[Tejas@perioimpl]

Maxtrax, an Australian company, a pioneer in traction boards makes these wonderful products, great to use in sand.

They specify that there must be no wheelsman and if used correctly they last a while.

I've been using my matrix for more than 5 years without issues.

Most of you are aware about my offroading school called Learn Offroad.

I recently had some military students who need to practice beach landings and part of the training was getting stuck in sand and subsequent recovery procedures.

One of the self recovery training was using the Maxtrax.

Unfortunately, the driver of the vehicle gunned it too much and caused too much wheel spin causing the studs to burn off before I could tell him to stop.




This is a common complaint with all trainers.

Close up pic.



A fellow colleague from I4WDTA, Kyle had done a mod to repair his Maxtrax and even Maxtrax itself has now introduced an extreme version with a similar concept.

So here's the procedure:

First off is to cut off the damaged studs.

I tried to use a Dremel type tool with a diamond cutting disk for greater precision:




And then sandpaper disk for finishing.



Then a trial drilling:



Inserting a 1/4” diameter bolt 3/4” long with washers and nut:





Fits well but the Dremel takes forever to cut. So decided on a faster option and took out the angle grinder:



Remember, safety first:



The angle grinder made quick work and I had 28 damaged studs down in less than 2 minutes:




Now remember, you need the holes to be exactly centred. So it makes sense first to make exploratory small holes before using the larger drill bit:



All drilled and ready to be smoothened:



Again used the angle grinder to remove the burs:



Bolts inserted from behind:



Top view:




Washers (10mm):



I should use lock nuts ideally but they are expensive and I went with Anabond thread locker to save money. If it doesn't work, will shift to Nyloc.



Anabond applied:



All the nuts torqued. Power tools make life really easy!



Finished:



A different angle:




Compare with the second board. The weight increase is marginal:



Did the same with the second board:



Both ready:



Close up and time to wipe off the run off anabond:

[Tejas@perioimpl]

So,

Few questions that may come to your mind:


How long will it last?

The few folks who have done it said that there is no issues in the past few years and only there is a marginal increase in weight. Also in freezing temps, there is a risk of water freezing over the metal bolts. Though I don't have to worry in Maharashtra.


Will it damage my tyres?

No. The edges have been smoothened and remember the yogi who sleeps on a bed of nails? Same principle applies. The weight is even distributed between the bolts and original studs and there is no risk of puncturing through the tyres. And of course wheel spin has to be avoided. There is an art of using traction boards otherwise they will all fail.


Cost implication:

A pair of new Maxtrax in India would set me back around Rs. 25-30,000/-

This repair job costs be Rs. 1500/- and gave me tremendous satisfaction.


I will test this in real life situation and give a feedback on usability and tyre issues if any.

[corvus corax]

Wouldn't this damage the tyres?

Edit: Sorry, Only saw the qna after posting this.

[condor]

Tejas, have you thought of reversing the nut-bolt so that the bolt is on top ?

Me thinks that the bold will help to gain traction without so much protrusion. And wider surface means lesser damage to tyres.

OTOH, if some one guns with his tyres on these repaired boards, this time it can be the tyres getting some nice damage at the bottom tip of the bolts.

[RoadAtlas]

Hello Tejas, I wish to order a pair of Maxtrax as I have to traverse through extremely muddy roads with a lot of sludge once a month.

How can I order them from India and is there a reseller in India I can buy them from? Please advise. Some of my friends ordered it from Australia itself and have incurred heavy custom duties on it.

Wonderful DIY, thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by RoadAtlas

Hello Tejas, I wish to order a pair of Maxtrax as I have to traverse through extremely muddy roads with a lot of sludge once a month.

How can I order them from India and is there a reseller in India I can buy them from? Please advise. Some of my friends ordered it from Australia itself and have incurred heavy custom duties on it.

Wonderful DIY, thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Hi,

There is no reseller in India and yes, shipping is prohibitive and so is customs.

I have one brand new set lying with me if you are interested, you can pick it up from me. It's around 5 years old unused. PM me if interested. I had bought it from Bangalore from Everything 4WD who were once official dealers but have now shut shop.

[SS-Traveller]

Great job.

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

Will it damage my tyres?

No. The edges have been smoothened and remember the yogi who sleeps on a bed of nails? Same principle applies. The weight is even distributed between the bolts and original studs and there is no risk of puncturing through the tyres.

In case tyre damage is a worry, use dome nuts.They're cheap, and won't gouge out tyre tread even in case of wheelspin.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Great job.


In case tyre damage is a worry, use dome nuts.They're cheap, and won't gouge out tyre tread even in case of wheelspin.

Very good idea. Let me source them. Thanks SS

[Prakritij]

Very good and informative DIY sir.
This gives me an idea. Can such bolting be done on a suitable material to make cheap homemade traction boards? Now, finding and selecting a suitable material for the base board is the question.

[amit_purohit20]

A good quality wooden plank with rectangular steel plates attached to it using bolts should also do the same work.

Other way could be wooden plank with wooden peices attached to it by wood working screws should do the work. Make sure you use the screws with flat washers.

One can even try to use nails to fix the wooden projections on the plank. The nails should be in the right direction ie. pointing towards the ground.

All this can be made cheap, just the quality of wooden projections and plank has to be of good quality. It cannot be a plywood or blockwood. Oil paint the whole thing and make it water resistant and little bit wear resistant.

The contraption would be marginally heavier than plastic board for sure.

[spgv]

Also look for chamfered Bolts. The smoothened edges(thread side) will save some damage due to sharp burrs (present on normal bolt). Also as suggested dome nuts would help. However they tend to come out.

[DirtyDan]

I was thinking of having a local welder fab up some traction boards for me. Then I stumbled on these 1 inch thick rubber doormats. They are meant for use around house doors for wiping shoes off. They are very flexible and easy to stow away. They clean up easy in water. And, they actually work pretty good. They are about 14"X20". I carry 3-4 with me at all times. They are cheap, hard to break and easy to replace if you need to. Being flexible, they conform a bit to the surface you are using them on.

[ValuableRecluse]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

Maxtrax, an Australian company, a pioneer in traction boards makes these wonderful products, great to use in sand.

They specify that there must be no wheelsman and if used correctly they last a while.

I've been using my matrix for more than 5 years without issues.


Attachment 2213466

Commendable effort!
But I would be really apprehensive about letting a newbie try to self recover with those boards. Maxtrax's are prohibitively expensive, but a good set of AT's or MT's are even more expensive. To make matters worse, you may not get a matching tire thanks to the current import restrictions.

I use cheap maxtrax knockoffs bought online and delivered without an issue to my residence in Mumbai.
While I don't off-road professionally, I have used them a fair bit and can vouch for their durability. I got 4 for a little more than the cost of one tire!




Did a easy self recovery from here with them.

I can only think of two disadvantages for my cheap boards
- when you store one on top of the other, they don't fit into each other as well as the maxtrax's, so take up more space.
- if you're going to use them to cross a ditch or make a ramp they may not bounce back to their original ruler straight condition.

I always engage 4LO and crawl onto them at idle and the plastic lugs are in good shape even after a dozen recoveries. Once fully on them, back to 4HI and launch off them.
I don’t know how well they’ll stand up to professional use, but it’s worth a try.

Alternatively you can replace the steel bolts on your maxtrax’s with plastic bolts.
Yes they exist. However, sourcing them locally may be difficult.

[sagarpadaki]

There are recovery boards made by Indian company based out of Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra, called Dr.Nano Suspension.

https://drnanoinc.com/recovery-traction-boards

I do not know how good they are. But must be much cheaper than the Max trax ones

Disclaimer - I do not have any commercial affiliation with them.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

There are recovery boards made by Indian company based out of Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra, called Dr.Nano Suspension.

https://drnanoinc.com/recovery-traction-boards

I do not know how good they are. But must be much cheaper than the Max trax ones

Disclaimer - I do not have any commercial affiliation with them.

I checked out their website and the boards they pictured look suspiciously Chinese origin - similar to other sellers.

So I wrote to them twice asking if these boards are Made In India. Both my emails remain unanswered.