New homemade chocks

[North of 49°]

I recently made a new set of homemade chocks, since the ones I used for our old hybrid were wearing out and didn't really fit our new 24FBS, so I thought I'd post the results here. Here's one of them in use:



The materials are 4x4 PT lumber (made from some fence posts I had laying around), which is cut to 8" long on the short side of the trapezoid, and the angles are 22.5°. The rod is 1/2" diameter, cut to 18" long (from a piece I had left over from another project). The bottom block is fastened on both sides with nuts and washers (from the "Nuts and Washers" jar in my workroom), and the top one is only fastened on the top, so it slides. The holes drilled through each block are 3/4" diameter, only because the next smallest bit I had was 1/2", which would have been too tight.

I had enough parts to make two, one for either side. It only takes a few seconds each to put these in place and tighten them down. And best of all, the only thing I spent on them was about half an hour of my time on a Sunday afternoon.

[Jmooney]

Sweeeeet! Nice job.

[fielro]

Great idea, thanks for the post

[North of 49°]

It's an idea that's been around for a while, and we've used it with great success on our hybrid. After getting our new trailer home from the dealer, I was a little disappointed that the axle spread was a little too far apart to use the old ones, so I had to make new ones. I thought I'd post them here with the measurements in case anyone wanted to make their own.

[00buck]

Sweet, I like it.
Simple and effective.
I think I have the same spare parts laying around to pull it off.

[DJL1967]

This is another thing I need to do once I get my TT out of storage. With the wide stance of the Whitehawks standard ones will not work so it is off to the work shop and make my own I guess. Thanks for posting.

[rodro123]

Great job

[mike837go]

Great job!

First mod: wing nut on one side.

Consider your idea stolen. There's plenty of 4x4 and threaded rod kicking around my barn.

[North of 49°]

I did consider a wingnut, or welding "handles" on to the top nut, but I have a ratcheting wrench that works quite well. I can tighten the chocks pretty good without worrying about them wiggling loose. I know from experience that this design eliminates a lot of the wiggle when the trailer is parked. One other change I might make is to use lock washers on the nuts for the bottom block. My last one sometimes came loose. Next time I'm in the hardware store I'll pick some up.

To anyone who wants to steal this idea, please post your photos, and any improvements that you've made!

[dewey02]

Building in a set of 3/4 inch pipe clamps works real well to snug the chocks up well. Not my idea, I got the suggestion from another thread in this forum, but they sure work well.

I looked around the forums and saw several options.
Then I looked around my garage and realized I had the following:
- Left over piece of 4 foot long 4 x 4 treated post.
- Extra sets of 3/4 inch pipe clamps.
- Some old black pipe for which I had no use.

I put the following together this last year, and it didn't cost me anything new, except for my time. I made a set for each side of the travel trailer. I don't know how well it works until I'm laying in the TT bed at 2 AM and someone goes to the bathroom on the other end of the trailer. The pipe clamps make for easy tightening, although I'm guessing I'll need to whack the 4x4 with a hammer to loosen them when I want to take them off.

[North of 49°]

Originally Posted by dewey02

The pipe clamps make for easy tightening, although I'm guessing I'll need to whack the 4x4 with a hammer to loosen them when I want to take them off.

The pipe clamps are a superior design, but I didn't have any when I made mine. When the chocks are tight, loosening them is easy, but because they're "wedged" in between the tires, they won't fall out. I just stomp on the bottom one and they come out.

On another forum, there was some concern that by "forcing" the chocks between the wheels may put undue strain on the axles and springs, but when you consider that it's really not that much compared to the strain those same components experience at highway speed over a bumpy road, which I would imagine is exponentially more.

[BJR]

Originally Posted by North of 49°

I did consider a wingnut, or welding "handles" on to the top nut, but I have a ratcheting wrench that works quite well.

McMaster has knobs with threaded holes I nearly ordered this AM:

McMaster-Carr

If you go with 3/8" all-thread there are knobs on Amazon that are pretty cheap.

I can't rely on me remembering tools.

What is the advantage to this kind of chock?

Bryan

[oldmanAZ]

@Bryan Welcome to the forum.

Chocks like these do a couple of things: They reduce some of the trailer movement and work to lock the wheels when using wood blocks to level the trailer.

There are also similar chocks made commercially; check Camping World etc.

I haven't tried them myself, but if you read more posts you'll find lots of folks really like them.

[BJR]

Originally Posted by oldmanAZ

@Bryan Welcome to the forum.

Chocks like these do a couple of things: They reduce some of the trailer movement and work to lock the wheels when using wood blocks to level the trailer.

Thanks - I may have to try these out if I have materials around.

Bryan

[North of 49°]

The chocks limit the amount of back and forward movement of the wheels and flexing of the suspension, and when combined with the snugged-up stabilizers, greatly reduce the amount of wiggle in the trailer as a whole. Done correctly, you'd almost think the trailer is a permanent structure. Some people even use them alone instead of in combination with standard wheel chocks. It might be okay on a flat surface, but my driveway -- where the picture was taken in my first post -- has quite a slope to it. My neighbors across the street are great people, but I don't think they would appreciate having my trailer roll down my driveway, across the street and into their yard. I know I wouldn't. So I go to extraordinary efforts to secure my trailer.

[oldmanAZ]

I will probably build a set of these in the near future. I thought I was all set with the set of 'yellow' chocks I've had for years. WRONG!

My previous RV was a class-B. I could use wood blocks under the low side tires and put the transmission in Park.... done. It wouldn't roll and NO chocks of any kind were needed.

With my new trailer (my first by the way), I pulled it up on wood blocks under the low side tires, put chocks at the front and rear of both sides, and started unhitching.

The cheap plastic chocks slid on the low-side boards! I didn't panic in front of the DW, but mentally I freaked out!! The chocks slid an inch or so, but that was enough to teach me the value of really good chocks and/or chocks between the tires. In a different situation, the outcome could have been very bad.

Since I don't have really good chocks, making the DIY chocks that go between the tires seems like the best route for me. It will be a few weeks before we go out again, building a pair of these chocks is now on my to-do list.

[rick danger]

would be nice to use a "cam arm" type deal. With a nut so you could get it snug then pull down the arm to crank it tight. Of course you would have to source the cam arms. I had some from old VW van roof carriers.

[chrismoore701]

I built the same set up for mine last year. a little way to make things easier, I loaded the bottom block with wood glue to hold the all thread in place. So no twisting when tightening. they work great

[Bob The Camper]

Saw the same idea on a few web forums. As the distance between your trailer tires may differ, you may have to alter the pattern slightly. I just made some up for our X20E. I made up a drawing of my plans. I love the idea of the ROTOCHOK, but can't justify the $75-$100 for them. Too back the stopped making them. Might get ambitious and try to make some. Thanks for starting this string North of 49!![IMG][/IMG]

[North of 49°]

Originally Posted by Bob The Camper

Saw the same idea on a few web forums. As the distance between your trailer tires may differ, you may have to alter the pattern slightly. I just made some up for our X20E. I made up a drawing of my plans. I love the idea of the ROTOCHOK, but can't justify the $75-$100 for them. Too back the stopped making them. Might get ambitious and try to make some. Thanks for starting this string North of 49!!

I have since retired my home made chocks. I found that the threads on the rod act as an abrasive against the wood, making the hole bigger and the chocks "sloppy", making it so they require constant tightening -- until you want to leave, and then the blocks are so tightly wedged between the tires that it requires herculean effort to remove them.

Instead, I invested in a pair of BAL X-Chocks, which work quite well. After backing into the site, I install them as tight as I can make them, unhook and finish my set-up, then tighten them again. It's pretty rare that they need tightening again. And removal is pretty easy too.

Even better, they work great with the Andersen levellers!