Do you manage equipment at airfields, mines, industries, warehouse settings, or own a vehicle? If so, you may know that on uneven, uphill or downhill ground, vehicles or equipment often make unexpected movements. And that often leads to a personal injury or a disaster.
Here, wheel chocks play a significant role. They let you keep your vehicle in place, lock it, and ensure everyone’s safety. In this guide, you’ll learn about wheel chocks, their benefits, and when and how you should use them.
What Are Wheel Chocks?
Wheel chocks are small, wedge-shaped safety tools that hold vehicles’ wheels in place. Their work is to prevent tires from moving or rolling. To use them, you need to place them against the vehicle’s front/rear tires to lock them. You can also use them against equipment and trailers.
Jackwin generally made them with heavy material. Like rubber, plastic, metal aluminum, and wood in different sizes and designs for different applications. You can use them with your personal vehicles, aviation aircraft, industrial equipment and even in railway tracks.
Chock Wheels Meaning
As the name suggests, chock means solid block. So, chock wheels simply means placing a solid block against a wheel. Actually, it’s a safety practice that many facilities and workers follow when parking trucks, trailers, or any heavy equipment.
When Should You Use Wheel Chocks?
You should use wheel chocks whenever you feel there’s a risk of your vehicle rolling or moving. Especially on slopes, during loading/unloading, or when parking for long periods. For instance, if you parked a heavy vehicle at a construction site (on an incline), use wheel chocks.
Application-wise, your wide range of industries should use wheel chocks. Mainly, loading docks or warehouses, construction sites, maintenance and repair settings, aircraft, or airport vehicles.
Freight trailers and parking on slopes.
Chock Tires Meaning
Chock tires (or chocking tires) actually means a practice in which you place a wheel chock against the front or back side of a vehicle’s tires or heavy equipment. The purpose of this practice is to lock wheels so they don’t wobble, move, or roll on the road.
Where to Put Chocks?
Well, this is a common question yet a very vital factor. Because if you incorrectly put chocks, it can do a lot of damage, and you put yourself and others in danger as well.
Ideally, you should place the wheel chock at 35 to 45 angles against the wheels. However, how many and exactly where to put the chock varies between the ground level where you parked your vehicle.
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Chock a Flat Tire
When a vehicle is parked on a flat surface, put wheel chocks on both sides of the wheels. Means, two chocks at both sides of a tire. Because vehicles can still shift on even ground due to loading, unloading, or mechanical vibrations.
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Chock Uphill Tire
When you park on uphill ground, put the chocks behind the rear wheels. That’s exactly where the vehicle would roll back if the brakes failed. And chocks will block that backward motion.
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Chock Downhill Tire
When parked downhill, you need to put the chocks in front of the front wheels. Again, that’s the zone where a vehicle might roll forward. So, choking that side stops it right there.
How to Use Wheel Chocks?
Step 1: Get a Wheel Chock
The first step is obviously to get a high-quality and durable wheel chock. We suggest that you choose wheel chocks that perfectly match your vehicle’s size and weight. You can also get a customized wheel chock from Jackwin for your vehicle.
For instance, for heavy trucks or equipment, go for JACKWIN’s larger, heavy-duty chocks (metal, wood). For small vehicles, a standard rubber or plastic chock works well.
Step 2: Properly Park Your Vehicle
Next up, properly park your vehicle on the ground. For that, it’s advisable to apply a handbrake firstly. And then keep placing your foot on the brake pedal.
Step 3: Correctly Position the Chocks
After you’ve parked, immediately ask your crew member to help and place chocks because you’re keeping your foot on the pedal brake. Next, guide the person and tell them to exactly do this as we mentioned below (based on the ground level you’re parked):
- For level ground: Put two chocks on both (front and back) sides of at least one wheel.
- For an uphill slope: Place the chocks against the rear wheels (at the back).
- For a downhill slope: Put chocks exactly at the front side of the vehicle’s front wheels.
Important: Ensure the helping individual stands on the safe side (while placing chocks)!
Step 4: Snug Chock Against the Tires
After the chocks are installed, you can come out of the vehicle. Now push the chocks tightly against the tire tread. This trick helps you confirm that chocks are sitting flat on the ground and don’t wobble because the chocks’ level on the ground prevents them from any unexpected rolling.
Step 5: Double Check for Stability
Once chocks are in place, give your vehicle a gentle shake with your hands or nudge to see if it stays firm. If you detect any movement (even a little bit), reposition the chocks. And once you’re sure, you can go, leaving it parked.
How to Remove Wheel Chocks?
Well, it’s very simple. Below, we’ve explained the steps for wheel chock removal:
- First, you go inside the vehicle.
- Then place and keep your foot on the brake.
- Make sure your vehicle is completely stable. Means the vehicle’s engine is off and the car isn’t moving.
- Lastly, ask your team member to carefully pull the chocks away from the tires.
And that’s it!
Truck Chocks Safety Tips
At JACKWIN, we understand the consequences of not chocking vehicles on public roads. That’s why in the below section, we’ve explained vital tips to help you ensure a safe and correct chocking procedure:
- You should always get the exact size chock for your vehicle. Ideally, for a smaller wheel diameter, choose smaller chocks. And for big and heavy vehicles, big and heavy-duty chocks works best.
- When you use chock, make sure the ground has a level and solid surface. Because if you use them with a vehicle that you’ve parked in mud, snow, or uneven ground, chock will likely shift, and move the truck.
- Most facilities still ignore wheel chocks or continue using damaged ones. However, the average price of chocks at Jackwin start from $4-$15. So switching to them ensures safety within the budget.
- Avoid using cracked, damaged, or worn-out chocks as they can fail at any time and compromise your and others’ safety. So, inspect them regularly
- Use bright-colored or reflective chocks. So even in low light, drivers and workers can clearly see where they’re placed.
- If you’re running a facility, train your team and make chock placement part of your standard operating procedure.
Choosing the Right Chock For Your Application
Well the exact answer actually depends on your use case. Like your vehicle or equipment type, weight, tires size, height and ground level.
If you talk about the small cars or light-duty vehicles then a rubber or plastic-made wheel chocks works best. Just make sure they are a quarter of a size of your vehicle’s tire.
But for heavy vehicles (trucks, trailers, or equipment), you need to look for special features in chocks, such as their toughness, industrial-grade, application-specific, load capacity, anti-slippery, edge-based design, and high visibility.
Apart from that, the parking surface matters too. For example, if you park the vehicle often on gravel or an inclined surface, you’ll then need larger chocks with a non-slip base or traction teeth. And in aviation or marine setups, you need to choose specialized chocks designed for these industries.
Advantages of JACKWIN’s Wheel Chock
JACKWIN has been leading in the traffic, parking, and road safety products for 18+ years. So you can get leverage from our high-quality and OSHA, FMCSA, and MSHA-compliant wheel chocks. We supply them in a variety of types across various materials (rubber, plastic, steel, aluminum, wood) and sizes.
Our versatile wheel chocks are not just highly visible, weather-resistant, and durable. They have an excellent feature of an anti-slippery base and can easily bear a load of up to 44 tons. On top of that, we design wheel chocks for several vehicle types like boat trailers, aircraft, motorcycles, trucks, and cars. Just name it, and you get it.
Conclusion
Although wheel chocks are small safety tools, they play a huge role in locking vehicles (in their spots) and ensuring everyone’s safety. However, we cannot emphasize the importance of choosing the correct wheel chock for your vehicle.
So, if you’re looking for a wheel chock, go through the full range of wheel chocks we sell online. We have large stock available in our factory. We deal at a competitive wholesale rate and provide a further discount on bulk order. Contact our team today for assistance or get instant inquiry.
