MaxTrax, are they worth it?

[Ducky's Dad]

the DD has a selectable locker and limited slip though...

Depends where you get stuck. My Dodge has two selectable lockers and limited slip and a winch and shovels and straps. I still managed to get stuck in the sand in East BF AZ, and had to call for help. That's when I decided to carry MaxTrax and a Pull-Pal.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

When you're stuck in the middle of nowhere... they are worth twice. They've saved my bacon a handful of times to become must have.

 

[rruff]

Depends where you get stuck. My Dodge has two selectable lockers and limited slip and a winch and shovels and straps. I still managed to get stuck in the sand in East BF AZ, and had to call for help. That's when I decided to carry MaxTrax and a Pull-Pal.

East BF AZ is one of my old stomping grounds! Lots of time spent driving through sand washes to get somewhere.

Did you try airing down to almost flat? Because that never failed to work (eventually) for me. Usually just airing down was enough, but sometimes shoveling, road building, and cursing were necessary. Even with 2wd and open diff.

 

[herm]

i have them and have used them more for the aid of others than myself, but they are worked every time without drama or time spend rigging and messing around. from getting a few vehicles over an obstacle on a trail including a cj and my 1/2 ton with slide in to my neighbors focus stuck in our street with 12 in. of snow.

I think they are worth the money. much cheaper than a winch when you include a way to mount said winch, a block, tree strap, etc.

 

[rnArmy]

How do the Max Trax compare to something like these 3rd generation X-BULL New Recovery Traction Tracks Sand Mud Snow Track Tire Ladder 4WD (3Gen, Orange)?
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https://www.amazon.com/X-BULL-Recov...ncoding=UTF8&refRID=MF6FWNZBTZ1XYEPM61KN&th=1
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Roughly $100/pair for the X-BULL vs. roughly $300/pair for the Max Trax (actually I think they're now around $325/pair). I'm sure the Max Trax are total quality (I'd love a pair - just can't afford them), but are the Max Trax really worth three times the price? Or are they all made of basically the same type of plastic? Because I'd want two pair, so $200 vs. $600 - $650... that's a lot of money.

 

[herm]

those appear to be exact copies of the original tred ramps. I try to avoid giving money to counter fitters. There are about 5 counterfits of these products for ever legit one on amazon right now. i have called out several of them that even use the pictures and description from maxtrax or tred or maxsa. they are even knocking off the knockoffs. I can not imagine that the knock offs use the same amount of glass fiber in the plastic, as the use of it wears out the expensive molds quite quickly and that is a major expense for the legit companies, also QC and consistent plastic formulation will be much lower priorities for the knock offs. You can see the "waves" in cheaper plastic that is not uniform.

 

[Rando]

This is not rocket science - they are injection molded plastic planks. I have the Maxsa version (was ~$120, now ~$150 per pair), they seem to work just as well as any other recovery board. This is not new technology or some great breakthrough - people have been using marsden matts, fiberglass walkway grid and 2X10's covered in old carpet for this purpose forever, so I don't really have much of an issue with 'counterfeiters'. Grab a set of the X-Bull ones and let us know how they work out!

 

[echo7tango]

Not Maxtrax's, the same idea but heavier for our trucks. And yes they are worth it.


First video I was intenionally trying to get it bogged down as much as I could. The second video I hadn't let any air out of the tyres as we were just trying to get of the road to camp.
Dan.

Looks great. I was wondering about the carpet scraps idea too, and that was mentioned upthread.

 

[Happy Joe]

the DD has a selectable locker and limited slip though...

Depends where you get stuck. My Dodge has two selectable lockers and limited slip and a winch and shovels and straps. I still managed to get stuck in the sand in East BF AZ, and had to call for help. That's when I decided to carry MaxTrax and a Pull-Pal.

...I guess I don't really get stuck (IMO, "Stuck" is when you can neither make forward progress nor back up to take another run at it)... Even in the 2wd Ranger with street tires 8" - 10" of snow is not normally a big deal, at lest until it turns slushy and refreezes.
The last time I used a winch on myself we (3 or 4 vehicles and myself) were wheeling in calf deep snow on the side of a mountain (cliff/ on the other side)... and decided to turn around; the trail was about 10 or 12 feet wide... for a few minutes we were all engaged in a row winching the front ends around, since the trail was so narrow.

I didn't know that Dodge made a civilian 6 wheel drive (2 selectable lockers and a limited slip) vehicle; is it custom, something exmilitary or a typo/brain-finger-keyboard fritz?

Enjoy!

 

[Ducky's Dad]

It's a Power Wagon, with standard limited slip in the rear and electric selectable lockers on front and rear axles. And a big Warn winch, standard.

 

[ckkone]

With so many other competitive options out there now MAXTRAX are not worth the money, just get some X-BULL.

 

[burton58]

I got 2 sets of xbull mats this year for winter. I'm a FedEx driver in Maine and this 2wd dually gets stuck everywhere. They work great and have not melted/cracked/deformed yet

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[Happy Joe]

It's a Power Wagon, with standard limited slip in the rear and electric selectable lockers on front and rear axles. And a big Warn winch, standard.

Thanx!

Enjoy!

 

[Herrawesome]

How do the Max Trax compare to something like these 3rd generation X-BULL New Recovery Traction Tracks Sand Mud Snow Track Tire Ladder 4WD (3Gen, Orange)?
-
https://www.amazon.com/X-BULL-Recov...ncoding=UTF8&refRID=MF6FWNZBTZ1XYEPM61KN&th=1
-
Roughly $100/pair for the X-BULL vs. roughly $300/pair for the Max Trax (actually I think they're now around $325/pair). I'm sure the Max Trax are total quality (I'd love a pair - just can't afford them), but are the Max Trax really worth three times the price? Or are they all made of basically the same type of plastic? Because I'd want two pair, so $200 vs. $600 - $650... that's a lot of money.

View attachment 429325

We used the x-bulls a couple of days ago in Baja to get out of some soft sand. They worked great. No damage to the boards.

Also, the zippered case is a nice touch


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[basing110]

I debated this same thing for years and finally bought maxtrax this year. The problem with all the others i have found, is if you believe at some point in time you will have to bridge across somthing such as a big hole or rut from rain and its big enough( which isnt that long) where your traction boards only have support towards the very ends the max trax will bend and then go back to original shape as the others will crack and break which can put you in the hole or at the least leave you with a traction board that is a little mangled or shorter than it used to be. If you can stack them to aid in support that is great but sometimes you can only stack 1 or 2 up because of the obstacle and that might not be enough for the weight of your vehicle. I have seen a few non maxtrax crack by being put on top of uneven hard terrain such as medium size rocks that were hidden under snow.

Bottom line is the cheaper ones are made with different cheaper to manufacture type of material. Non maxtrax seem to hold up better to wheel spin due to type of material but they just cant deform like the maxtrax and go back to normal

Hope that helps.. Yes $600 was hard to bite off but ive had a friend who had to pay $500 for a tow truck to come get him out of the mud that was relativly close to the city. Traction boards and a shovel could have gotten him out with a little bit of work. Couldn't imagine what it would cost if he was in more mountainous terrain.