AbstractA study of the truck and rail transport environments using racks containing Ford engines was conducted to quantify shock and vibration levels during shipment. Tri‐axial acceleration data was collected at several locations on the floor of the vehicles and on the racks themselves to determine the severity of shock and vibration input from truck trailers and rail boxcars. Power Spectral Density plots were developed from the data collected and used to simulate truck and rail shipments on an electro‐hydraulic vibration table. The results showed that the highest vibration levels in the steel racks occurred at 4 Hz in the vertical direction for truck shipments, and between 12–16 Hz for rail shipments. The vibration levels in the longitudinal and lateral directions were much lower than in the vertical direction for truck shipments. The most severe shock to a rack in rail shipments was 5.7 G peak in the longitudinal direction as a result of cou