How tight is too tight?

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by EV4D

When I picked up my trailer last week the dealer said not to make them too tight or they will damage the trailer. Yet I don't see any warnings like that here nor any reported incident of this happening. Any truth to "too tight can hurt the trailer"?

Originally Posted by North of 49°

I don't think it's possible to tighten the X-chocks too tight. When you consider the forces that the trailer's tires, wheels and the rest of the running gear is under while being towed at 60 mph, the forces put on the same components by a chocking device are nothing in comparison, IMHO.

snip...

I don't know, it seems like they COULD do damage. The "normal" direction of forces on the suspension should be vertical, the X-Chock places opposing horizontal force between the axles; not a "normal force". I could see how this could be a problem. But if you're tightening them enough to do that kind of damage, you're really going WAY further than necessary. It doesn't take much force for them to be effective, you just want them to be pretty snug. I install mine pretty tight, but nowhere near tight enough to cause any kind of damage.

So, IMO, the question of "when does damage occur?" is somewhat academic. If you tighten them enough to be effective, you shouldn't do any damage. I think if you go far enough to do damage, you'd know you were doing it wrong as it would take considerable effort.

[North of 49°]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

So, IMO, the question of "when does damage occur?" is somewhat academic. If you tighten them enough to be effective, you shouldn't do any damage. I think if you go far enough to do damage, you'd know you were doing it wrong as it would take considerable effort.

I agree. The way that X-chocks are designed, they shouldn't damage anything if used as intended. If between-the-wheel chocks are tightened by hand, I would think this is considered normal use and shouldn't damage anything. Using an impact wrench to tighten them, maybe not so much.

[TWP723]

I snug them up to where I can't pull them out, then a short turn. But since I use Andersen Levelers, I can't chock the wheels on that particular (low) side. The other side gets chocked. With both X-Chocks in place, road chocked on one side and all four stabilizers down..if it moves...it's time for another site.