Ark XO750 Jockey Wheel

Submitted: Friday, Mar 03, 2023 at 13:58
ThreadID: 145386 Views:3038 Replies:9 FollowUps:7
This Thread has been Archived
I have one of these for a few years now and I thought people might be interested in my experiences with it.
I have an off road camper trailer so the jockey wheel is really a bit of overkill. I wanted something that would make it easy to push the trailer around.
Much of my travel is on dirt roads
Overall I have been happy with it in particular as it does allow for the trailer to be pushed around while off the car. It is also obviously robustly built.

The wheel though is let down somewhat by a complete lack of dust proofing. This is disappointing given its advertised, supposed, extreme off-road credentials. The dust largely enters the internals by way of the holes in the external shaft just below the internal bevel gears. Adding to the grief is the recommendation to squirt grease into the works. As you would appreciate dirt and grease when mixed make for terrific grinding paste and can cause significant wear and tear issues. The issue also means that the wheel can become virtually impossible to wind up and down, especially down. Maintaining this is very difficult. As a partial solution I have wrapped insulating tape around the shaft covering the holes. This does help to a degree but I really cant see why Ark don't just cover them at manufacture. If you only travel on bitumen you may never notice this but then you may not buy an 'extreme' jockey wheel anyway.

In addition the blue plastic cap with the embossed company logo appears not to be u/v stabilised becoming brittle and fracturing. It is a ridiculous $20 or so to replace. The magnetic, removable (prone to getting lost) winding handle is about $30

The spare parts list is also incomplete. For instance it is not possible to buy the handle that is used to swing the wheel from the vertical to the horizontal position. There have been previous discussions here about replacing the thrust bearing which Ark do not supply.
Hope this helps in your decision making.
Back Expand Un-Read 1 Moderator

Reply By: Member - John - Friday, Mar 03, 2023 at 14:14

Friday, Mar 03, 2023 at 14:14
I had one on my camper, sold camper and found out a few weeks later that the ARK had collapsed. The internal gears had disintegrated. No hope of repair. Luckily it collapsed as it was being used to raise camper from tow hitch, a few minutes later and feet etc may have been impacted.
John and Jan

Lifetime Member
My Profile  Send Message

AnswerID: 643001

Reply By: Briste - Friday, Mar 03, 2023 at 14:53

Friday, Mar 03, 2023 at 14:53
I have one on my Karavan. Seems ok. Should I be worried? What's the alternative?
AnswerID: 643002

Follow Up By: Member - Jim S1 - Friday, Mar 03, 2023 at 15:30

Friday, Mar 03, 2023 at 15:30
I've had a BOS for a few years now and very happy with it. Just stays in place, use a drill to wind it, has a cover and all works perfectly. Best thing ever !!

https://bos370.com.au/product/473-003/

Cheers
Jim
"Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits." A fisherman.

"No road is long with good company." Traditional

Lifetime Member
My Profile  My Position  Send Message

2
FollowupID: 922625

Reply By: Member - Cuppa - Friday, Mar 03, 2023 at 16:55

Friday, Mar 03, 2023 at 16:55
I bought an Ark XO750 (online) for our Tvan several years ago in the hope it would provide a bit more lift than the original Jockey Wheel.

I didn't keep it long partly because it didn't do what I wanted, partly because it was significantly heavier than the original Ezylift Jockey wheel, partly because the twin small wheel design offset at 90 degrees was awful for moving the van around manually on anything other than smooth concrete & partly because looking at it I thought that it's design was poor & it would suffer badly from dust ingress & losing the handle an inevitability.

I just couldn't see it operating successfully in a winch situation as shown in their slick advertising either.

In short I thought it a poor product with effective advertising which promised more than it could deliver.

I ended up getting my original jockey wheel modified to provide the extra lift I wanted & it has worked well, including in a winching situation with the Tvan in soft sand (with a shovel under the jockey wheel).

Other Tvan owners have tried telling me that the XO750 is a good piece of kit but I am confident in my own experience/assessment. Smaller wheels are never going to be better than larger ones when manually pushing a van around on uneven ground.

It's good to read an assessment of longer term use in the sort of environment that we like to travel which confirms what I believed would be the case.

As far as I am concerned the purchase of an XO750 ARK was a mistake I wouldn't have made if I had seen one in the flesh before purchase. Instead I was taken in by their advertising hype.
See 'My Profile' (below) for link to our Aussie travel blog, now in it's 6th year.

Member
My Profile  My Blog  My Position  Send Message

AnswerID: 643004

Reply By: Genny - Friday, Mar 03, 2023 at 17:36

Friday, Mar 03, 2023 at 17:36
I also have a heavy camper trailer. Many of my fellow owners whine about the OEM jockey wheel fitted, and recommend the ARK750 as an upgrade. I suspect many of those have tried to make the OEM jockey wheel do things it isn't intended for, e.g. manually shifting the trailer on soft ground with the leg extended. Of course it's going to fail. I've viewed the ARK750 several times in various shops, and it's left me short of the desire to upgrade.

I'd be happy to upgrade to something more useful than the OEM for winching etc, but doubt the ARK750 will fully fit the bill.

Having said that, I don't often get into the situation where winching the trailer is considered, but that could change .......
AnswerID: 643005

Reply By: MichaelR - Friday, Mar 03, 2023 at 18:16

Friday, Mar 03, 2023 at 18:16
I should have added one other irritation about the wheel. It does have a useful feature in that you can position and lock the twin wheels through a range of degrees up to 180 when the jockey wheel is in the horizontal travelling position. This means you can have the wheels facing up so there is no real chance of hitting them when you are off road. The problem is that as you drive along your bit of off road the jockey wheel unwinds somewhat through the vibration and the wheel swings down. Of course the driver is unaware of this.
It is possible to prevent this by using a shock cord but bit of a nuisance.
AnswerID: 643009

Reply By: Member - McLaren3030 - Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 06:57

Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 06:57
Having read all of these responses so far, it would appear the ARK XO 750 is not what it is claimed to be.

Personally, having looked at a number of different heavy duty jockey wheel/plate systems, I settled on the BOS 370 for my 2.6 Tonne Off Road van. Can be wound up and down using a drill, or with the removable plastic handle it comes with. There is an extension piece to make it longer, and a flat plate attachment if you do not want to use the wheel. I use the flat plate mostly, as it can be wound further up into the “A” frame so it does not hang down.

Check them out on line. It gives you an alternative if you are looking for an “electric” replacement jockey wheel without having to connect or splice into your caravans existing wiring, as it uses a battery drill.

FYI, I am not connected in any way with BOS, just a very happy satisfied customer.

Macca.
Macca.

Lifetime Member
My Profile  My Position  Send Message

AnswerID: 643010

Follow Up By: Member - John - Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 08:59

Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 08:59
The one downfall with BOS 370 is the price, good piece of kit so far though
John and Jan

Lifetime Member
My Profile  Send Message

0
FollowupID: 922635

Follow Up By: Member - Jim S1 - Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 10:16

Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 10:16
Yes , John, at $375 it's a bit pricey, but you do get quality and reliability and very easy to use. Bargain !!!

Cheers
Jim
ps some photos ...... maybe !!

"Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits." A fisherman.

"No road is long with good company." Traditional

Lifetime Member
My Profile  My Position  Send Message

2
FollowupID: 922637

Follow Up By: Gronk - Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 19:51

Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 19:51
BUT, for an off-road van, it doesn’t swing up !! A real pain to remove it and store it somewhere while travelling.
2
FollowupID: 922658

Follow Up By: Member - John - Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 20:01

Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 20:01
Answer for Gronk, you can get a swing away one.
John and Jan

Lifetime Member
My Profile  Send Message

0
FollowupID: 922659

Follow Up By: Member - Jim S1 - Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 21:23

Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 21:23
I don’t take it off. Just unpin the jockey wheel itself, store in the front of the camper, then use the drill to raise the leg as far as it will go and pin it in place.
Perhaps I’m lucky that I can still access the back of the DMax and lower the tailgate.
It’s just so easy.
Cheers
Jim
"Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits." A fisherman.

"No road is long with good company." Traditional

Lifetime Member
My Profile  My Position  Send Message

0
FollowupID: 922664

Follow Up By: Member - McLaren3030 - Sunday, Mar 05, 2023 at 08:16

Sunday, Mar 05, 2023 at 08:16
Similar to Jim, I r just remove the jockey wheel and replace it with the flat plate, that way I can wind it up level with the underside of the “A” Frame of the caravan and only need to store the wheel. All the interconnecting parts are held in place by “locking” pins, so nothing can rattle loose.

Yes, it is expensive, but you will only need to buy once, and is cheaper than a replacement electric jockey wheel.

Macca.
Macca.

Lifetime Member
My Profile  My Position  Send Message

1
FollowupID: 922672

Reply By: Member - peter_mcc - Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 21:00

Saturday, Mar 04, 2023 at 21:00
I think the XO750 is a great idea but flawed execution.

My problem with it is how weak the gears are - we used to hire Tvans. We had 2 stripped by customers and one by our mechanic. It shouldn't be that easy to cause them to strip.

Lifetime Member
My Profile  Send Message

AnswerID: 643025

Reply By: Phil G - Tuesday, Mar 07, 2023 at 08:21

Tuesday, Mar 07, 2023 at 08:21
Refreshing to hear a good honest assessment after a few years experience. All to often we hear "first impressions" which don't count for much.

Our 2003 Tvan still has it's original swing up jockey wheel that came with a single chunky inflatable tyre which helps if pushing it around on dirt. Only repair has been to replace the top bearing once. The Tvan has seen more of the outback than anyone I know as two previous owners were both cross country desert travellers, and in the 12 years I've had it, its done mostly dirt trips.
AnswerID: 643037

Reply By: Jarse - Friday, Mar 10, 2023 at 11:57

Friday, Mar 10, 2023 at 11:57
Our first AOR has this jockey wheel. IMO they're very overrated. in addition to the problems mentioned, the wheel shaft flexes/bends at long extension (due to the offset wheels). A bloke has come up with a solution with a leg that fits inside the wheel shaft, giving you a flat base and keeping the wheel slightly off the ground.

With our next camper, we opted for a BOS setup. IMO, far superior to the ARK, and configurable with wheel or flat base and is removable. Aussie made, with great after-sales service.

John R.
AnswerID: 643049

Sponsored Links