X-Chocks to keep your trailer from rocking

Wayne

Administrator
Staff member
I bought a set of X-Chocks, not to replace the wheel chocks, as my belief is it would be foolish to replace good wheel chocks with these X-Chocks. I don't think there is any way the X-Chocks can hold a trailer from rolling as well the wheel chocks we use.

The problem we were hoping to solve is the rocking of the trailer when you walk from one end to the other. If one of us is walking and the other is sitting, the rocking is noticeable and annoying. I read that the X-Chocks can help keep the trailer from moving, like being able to permanently apply the brakes.

What I read was correct, they do a great job of keeping the trailer from moving! As previously stated, I don't recommend them in place of tire chocks, but do recommend them to help keep the trailer still. In my opinion, they are well worth the price.

xchocks.jpg
 
I have wide trax axles, seems more trailers are going to that. But i like the design idea. Would have worked on my jayco 23b. But my mallard has wheels that are really spaced apart. How wide will those go?
 
For 12 years I used the typical wedge-type "chock" under the tires, and then I finally got the x-chock units. I LOVE THEM!

You are right Wayne; they do a great job of making the RV more stable when at rest. Both the lateral and longitudinal movement is stifled by these things!

And I would actually trust this x-chock more than a traditional wedge chock. I've actually seen a few examples of the normal chocks failing:
- once I saw a person in the site next to mine forget to remove them before pulling out. He pulled the RV right up and over that chock like it wasn't even there.
- also saw an example where a person put the normal chocks in correctly, but he was on a fairly steep site, which sloped to the rear downhill. He unhooked and the RV loaded down against the chocks as we would expect. All was good. Until his wife was in the truck and she forgot to set the truck in park and released the brake. The truck rolled back and hit the RV on the hitch, which cause it to rock back and went right over the wheel chocks. The RV went downhill about 10 feet until a massive oak stopped it.
The x-chocks can't fail in this manner. You'd have to skid all four tires to get the RV to move. And, if your RV rolls over a typical chock, there's nothing to stop it once it starts going. With the x-chock, it's is ALWAYS trying to stop the wheels from turning. Wedge chocks don't stop tire rotation; they only increase the force needed to overcome the incline. X-chocks actually get tighter as the wheels try to turn, because it causes the x-chock to attempt to "rotate" between the tires as it's being forced both "up" by one wheel and "down" by the opposite wheel if the RV were attempting to traverse the ground surface.

Now, I'll admit that the type axle you have might play into this a bit. The traditional trailer with dual leaf springs holds the axle in place, and the x-chocks can bear into the tires quite tightly. But if you had a swing-axle type suspension (like the one Wayne has which will rotate around an axis as part of it's design), could cause the x-chock to simply push the wheels further apart and not bite into the tire.

Obviously, single axle units are immune to the x-chock solution.

Want to feel extra-super-duper safe? use both wedge and x-chock at the same time!
 
On a fairly flat site, I just use the x-chocks to quell the rocking motions.
On a steep site, I use both.
 
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