OBI Dweller Review and Discussion
- Thread starter gendlert
- Start date
Not exactly what I wanted to hear. Maybe it was with the other changes at the start of the year, mine was manufactured 10/2021. Happy now to have one that retracts all the way and is actually adjustable!
Anyone else have the 500 series on their D13?
Your VIN sticker should be on the inside of the cross member on the tongue of the camper. It's difficult to see and read. The manufactured date is on the top right corner.
We are not entirely sure when the damage to the jack occurred. There were two incidents while pulling off-road that that it could have made contact with the ground/rocks. And another time when we were trying to disconnect we couldn't get the hitch to release, through a series of errors the trailer ended up dropping several inches onto the wheel. You can see where the shaft is bent, and it would no longer slide at all.
BernieMulcahy
Member
I've got a D13 with the Jan 2022 upgrades and still have the 500 jack. I've not had any issues. I make sure to rotate it with the wheels facing up. Once rotated up, almost no part of the jack hangs below the frame.
gendlert
Active member
In theory, the ARK XO500 should be plenty (500 kg load rating is well under the tongue weight of the trailer), but you do get another 140mm of height out of the 750 (however in all my uses, it's actually been the situation where I can't get it to go LOW enough, not high enough, but that might just be coincidence). Either way, in the event that you have to replace your tongue jack, I totally recommend the 750; there's no such thing as underkill, right? And it comes in black through eTrailer if you can find it, for a few more bucks, which would look awesome on the Dwellers.
gendlert
Active member
D13 and D15 have a common back end, and the answer would be yes. The outward facing back wall becomes the inside wall that has contact with the folded mattress when stowed. You would need to dry it off if you're packing up in wet conditions. You'd probably want to dry off the side walls too, though they won't be inward facing, but they could drip down the inside at the corners. Best to bring a spare towel or two.
Obsessed2findARuggedHybid
Well-known member
Regardless of weight rating I have seen several posts about the 500 failing. That could be do the the video on ARK website that shows recoverys of trailers being pulled through the mud with a winch. If folks want to use it that way 750 is the way to go
I have a d15 and I am having issues figuring out the sway this trailer gets itself into when a car or truck passes or sucks up to close behind it at speed. I have changed the shocks out with what was recommended in the earlier posts, and that helped with the rocking side to side on its axis and in cornering and dipping. However the rear end sway is still there. Tow vehicle is a f150 max tow and the setup is level. I really don't want to get sway control setup that has to be disconnected once I am off pavement. Is there any recommendations anyone may have.
As gendlert told me when I asked the same question a few months ago “the sway is real!”
The sway is real and I didn’t want to live with it. I wanted an enjoyable driving experience. What I did was a bit pricey because I had someone do the work for me but it is a game changer for sure. I didn’t want a mechanical sway arm controller so I went with an electronic sway control system. Absolutely love it. Extremely easy to drive now and I’m not white knuckling it anymore!
I was planning on posting results next week after my 4th trip using the electronic sway control on the D13.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The sway is real and I didn’t want to live with it. I wanted an enjoyable driving experience. What I did was a bit pricey because I had someone do the work for me but it is a game changer for sure. I didn’t want a mechanical sway arm controller so I went with an electronic sway control system. Absolutely love it. Extremely easy to drive now and I’m not white knuckling it anymore!
I was planning on posting results next week after my 4th trip using the electronic sway control on the D13.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
well at least I'm not alone. I have sway control on in my trailer settings but no help. Has anyone tried different tires? The stock tires are very round and only 2 ply sidewall. I was considering swapping for a Ko2, it is a flat wider tire. I agree with tung weight but no real way to change that on this trailer by a significant enough amount.
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.
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gendlert
Active member
I dunno. You never know when 3-4 bags of sand might come in handy.
Also, I recommend, unless you think you'd need it for a longer trip, only filling the front water tank. That's the big one (30 gal, I think?), and that helped a lot for me. By eliminating 20 gal of water (160 pounds) from behind the axle, you increase the tongue weight. Something else to try. Of course, if you need all that water, it doesn't do you any good. Then it's back to bags of sand.
Also, I recommend, unless you think you'd need it for a longer trip, only filling the front water tank. That's the big one (30 gal, I think?), and that helped a lot for me. By eliminating 20 gal of water (160 pounds) from behind the axle, you increase the tongue weight. Something else to try. Of course, if you need all that water, it doesn't do you any good. Then it's back to bags of sand.
goawaymore
Member
Just an added suggestion.....
I tow a lot of pretty heavy boat trailers. Incorrect tongue weight can have some pretty drastic affects on handling, especially on the highway. Before anyone starts experimenting with tongue weight I would really encourage them to figure out a baseline tongue weight with a known handling characteristic. If you know it sways, and under certain circumstances, then set it back up about the way you had it that last time, and then determine that tongue weight. That way you have an idea of what adding 50 pounds (or 100 pounds) will get you. Ideally you don't want to set tongue weight significantly heavier than necessary (and that's a moving target for every trailer), and you want to be able to repeat that value every time you have a long trip planned. Plenty of specific scales out there for tongue weight. Also plenty of cheaper google solutions if you search for "measuring trailer tongue weight using a bathroom scale" (or something close to that). I know that Curt Manufacturing and other towing specific companies have blogs and web pages about the process (and it's quite simple and requires nothing more than a basic bathroom scale (ie, does not need to read as high as the expected tongue weight....don't need a 500lb scale), that should show up in a search. Should be able to find this through some reputable and trustworthy companies webpages.
Also will let you determine how to best deal with water and cargo loads before trips, and how to temporarily fix/improve (as suggested, add weight to the front box), or more permanently fix/improve (as suggested bikes in front, or if more drastic, maybe relocate the spare tire from behind camper, to up in front of the box?)
Anyway, knowing your desired tongue weight (and being able to check it and repeat it on your trailer) will usually allow you some less stressful drives, especially when going by semis in the dark of windy nights.
Huge fan of the bags of sand suggestion when you unexpectedly find yourself on a trip with sway issues. Cheap, easy to find even at night and on weekends, and easy to dispose of in an environmentally friendly manner. Win, win, win!
I tow a lot of pretty heavy boat trailers. Incorrect tongue weight can have some pretty drastic affects on handling, especially on the highway. Before anyone starts experimenting with tongue weight I would really encourage them to figure out a baseline tongue weight with a known handling characteristic. If you know it sways, and under certain circumstances, then set it back up about the way you had it that last time, and then determine that tongue weight. That way you have an idea of what adding 50 pounds (or 100 pounds) will get you. Ideally you don't want to set tongue weight significantly heavier than necessary (and that's a moving target for every trailer), and you want to be able to repeat that value every time you have a long trip planned. Plenty of specific scales out there for tongue weight. Also plenty of cheaper google solutions if you search for "measuring trailer tongue weight using a bathroom scale" (or something close to that). I know that Curt Manufacturing and other towing specific companies have blogs and web pages about the process (and it's quite simple and requires nothing more than a basic bathroom scale (ie, does not need to read as high as the expected tongue weight....don't need a 500lb scale), that should show up in a search. Should be able to find this through some reputable and trustworthy companies webpages.
Also will let you determine how to best deal with water and cargo loads before trips, and how to temporarily fix/improve (as suggested, add weight to the front box), or more permanently fix/improve (as suggested bikes in front, or if more drastic, maybe relocate the spare tire from behind camper, to up in front of the box?)
Anyway, knowing your desired tongue weight (and being able to check it and repeat it on your trailer) will usually allow you some less stressful drives, especially when going by semis in the dark of windy nights.
Huge fan of the bags of sand suggestion when you unexpectedly find yourself on a trip with sway issues. Cheap, easy to find even at night and on weekends, and easy to dispose of in an environmentally friendly manner. Win, win, win!
This one has been really bothering me.
The shower/toilet ensuite was a huge factor in making this purchase. I want to be able to shower with impunity and have no concerns of water leaking and causing future damage.
On my D13, here are a couple of observations I have made:
- The caulk is adhering to the walls of the ensuite, but not to the toilet unit. After doing a bit of Google research, this appears to be a common problem. <Link>. There was another thread somewhere else that I can’t locate now. The conclusion was the same…caulk does not stay adhered to the C402 plastic.
- The side walls of the ensuite have a lot of flex on each side of the toilet. There is also some flexing on the back wall, but it is much less. This is not a criticism of the Dweller, this is just a fact. Short of trying to put some expanding spray foam on the backside of the ensuite walls, I don’t see a good solution for stabilizing the walls and eliminating the flex.
Here are the options I looked at:
- Install the Thetford p/n 32311 wall seal. This is an optional perimeter gasket that does not come standard with Thetford toilet. It appears that installing this seal would involve unbolting and lifting the toilet from the ensuite. I read some threads that indicated mixed results when using this gasket seal.
- Find a suitable “super caulk” that will both adhere to the Thetford plastic and have high elongation to deal with the flexing of the ensuite. I don’t know what that sealant would be. I would likely experiment with “OSI Quad Max” or something similar.
- Stabilize the ensuite walls with spray foam (or something) and use the best sealant caulk I could find. I have had really good luck on other projects using Titebond WeatherMaster Ultimate MP. They make a white version of this which would be what I would likely experiment with along with the OSI Quad Max.
- Use a water-tight membrane tape that will seal out the water and accommodate the wall movement.
The tape I chose is 3M’s 4411N Extreme Sealing Tape. It is an off-white translucent tape that is used for sealing roofing membrane. This is how they describe it in their marketing literature:
- Sticks on contact to many metals, plastics and other hard-to-stick-to surfaces
- Provides immediate seal with no wait time or oozing associated with liquid sealants
- Tough, yet flexible clear ionomer backing is abrasion resistant and instantly paintable
- This adhesive not only bonds instantly to a variety of substrates, but it adheres well to itself in order to maintain a consistent seal while creating overlapping joints.
Here are the details of my installation:
Tools Used -
- Nothing special needed. A picture is worth a lot of words.
Preparation
- Remove existing caulk from the toilet and ensuite walls. Instead of completely removing the caulk, I cut and trimmed it away from the walls and left it in the crack as a filler. As mentioned, it was not adhered to the toilet so that side was easy to remove. I used a single edge razor paint scraper to remove the caulk from the ensuite walls. Note: I would do this same step if I was going to try to re-caulk.
- Clean Walls - I started with Goo Gone, followed with Simple Green and finally with 70% IPA (rubbing alcohol). I would not have needed the Goo Gone except that I had to remove duct tape adhesive from my “field fix” when I first noticed the caulk separating. Per 3M, IPA is all that is needed. Note: I would also do this step if I was going to re-caulk.
- Apply adhesion promoter - I did not do this. Some 3M literature mentions various 3M adhesion promoters that can be optionally applied prior to the 4411N tape. I did not use them. If the joints fail, I may try a promoter in the future.
- I worked with short sections of tape. This stuff is “really sticky” and I found that 13-inches was as long of a piece as I wanted to work with.
- I worked from the bottom up. This way the tape overlaps like shingles. I used the following:
- 11-inch length on each vertical side wall
- 13-inch length on each horizontal side wall
- 2x 13-inch lengths on the horizontal back wall
- 2x small corner pieces where the horizontal side walls meet the back wall.
- After cutting the tape, I folded it in half lengthwise. I first adhered the tape to the toilet then worked it into the crack and up onto the ensuite walls. Sounds easy, but it is a bit tricky. This stuff is really sticky.
- After each piece is in place, pull the top release film and work the tape into place.
- From an aesthetic perspective, it is not perfect. There are a couple of waves in the tape, especially where I followed the contour from the horizontal sidewall to the vertical sidewall, but it is only an aesthetic issue.
- The tape gives the walls the freedom to flex while maintaining seal. From a functional perspective, I think it is going to work…if the tape continues to stay adhered to the toilet polymer.
- Overall, I’m happy with the result. I’ll trade good looks for functional performance. As always, time will tell how effective this solution is, but I’m cautiously optimistic.
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