Wheel chocks?

[1lineman1]

Don't own one yet but I'm looking at the M925a2. Been doing lots of reading and looking at past and current sales. Among the ever growing list of questions I find myself researching, one finds me scratching my head. Given they have air brakes. So when they sit for a while and loose air pressure the brakes are still on by desing. So why do i see so many pictures of trucks on flat ground with wheel chocks, or logs, rocks, chuncks of steel. Am i missing something with these things. Kinda thought that was the point of an air brake system.

 

[Castle Bravo]

Redundancy, I suppose.

 

[bikeman]

Military does it. It's standard on everything. from HMMWVs to Abrams... and yes, there's an Abrams Chock Block. I know I keep a set with my Jeep as the parking brake barely holds.

 

[quickfarms]

In order for the spring brake system on an air brake truck to work correctly the brakes must be properly adjusted. When a deadlined air brake vehicle is moved the spring brakes are commonly canned, mechanically released. Some of what you see is because the procedures are out of date and there are still vehicles in service that do not have spring brakes. If you are the military, or any large organization, you make your procedures based on the worst case scenario.

 

[Roo]

Do not forget operator error/accident. In the military you sometimes spend a lot of time waiting, eating, and sleeping (living) in your cab. It is relatively easy to release the parking brake. It is cheap insurance in case you snag something on the brake lever when jumping out and there is still air in the system. Just think if you somehow released the parking brake while sleeping, you could wake up rolling down a hill into a tree or worse over the Commander.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Interesting story relayed to me by a retired Seabee. They use chocks, more often than not, chocks made by themselves. They always use 2 chocks with a small rope between them. Were a Seabee to say, forget to chock his truck when he parked it, he would be wearing the chocks around his neck all day. Lets just say they didn't have any repeat offenders. It's just policy and it must be followed.

 

[73m819]

Caged air brakes mean NO set spring brakes, which means the truck can roll, which means wheel chocks are NEEDED

 

[jasonjc]

The springs in the spring brakes can and do wear out.

 

[M813rc]

It's just policy and it must be followed.

Cheers

 

[acme66]

In our tour truck a 923 I had my young son try and climb over and out my door and he pushed the parking brake off in the attempt. Ironically I had just jumped out to chock the wheels. I was right at the door and heard the system hiss and was able to jump back in and set it but the truck moved a foot or two in the process. I had a long talk about that with my son, scared me good. I guess they chock because sometimes stupid things happen. Also given the number of times I have driven effortlessly over my chocks in forgetting to remove them, it is worth mentioning that it takes a big one to hold it if you are parked on any sort of slope.

Ken

 

[MyothersanM1]

I chock the M818 as a rule of thumb no matter what. I don't have the springs brakes to fall back and I don't leave the main in gear. That drum brake on the rear drive shaft is iffy at best.

Last year at a car show my son was showing the cab to another child. Well, that child inadvertantly kicked off the brake lever. Two things were in my favor...a curb behind the right rear duals and, Yep, chocks. The truck gave a bit of shudder when it settled down against its obstacles, but no one was hurt...just a pair of soiled shorts for one young lad, I think.

Chocks = peace of mind = a good thing

 

[MWMULES]

Don't forget the drip pans, even in M1's at Ft Riley if we were stopped for more than 5 mins the loader got out and 3 drip pans went down!

 

[1lineman1]

Well I'm deffinatly on board with chocks when the brake cans are pulled back. I've had to do that in the field for either tow purposes or recovery. What I was kinda driving at is when someone takes a picture for the intention of a sale and theres some make shift chocks down it gets me wondering. Are the brakes springs blown or out of adjustment. Which was the basis for my question, wasn't sure if the braking system on military trucks followed with the standard opperation on civ. trucks. Or if there were other issuses in the braking system that were prone to this model truck that I am unaware of. Side note, if I had a 1$ for every chock I've put down, I'd be sitting at home enjoying a cold berverage! I 'm deffinatly for chocks when commen sense says they should be down. But when you have a vehicle in good working order that is set up for it's usage and every tire is off the ground and your superiors come by give you the 5 min. break down. Well thats where I am left with the look of guess I'm missing something. Not to mention when you have a 50 ton vehicle in the above mentioned state and your issued the same chocks that are issued with a 2 ton single axle truck. Pretty sure the rig is going to look at it like a weed and roll right over it Good conversation though. But to answer my question, these brakes are comparitive to the civ. trucks correct ?

 

[Coffey1]

That's what cutv's are for just big enough you won't roll over them unless you really want to

 

[1lineman1]

Couldn't agree more, but as mentioned this is what were issued. And those things aren't cheap.

 

[Coffey1]

Now to answer your question yes if brakes are good and spring brakes are not caged it locks the truck down and would be very hard to move.

 

[rhurey]

Well, added to the list of things to do next meet / show is drain air tanks when parking for display.

 

[barefootin]

Start truck, turn on lights and right hand turn signal, walk to front then to back on passenger side to check lighting, thump tires, look for leaks, and pull chock from passenger side. Proceed back to cab, flip signal stalk, walk front to back on drivers side checking lighting, thump tires, look for leaks, grab drivers side chock. Mean while the engine is warming and your pre-check is done. I do the same process in reverse at shut down while the EGT's are coming down to about 285F. Safety first....

 

[topo]

Wheel chocks examples

 

[rhurey]

Just make sure they're wider than the space between the rears.

Or have a really long pry bar handy.