Protective Measures While Towing

[BeauDog]

I have read several threads on this forum regarding various measures current Ollie owners have taken to protect their trailers while towing.  Those include installing mud flaps on TV and TT;  installing Stone Stompers, Rock Tamers, Bow Buddies, etc.  

Some of you have the ability and creativity to develop some pretty cool custom products and/or make modifications to existing products.  I have neither the ability or the creativity, so out-of-the-box solutions are what I seek.

We are scheduled to pick up our Legacy Elite II on August 22, 2022.  Between now and then we will be out of the country for about five weeks.  We need to get on the stick and get some stuff ordered so that we have it with us when we get to Hohenwald.  

We are not new to camping, but we are new to trailer camping.  So, my questions are: 

1. Do Stone Stompers work well right out of the box on the Legacy Elite II, or do they need to be modified (like John and others have done) to be effective?   

2. If one has a Stone Stomper installed, is it still important to have mud flaps on the TV?  If so, can any of you recommend an especially effective out-of-the-box mudflap that you are happy with that would work in conjunction with a Stone Stomper (we have a 2021 GMC 2500 crew cab)? 

3. Am I right in assuming a Rock Tamer type of mud flap would not work with a Stone Stomper because there wouldn't be enough real estate on the stinger of a typical trailer hitch ball mount?

4. I take it from past threads that the only way to mud-flap an Oliver is to individually fabricate the product.  Is that right?  Are any of you making them for sale to others?  

5. What other exterior protective measures should we be prioritizing for the maiden voyage?  The maiden voyage will be several weeks, and a few thousand miles, long.

Thanks,

Marv 

 

[topgun2]

I'll let the Stone Stomper guys speak about that.

Mud flaps have to be custom made for the Ollie and I'm not aware of anyone selling copies of what they have done.

A number of owners including me have applied automotive type clear film to the front exposed and elsewhere where rocks might hit.  In most cases due to the curves involved these films are applied by a "professional".  I'm certain that this could be arranged in virtually all medium and large cities.  Even Columbia, TN might be big enough.  If you go that route then plan on the installer having your Ollie for at least a day.  Also, if you can get it, ask for 10mm film as it is a little thicker and therefore gives more protection.

At a minimum I'd suggest that you plan on applying a good coat of wax to - at least - the front of the Ollie and those areas underneath where tar, road dirt and other stuff could get thrown by your tires - the wax will make cleaning it once you get home easier.

Unless you plan on traveling on gravel/dirt roads on this first trip, your new baby should not be too bad when you get home.  But that is what I always think with a new vehicle of any sort and am usually disappointed when I find that first dink😒.

Bill

[Patriot]

Here is a thread where I talked about 10 mil PPF or paint protection film I had professionally installed.

 

 

[John E Davies]

2 hours ago, BeauDog said:

1. Do Stone Stompers work well right out of the box on the Legacy Elite II, or do they need to be modified (like John and others have done) to be effective?   

2. If one has a Stone Stomper installed, is it still important to have mud flaps on the TV?  If so, can any of you recommend an especially effective out-of-the-box mudflap that you are happy with that would work in conjunction with a Stone Stomper (we have a 2021 GMC 2500 crew cab)? 

3. Am I right in assuming a Rock Tamer type of mud flap would not work with a Stone Stomper because there wouldn't be enough real estate on the stinger of a typical trailer hitch ball mount?

4. I take it from past threads that the only way to mud-flap an Oliver is to individually fabricate the product.  Is that right?  Are any of you making them for sale to others?  

1: SS is 100% custom so there is actually no “out of the box”. They build to your specifications (tow vehicle width, trailer width, distance between trailer and hitch, and hitch type). It is up to the owner to install it, the SS supplied angle brackets that would typically screw onto a boxy stick and staple trailer won’t work at all on an Ollie with its unique shape. As far as I know, I am the only Ollie owner who has done this mod. In all my travels in the last five years I have never seen another SS on any kind of trailer.There is no reason a local fabrication shop couldn't do it for you, just be sure to pick one that works with structural aluminum, not steel.

2: You don’t need additional mud flaps on the TV with a SS, because the SS crossbar that clamps to your stinger has its own extremely effective flaps. And the system truly is effective! It and the mesh fabric channels practically ALL the chaos underneath the trailer. This is why you need additional,flaps to protect the frame and axles, otherwise they would get really blasted. When towing on dusty roads the rear glass of the TV stays very clean, and in heavy rain at 60 mph it remains dry. All the nasties go underneath the trailer. A set of moderately sized factory mud flaps is still helpful in keeping rocks chips and crud off the truck’s rear quarter panels.

3: Yes, RT is a stand alone product. It works adequately well if you don’t drive on lots of gravel, especially if you rig it “Aussie Style” so the flaps fly back at a 30 to 45 degree angle with the road surface, so that debris does not simply bounce straight back at your tailgate, bumper and tail lights!

4: Ollie mud flaps are 100% custom, which is a big shame. Complain to Oliver Sales and maybe they will make them a factory option at some point. It would be dead simple to pre drill the mounting holes onto the subframe, so that a flap support bracket could be added to each side at delivery or later.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Frank C]

54 minutes ago, John E Davies said:

3: Yes, RT is a stand alone product. It works adequately well if you don’t drive on lots of gravel, especially if you rig it “Aussie Style” so the flaps fly back at a 30 to 45 degree angle with the road surface, so that debris does not simply bounce straight back at your tailgate, bumper and tail lights!

Here’s a photo of my Rock Tamers, mounted, as John described, at an angle so they sail back a bit at speed and deflect rocks downward.  I’ve towed our Elite II over 20,000 miles now and so far the Rock Tamers have protected the front of the Ollie very well with no chips or dings at all.  I do travel mainly on paved roads though, the only place I typically encounter significant amounts gravel is usually at the campgrounds and that’s low speed limits on those properties (5mph) so not much gravel thrown up there.   Other Ollie owners seem to prefer more protection due to more travel at speed on unimproved roads, boondocking/forest service/CoE/BLM camp areas, abandoned rock quarries, combat zone minefields, etc.    

[Steph and Dud B]

Considering Rock Tamers ourselves, but I've read reviews that say they don't work on an aluminum hitch drawbar because the mounting bolts just dig into the aluminum. Any experiences with that?

[Patriot]

I had the Livelymachine shop fabricate these “Rock Stoppers” for our F 350 and have been extremely pleased with the design and performance and most of all a clean Ollie. Constructed of powder coated aluminum tubing and all stainless fasteners these are high quality. 
They are also custom fit to the F Super Duty trucks for a clean install on the side openings of rear hitch and can be easily removed if not towing. The aluminum face plate In front of the rubber flap deflects debris and stones as and also facilitates rubber flap anit sail. I have zero sailing issues with this product.

If anyone is interested or you have questions about pricing contact Lively machine @Livelymachine.com.

 

After a recent camping trip - a clean front and XPEL 10 mil PPF did its job a long with Rock Stoppers performed great.

 

 

[Trainman]

Since we don't Boondock, or travel on rocky/dirt roads, these protectors would not do much for us. As far as Ceramic Coating go I feel they would serve no protection from rocks hitting the fiberglass on the trailer and as far as paint protection on your vehicle the same results would happen. Ceramic Coating do serve protection from the sun, but not from flying objects. Being a retired Body Ship Mgr. for some 35 years experience I can see no reason to throw money at protection that just doesn't do the job you think, or told it would do. 

trainman

[John E Davies]

49 minutes ago, Patriot said:

The aluminum face plate In front of the rubber flap deflects debris and stones as and also facilitates rubber flap anit sail. I have zero sailing issues with this product.

Do you carry spare plates? I can’t tell, but it appears that they are bolted to the flap supports. If so they are going to be really vulnerable and short lived, aluminum is not durable for that purpose. Stainless steel would be a better choice and it could be bent back into place a couple of times after the inevitable collision when backing, or with a piece of road debris like a tire carcass or piece of wood. If I had those they would be trashed within a month. Mudflaps need to have some flexibility!

And I would like to add that this is not just for boondocking, if you travel in a state that does “chip sealed” road work, you need stone protection. Even a few miles of fresh oily chip seal will make an ugly mess of any unprotected Ollie and TV. And you will acquire a new list of swear words. This shows a worst case scenario - 50 miles in steady rain in BC:

(The back of the Land Cruiser did remain clean.)

John Davies

Spokane WA 

[Patriot]

2 hours ago, John E Davies said:

Do you carry spare plates? I can’t tell, but it appears that they are bolted to the flap supports. If so they are going to be really vulnerable and short lived, aluminum is not durable for that purpose. Stainless steel would be a better choice and it could be bent back into place a couple of times after the inevitable collision when backing, or with a piece of road debris like a tire carcass or piece of wood. If I had those they would be trashed within a month. Mudflaps need to have some flexibility!

And I would like to add that this is not just for boondocking, if you travel in a state that does “chip sealed” road work, you need stone protection. Even a few miles of fresh oily chip seal will make an ugly mess of any unprotected Ollie and TV. And you will acquire a new list of swear words. This shows a worst case scenario - 50 miles in steady rain in BC:

(The back of the Land Cruiser did remain clean.)

John Davies

Spokane WA 

That is one dirty rig. Are those those red fuel jug gas bombs on the rear bumper?! 😳

Spare tire cover?  

Love my Rock Stoppers!!

[Patriot]

54 minutes ago, Trainman said:

[Patriot]

57 minutes ago, John E Davies said:

Do you carry spare plates? I can’t tell, but it appears that they are bolted to the flap supports. If so they are going to be really vulnerable and short lived, aluminum is not durable for that purpose. Stainless steel would be a better choice and it could be bent back into place a couple of times after the inevitable collision when backing, or with a piece of road debris like a tire carcass or piece of wood. If I had those they would be trashed within a month. Mudflaps need to have some flexibility!

And I would like to add that this is not just for boondocking, if you travel in a state that does “chip sealed” road work, you need stone protection. Even a few miles of fresh oily chip seal will make an ugly mess of any unprotected Ollie and TV. And you will acquire a new list of swear words. This shows a worst case scenario - 50 miles in steady rain in BC:

(The back of the Land Cruiser did remain clean.)

John Davies

Spokane WA 

It appears you need to really wash your SUV and Ollie, are those red fuel jug fire bombs on the rear bumper?! 😳 Did you loose your rear spare tire cover? Wow! 😳

[Frank C]

4 hours ago, Patriot said:

I had the Livelymachine shop fabricate these “Rock Stoppers” for our F 350 and have been extremely pleased with the design and performance and most of all a clean Ollie. Constructed of powder coated aluminum tubing and all stainless fasteners these are high quality. 
They are also custom fit to the F Super Duty trucks for a clean install on the side openings of rear hitch and can be easily removed if not towing. The aluminum face plate In front of the rubber flap deflects debris and stones as and also facilitates rubber flap anit sail. I have zero sailing issues with this product.

If anyone is interested or you have questions about pricing contact Lively machine @Livelymachine.com.

 

 

 

For your fabricated Rock Stoppers, doesn’t that mounting location on the side openings of the hitch (the square tubing section below the bumper) put the flaps REALLY close to the exhaust pipe?   Or is that aluminum plate on the front of the flaps also functioning as a heat shield?  The Rock Tamers mount far enough back to avoid heat issues. 

[Patriot]

23 minutes ago, FrankC said:

Doesn’t that mounting location on the side openings of the hitch (the square tubing section below the bumper) put the flaps REALLY close to the exhaust pipe?  
 

I had zero issues during an amazing long Western NC to Maine and back trip even with the random diesel regen heat. So my answer is no exhaust heat issue on these flaps. They worked great and would absolutely purchase again. I ordered a set of the rock tamers, but returned them. I just prefer the custom clean look, solid fit and finish and simplicity of the install of “Rock Stoppers” instead.  Plenty of clearance for exhaust heat. 

[BeauDog]

7 hours ago, Patriot said:

I had the Livelymachine shop fabricate these “Rock Stoppers” for our F 350 and have been extremely pleased with the design and performance and most of all a clean Ollie. Constructed of powder coated aluminum tubing and all stainless fasteners these are high quality. 
They are also custom fit to the F Super Duty trucks for a clean install on the side openings of rear hitch and can be easily removed if not towing. The aluminum face plate In front of the rubber flap deflects debris and stones as and also facilitates rubber flap anit sail. I have zero sailing issues with this product.

If anyone is interested or you have questions about pricing contact Lively machine @Livelymachine.com.

 

After a recent camping trip - a clean front and XPEL 10 mil PPF did its job a long with Rock Stoppers performed great.

 

 

Patriot, I really like the look of your Rock Stopper.  I also like the idea of the XPEL 10 mil PPF.  Do you mostly stay on paved roads or do you also travel and boondock on gravel and dirt roads?  Would your Rock Stopper work well on gravel and dirt surfaces?  

Although the majority of our miles will be on paved surfaces getting to and from, we expect to do a fair amount of remote traveling and boondocking on gravel and dirt surfaces, so I am trying to figure out which anti-rock system would work best with those multiple surfaces. 

FrankC said he travels mostly on paved roads and his Rock Tamers work well on those surfaces.  I wonder if they would also work "well enough" on rock and dirt surfaces?

John Davies uses a Stone Stomper that he modified and it apparently works well on all surfaces.  I love the functionality of the Stone Stomper for that reason.  However, I re-read John's excellent posts regarding his purchase, modifications, and installation of his Stone Stomper and I was exhausted just reading about the time and effort it would take for me to replicate that process, even with the detail that John provided.  I decided I must try to find a simpler, if less effective, solution.

A Rock Stopper or Rock Tamer type system would certainly be a simpler solution.  I just need to determine how effective they would be on gravel and dirt surfaces.

Thanks to all for lending the benefit of your experiences.

Marv

 

 

[John E Davies]

7 hours ago, Patriot said:

It appears you need to really wash your SUV and Ollie, are those red fuel jug fire bombs on the rear bumper?! 😳 Did you loose your rear spare tire cover? Wow! 😳

Yes, definitely, but there wasn’t a car wash within maybe 400 miles (Stewart/ Cassiar Hwy, BC, about half way to White Horse YT.) But it rained for a week longer, so washing wouldn’t have done any good.

Yes, two genuine Wedco NATO jerry cans, 12 gallons total... No fireballs yet. Ever seen a Jeep with cans on the back? Same concept.  No worries. Don’t do this with plastic jugs. Since I removed the rack, I now carry an ebike there and a single NATO can inside the LC200.

No, I permanently removed and wrapped  the spare cover the day after I got it home from Hohenwald.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Patriot]

1 hour ago, BeauDog said:

Patriot, I really like the look of your Rock Stopper.  I also like the idea of the XPEL 10 mil PPF.  Do you mostly stay on paved roads or do you also travel and boondock on gravel and dirt roads?  Would your Rock Stopper work well on gravel and dirt surfaces?  

Although the majority of our miles will be on paved surfaces getting to and from, we expect to do a fair amount of remote traveling and boondocking on gravel and dirt surfaces, so I am trying to figure out which anti-rock system would work best with those multiple surfaces. 

FrankC said he travels mostly on paved roads and his Rock Tamers work well on those surfaces.  I wonder if they would also work "well enough" on rock and dirt surfaces?

John Davies uses a Stone Stomper that he modified and it apparently works well on all surfaces.  I love the functionality of the Stone Stomper for that reason.  However, I re-read John's excellent posts regarding his purchase, modifications, and installation of his Stone Stomper and I was exhausted just reading about the time and effort it would take for me to replicate that process, even with the detail that John provided.  I decided I must try to find a simpler, if less effective, solution.

A Rock Stopper or Rock Tamer type system would certainly be a simpler solution.  I just need to determine how effective they would be on gravel and dirt surfaces.

Thanks to all for lending the benefit of your experiences.

Marv

 

 

My Rock Stoppers have worked excellent on all gravel roads. In fact most if not all the CGs we visited last season had gravel roads and I can’t imagine towing without them. With the install of the 10 mil XPEL PPF I feel like I have done all I can do to keep the front of our Ollie looking decent. 
See a recent photo of our Ollie above. 

[SeaDawg]

I would say our rock tamers have been good on slow speed gravel roads. Sometimes,  especially in Canada, we've found ourselves on gravel roads at 35 to 50 mph. Not quite as good, some chips, but better than nothing, for sure.

If you're only doing slow speed gravel, fine. If you're going to Alaska,  dealing with summer road construction mess, find another way in addition,  to protect the front of the trailer. 

[BeauDog]

3 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

I would say our rock tamers have been good on slow speed gravel roads. Sometimes,  especially in Canada, we've found ourselves on gravel roads at 35 to 50 mph. Not quite as good, some chips, but better than nothing, for sure.

If you're only doing slow speed gravel, fine. If you're going to Alaska,  dealing with summer road construction mess, find another way in addition,  to protect the front of the trailer. 

Thanks for that information, SeaDawg.  We do plan on taking our Oliver to Alaska, most likely in 2023.  We also want to spend some time exploring Canada, and of course many remote areas of the great lower 48.

Marv

[Mattnan]

If I remember correctly one Oliver owner taped yoga mats to the front of their Ollie for the Alaska trip.  I thought I remembered the result was positive.  I believe they also had some additional protection hanging from their truck hitch.   Might look goofy but perhaps for that trip maybe that makes sense? Good luck with your decisions.  

[SeaDawg]

In the 2nd page of this thread, toward the end, @GaryJona showed a photo of closed cell foam mat and no residue duct tape that they used successfully on their Alaska trip a few years ago..

And, another thread:

 

[mossemi]

Another post from GaryJona about front protection information for the Oliver.

Mossey

[SeaDawg]

And, this is the post @Mattnan discussed earlier, showing photos of the yoga mats doing the job for @Dave and Cindy

 

[SeaDawg]

And, there are permanent (and pricier) options out there, like color matched Vortex. My friend Pete @bugeyedriver had this applied to his trailer front several years ago. It looks great. Unfortunately,  with covid reducing traveling, I  haven't seen his trailer in a couple years, but I saw it after his Alaska trip, where I know he drove at least one of the crummier, ding-enducing roads-- Top of the world highway, and I think maybe the Denali, too. The Denali is one of the worst, especially for your tow vehicle,  because of the big Princess tour busses pushing along to get the cruise line passengers to Denali park from the cruiseport. For that, I'd carry a windshield repair kit, just in case. (We've driven the Denali without issue many times, without issue,  as my cousin lives on the Denali in summers,  but you never know.)

Maybe Pete will chime in with his experience,  after several years of use with the Vortex.

[SeaDawg]

Here's a link to @ShallowGal's post on The Top of the World Highway from Dawson City YT to Chicken, AK. It's about 80 miles of gravel, on the US side, with extremely steep dropoffs, soft shoulders, and a paucity of guardrails. (The few miles on the Canadian side are paved and lovely. )

Looks like shallowgal may have rock tamers, or similar, on their truck, looking at their photo. I'd bet they weren't traveling very fast with that weather, and the road conditions.