OBI Dweller Review and Discussion

[WingShot]

Road tested the new Monroe shock absorbers...

On-road, the ride and handling are much improved. It still likes to bounce a little when conditions are right, but overall a much better towing experience. Definitely worth the time and money to upgrade.

Off-road, no noticeable difference. However, I'm not really sure how I would notice any. The Dweller just pulls along behind, going where ever I take it!

 

[WingShot]

• Bad battery cell.
  • Issue: One of my cells in my battery bank was bad. It happens. I wasn't able to keep my fridge running even 24 hours on the last trip in cooler weather and shady conditions. Turns out I had a bad cell, which makes sense.
  • The fix: I was within the 1-year warranty period, and they replaced ALL THREE batteries. They didn't have a pile of spares, and replaced it with Interstate Battery flooded batteries. Model SRM-31.
  • Lesson learned: Pros and cons for sure, but he asked me to try these and see if I like them, and I told him I would. Flooded could require a bit more maintenance, but can potentially last longer than the sealed stock AGM cells. I was planning to update to lithium soon for my longer trips, but I'm going to put that on hold for now.

We have a similar issue with our fridge. How do you determine if one or another battery cell is bad?

 

[gendlert]

We have a similar issue with our fridge. How do you determine if one or another battery cell is bad?

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.

 

[ROA-OFFROAD]

Upgraded Shock Absorbers/Tongue Wheel Jack

I replaced the original shock absorbers to the Monroe 66440's as WillySwan and gendlert described earlier in this thread. Pretty new to this kind of work but the installation went pretty smooth. I did not lift the camper, and had to spread the upper mounts a little bit. Kind of dry fit them before putting in the bolts. Shocks delivered to my home in 3 days via the Denver Broncos new ownership group, Walmart to most of you ($208.00). No time to test drive today.

Original Equipment:

View attachment 734696

New Monroe's:

View attachment 734697

And after beating up the original tongue wheel jack pretty good, it needed replaced. Seemed appropriate to upgrade that as well.

Original, Ark Series 500:

View attachment 734700

Comparison, Ark 500 vs. 750:

View attachment 734704

New, Ark Series 750 (250 more!!):

View attachment 734728

Great Job! Yes, the trailers have sway. Highly recommend people do this modification or some other modification. Right now we are recommending the Tucson sway contoller.

 

[ROA-OFFROAD]

Oh no 500 for this heavy of a trailer was a bad choice. Everyone should up grade to 750

Underrated tongue jacks are the worst.....great choice to grab the 750.

 

[ROA-OFFROAD]

Dweller has definitely upped the game over Black Series. On a side note, when I first looked at BS, I thought "I need to upgrade those generic shocks". I saw on this forum that someone did exactly that with the Dweller as well. Considering the relatively low cost of upgrading shocks, and the vast difference it makes in performance and safety, I'm a little dumbfounded that one these manufacturers just doesn't do it and brag about it or offer it as an upgrade. I'd be willing to bet that an opportunistic outfit like ROA will be offering a shock absorber upgrade as one of their "exclusive" mods. Consider that free advice ROA! ?

haha. Upgrading the shocks is a great idea for sure. I just posted that we use the tucson sway contoller to handle the sway, but I think this is a great idea.

 

[ROA-OFFROAD]

I've looked at the photos of the D19 on the ROA website and have seen the D13 in person. Is it just me, or do they look a lot like a white colored Black Series? From the design lines to the seam seals, to the frame, suspension and aluminum rock protection, it all seems similar. OBI has some nicer system components than BS, but they have to be using some of the same suppliers.

They are similar but use completely different manufacturer. When we worked with black series we asked if they would allow us to tour the factory where they make the trailers, and they said absolutely not. Talked to OBI and they have no problem at all. They want us to come tour the factory as soon as possible. Polar opposites.

 

[Treefarmer]

Yep. BS really compromised their position in the US market in several ways.

 

[Treefarmer]

haha. Upgrading the shocks is a great idea for sure. I just posted that we use the tucson sway contoller to handle the sway, but I think this is a great idea.

Now that I know you're listening, I'll suggest all kinds of mods for you!

 

[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

That's pretty close to what I was imagining, and actually doesn't seem that bad. We are thinking our problem is with either the refrigerator or the batteries, isolated the fridge last night and it seems to be fine. So I'll disconnect the batteries tonight and check them tomorrow.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[WingShot]

Watch out for the power step in front of the passenger side trailer wheel!

My latest casualty. I was trying to put that wheel on the biggest rock, bounced off the step first. Looks like it took a direct, vertical hit to the housing. Bent it pretty bad and it wouldn't open more than an inch or two. At camp, I was able to bend it back with a breaker bar enough to manually bring it down. Going to pull the whole thing off and see if I can get it back in shape.

The articulating McHitch helps this camper pull great off-road, but it doesn't have as much clearance as my old pop-up did. Having to get used to that is getting expensive.

 

[gendlert]

Watch out for the power step in front of the passenger side trailer wheel!

My latest casualty. I was trying to put that wheel on the biggest rock, bounced off the step first. Looks like it took a direct, vertical hit to the housing. Bent it pretty bad and it wouldn't open more than an inch or two. At camp, I was able to bend it back with a breaker bar enough to manually bring it down. Going to pull the whole thing off and see if I can get it back in shape.

The articulating McHitch helps this camper pull great off-road, but it doesn't have as much clearance as my old pop-up did. Having to get used to that is getting expensive.

I imagine that will happen to me before long, as I've seen a couple posts about that. When it happens, I'm just going to remove it and use a portable step. Much less expensive.

2022 OBI Dweller
2020 RAM 1500 Rebel

 

[nemesisnight]

Watch out for the power step in front of the passenger side trailer wheel!

My latest casualty. I was trying to put that wheel on the biggest rock, bounced off the step first. Looks like it took a direct, vertical hit to the housing. Bent it pretty bad and it wouldn't open more than an inch or two. At camp, I was able to bend it back with a breaker bar enough to manually bring it down. Going to pull the whole thing off and see if I can get it back in shape.

The articulating McHitch helps this camper pull great off-road, but it doesn't have as much clearance as my old pop-up did. Having to get used to that is getting expensive.

I feel your pain, I was soo soo close to smashing mine when I scraped the front sliders last trip and broke my blue leg handle. I was luckily able to climb under, move some rocks and stick them under the tire to prevent it from damaging them by rolling it upward and away from scraping. Little different scenario but they are definitely a weak point in the build. I would have preferred some beefy steps that folded outward from inside to help ground clearance off-road. Of course with a closing door like we have that gets super tricky. I'm pretty sure steps like that in the conqueror UEV prevent the door from closing so then you can't close the hard door with the steps deployed. Even trying to fab some rock protection would save the steps but make even less ground clearance.

 

[nemesisnight]

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.......

The slider bar in this situation did definitely help but the way it's mounted kinda flexes inward a bit because it's just like an L bracket it's mounted too. Held up this time at least but might need some additional bracing someday.

 

[gendlert]

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.......

The slider bar in this situation did definitely help but the way it's mounted kinda flexes inward a bit because it's just like an L bracket it's mounted too. Held up this time at least but might need some additional bracing someday.

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