Best Trailer Tongue Jack

[BigAbe75]

@BigAbe75 Why did you put the brackets all the way up ? I flipped mine over so that the long part is below the frame, just in case I need to step there sooner or later in a pinch.

I see what you mean now. I could have flipped those 2 brackets and used the same holes resulting in the longer end hanging down. I might actually do that.

Here’s the fold @drewkaree as it sits now.

 

[ZGhost]

Got it installed Saturday. This jack is the bomb, that’s for sure!!!

I scooted the boat (bow stop)back about 4 1/2”. Before next weekend, I’ll run over to the family farm and get everything weighed on a truck scale and report back my findings and distances.

By moving the bow stop back, I was able to mount the jack in front of the bow stop. I also switched sides, so the jack is on the drivers side now. No more jumping the tongue when working alone.

I was working with the boat connected to the truck. Once I got the new jack on loosely, I disconnected the truck and ran the jack up to put some weight on it. This moved the mount brackets such that the bottom bolts are now flush with the bottom of the tongue. Thinking this will minimize movement out of the gate, rather than seeing the mount move overtime as it takes the boat’s weight and comes to settle in that position naturally.

To remove the old jack, I had to loosen the bow stop a bit to get my wrench up there. Just a warning, that bow stop sheet metal is not as thick as you would think. I bent it in a bit by tightening the bolts too much.

Note: Remember after the old jack nearly falls on your head and you’re ready to get up... you still need to tighten the bow stop bolts back up. I forgot that step, and couldn’t get the boat back on the trailer after going out for the afternoon. Had to run home for a 3/4” wrench and then go retrieve the boat.

nice @BigAbe75, the setup looks great! a couple of Q’s:

1. did the black XO750 come with black bolts? Yours looks like you have some sort of a sleeve on them, is that how they came? If not where did you find them?
2. I assume you moved the bow stop while the boat was off, right? If not, did you partially load the boat but didn’t pull it all the way to the stop?
3. it’s not clear to me why you had to loosen the bowstop screws to remove the old jack? Some other members stated that they had to remove it in order to remove the jack. Anyway, this might be a Q due to the lack of seeing the bowstop and OEM jack setup now since my boat is in storage. It may may make more sense to me when I get a closer look at it next time.

I agree, I would put the jack on the driver side but would likely swap the breakaway tongue bolts so it swings the other way.

 

[BigAbe75]

nice @BigAbe75, the setup looks great! a couple of Q’s:

1. did the black XO750 come with black bolts? Yours looks like you have some sort of a sleeve on them, is that how they came? If not where did you find them?
2. I assume you moved the bow stop while the boat was off, right? If not, did partially load the boat but didn’t pull it all the way to the stop?
3. it’s not clear to me why you had to loosen the bowstop screws to remove the old jack? Some other members stated that they had to remove it in order to remove the jack. Anyway, this might be a Q due to the lack of seeing the bowstop and OEM jack setup now since my boat is in storage. It may may make more sense to me when I get a closer look at it next time.

i agree, I would put the jack on the driver side but would likely swap the breakaway tongue bolts so it swings the other way.

1. It does come with black bolts, but they are too short. They are 12mm x 80mm (3”) bolts. At our local store, I was looking for stainless 1/2” x 4” (before I realized they were metric). They only had one bolt. The guy said there is some kind of black coated bolt that is corrosion resistant. Kind of a middle ground between zinc and stainless. We were able to find 4 of these in stock. Then, we couldn’t find nylock nuts. Once we discovered that these are metric and found the 12mm x 100mm, I was able to reuse the original nuts that came with it. No special sleeve or anything. I ended up only buying 4 bolts and reusing the nylock nuts that came with it

2. Yes, sort of. We were taking the boat out for a ride. Usually, the wife drives the truck and I drive the boat. This time I backed it in, loosened the winch strap and undid the emergency chain. Shoved the boat back a bit once it was floating and loosened the 2 bolts and moved the stop while my feet were in the water. Don’t take the nuts off, so your ratchet is the only thing you might drop. Once it was tightened back up, I climbed in the boat and had the wife unhook the strap, give me a final shove and she parked the trailer.

3. The nuts for the stock jack are accessible from underneath the assembly. There is a small gap at the bottom that you can reach a small wrench up to loosen the nuts. Either my wrench isn’t small enough (standard sized Craftsman open ended wrench - 3/4” I think), or when I tightened the bow stop I over tightened and the metal bent in making the gap even smaller than before. (Both are highly possible). By loosening the bolts on the bow stop, I was able to get just enough wiggle room side to side so that I could get my wrench up there and get ahold of the nuts.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Happy to answer or see if I can snap other pics.

 

[ZGhost]

1. It does come with black bolts, but they are too short. They are 12mm x 80mm (3”) bolts. At our local store, I was looking for stainless 1/2” x 4” (before I realized they were metric). They only had one bolt. The guy said there is some kind of black coated bolt that is corrosion resistant. Kind of a middle ground between zinc and stainless. We were able to find 4 of these in stock. Then, we couldn’t find nylock nuts. Once we discovered that these are metric and found the 12mm x 100mm, I was able to reuse the original nuts that came with it. No special sleeve or anything. I ended up only buying 4 bolts and reusing the nylock nuts that came with it

2. Yes, sort of. We were taking the boat out for a ride. Usually, the wife drives the truck and I drive the boat. This time I backed it in, loosened the winch strap and undid the emergency chain. Shoved the boat back a bit once it was floating and loosened the 2 bolts and moved the stop while my feet were in the water. Don’t take the nuts off, so your ratchet is the only thing you might drop. Once it was tightened back up, I climbed in the boat and had the wife unhook the strap, give me a final shove and she parked the trailer.

3. The nuts for the stock jack are accessible from underneath the assembly. There is a small gap at the bottom that you can reach a small wrench up to loosen the nuts. Either my wrench isn’t small enough (standard sized Craftsman open ended wrench - 3/4” I think), or when I tightened the bow stop I over tightened and the metal bent in making the gap even smaller than before. (Both are highly possible). By loosening the bolts on the bow stop, I was able to get just enough wiggle room side to side so that I could get my wrench up there and get ahold of the nuts.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Happy to answer or see if I can snap other pics.

Thanks @BigAbe75, You and others provided plenty of help and details. Making everyone’s install that much easier. Trailer with this beast of a jack looks awesome! Thank you!

 

[drewkaree]

I didn't worry about stainless bolts, but I did make sure to get Grade 8 bolts due to the size needed and the weight of this jack. Same as @BigAbe75 I reused the nuts.

 

[motomandan]

I see what you mean now. I could have flipped those 2 brackets and used the same holes resulting in the longer end hanging down. I might actually do that.

Here’s the fold @drewkaree as it sits now.
View attachment 120313View attachment 120314

Switch the bolts to the pin side and the pin to the bolt side. So it swings the other way

 

[Daren and Heather]

@ZGhost, I recorded my jack install and put together a video, it's uploading right now.

Regarding bolts, it's hard to say what to go with for sure. I debated doing grade 8 zinc, but ended up going with stainless steel hex bolts 1/2" x 4 1/2" long, course thread, with stainless steel with washers and locking nuts. They had lots of these at Home Depot. Would recommend using a torque wrench if you have one, so you can tighten all 4 bolts relatively equally.

 

[Daren and Heather]

Here's the installation video!

 

[ZGhost]

Here's the installation video!

Nice job Daren! I watched on youtube and gave you your first thumbs up there. I appreciate the details you went thru and boat/trailer look amazing!

 

[ZGhost]

I didn't worry about stainless bolts, but I did make sure to get Grade 8 bolts due to the size needed and the weight of this jack. Same as @BigAbe75 I reused the nuts.

@drewkaree and @BigAbe75, it‘s always a good thing to reuse the “nuts” ? I plan to reuse my nuts.

I couldn’t resist ?

 

[ZGhost]

Well, it just arrived this afternoon so gotta find the time to install.

 

[BigAbe75]

Well, it just arrived this afternoon so gotta find the time to install.

View attachment 120653

Awesome!! You’ll be amazed how fast the install is. Especially after watching the video posted above. You already know what you’re doing.

 

[HangOutdoors]

@ZGhost The hardest part is carrying it out to the trailer tongue and taking it out of the box. I have been to the lake twice since I put mine on last week and I get a lot of looks at this jack. It is fantastic and well built.

I guess the only thing I don't like about it, and this is just a personal preference, is the Magnetic handle. Sooner or later I am going to forget to take it off and throw it in my hatch and I am sure it will be gone going down the road. I am thinking about rigging up a safety line or something just in case so it won't fall and hurt someone, the boat or go missing for good.

 

[Daren and Heather]

@ZGhost The hardest part is carrying it out to the trailer tongue and taking it out of the box. I have been to the lake twice since I put mine on last week and I get a lot of looks at this jack. It is fantastic and well built.

I guess the only thing I don't like about it, and this is just a personal preference, is the Magnetic handle. Sooner or later I am going to forget to take it off and throw it in my hatch and I am sure it will be gone going down the road. I am thinking about rigging up a safety line or something just in case so it won't fall and hurt someone, the boat or go missing for good.

Agree, my only design complaint for ARK, would be that they could have designed the magnetic handle with a removable screw, so people who don't care about removing it as a security feature, could just leave it bolted in all the time. I don't think it would fall off going down the road, buy there's a chance, so why chance it? So I will be be making sure 100% of the time that I'm not jacking up the vehicle, the handle is in always in my trunk. (Even thought of buying a spare handle just in case...)

 

[ZGhost]

It has proven extremely challenging to find longer black bolts. I stopped at HD, Menards, and Northern Tools and no luck! For those who found longer length black bolts, where did you find them? I’m on my way to Ace Hardware as my last ditch effort and then I’m at a loss after that! Thanks for the help!

Update: nothing! at Ace, TruValue, HD, Menards, or Northern Tools ?

 

[drewkaree]

There ARE black bolts to be had, but you'll never want to use them in this instance. They're not suitable for being near water or humidity or outside use, since they will rust. Ace or True Value has them, IIRC they're "phosphate coated".

All the rest of the hardware on your trailer that ISN'T black will be silver, so go with that if you want a match, otherwise, I'd recommend Grade 8 bolts, which will likely be gold. Spray paint or Plasti Dip if the black is desired.

 

[ZGhost]

1. It does come with black bolts, but they are too short. They are 12mm x 80mm (3”) bolts. At our local store, I was looking for stainless 1/2” x 4” (before I realized they were metric). They only had one bolt. The guy said there is some kind of black coated bolt that is corrosion resistant. Kind of a middle ground between zinc and stainless. We were able to find 4 of these in stock. Then, we couldn’t find nylock nuts. Once we discovered that these are metric and found the 12mm x 100mm, I was able to reuse the original nuts that came with it. No special sleeve or anything. I ended up only buying 4 bolts and reusing the nylock nuts that came with it

@BigAbe75, what‘s the name of the store? Hope it’s a chain where I can find one here in my area to source the same black bolts, I can’t seem to find them anywhere?

There ARE black bolts to be had, but you'll never want to use them in this instance. They're not suitable for being near water or humidity or outside use, since they will rust. Ace or True Value has them, IIRC they're "phosphate coated".

All the rest of the hardware on your trailer that ISN'T black will be silver, so go with that if you want a match, otherwise, I'd recommend Grade 8 bolts, which will likely be gold. Spray paint or Plasti Dip if the black is desired.

@drewkaree, thanks for the info, didn’t see the ones you mentioned in any of the stores I visited but certainly a worthwhile consideration.

 

[BigAbe75]

@BigAbe75, what‘s the name of the store? Hope it’s a chain where I can find one here in my area to source the same black bolts, I can’t seem to find them anywhere?




@drewkaree, thanks for the info, didn’t see the ones you mentioned in any of the stores I visited but certainly a worthwhile consideration.

There are a few, but not sure how large of a chain. I got them from our local Rural King. Might try a Tractor Supply or Farm n Fleet.

 

[Daren and Heather]

@ZGhost, I'd recommend going stainless steel - never have to worry about it rusting. From what I've read it's higher than grade 2 (not as high as 8), but these are pretty thick bolts, there's 4 of them, and they are only holding maybe 200lbs of weight. They have them at Home Depot. I went with stainless steel hex bolts, 1/2" x 4.5" length, course thread, and matching 1/2" stainless steel washers, and stainless steel 1/2"in - 13 course thread nylon lock nuts. You can see what I did in my install video, looks good and seems very solid.

 

[ZGhost]

Found black bolts and the jack is finally on. If they rust, I’ll replace them with SS bolts then. This is one hell of a jack, no worries now about failure of the cheap OEM jack. Thanks for the recommendation on this jack and all other members valuable feedback and contributions to this thread.