Thule Arcos Tilting Platform with Large Cargo Box for 2" Hitches - 14 cu ft - 110 lbs

Video Transcript for An In-Depth Look at the Thule Arcos Tilting Platform with Large Cargo Box

Hey, everyone, I'm Evangeline right here at etrailer, and today we're talking about the Thule Arcos hitch cargo box kit. Now this is gonna be a kit available here at etrailer that you just put into your hitch receiver, and now you have all kinds of cargo space for all of your different adventures. Now I'm actually going on vacation next week. I'll be gone for a week and I have to carry a lot of gear. So this is actually something that I'm gonna bring along since I will have 14 cubic feet of space, which is a lot of duffel bags, suitcases, and other items. And then that opens up my cargo area for coolers, larger, heavier items, or things they may wanna keep inside the vehicle.

So if you're looking to expand your cargo space and you want something that looks good, works well, and has a lot of capacity, we'll take a look at it right here at etrailer. This is available in two shank sizes, and that's because there's two options for hitch receivers for some vehicles. If you have the smaller 1 1/4 inch hitch receiver, get the matching Arcos platform. For other vehicles that have the regular two inch receiver, like what we have here, please get the larger platform shank. This makes it very versatile, especially for those smaller vehicles that really only have one option.

With the Thule Arcos box, since it has so many features, sometimes you may wonder, "Do I have everything I need to be able to carry it for the trip" So while this does work with your vehicle lights, since it has its own four-way wiring, and you can also get custom wiring as well as a custom fit hitch for your car that fits this box here on our website. And if you're not sure what you may need to get yourself started, feel free to give us a call here at etrailer. Since the Arcos works with all types of vehicles, big and small, we can help you out there. If your cargo is accessed by this latch, and it is lockable, so it comes with two keys for security. Just press that latch and then open up the lid.

With dimensions of this box, you are about as high or sometimes taller than a lot of roof boxes, so you're now more likely to be able to carry around your taller, larger gear. All that space is kind of deceiving because without any gear in there, you'd think it wasn't as much. But as you start loading things up and pushing things in, then you'll be able to find that you fit a lot of stuff in here. So think your duffle bags, your suitcases, even your strollers can fit within the dimensions of this box. Something to be mindful of though.

With this being a hard shell cargo box compared to your big open baskets that you may see a lot on day road trips, be mindful to height. As long as you're not taller than 17 1/4 inches, you have a little bit extra millimeters there of space, then you should fit. So our water jug is at 18, so I'd have to put it in this position for us to be able to close the box on over it. I do want you to pay close attention to that slide lock latching system though just because I, a couple times, thought I secured the lid, but when I look closer at that latch, I could still see red. So there are three latch points in the box that you have to push down completely. If you no longer see red, you're good. If you can turn the key and take the key out, even better. So if you're not sure if you locked the box, well, if your key in your hands, then you did. The latches are gonna be here in the middle, and then on the other two bolt holes on this side. You have 110 pounds cargo capacity, so it can't quite carry everything. Think your super heavy coolers, especially once you start filling those up with ice and drinks and food, well, that stuff that you could put into your hatch cargo area. In fact, for your different types of vehicles, when you think you can't open up your hatch door, you could just press this lever, tilt the box down, yes, while it is loaded, and now you can throw all of those taller, larger, heavier items that you may not have wanted to put into the box into your cargo area. This also makes things very accessible. I like to plan things out with what might need to stay in the box and what might need to stay in the car. Snacks, things like that, that stays in the car. And some vehicles don't even need that tilt-away function because of where the box sits. There's usually plenty of space to still be able to open up that door. But honestly, more clearance during the loading and unloading process is always better. I do wanna adjust the unique angles of this box though because like I said, there is better clearance between the vehicle and the box because of that shape, but then you'll also notice up top, it's angled downwards. That way you have not as much drag on your vehicle as you're going down the highway and down the road. But here on the bottom, it's almost angled upwards, and that gives you better ground clearance. My Seltos here, the hitch is pretty low to the ground, but you wouldn't even it because the Arcos platform helps where we have better ground clearance but not too much where it's still easy to load that box up. Now what I've noticed when using this for vacations is that it does take up more room behind the vehicle than I'm usually used to, and it might be more than you would be comfortable with, especially if you need a park around town in busy tourist areas. So the good news is is that once you get to your accommodations, you can actually take this whole box off. It only requires one Allen key to remove two bolts. If you have a second person to help lift the box, you can remove it with it lightly loaded, as long as you have access to the two bolts. You then use your Allen key to loosen the bolts. And once they're loose, just close the lid on it all. Matt and I are just gonna lift the box up and then out of those grooves. And then from here, we could just carry this into the foundations or at the camp site, wherever we may need to go, the box can go there too. If I was to drive around with this, I'd have it in the upright position, that way I can park in those smaller parking spots, just drive around the city a lot easier. Full visibility of our rear window, our taillights, and probably very good visibility of your license plate and your backup camera, depending on where those are on your vehicle, of course. If you did use the license plate, a bracket on the box, make sure to put that back on your car when you do take the box off. For your measurements, with it upright like this, here at etrailer, we measure from the center of the hitch pinhole just because your hitch is gonna sit on different spots on your vehicle depending what vehicle or hitch you have. So center hitch pin hole to the end of the rack is 19 1/2 inches. If I was to bring this down though, the length this would then add to the end of the vehicle, center of hitch pin hole to that handle, is gonna be about 44 inches. So that's something to be mindful of when you have the box on there in this position. It does have a lot of length, but it does add to your vehicle. For your larger cars, you will be taking up a good amount of room. To install your Thule Arcos platform, this is actually a very lightweight, in the sense of you could install this all by yourself. So this will just fit into your hitch receiver. Notice that silver block in the corner. That's what will create the wedge to reduce the wobble inside your hitch receiver. And on this side, you have this auto-pin, where you just put that into place. And once it lines up with your hitch pin hole, it automatically pushes in, which also slightly engages that wedge we saw earlier. And then you turn this lever here in order to tighten down on the wedge, so you can pull the lever in so that you can make a full rotation, making for a faster turning process. But once you get closer and closer to where it's fully tightened down, I do recommend bringing that lever back out so that you have full grip all around. And here's the thing, a lot of people don't know that you can pull on this lever to reset its spot without being engaged, until you get it really tight, and then you can line it up with that hole over there, and that's how you lock it. The box will actually have an extra lock core. That way you can switch the lock core out on the platform for the box lock core, and then you'll only need one set of keys to secure the whole system. So if you get do that or if you have other Thule accessories, you can then get a full pack of the one-key system lock cores so that everything matches. So the Thule Arcos something that I would recommend for road trips, adventures, vacations Absolutely. As long as you are aware of things like the weight capacity, weather it'll fit into your vehicle. The fact that it is a little difficult to line up with the platform the first try without double-checking, plus, you do still have to install the two bolts in order to fully secure it before driving off in away. But all things being said, it is worth that slight extra work to get the platform and the box combined so that you are ready to head on back home. This is a look at the Thule Arcos box and platform kit at etrailer.com. My name is Evangeline, and I hope you enjoyed this journey.