Traction Board Mod/Upgrade

The cheapest traction boards I could get my grubby hands on have worked for me so far in my light wheeling adventures, progressing towards more difficult.

They have seen some use, they are always in the back of the rig when wheeling. Slightest wheel spin on the cheaper boards just eats up the nubs. At the slanted ends is where it really is a problem, the part you always ram under the wheel. 1st spot to spin on every time.

This is what my most beat up one looked like at the start, this was proof of concept so I could buy the hardware needed in mass on Amazon for cheaper. Just had to figure out all the sizes at home depot, looking at them and touching them.



Some are almost missing, I had removed one with the rotary tool before I took that picture. The rotary tool makes mods like this nice and easy to do, have used it to mod so many things over the years. It's my go to tool for a lot of crap, worked perfect for this. Used the fiberglass reinforced plastic cutting discs for this entire process.

Took all the rest of the nubs off.


Used the drill and 23/64th bit to put the holes, then threaded on each nut with washers on each side.



Could not put the washer on the back of the 1 center test bolt, needs to get smaller washers the same size as the M8 locknut no wider.



The bolts sit flush with the surface of the nuts, which are rounded. I believe the rounded lock nuts with no bolt sticking through the top will decrease the chances of damaging your tires on them.

Wont find out till I try them and see but that is my thoughts on it.

I copied this from what I saw on some other boards you can buy like this.



Final product of the 14 test bolts installed.


Seemed to work pretty good.

Tools I used:
Drill
23/64 drill bit
socket adapter for Drill
Ratchet
2 x 17mm socket

Rotary Tool w/fiberglass reinforced plastic cutting discs

Stainless hardware for each nub:
M8 16 thread bolt
M8 lock nuts
3/8 washers


What do you guys think?

 

Nice!
Probably could have gotten away with less.

 

I could not for the life of me figure out which ones to leave off, I had the same thought.

 

Center one on each end and the top and bottom one in the center row.
Left over would look like a X

 

This is the crap I want to flush out before I purchase the rest of the hardware.

 

Another would be to take out the center one in the circle and remove center one on end rows. Keep the circle and 4 nubs one in each corner.

 

You having the most time out of anyone with these boards, how are they holding up? and which ones are they?

 

Good question, I have no idea what brand. I bought them locally from a guy for nice and cheap. I can not find any online that look like mine.


For the price I paid, roughly 1/2 the price of

$108 Maxsa 20333 Heavy-Duty Escaper Buddy Traction Mats for Off-Road Mud, Sand, & Snow Vehicle Extraction and Recovery, Bendable, Unbreakable, Orange, 2 Pack

maxas ones on amazon. They have held up great. I think this mod will be the breaking point of them, allow to much traction and rip the bolts through the plastic.

Season is changing so I will find out soon enough if they hold up.

 

So it seems I was right, this mod does put a ton of traction on the boards. To much for these cheap ones.

I am going to get a higher price set of maxas or maxtraxx and see if they hold up any better. All 4 of mine exploded.




It did not pull any of the nuts and bolts out, it just got so much traction if ripped the end of the board right off

 

The upgrade is real.

These ActionTrax are pretty awesome.



Now to see how they hold up!

 

Since I have been using them all winter, I realized they needed the bottom teeth upgraded to the nuts, bolts and washers. It just makes them work on snow and ice, they dont try and slide away near as much.

Got 1 complete today. 3 more to go

 

What was the verdict on these after a season? Worth the $350? Need the traction upgrade from mat to dirt you did?

 

The verdict on these is

They are amazing traction boards. I have 3 sets now.

You dont need the traction upgrade I have done if you only use them on dirt / mud. It helps a bunch for snow / ice which I use them in constantly.

Here they are in use just yesterday!

 

I’m a 4 season stuck kind of guy. Thanks for the update. I’ll pull the trigger on a set and give them a whirl.

 

Right on, you will not regret it.

I had a slight problem with mine, they developed some tiny cracks. Which have not gotten any bigger or more of them. I am still using my original set to this day.

I sent pictures to the company and they stuck by their warranty!

100% great customer service.