OBI Dweller Review and Discussion

[WillySwan]

I believe mchitch usa is alive and well. Raspy?

Yes they are alive. I discussed with John Roemer several weeks ago. According to him, McHitch US is unaffected by the shuttering of McHitch AUS.

In his words, "... I have taken control of all of McHitch manufacturing and distribution. I am currently working on setting up another distributor in Australia, as well as sealing deals to get McHitch included as standard equipment on trailers in the US."

 

[WillySwan]

If anyone is curious about the wall construction on a Dweller, here is a core sample from the front wall of my D13.

From right to left:

• Outer Skin is aluminum. It measures 0.063” which is a bit thicker than 16 gauge.
• Core is some type of blue foam that measured about 0.890”
• Inner Skin is some type of glass reinforced plastic (GRP). Pretty stiff stuff. About 16 gauge as well. I measured at 0.056’
• The plywood is not part of the wall structure but it is behind the front vertical wall. It is a nice 9-ply material about 0.575” thick. I think the same plywood is used on all of the cabinetry.

 

[henderson.341]

Thanks. Yes I had seen the ROA video on that and wasn't convinced that it would address roll. Sway itself is a pivoting at the hitch in a lateral direction (basically fishtailing.) My experience with the OBi has been very different: the rolling/rocking of the trailer is more of a vertical motion. Perhaps sway control would dampen some of that vertical motion because they attach farther back on the tongue. It also has the implication that to get your off-road articulation you'd need to hop out and remove the sway arms when your highway travel is over.

I have this on my Dweller 15. It’s the only way to cruise down the highway. We live in Ohio and camp out west so we have lots of road time and we need to make it fast and safe. I can hit the berm of the road at 80mph and it will correct immediately. As soon as I hit the trail they come off or if I will be cruising under 60mph. I also pull with a 3/4 Chevy Diesel so that helps having a lot of weight. I don’t even know it’s back there.


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[rblitz]

I have this on my Dweller 15. It’s the only way to cruise down the highway. We live in Ohio and camp out west so we have lots of road time and we need to make it fast and safe. I can hit the berm of the road at 80mph and it will correct immediately. As soon as I hit the trail they come off or if I will be cruising under 60mph. I also pull with a 3/4 Chevy Diesel so that helps having a lot of weight. I don’t even know it’s back there.


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What make/model WD hitch are you using? Any issues getting the McHitch receiver to fit?
I have a Blue Ox BXW0350 I used with my popup but the Dweller is too heavy for that.

 

[henderson.341]

What make/model WD hitch are you using? Any issues getting the McHitch receiver to fit?
I have a Blue Ox BXW0350 I used with my popup but the Dweller is too heavy for that.

I couldn’t find what size I used but I got it direct from https://www.equalizerhitch.com. You should be able to find one based on gvw. I had no issues with installing the mchitch. However I did have to move the dolly wheel jack back but think I will go to an electric jack centered.


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[gendlert]

If anyone is curious about the wall construction on a Dweller, here is a core sample from the front wall of my D13.

From right to left:

• Outer Skin is aluminum. It measures 0.063” which is a bit thicker than 16 gauge.
• Core is some type of blue foam that measured about 0.890”
• Inner Skin is some type of glass reinforced plastic (GRP). Pretty stiff stuff. About 16 gauge as well. I measured at 0.056’
• The plywood is not part of the wall structure but it is behind the front vertical wall. It is a nice 9-ply material about 0.575” thick. I think the same plywood is used on all of the cabinetry.

Fine, I'll ask, since no one else will. WHAT'S THE HOLE FOR?!?!?!?

 

[WillySwan]

Fine, I'll ask, since no one else will. WHAT'S THE HOLE FOR?!?!?!?

I thought you'd never ask.

I've got a new project going on to try to address my Dweller’s appetite for inhaling dust on gravel roads. I getting tired of this:



Here is a preview of the work-in-progress:



Everything is going well so far. However, if this doesn’t work out, you will need to let me know where I can get one of those "My Other Ride is Your Mom" license plates to cover up the hole.

 

[gendlert]

Everything is going well so far. However, if this doesn’t work out, you will need to let me know where I can get one of those "My Other Ride is Your Mom" license plates to cover up the hole.

I can't wait for the review and write-up. What's the draw on the blower?

 

[WillySwan]

I can't wait for the review and write-up. What's the draw on the blower?

Current draw is listed as 5 to 11 amps depending on the pressure and flow. The tighter I can seal up the Dweller the less current it will draw. Since I will be primarily using the blower while attached to the tow vehicle, current draw was not my primary consideration. My tow vehicle is fused at 30 amps to the Aux_12V+ pin on the trailer connector, so I should be fine in that regard.

 

[tjtx]

Made it home with ours today.. The wobble above 65 is very real behind our Tacoma, but it towed fine at 65 or so the 50-60 miles home.

Next is the Monroe shock swap, and wiring the AC directly to the inverter and finish our off-grid internet setup for 5G/Starlink.

Does anyone actually know where the VIN plate is? Nobody at the dealer could find it.

 

[gendlert]

Made it home with ours today.. The wobble above 65 is very real behind our Tacoma, but it towed fine at 65 or so the 50-60 miles home.

Next is the Monroe shock swap, and wiring the AC directly to the inverter and finish our off-grid internet setup for 5G/Starlink.

Does anyone actually know where the VIN plate is? Nobody at the dealer could find it.

Congrats! I think the VIN is actually stamped into the crossbar on the tongue.

 

[rblitz]

What make/model WD hitch are you using? Any issues getting the McHitch receiver to fit?
I have a Blue Ox BXW0350 I used with my popup but the Dweller is too heavy for that.

I found out that I can upgrade the spring arms on my Blue Ox to 700Lb tongue weight and that would increase the max tow capacity of the hitch to 7,000 lbs. But I also ran into another complication. The Blue Ox head has a round profile and the McHitch receiver needs to clamp onto a rectangular fitment to preventing rotation of the receiver on the head. Nothing like that on a Blue Ox head; it's all curved.

McHitch sold various adapter plates for WD Hitches to address variations in the WD heads on the market. I see one for the Reese Pro series that's similar to my Blue Ox head and might work. But finding that part looks like it's going to be challenging until I see McHitch spin up an Amazon storefront.

 

[rblitz]

Made it home with ours today.. The wobble above 65 is very real behind our Tacoma, but it towed fine at 65 or so the 50-60 miles home.

Next is the Monroe shock swap, and wiring the AC directly to the inverter and finish our off-grid internet setup for 5G/Starlink.

Does anyone actually know where the VIN plate is? Nobody at the dealer could find it.

Purdy. Congrats.
I notice the jockey wheel is mounted much farther forward than mine. Interesting.

 

[AMMO461]

Your VIN is on the crossbar to the left of your jockey wheel. It will be facing backwards toward the tool box so it doesn't get destroyed by off road debris.

 

[tjtx]

Your VIN is on the crossbar to the left of your jockey wheel.

Congrats! I think the VIN is actually stamped into the crossbar on the tongue.

Thanks, I should have looked instead of trusting that the dealership looked. It's there haha.

I'm so glad it's got a 50a plug on it. All of that power usage when the AC is on and the inverter is charging the batteries.



What's the generally easiest way to wire the ACs outlet into the inverter? Just run a new set of 14ga from the inverters AC output into the plug housing for it and clip the tab so one side is on the house power breaker and the other is just on the inverter? The inverter flips over to shore power immediately when plugged in so it'd only make sense to just have the AC available on the inverter always. I get with the 300ah of AGM you'd not have a long runtime of the AC. obably going to pick up these LiFe batteries to replace the AGMs soon, has anyone else done that?

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Might see if I can find room to squeeze an additional one in, too.