I took the truck to Pearson Stone and we weighed the front axle weight. 6,800 pounds. That means 3,400 pounds per front wheel weight.
I went to the shop and put the front of the truck up on wood blocks. Then I jacked up one wheel and placed a ten pound plastic block under the wheel with a piece of steel on top of the block to eliminate the distortion caused by the tire patch only being on part of the block.
The block compressed about three quarters of an inch with the weight on it. When I removed the weight the block returned to its original shape.
I repeated the experiment with a nine pound block. The compression was about an inch and a half this time.
It will take some more tests by those a lot smarter than me to figure out the ideal weight of a block for making walls for a shelter. As far as I am concerned that is just work that has to be done. Engineers can figure out how much strength is required. Then plastic blocks can be tested and we’ll have the information we need.