Who Might You Be?

[Fargoman]

While researching Harvest Host locations to stop enroute from Redding, CA to Salmon Creek, WA, I had the rare experience of seeing an Ollie that had stopped at Saginaw Vineyard in Cottage Grove, OR. Ollies are seldom seen in the Pacific Northwest, as they are a long way from their birthplace, but they do have an amazing ability to migrate.

[Guest]

There are more of us all the time! 👍

Kirk

[Tom and Doreen]

That looks like a pretty light tow vehicle for a Elite ll. 

[John E Davies]

It is really hard to ID a vehicle from a partial roof/ side image. I think it is a Volvo XC90. The swept forward rear hatch makes it look shorter from this angle. You can see just a hint of the Volvo tall tail light in the first pic.
 

 

If so, the Ollie is too much trailer.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Fargoman]

After all the discussions I've read on the Forum about appropriate tow vehicles, that was my first thought once I noticed that the Ollie is an LE2.

There are quite a few long and steep grades on Interstate 5 between Redding, CA and the Eugene, OR area, with the highest point being at Siskiyou Summit (4310 feet) just south of Ashland. While some of the larger SUVs might have the horsepower to pull the trailer up the grades at a decent speed, I wouldn't feel comfortable on the downhills with a lighter tow vehicle.

[Mountainman198]

33 minutes ago, John E Davies said:

It is really hard to ID a vehicle from a partial roof/ side image. I think it is a Volvo XC90. The swept forward rear hatch makes it look shorter from this angle. You can see just a hint of the Volvo tall tail light in the first pic.
 

 

If so, the Ollie is too much trailer.

John Davies

Spokane WA

I believe the TV is a KIA Telluride. 

[Patriot]

9 minutes ago, Mountainman198 said:

I believe the TV is a KIA Telluride. 

Yes, it appears to be a Kia Telluride, not a Volvo. It has different side mirrors and no fuel door on the left rear pass fender well.  A tow rating of 5500# 😳. 
 

 

[Frank C]

51 minutes ago, Mountainman198 said:

I believe the TV is a KIA Telluride. 

Ding! Ding! Ding!  We have a winner.  Here’s a pic of the Telluride.  Notice the roofline above the windshield, and the chrome trim above the door handle on the B pillar.  Based on the published specs for the Telluride, it’s a really bad choice for towing an Elite II considering that the empty dry weight of an Elite II with no options at all is 4,900 lbs.  

[Mountainman198]

2 minutes ago, Patriot said:

Yes, it appears to be a Kia, different side mirrors and no fuel door on the left rear pass fender well.  😮 

pretty sure it is a Kia.  The unique body line at bottom of B pillar, unique eyebrow roofl;ine at top of Windshield and mirror turn signal slits match up.  From what I have seen, a Telluride has a 5,000 lb tow capacity.

[Patriot]

1 minute ago, Mountainman198 said:

pretty sure it is a Kia.  The unique body line at bottom of B pillar, unique eyebrow roofl;ine at top of Windshield and mirror turn signal slits match up.  From what I have seen, a Telluride has a 5,000 lb tow capacity.

You sir are correct! See pic above. 👍🏻 

[Frank C]

Does Oliver have any responsibility or give any input when a new owner shows up on delivery day with an undersized/unsafe tow vehicle?   We’ve seen owners towing with unsuitable vehicles, overloaded with respect to towing rating or payload, using a WDH when it’s contraindicated with certain uni-body SUVs, or not using a WDH when they should be, some with no trailer brake controller, etc.   Maybe in this case (or the others noted), the trailer was bought used?  So no input from Oliver, just from the previous owner? 

[Fargoman]

Now that I have inadvertently 'outed' the owners of this LE2 with this post, in the hopes of learning whether they live in the Pacific Northwest, I suspect they might want to remain anonymous because of our discussion of their choice of tow vehicle. If they do see this post, let's hope they search the Forum for the many discussions about this subject and reconsider their choice of tow vehicle before they find themselves in a bad situation.

[Steph and Dud B]

1 hour ago, Frank C said:

Does Oliver have any responsibility or give any input when a new owner shows up on delivery day with an undersized/unsafe tow vehicle?

I doubt there's any liability for OTT. The driver is responsible for the safe operation of their vehicle. As long as OTT correctly identifies the "as manufactured" weight, I think they're good. It's like every RV salesperson says: "Sure, you can tow this with your [insert vehicle here]!"

[ScubaRx]

3 hours ago, Fargoman said:

Now that I have inadvertently 'outed' the owners of this LE2 with this post, in the hopes of learning whether they live in the Pacific Northwest, I suspect they might want to remain anonymous because of our discussion of their choice of tow vehicle. If they do see this post, let's hope they search the Forum for the many discussions about this subject and reconsider their choice of tow vehicle before they find themselves in a bad situation.

They're already in a bad situation, they just didn't know it until now. You've actually done them and all their potential victims a real favor. Now when their accident happens they will have been warned of it's potential in advance.  I hope they do see this and make the prudent choice to dramatically update their choice of a tow or trade the Elite II for something much smaller and lighter.

[ScubaRx]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:08 AM, Frank C said:

Does Oliver have any responsibility or give any input when a new owner shows up on delivery day with an undersized/unsafe tow vehicle?   We’ve seen owners towing with unsuitable vehicles, overloaded with respect to towing rating or payload, using a WDH when it’s contraindicated with certain uni-body SUVs, or not using a WDH when they should be, some with no trailer brake controller, etc.   Maybe in this case (or the others noted), the trailer was bought used?  So no input from Oliver, just from the previous owner? 

 

On 3/8/2023 at 11:23 AM, Steph and Dud B said:

I doubt there's any liability for OTT. The driver is responsible for the safe operation of their vehicle. As long as OTT correctly identifies the "as manufactured" weight, I think they're good. It's like every RV salesperson says: "Sure, you can tow this with your [insert vehicle here]!"

I do agree that MANY truck and RV Salespeople are probably not the best examples of integrity, but let's not be unfair and just arbitrarily lump those that work at Oliver in with the general bunch. I spent the past three days at the factory and had the opportunity to speak with the sales team as well as several current owners and potential owners. I had towing discussions with all of them. The sales team DOES advise the potential owners against using undersized trucks or these tiny SUV's to try to tow an Elite II with. Obviously, they can't control or, in my opinion, be held responsible for the ultimate decisions made by those that are just getting by. Don't attempt to use the wrong tow vehicle to pull the right trailer.

[Steph and Dud B]

14 minutes ago, ScubaRx said:

let's not be unfair and just arbitrarily lump those that work at Oliver in with the general bunch.

My representation of salespeople was the usual SOB brands, not Oliver. OTT is indeed more reputable than many others. One of the first questions I was asked when I contacted OTT for information was, "What is your tow vehicle?"

OTOH, I have listened to many SOB salesmen saying, "Of course you can tow this (42' fifth wheel) with your F150!"

[Geronimo John]

Great post and a fun read as our family solved the "Who Dune It". 

Maybe to help the owner a bit, could we change the thread title to indicate the vehicle make and model?

That way the owner likely would notice the post, and hopefully read the above sage thoughts.

GJ 

[ScubaRx]

9 hours ago, Geronimo John said:

Great post and a fun read as our family solved the "Who Dune It". 

Maybe to help the owner a bit, could we change the thread title to indicate the vehicle make and model?

That way the owner likely would notice the post, and hopefully read the above sage thoughts.

GJ 

Done…

[Frank C]

7 hours ago, ScubaRx said:

Done...

Probably would have been better to break the “KIA as a tow vehicle” suitability discussion off into a new separate topic thread.  Right now this new revised thread title has no relationship to the subject of the original post.  

[AndrewK]

It appears for the second time in as many weeks, we have taken what started off as a friendly post and turned it into pointing out the potential bad decision of others, regarding their, what appears to be, tow vehicle decision.

Given I don't know any of the background regarding the owner, the vehicle or circumstances, I choose to keep the original post friendly and kept my options to myself. 

If the owner had been identified, and I felt the need, I would have messaged them with my concerns.  

These types of what I would call "piling on" threads, make this forum seem unfriendly and sometimes down right mean.

It is my hope that the owner, is not part of the forum and does not read this thread.  I wish I hadn't.

One Man's Opinion,

Andrew

[Fargoman]

I'm wondering why the original title of my post, "Who Might You Be?", was changed? I certainly didn't do it.

The can has been opened, and the worms are not coming back.

[SeaDawg]

I didn't read anything that was "snarky," just trying to be cautious, I guess. We have no idea what the true weight of the unknown trailer is, so there you go. I  know of at least one weighed trailer slimmed down to under 5000 pounds, with lithium, but that's an exception.

We all try to be kind and considerate here, without compromising safety. Some folks like to stretch the limits, others like to oversize their tvs. We all have to find what's best (and safe) for ourselves.

I would agree that the thread drifted in a direction far from the original intent.

 

 

 

[ScottyGS]

Oh man.......   Now I have to start cruising campgrounds looking for an unhitched LE2..........    Then just back up my Toyota Camry in front of it and take a picture to post!  

Only joking...   Sorry...  Couldn't resist.  

Scotty

[Ollie-Haus]

At least it didn't have this problem............🙄

[taylor.coyote]

SeaDawg,

I feel the content after snakeriveridaho should be taken down. Regardless of the TV choice, I'm sure these are very nice people that feel attacked and are the brunt of several jokes. My first TV was a light duty 1/2 ton and marginal to pull the LEII. I knew this when I purchased my trailer. I took one short trip as a test run to see if my truck would do the job. Although my truck was marginally qualified it became clear I needed a new TV.  A week after the test run, I purchased an adequate TV.  I had hoped my first truck would do the job because it was a nice truck and the price tag for more robust TV was a financial stretch at the time.  

I'm willing to guess several of the current LEII owners are on the edge of the TV's payload but have the power to pull the trailer.  We are not making fun of them. Please take down what is most likely received as unkind content .