BajaNomad

Recovery Boards Comparison

TMW - 5-23-2016 at 08:08 AM

A friend sent this to me. Interesting

http://www.4x4australia.com.au/gear/recovery/1605/recovery-b...

David K - 5-23-2016 at 08:15 AM

Silly me, I just let more air out of my tires! :light:

(thanks Tom... I do enjoy the Aussie 4WD videos... neat to see how much off roading they do, down under!)

4x4abc - 5-23-2016 at 08:45 AM

if you have the wrong size tires on your 4x4, you deserve those gay boards (just referring to the color guys).
But they make the future overlander FEEL safe. So they are good business.
Magazines are about business and advertising.

Imagine army vehicles advancing in 4 foot increments. Or any other professional vehicle advancing in such increments.
They don't They have a proper tire size.

Remember this: all 4x4's have a tire size that is best for pavement and low gas consumption with the smallest footprint possible for minimum rolling resistance. None come with tires optimized for maximum weight (and Baja travelers know about maximum weight) none come with tires optimized for off-road.

The volume of air stays in direct relation to the weight of the vehicle. More weight, more volume needed.

And then of course comes the art of playing with your tire pressure to get safest from A to B. Meaning lower pressure to avoid flats, lower pressure to avoid getting stuck.

Terry28 - 5-23-2016 at 09:23 AM

So just what color is "gay"??

TMW - 5-23-2016 at 02:29 PM

In the late 80s I was down to a Baja 500 or 1000 race and saw a class 8 1948 Ford truck in contingency. They had a rolled up fire hose on each side of the rear. When I asked about it one of the guys said it was if they got stuck they would unroll it out and put under the wheels. Since it was attached to the truck they could keep moving until on solid ground.

StuckSucks - 5-23-2016 at 02:35 PM

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc  
if you have the wrong size tires on your 4x4, you deserve those gay boards (just referring to the color guys).


You probably haven't noticed, but virtually all off road race cars carry MaxTrax or a similar product these days. But that's probably due to air pressure or tire issues, no?

mtgoat666 - 5-23-2016 at 02:46 PM

Harry,
You are full of chit!
Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc  
if you have the wrong size tires on your 4x4, you deserve those gay boards (just referring to the color guys).
But they make the future overlander FEEL safe. So they are good business.
Magazines are about business and advertising.

Imagine army vehicles advancing in 4 foot increments. Or any other professional vehicle advancing in such increments.
They don't They have a proper tire size.

Remember this: all 4x4's have a tire size that is best for pavement and low gas consumption with the smallest footprint possible for minimum rolling resistance. None come with tires optimized for maximum weight (and Baja travelers know about maximum weight) none come with tires optimized for off-road.

The volume of air stays in direct relation to the weight of the vehicle. More weight, more volume needed.

And then of course comes the art of playing with your tire pressure to get safest from A to B. Meaning lower pressure to avoid flats, lower pressure to avoid getting stuck.

StuckSucks - 5-23-2016 at 03:13 PM

Cheap insurance, if you ask me.

4x4abc - 5-23-2016 at 04:21 PM

Quote: Originally posted by StuckSucks  
Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc  
if you have the wrong size tires on your 4x4, you deserve those gay boards (just referring to the color guys).


You probably haven't noticed, but virtually all off road race cars carry MaxTrax or a similar product these days. But that's probably due to air pressure or tire issues, no?



makes sense for race trucks - they need quick solutions (hey, it's a race!)
airing down takes much too long to get unstuck
and then air up again (because race trucks run full pressure for tire protection at full speed) takes even longer

my initial comments were intended for the crowd that was addressed in the Australian test

chuckie - 5-23-2016 at 04:26 PM

:lol:

OCEANUS - 5-23-2016 at 05:59 PM

I have two sets of these that we use on our school trips to Las Animas. Since Odile, the flood damage makes it necessary for 2WD to drive 0.5-1 mile long sections up a soft sand wash. When you have a caravan of 15-20 vehicles, these max traxx boards allow us to concentrate help in the areas of the wash that are more prone for vehicles getting stuck, and move cars through more efficiently. Simply airing down the tires has not worked by itself - to really get the tires to "bite" you have to drop the pressure so low that you run the risk of losing the bead on the rim....then what? Each year I have a new crew of drivers (parent volunteers), so these boards have been the go to solution to help people with little to no experience in soft sand conditions.

VegasNick - 5-23-2016 at 10:41 PM

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc  
if you have the wrong size tires on your 4x4, you deserve those gay boards (just referring to the color guys).
But they make the future overlander FEEL safe. So they are good business.
Magazines are about business and advertising.

Imagine army vehicles advancing in 4 foot increments. Or any other professional vehicle advancing in such increments.
They don't They have a proper tire size.

Remember this: all 4x4's have a tire size that is best for pavement and low gas consumption with the smallest footprint possible for minimum rolling resistance. None come with tires optimized for maximum weight (and Baja travelers know about maximum weight) none come with tires optimized for off-road.

The volume of air stays in direct relation to the weight of the vehicle. More weight, more volume needed.

And then of course comes the art of playing with your tire pressure to get safest from A to B. Meaning lower pressure to avoid flats, lower pressure to avoid getting stuck.


Hey man, I hate to burst your bubble, but the US Military is one of the largest purchasers of Maxtrax in the world. (I am a US dealer for them) I saw the demos they did with the product. I even let them test the Maxtrax on a stuck in the mud airliner that has slid off of a taxiway in Wichita.

I get your air pressure discussion, but these things do have their uses.

4x4abc - 5-24-2016 at 07:12 PM

there is no doubt that there is use for emergency tools. And they are just that - for emergencies.
Soft sand in Baja is not an emergency. It's part of every day travel. And if your basic equipment (4x4 and most notably tires) is up to par, there is almost never an emergency.
I have been stuck in soft Baja stuff 3 times in 30 years. All 3 times when my tires were too small.

To make it more clear - proper equipment and smart use of it are to prevent bad situations.
MaxTrax and other items are tools to fix your situation after you failed to prevent it.
My post was not intended to belittle those tools.

An ounce of prevention.....

Years ago the government contracted me to develop a recovery training.
With the same philosophy I was able to convince them to have a training developed that has a 3/4 focus on better equipment, smarter driving to prevent recoveries. Since stuck happens to all of us, we did 1/3 of the training for recovery techniques.

David K - 5-24-2016 at 10:44 PM

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc  
there is no doubt that there is use for emergency tools. And they are just that - for emergencies.
Soft sand in Baja is not an emergency. It's part of every day travel. And if your basic equipment (4x4 and most notably tires) is up to par, there is almost never an emergency.
I have been stuck in soft Baja stuff 3 times in 30 years. All 3 times when my tires were too small.

To make it more clear - proper equipment and smart use of it are to prevent bad situations.
MaxTrax and other items are tools to fix your situation after you failed to prevent it.
My post was not intended to belittle those tools.

An ounce of prevention.....

Years ago the government contracted me to develop a recovery training.
With the same philosophy I was able to convince them to have a training developed that has a 3/4 focus on better equipment, smarter driving to prevent recoveries. Since stuck happens to all of us, we did 1/3 of the training for recovery techniques.


Perfect reply!
I too have been stuck only a few times... and in all situations, I usually got myself out by letting more air out of the tires! I have never been pulled out of a stuck by another vehicle. Of course, I am usually the only vehicle in sight! I also have never owned a winch. The pull strap I have in my truck is always used to pull someone else out or up.