OBI Dweller Review and Discussion

[clayton.christensen]

On my D13, I certainly feel the buffet from cars and trucks passing me when I'm on the interstate but it does not induce a harmonic sway. As you can see, I'm carrying considerable additional forward weight...I have approximately 100 lbs. of bikes and bike carrier and another 50-60 lbs. of water and jerry cans (half full). All of this additional weight is centered over the gear box.

Before diving into sway control, I would try to determine whether the sway can be eliminated by increasing tongue weight (within reason).

As an experiment, my suggestion is to get three of four 50 lbs. bags of sand from the big box store and try adding with them as ballast in the forward gear box. If you find that additional tongue weight eliminates the sway, you could then go to the Cat Scale and confirm whether the increased tongue weight is acceptable.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting you plan to drag a bunch of sand around for the long haul. This may help root cause the problem and give a starting point for a gear loading strategy.

View attachment 735111

I have a 1up bike rack. What did you use to mount it to the frame and raise it up like you did?

 

[Obsessed2findARuggedHybid]

Yeah, my favorite upgrade from ROA ... the beefy stabilizers :


and popped the top down .. for lower profile/less noise...

unhitched...

it was a wild night!

That must have cost $1,800 or so. Liklely voided any warranty from Ark. Looks like you lost some ground clearance. I assume you still put the anderson blocks under the tires after you level trailer. I have a level mate pro so I know exactly how many inches I need to raise one side and the tongue. Takes like one minute to drive on blocks.

 

[WillySwan]

I have a 1up bike rack. What did you use to mount it to the frame and raise it up like you did?

Look at my post #95 and #96 in this thread. I welded a 2-inch hitch mount vertically on the tongue cross member then fabricated a riser for mounting the 1-up. I’ve been hauling bikes on this tongue mounted rack for 3+ years and 15k+ miles. It has worked out great.

 

[Josh00333]

Googling shows 2 sizes, what size did you get? 24" or 30"

Those are nice!

 

[Josh00333]

That must have cost $1,800 or so. Liklely voided any warranty from Ark. Looks like you lost some ground clearance. I assume you still put the anderson blocks under the tires after you level trailer. I have a level mate pro so I know exactly how many inches I need to raise one side and the tongue. Takes like one minute to drive on blocks.

They are $300 a pair from Google. Not bad at all. They go in the same spot as the factory jacks, can't see how they would reduce clearance?

The whole point of these is skipping the block leveling game. As well as being able to jack the rig for a tire change with out a bottle jack.

Warranty? from OBI?! LOL

 

[Obsessed2findARuggedHybid]

They are $300 a pair from Google. Not bad at all. They go in the same spot as the factory jacks, can't see how they would reduce clearance?

The whole point of these is skipping the block leveling game. As well as being able to jack the rig for a tire change with out a bottle jack.

Warranty? from OBI?! LOL

My bad i thought they were 300 a piece. I meant warranty from Ark by drilling out holes but I doubt that will be an issue. They just looked like they hang down further then stock cheapos. Do you put blocks under tires after leveling with jacks?

 

[Josh00333]

My bad i thought they were 300 a piece. I meant warranty from Ark by drilling out holes but I doubt that will be an issue. They just looked like they hang down further then stock cheapos. Do you put blocks under tires after leveling with jacks?

Oh oh got ya, ya your probably right drilling a hole in there unit might can a warranty.

For blocks, no, if you are leveling the odds are 99.9999999% you are NOT going to lift a tire. You're leveling 1-4" a side at most. Takes a bit to get one these tires off the ground. 99% of the time you would block your tire with caulks then level with the jacks.

The whole tire off the ground is only useful if you get a flat.

 

[Obsessed2findARuggedHybid]

Oh oh got ya, ya your probably right drilling a hole in there unit might can a warranty.

For blocks, no, if you are leveling the odds are 99.9999999% you are NOT going to lift a tire. You're leveling 1-4" a side at most. Takes a bit to get one these tires off the ground. 99% of the time you would block your tire with caulks then level with the jacks.

The whole tire off the ground is only useful if you get a flat.

Good point but my chassis creaks when I raise it and I feel better to put pressure on tire and suspension to take that torque off of the twisting chassis. Which is why I just roll on blocks first. Probably over thinking it.

 

[WillySwan]

... I feel better to put pressure on tire and suspension to take that torque off of the twisting chassis. Which is why I just roll on blocks first. Probably over thinking it.

You're not overthinking it. The Dwellers have a ridiculously stout frame, however it is possible even with the stock steady jacks to twist the frame on my D13 enough that the ensuite door binds a tiny bit.

 

[apoc2662]

I just picked up a 2023 D13 a few weeks ago and have been working my way through the systems, getting more familiar. A huge thank you to everyone that has posted so far. I feel like I already know a ton about this trailer before I even opened it up for the first time.

I actually just did the lithium swap. I found 3 group 31 170ah batteries on Amazon for a pretty good price. So it was pretty much an easy swap to do. As I was playing with the inverter/charger settings, I figured I'd test the 120 outlets. It looks like I have 2 of them (1 by the TV and the other in the front by the storage area). Both of those are reading "open ground" when I put an outlet tester on them. I'm about to pull the outlets, check the fuse connections, look at the Renogy wires in and out of the inverter...maybe the main ground line is disconnected...once I get out of work today. Anyone else encounter this and have an obvious place to start looking? Appreciate any insight!

 

[apoc2662]

Think I found the issue. The yellow/green stripe wire was not properly seated at the ground bus in the breaker panel. I probably should have just started there, but I checked each outlet, checked where the main ground was secured to the underside of the trailer before I just tried to reseat the wire. Outlets are testing ok now!

 

[Josh00333]

Any one have a source (Amazon?) for the front compartment struts? Mine are weak and don’t hold the lid open.

 

[henderson.341]

DWELLER BIKE RACK - Post 2 of 2

Design Overview

Here is a summary of the approach I took:

• Utilize my existing 1Up rack. It is a little heavy, but it is near bulletproof. 1Up is one of the stoutest bike racks you can get in the U.S.. 1Up makes a ”Heavy Duty” hitch rack and “Super Duty” hitch rack. Both racks have 2-piece wheel trays (for ease of shipment?) with the difference being that the Super Duty has an additional reinforcement plate. My specific rack is built with the 1-piece roof-rack wheel trays. The 1Up engineer I worked with characterized my rack as “Heavy Super Duty”
• Weld a 2-inch receiver onto the cross member. The VIN sticker for the Dweller is located on the backside of the drawbar cross member. I chose to mount the receiver vertically on the front side of the cross member. The vertical orientation gave me a lot more surface to weld to the cross member. I was very careful to protect the VIN sticker while welding.
• Build a tower to connect the two items (analogous to the iSi Strong Arm tower). The bottom end of the tower mounts into the receiver I welded onto the cross member. The upper part of the tower has a 2-inch receiver for the 1Up rack. The tower is constructed of 2”x2” square tube 7-gauge (4.5mm). I used a heavy duty hitch stabilizer where the tower connects into the vertical hitch receiver.

Here are photos of the work-in-progress and the finished product.

Fabbing the tower

Test fitting before welding onto the cross member

Testing gearbox clearance

Initial sea-trials and checking turning clearances

Finished product

On the road

Impact on Tongue Weight

I did a “worst case” measure on the Cat Scale with two bikes, all of my camping gear and two full water tanks. In that scenario, the tongue weight measured 680 lbs which is getting up there. When boondocking, I will tend to keep most of my potable water in the 20 gallon rear tank which is just behind the trailer wheels. I will put the minimal amount of water in the 30 gallon forward tank. I need to spend more time at the Cat Scale doing a full analysis using a typical camping load.

Ruggedness.

TBD. I have spent limited time off pavement so far. Everything is “very sturdy” and it seems like it will hold up. I am taking the SpaceX “test it until it breaks” approach. I will post updates if I break anything and/or have to make any modifications.

Useability

• Getting bikes on and off the rack is “easy”.
• Accessing the gearbox is “okay”. It is “easy” to tip the rack forward with the bikes in place. In that position, I can open the gearbox lid all of the way. It is just a bit more effort to get things into and out of the gearbox, but it works.
• Transferring the bike rack from the Dweller to my tow vehicle is also “okay”. If I were younger and stronger, it would likely be easy. It looks to be easier and faster than transferring the iSi rack as shown in their YouTube video.

Total Cost

• Two 2-Inch x 9-Inch Weld-On Raw Steel Trailer Hitch Receiver Tubes - $17 apiece
• 3-feet of 2”x2” square tube 7-gauge - $10 at local steel yard
• Anti-Rattle Stabilizer for 2 Inch Hitch - $17
• Hardware, 5/8-inch Grade 8 flange head bolt, nut and washers - maybe $5
• Bike Rack, I obviously designed around the rack I had. 1Up currently sells 2-inch hitch, 2-bike racks for between $635 and $715 depending on color and Heavy Duty or Super Duty.

Notes

• Rustoleum aluminum colored spray paint is a perfect match to the trailer frame. This is what I used to paint the receiver I welded to the cross member.
• I did need to relocate the parking brake forward about 1-inch in order to clear the receiver. This was a matter of drilling two holes in the handle mounting plate.

Summary

I met all of my design criteria and I am extremely pleased with the finished product. Driving across the country with one bike was no issue (refer to my shock absorber post above). By the end of July, I hope to have a very good idea as to how well this is going to hold up on rough roads. I am cautiously optimistic.

Let me know if you have any questions.

This is great. I am looking to do the same here. Do you by chance have the lengths and degree of angle. I don’t have a welder so I intend to give the details to my fabricator to build. Also would you do it any differently if you could?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Josh00333]

Any one have a source (Amazon?) for the front compartment struts? Mine are weak and don’t hold the lid open.

Found them back early in the thread:

Vepagoo C16-23933 15 Inch 45Lb/200N Per Gas Shock Strut

 

[Josh00333]

Also of note, if any one needs lugs. I could not find them locally.

20pcs Chrome Bulge Lug Nuts - 9/16-18 Thread Size