Made in USA leaf springs

[DanielBoondock]

I’ve got a fancy German manual gun with a locking head that I like but that’s the problem, can’t get it in there. Ordered those 45s, hope that works.
 

Also I found a local trailer suspension shop that’s been here for decades so should be good. I’ll order the Alcans before too long and do it locally. Probably going with four unless they manage to convince me otherwise 😅

Still feeling it out and need to find the time to read the other half of this thread

[John and Debbie]

4 hours ago, DanielBoondock said:

 Fair point, retract the 1750s from what I said, except perhaps for people who lightly use their trailer 

It was a reasonable starting point but charging now comes with risk aversion to change probably. Maybe they’ll do it sometime as an update. 2027 looks like they’ll be adding a DC-DC converter, it’s already labeled in on the electrical panel. I don’t need it but useful for ICE TVs

3k miles and I’m hearing the suspension squeak now, doing my first grease. What a pain, getting a right angle grease gun fitting 

I use the 90° Lock n lube grease gun with that attachment.  It makes those awkward fittings much easier to lube.

John 

[jd1923]

3 hours ago, DanielBoondock said:

I’ve got a fancy German manual gun with a locking head that I like but that’s the problem, can’t get it in there.

The power grease gun sits nearby on the ground, has a long hose with the lock-n-lube on end. Just attach, hit the power button for a few seconds. Used a manual gun for 40 years, always fighting it!

[Geronimo John]

10 hours ago, DanielBoondock said:

What a pain, getting a right angle grease gun fitting 

The #1 Ollie Tool I purchased was the Lock-N-Lube lock on grease gun fixture.  It is amazing and certainly helps.   I had a new ole style grease gun and just added the below to it.  Love it.  With it I did not need to go right angle.  I liked the 45 degree ones better.  Especially with the below.

When I need to replace my grease gun, I'll pay the bucks for the Lock-N-Lube version for sure

JPR  

[Geronimo John]

On 5/1/2026 at 6:29 AM, DanielBoondock said:

 Fair point, retract the 1750s from what I said, except perhaps for people who lightly use their trailer 

Per the above posts, even that group is seeing failures.  Time for OTT to wake up to the reality that the owners want a change to a stronger spring. 

For JD's sake I'll not go further on that!  LOL

GJ

Edited 22 hours ago by Geronimo John

[DanielBoondock]

On 4/29/2026 at 1:17 PM, jd1923 said:

Dan is new here

Been a member for four or five years 🙂 took me that long to make my choice. Oliver was the first choice but then Bigfoot seduced me with that cool BIG FOOT front storage. Got a tour, meh, and noticed the seams and conventional RV hardware everywhere, so came back into the fold. Pretty brave, or stupid too as it was sight unseen, they’re rare out on the West Coast

[Geronimo John]

6 hours ago, DanielBoondock said:

Pretty brave, or stupid too as it was sight unseen, they’re rare out on the West Coast

Many of us know that feeling.  We purchased ours from Hawaii having never seen one in person.  But what we, as you, did was to really study the tone and helpfulness of the members here on this forum and the "SOB's" (Some Other Brands) as well.  At the time, and still to this day, I think that the owners sell more trailers than OTT does themselves.  No other brand came close in this regard.  After our purchase I had an opportunity to go to the factory tour and instantly fell in love with our decision.

As a technical we all know that machines need maintenance and TLC.  Also that some times tweeks to the foundational design of a machine is necessary.  WIth OTT, we have seen a few upgrades, a few changes, and very few OOPS.  And the number of OOPs is very smal.  

However over times things change.   The two biggest changes I have observed in the past ten years from an owner's perspective likely are the percentage of owners taking their OTT's boondocking further into the wild and running heavier than earlier years.  The impacts are higher "G" forces and typically +/- 6,000 pound weights on the suspension 100% of the time. Both of these changes are not OTT fault. 

There is clear evidence of premature spring failures from OTT owners having road side spring failures, and dozens more finding that their springs flatening out way too early in what should be a normal spring's useful life.  So a design change is needed. I believe from history that OTT would not ignore such failures without concern and would be monitoring our experiences. 

I also would wager one of Art's famous home brews that they are looking at an upgrade standard spring to the 2400 # Dexter four-leaf springs and an option for a "Boondocker's Heavy Duty" suspension package featuring the Alcon type of 5 leaf.  Those options both make good common sense.

Good news is that OTT takes a lot of care and time, as they should, before making such changes.  In that regard it would smart to keep track of the owners who have changed their springs and to monitor them in the normal duty and heavy duty class.  In doing so to get specific data as to the pros and cons of their spring choice for their use.  If I was running their quality control team that is exactly what I would be doing.  One needs data to to make data driven decisions.  

GJ  

[Tideline77]

Question from the peanut gallery 

 

did anyone see the need to adjust your tow vehicle ball height higher after adding the Alcan springs and new shocks ?

did the upgrade change your ball hitch weight ? lighter ?

 

just trying to anticipate 

 

 

 

[DanielBoondock]

17 hours ago, Geronimo John said:

 But what we, as you, did was to really study the tone and helpfulness of the members here on this forum and the "SOB's" (Some Other Brands) as well.  At the time, and still to this day, I think that the owners sell more trailers than OTT does themselves. 

Actually the owners didn’t sell it for me, Escape and Bigfoot owners are equally passionate. In the end what did it was a tallying of positives and negatives. For me, I figured that whatever undiscovered problems the Oliver will have will be less than the known negatives of the others. I was worried about the bed length in particular. Fortunately nothing came to pass, and I found more positives IRL. Having said that, couldn’t they have made the bathroom just a little bit bigger? 🙂 

Anyhow OT the greasing went just fine with a right angle fitting (not right angle zircs). Question: a couple of the outrigger ones - the ones on spring ends, would not take grease at all. Clogged? I’m going to try again after I move it, figuring that the position it’s in is preventing ingress

[topgun2]

1 hour ago, DanielBoondock said:

Having said that, couldn’t they have made the bathroom just a little bit bigger? 🙂 

Sure they could - BUT - then you would not have a closet (or, at least a smaller closet).🛁

[Mike and Carol]

2 hours ago, Tideline77 said:

did anyone see the need to adjust your tow vehicle ball height higher after adding the Alcan springs and new shocks ?

did the upgrade change your ball hitch weight ? lighter ?

I didn’t have to make any adjustments.   Ball height was/is the same.