OBI Dweller Review and Discussion

[FordGuy1]

Looks like you could fabricate a aluminum handle pretty easy out of some flat bar stock

 

[nemesisnight]

Gonna be hard to find just the handle, I think. It's made in their factory, I believe. More of the "RV Homeland" stuff. Are they threaded studs? If so, you could probably cobble together a pretty easy solution at Ace Hardware with door handles and a couple hinges so they fold out of the way.

I like the Ark stabilizer jack design better, and this might be the time to upgrade both of your front ones so it doesn't happen again. https://www.etrailer.com/Camper-Jacks/Ark/AR94FR.html

Yea the ARK ones are nice but require a weld on install unfortunately. Probably will just see what I can come up with for now.

 

[goawaymore]

McMaster sells Eye Nuts (both threaded or just drilled for a tap size of your choice) in galvanized and stainless. If those studs are threaded (or there is enough there to add thread), you could add one Eye Nut to each stud and connect the 2 with wire, rope, or a removable handle. May be able to withstand future damage (well, slightly anyway!).

 

[gendlert]

Yea the ARK ones are nice but require a weld on install unfortunately. Probably will just see what I can come up with for now.

Take it to Willy's house.

 

[WillySwan]

Does anyone have any leads on how I can purchase just the blue plastic handle on this leg? Maybe OBI would send me one of I can't source another. I don't see any name branding and the leg still functions, just needs a new handle.......

Take it to Willy's house.

Haha...but seriously.

Since I saw you did this, I was thinking about how you could fix it. Here are a couple of thoughts -

If you want to salvage the stabilizer and don't have the facilities to weld it yourself, I would buy a piece of 3/4" or 1" angle iron from a big box store. Cut it to length an inch or two wider than the stabilizer pins with a hacksaw or angle grinder to fashion a handle and drill a couple of holes on the same centers as the stabilizer pins. "Someone" with a welder should be able to plug weld the handle to the stabilizer pins in a couple of minutes. I know people who have stopped by a muffler shop and had them do simple jobs like this for a few bucks.

Have you confirmed that none of the ARK stabilizers will fit the current weld-on mount? Here are a couple of etrailer.com links showing some dimensions of the ARK mounting plate.

• https://www.etrailer.com/question-568259.html
• https://www.etrailer.com/question-534478.html
• https://www.etrailer.com/question-633201.html

Let us know what solution you come up with.

 

[WingShot]

Unfortunately, it's a bit of a PITA. You need to get your system to full charge; the display should be reading the float voltage of ~13.8V if not in boost phase from the charger while plugged in, ~14.7 if in boost phase, but you want it to read the float voltage. Then disconnect them all at the terminals so they aren't a bank anymore and let them sit for a night with no load, and then check the next day individually with a volt meter. Don't test them with the volt meter within 6 hours of charging; it will read high from the float voltage, from what I've read. The Dwellers come with AGM sealed batteries, so use the chart below to determine if you've got a bad cell. I had one reading 11.9V the next morning. If anyone knows a better way than this, please let all of us know.

View attachment 736026

Disconnected the batteries and let them sit for 24hrs, each one reads a little over 13.0V. I guess a bad battery cell is not our problem. Thanks again.

 

[gendlert]

We got the Dweller ready for the storms. A couple inches of rain yesterday, and tilting the roof significantly improved the amount of water that came down between the roof and the awning, and tilting the awning worked great without issue. Also had some fun on the dirt roads coming out this morning.

2022 OBI Dweller
2020 RAM 1500 Rebel

 

[Obsessed2findARuggedHybid]

We got the Dweller ready for the storms. A couple inches of rain yesterday, and tilting the roof significantly improved the amount of water that came down between the roof and the awning, and tilting the awning worked great without issue. Also had some fun on the dirt roads coming out this morning.

2022 OBI Dweller
2020 RAM 1500 Rebel

Wow 2 inches of rain. Hope you did not run into any flash flooding. I always wondered how pop-up type trailers would handle heavy rain and water pouring down between the roof and awining. Doesn't look like the kitchen area is covered very well with that straight awining. Do you think a quality 270 awining wound be better or the same in regard to water falls coming down off the roof?

 

[gendlert]

Wow 2 inches of rain. Hope you did not run into any flash flooding. I always wondered how pop-up type trailers would handle heavy rain and water pouring down between the roof and awining. Doesn't look like the kitchen area is covered very well with that straight awining. Do you think a quality 270 awining wound be better or the same in regard to water falls coming down off the roof?

I exaggerated a bit. It was 1.8". But it was over many hours. Not a hard downpour, and we steer clear of flash flood areas with weather in the forecast. They're easy to see where they run around here.

Yeah, we buttoned the kitchen up when we weren't using it, because it does get wet with the straight awning. I don't know if a 270 would work with the pop out rear, and as for the gap, I'm not sure you can close it unless you mount on the roof itself. My wife and I were thinking of ways to close the gap with afternoon beers, but didn't come up with any real solutions yet. Tilting the roof made it much better in the interim.

2022 OBI Dweller
2020 RAM 1500 Rebel

 

[BernieMulcahy]

I exaggerated a bit. It was 1.8". But it was over many hours. Not a hard downpour, and we steer clear of flash flood areas with weather in the forecast. They're easy to see where they run around here.

Yeah, we buttoned the kitchen up when we weren't using it, because it does get wet with the straight awning. I don't know if a 270 would work with the pop out rear, and as for the gap, I'm not sure you can close it unless you mount on the roof itself. My wife and I were thinking of ways to close the gap with afternoon beers, but didn't come up with any real solutions yet. Tilting the roof made it much better in the interim.

2022 OBI Dweller
2020 RAM 1500 Rebel

We've had to deal with rain making its way in that gap between the roof and awning as well. I've been thinking of using a garage door "gasket", maybe like this one Garage Door weather seal. Maybe use some silicon caulk to attach it to the roof or awning. I wouldn't necessarily do a full bead. Maybe just a few a few spots along the length.

 

[nemesisnight]

Maybe just squish some pool noodles in there when it's rainy ?. It seems to fix other things on the Dweller. You could even taper it down to drain off one end. I'm only halfway kidding and may actually work and not have to be permanent......

 

[Robustoobi34]

I exaggerated a bit. It was 1.8". But it was over many hours. Not a hard downpour, and we steer clear of flash flood areas with weather in the forecast. They're easy to see where they run around here.

Yeah, we buttoned the kitchen up when we weren't using it, because it does get wet with the straight awning. I don't know if a 270 would work with the pop out rear, and as for the gap, I'm not sure you can close it unless you mount on the roof itself. My wife and I were thinking of ways to close the gap with afternoon beers, but didn't come up with any real solutions yet. Tilting the roof made it much better in the interim.

2022 OBI Dweller
2020 RAM 1500 Rebel

Any issues with the 'bedroom pullout' leaking with all that water? and by the looks of the photos, the water draining off the top in that direction?

 

[WillySwan]

A month ago, after about 4500 tow miles, I noticed that the McHitch on my D13 had some play, or wobble, in the shaft.



I didn't really notice any issue when towing, but it was concerning and obviously not operating as designed. Also, the play in the hitch was getting sloppier over time.

I contacted Caravan Specialties LLC (mchitch.us). John was extremely helpful as always. He confirmed that there should be zero play in the system and that the hitch should not rotate freely. He also assured me that this should just be an adjustment issue, but if there was any damage to my hitch it would be covered under the McHitch warranty.

John explained that on rare occasions, he has seen the main nylock nut work its way loose over time. This is usually caused by the set screw in the nut not being properly tightened. As there is the large cotter pin on the shaft retaining the main nut, there is no concern with catastrophic failure.

John suggested that I disassemble the hitch to confirm no damage to the shaft or bushings. If no damage was found, all that would be needed is to lube and adjust per their 5-year maintenance procedure:

• Pull the main shaft cotter pin
• Remove the grub screw from the main nut
• Remove the nut and pull the shaft
• Wipe it off and clean the bushing flanges
• Even though the label on the McHitch states the graphite impregnated bushings do not require lubrication, John recommends smearing a coat of grease on the shaft and the bushing flanges. “Red-N-Tacky is a good grease, but any good chassis grease, or marine grease will work.”
• Re-install the shaft.
• Tighten the nut to 70 ft lbs. When it is at that value, the torque required to turn the main shaft in the body will be about 50-55 ft lbs.
• Install a new cotter pin
• Re-install the grub screw (set screw) with some medium (blue) Loctite on it. Do not put Loctite on the main nut threads
• Lube the u-joint just enough to see grease escape around the seals. This should be done once or twice a year
• Be sure the main yoke is clocked to where the small alignment pin is facing up as it enters the receiver.

I disassembled my McHitch and confirmed there was no damage. It was obvious that the main nut had backed off. Even though it is a Nylock nut, there was very little resistance to the nut turning once the grub screw was loosened. I followed the service procedure and everything is good. At the ~70 ft lbs of torque on the main nut, the torque required to rotate the main shaft is very close to the 50-55 ft lbs that John said to expect.

Based on this experience, here are my suggestions:

• Regularly check the main shaft on the McHitch when hitching or unhitching your trailer. There should be no play in the hitch and it should have a reasonable resistance to rotating.
• If your hitch shows signs of being loose, go ahead and adjust it.
  - Remove the grub screw
  - Tighten the main nut 70 ft lbs
  - Reinstall the grub screw using medium Loctite and tighten securely

The main nut takes a 1-7/16” socket. I have not tried this, but if you don’t remove and replace the main cotter pin, you may be able to use a 12-inch Crescent wrench to adjust the main nut.

• If your hitch is not loose, I would still recommend removing the grub screw and reinstalling securely with Loctite.
• When you lubricate the u-joint
  - Pump in grease until it just starts to squeeze out of the seals
  - Rotate the u-joint back-and-forth on both axis to ensure the fresh grease is worked in
  - Pump in a bit more grease. This ensures there are no air pockets in the u-joint.

 

[Obsessed2findARuggedHybid]

I was just about to ask the same thing. Any guess if the gap would the same if you had a 180 degree type awining? Could one even mount a 180 type on a Dweller?

 

[WillySwan]

I'm considering mounting a 180 type awning when the factory awning breaks or wears out in order to get full coverage over the galley pull-out. However, the factory awning has so far proven to be suprisingly durable.

Based on a cursory look, mounting a 180 awning should be pretty straight forward. I've been looking at the OVS Nomadic 180, but I'm sure I will change my mind several times before finally pulling the trigger.