issues to clear up - all minor. I did have an issue with the furnace (didn't run it at delivery) - which required a return.  Over time there have been other issues - but most were not initial quality failures. 

Luckily, I'm just a few hours drive from the Oliver factory - and every issue has been taken care of by the service folks. 

I am a satisfied customer - were I to purchase again- I would do just as I have posted - but mo better!

RB

I found the 2020 Elite 1 owner’s manual online but I don’t see the 2021 Elite 1 manual yet. If anyone knows where I can get it before I leave to pick up my Elite 1 in late Jan, much appreciated! 

[topgun2]

I don't believe that the 2021 owner's manuals are available (yet).  But, don't forget to ask about this when you take delivery.

The Service Department tries to give those people that are on the road and certainly those who have just taken delivery priority.  I'm certain that they will be available to you if the need arises.

Since you are now getting closer to delivery - try to relax even more - you'll do fine.

Bill

[SeaDawg]

There won't be that many changes, imo, to the 2021. No lithium available for our shorties. The big question (ask your rep) is if you have the progressive dynamics charger/inverter, or the xantrex xcpro inverter/charger in 2021.

We have both. Pd in our trailer, xantrex xcpro 2000 in the boat. Both are good.

You'll learn a lot studying 2020 manual and watching the videos. 

 

[RBD]

On 12/21/2020 at 10:52 AM, QuestionMark said:

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.

 

 

 

Thanks for the detailed description of the squeak.  Have same noise on our 2020 Elite Hull #643.

Please describe if you were able to install / fit a bushing on the top bolt that connects the frame hanger & shackle.  Have the zerk bolt on this upper, but no bushing. 

[Cameron]

On 12/1/2020 at 2:18 PM, QuestionMark said:

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

Wow.

Mark, this is really discouraging. I've had my own issues with my LE2 I just picked up and will be posting something similar to your post in coming weeks. 

I think OTT really needs to figure out how to up their quality control. I agree that OTT has great customer service, but like you Mark, I'm far away in California. After spending big for the trailer, I don't think it's reasonable for any of us to have to be doing repairs or maintenance in the first few weeks on parts of the trailer that should have been assembled correctly by the factory. A few little things, OK, but suspension? windows?  flooring? These should all be identified before we arrive for pickup. 

 

 

[QuestionMark]

On 8/15/2021 at 9:47 AM, RBD said:

Thanks for the detailed description of the squeak.  Have same noise on our 2020 Elite Hull #643.

Please describe if you were able to install / fit a bushing on the top bolt that connects the frame hanger & shackle.  Have the zerk bolt on this upper, but no bushing. 

I just got back from the Oliver Service Department and had them install the one I was unable to push into place.  Happy to report the suspension now has the correct upward travel with the installation of the 5" shackles and the annoying suspension squeaks are a thing of the past.  While there, I looked at another Ollie I awaiting to be picked up and I am happy to report both the correct shackles were installed along with the hanger bushing.

In addition, we had the shower floor squeak fixed while at the service department for the trailer's annual checkup (re caulk, bearing repack, system checks, etc).   Spent a significant amount of time talking with the "Trailer Whisperer" Jason and he said the shower floor was not cut correctly from the factory and was rubbing up against the sides.   Happy to report we no longer have the squeaking floor!  

[Dave and Kimberly]

    I agree with the disappointment in finding somewhat serious quality issues with an $80k travel trailer!  Sure the factory will repair it... but that isn't always a convenient solution nor is it satisfactory.    I really don't want to have a "laundry list of manufacturing defects" to check on during my April, 2022 delivery day inspection (but I will).  I had owned another (here unnamed) brand... that as a company was very similar to Oliver in their dedication to customer satisfaction.   They would jump thru hoops trying to make everyone happy, even after the warranty had expired.   Their failure (to this day) is that far too many times the SAME customer problems would crop up over and over to the point that their Forum was really a "how to fix the design/manufacturing problems yourself" site.  Based on my experience with that brand... I made a point to ask Anita and Jason a very specific question when I took our factory tour;  "When a problem happens in the field... how do you handle it?"   They assured me that when something happens in the field... they go back to the manufacturing point and attempt to get to the "root problem"... and fix it so that it doesn't happen on future builds. 

    I hope that turns out to be true... because most of the problems that pop up... if they do a proper root cause analysis... these things shouldn't happen again.   It's in their interest to do so because every "repair" is profit lost, whether its done at the factory or by an authorized rv repair facility.

    I sincerely hope that somebody at Oliver is monitoring this site to be aware of problems... especially repetitive ones.  In addition, I think it would be nice to sometimes hear from Oliver on what they are doing to resolve some of these problems (for example the shackles with wet bolts that should have a bushing?).

[SeaDawg]

On 8/21/2021 at 10:33 AM, QuestionMark said:

While there, I looked at another Ollie I awaiting to be picked up and I am happy to report both the correct shackles were installed along with the hanger bushing.

We'd all undoubtedly agree that Question Mark's Elite shouldn't have left the factory that way. 

Oliver does have a few people who read the site, but it's only a part of their job description.  Service and factory also communicate.

[Olivers Travels]

On 8/25/2021 at 1:08 PM, Dave and Kimberly said:

    I agree with the disappointment in finding somewhat serious quality issues with an $80k travel trailer!  Sure the factory will repair it... but that isn't always a convenient solution nor is it satisfactory.    I really don't want to have a "laundry list of manufacturing defects" to check on during my April, 2022 delivery day inspection (but I will).  I had owned another (here unnamed) brand... that as a company was very similar to Oliver in their dedication to customer satisfaction.   They would jump thru hoops trying to make everyone happy, even after the warranty had expired.   Their failure (to this day) is that far too many times the SAME customer problems would crop up over and over to the point that their Forum was really a "how to fix the design/manufacturing problems yourself" site.  Based on my experience with that brand... I made a point to ask Anita and Jason a very specific question when I took our factory tour;  "When a problem happens in the field... how do you handle it?"   They assured me that when something happens in the field... they go back to the manufacturing point and attempt to get to the "root problem"... and fix it so that it doesn't happen on future builds. 

    I hope that turns out to be true... because most of the problems that pop up... if they do a proper root cause analysis... these things shouldn't happen again.   It's in their interest to do so because every "repair" is profit lost, whether its done at the factory or by an authorized rv repair facility.

    I sincerely hope that somebody at Oliver is monitoring this site to be aware of problems... especially repetitive ones.  In addition, I think it would be nice to sometimes hear from Oliver on what they are doing to resolve some of these problems (for example the shackles with wet bolts that should have a bushing?).

I too am feeling  LITTLE NERVOUS about OLIVERS quality control. I hope they are and do work on achieving resolution of these defects, For a almost 90K trailer. Given that they must be producing a lot more units than in the past they hopefully well solve the Quality problem. They eliminated the stripe option to save time and money! we were told. Hope they invest in a little more Quality Control. We're buying our Oliver in June 2022 # 1131. Well be making a through list for sure when ours becomes available . Thx everybody for posting problems so we can throughly check it out on pick up.

 

[Ray and Susan Huff]

On 8/17/2021 at 10:30 AM, Cameron said:

Wow.

Mark, this is really discouraging. I've had my own issues with my LE2 I just picked up and will be posting something similar to your post in coming weeks. 

I think OTT really needs to figure out how to up their quality control. I agree that OTT has great customer service, but like you Mark, I'm far away in California. After spending big for the trailer, I don't think it's reasonable for any of us to have to be doing repairs or maintenance in the first few weeks on parts of the trailer that should have been assembled correctly by the factory. A few little things, OK, but suspension? windows?  flooring? These should all be identified before we arrive for pickup. 

 

 

And, as production increases, resolution of these quality control issues takes time and resources that could be better used on the production end.  I realize it is difficult during these pandemic times to get any help, let along qualified help.  But, having to manage an increased number of quality related issues can only result in lost ground.  Streamlining production is a step in the right direction, but an uptick in unnecessary problems could be disasterous for Oliver's reputation of quality and customer service.

I will say, the service crew is doing a great job - better than most RV manufactureres.  

[SeaDawg]

4 minutes ago, Ray and Susan Huff said:

I will say, the service crew is doing a great job - better than most RV manufactureres.  

I agree, wholeheartedly. 

I called today to schedule an appointment for our new atv side by side. Months out. The mechanic is going to call me to see if we can fix the squeak, ourselves. 

Response from Oliver has been far and above what I've seen on sob forums that I follow. I don't know how they do it. Loyal folks, for sure .

[SeaDawg]

I always encourage owners who can identify and fix their problems themselves, to open a service ticket, anyway.

Service and factory do communicate.  If they don't know there's a problem,  they can't fix it. Any issues. Large or small, need to be added to qc inspection. 

[Olivers Travels]

Well picked up Hull 1144, 14 June 2022, very impressed by overall build quality in light of how many trailers they are building per week! very few minor problems that i managed to fix my self. Been almost a year in wait but worth the wait!

[SeaDawg]

1 hour ago, Chesapeak Bay said:

Well picked up Hull 1144, 14 June 2022, very impressed by overall build quality in light of how many trailers they are building per week! very few minor problems that i managed to fix my self. Been almost a year in wait but worth the wait!

Happy travels, @Chesapeak Bay. I hope you have as much fun with your Ollie as we've had, the last 15 seasons.

Wishing you many miles of smiles.

[Olivers Travels]

Thanks  SeaDawg, Well so far everything is working well, got a recall off the trailer axle, got to replace the washers that retain the bearings!, og the washers sent out by Dexter but the weather is to hot to do it my self and to far to Mothership , probably shouldn't drive it till its taken care of, so well wait for cooler weather and get it done. Repair shops are busy too.