MaxTrax, are they worth it?

brp

Observer
I’ve been considering Maxtrax but am now also looking at Truck Claws. The Truck Claws
are cheaper, smaller, lighter, and can be used over a distance. The Maxtrax can bridge.

My guess is that for a really bad, muddy, stuck, Truck Claws with extender bars would work as well as Maxtrax but I just don’t know. If that is the case then I think Truck Claws are a better overall option.
 

MAXTRAX

Supporting Sponsor
After putting the purchase off for a few months now, I finally pulled the trigger and ordered some MaxTrax, hopefully they get here before we leave this weekend for 120 miles of primitive beach travel.

Please let us know what you think once you've had a chance to use them. Thank You for choosing MAXTRAX

MAXTRAX
https://us.maxtrax.com.au
 

MAXTRAX

Supporting Sponsor
Love my MAXTRAX. I've used them a few times and they really have saved my butt. It's a great feeling when you can get yourself out of the snow (solo) without a tow or a couple hours of digging. I've personally seen the competition fail and it makes me glad to have gone the quality route. I try not to skimp on quality when it comes to the important things

SAME HERE! An emergency situation is no time to bust out the harbor freight tools lol...

Power Wagons and Jeep Rubicons get stuck. I own both. Had both stuck. Maxtrax have helped me countess times. They have helped tremendously with my Rhino and Stumpgrinder machine also. The only time Maxrax “Failed” me was trying to assist a loaded semi truck out of the sand on a movie set. Broke several of the lugs off both boards. But thats not a smart use of the tool. So that doesn’t count.


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3ab954f01193eeac1b44aa9b407c772d.jpg


Thank You for the support and choosing MAXTRAX as your go-to traction & recovery device

MAXTRAX
https://us.maxtrax.com.au
 

GB_Willys_2014

Well-known member
Yes.

A buddy of a buddy of mine drove his wife's pristine Honda Odyssey minivan into a sandy wash and promptly dug a hole sinking the entire vehicle. Don't ask, but alcohol was not involved. :)

Neither winch nor tow strap were options as Honda Odyssey minivans, obviously, do not have recovery points.

We were able to get him out using my Hi-Lift Jack and MaxTraxs with no damage, except minor scratches to the van's fancy wheels (where we attached the Hi-Lift).
 

Mundo4x4Casa

West slope, N. Ser. Nev.
I guess I'm raining on this parade by saying you don't need MaxTraxs. Anytime you need to build a ramp of any kind indicates a lack of pressure regulation of the tires; a lack of floatation, unless it's bottomless mud or sky high rocks. In that case you need to reevaluate the need to enter anyway. Hard core jeepers have known this for decades. We've adjusted the tire pressure to fit many situations and vehicles. My old CJ-8 with 37x13.50R16 tires were dropped to 10 pounds as soon as we got on dirt. If encountering bottomless sand and dunes, more air was let out down to a minimum of 3 pounds. Never lost a bead due to low pressure. I'm even more fickle when it comes to my 10K pound truck camper. More to loose i guess. Who's going to get you out? 65 to 80 pounds street pressure (depending) drops to 30-32 pounds as soon as we hit long stretches of dirt.

We read the road surface, sometimes dropping down to an absolute minimum of 20 pounds for blow sand, dune running and sandy washes. After I learned to regulate the pressure to fit the surface, getting stuck was a thing of the past. Here's a link to a recent run up the "Diablo Drop Off" in Anza Borrego. It's about a 300 foot climb up blowsand with deep moguls near the top. My bro tried first in his Ford F-250 diesel 6 speed @ 30 pounds pressure and in 3rd gear low range. He got about 1/2 way up the hill and slowly sank to the frame. Pressure too high. Wrong gear. He reported this to me on the Motorola and bade me lower to 20 pounds and try 4th gear low range, downshifting to 2nd for the moguls, as he slowly backed down making sure he was strait arrow. We both have 6-speeds. The result:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bfj5y93wsd7vfkw/jefe does sand hill at dry wash of the devil Anza.m4v?dl=0
One caveat is that I am running 35 inch AT-3's, (315x75R16) which are not grave diggers and on super single rims on the rear which allows the low pressure footprint to spread out to about a 14 inch by 15 inch patch, much of it on the sidewalls.

When going uphill much of the weight (about 6K pounds) of the TC transfers to the rear axle where the super single wheels reside. The ace in the hole is lowering the pressure quickly and just a quickly airing back up when out of the dune or soup. We use an ARB tire pressure gauge with screw out core feature. It's fast. For years we used a 30 pound CO2 tank with the correct cold temp hardware to air endless tires back up at the end of the day all week at Moab. Now, with just the truck and camper I have a Viair 440, which will pump those meats up to 65 or 80 with a pretty good duty cycle without dissolving into a smoldering, one-piece, no moving parts mess, unlike the cheap compressors from China Freight.
About those who have gotten stuck and had nothing to winch to. No trees; no rocks; no other vehicles. If you have a winch; all is not lost. Depending on the surface, and especially if it's sandy, you can use the 'Dead Man' technique. A bit arduous, but none the less do able. In decades past, I had the pleasure to treat three Japanese businessmen to a day in the desert in my FJ-55/Chevy/Warn winch about 1974. As you will see, the only English they spoke that day was, "DEADMAN!" We shot the dunes and ran up and down arroyos and finally tried to cross the WhiteWater River; a 50 foot across, sandy bottom, fast running snowmelt stream. I started across and we were soon up to the winch but still moving. I had a stack and the Chevy V-8 engine was pretty high up in the engine compartment so it was still running, but I couldn't see the 32 inch tires anymore and water was coming across the gunnels when we finally stopped forward motion. Wading out past the wide-eyes Japanese businessmen peering out the window, I opened the back and plucked out my spare tire, which thankfully was on the cargo floor and not underneath. I oinked the tire to shore and rolled it another 30 feet past shore. I then waded back to get my shovel and pick up the winch hook; winch now in neutral. The winch was the old Warn 8000, with 125 feet of 5/16 wire rope. I dug a hole about a foot wider than the size of the tire, and kept digging, occasionally looking back at the still wide eyed businessmen starring through the front window in the still idling FJ. Actually, the rig was slowly listing as the sand underneath the uphill side wheels was being eroded away. At about the 3-1/2 foot level i climbed out and hooked the winch hook through the center hole surrounding the X-tire iron and lowered the tire to the bottom. After burying the tire, only the secure wire rope was coming out of the sand and gravel. I wadded back to the winch and put it in gear, crawling back in the jeep and using the controls inside. The winch did most of the work and the tires very little in this case, but we were moving. Up and over the bank we kept on right up to the buried spare. Dig the tire back up. Replace the spare. Wind in the wire rope. All the way back to L.A. i could discern only one English word in their rapid conversation in Japanese: an occasional exclaimation, "DEAD MAN!" I think they got their money's worth.
jefe
 
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Ray_G

Explorer
To answer the subj question; yes, they are worth it.

I don't view it as a question of 'need', though a strong argument could be made for a site that is nominally directed towards long haul overland exploration they have significant utility compared to going through dropping tire pressure with a hardcore trail rig-in fact the use of the term hard core should make one consider if we're talking about the same application.

While I concur that lowering tire pressure is prudent (and I typically have redundant ways of returning air to those tires on my vehicles, i.e. both a compressor and a powertank) in the end Maxtrax serve a purpose on their own-and they serve it very well.

Having thrashed them extensively at the hands of a dealer who also runs an offroad park, side by side with other products on the market, there is a reason why I stick with them-everything else is a false economy at best.
r-
Ray
 

Fireman78

Expedition Leader
I guess I'm raining on this parade by saying you don't need MaxTraxs. Anytime you need to build a ramp of any kind indicates a lack of pressure regulation of the tires; a lack of floatation, unless it's bottomless mud or sky high rocks. In that case you need to reevaluate the need to enter anyway. Hard core jeepers have known this for decades. We've adjusted the tire pressure to fit many situations and vehicles. My old CJ-8 with 37x13.50R16 tires were dropped to 10 pounds as soon as we got on dirt. If encountering bottomless sand and dunes, more air was let out down to a minimum of 3 pounds. Never lost a bead due to low pressure. I'm even more fickle when it comes to my 10K pound truck camper. More to loose i guess. Who's going to get you out? 65 to 80 pounds street pressure (depending) drops to 30-32 pounds as soon as we hit long stretches of dirt.

We read the road surface, sometimes dropping down to an absolute minimum of 20 pounds for blow sand, dune running and sandy washes. After I learned to regulate the pressure to fit the surface, getting stuck was a thing of the past. Here's a link to a recent run up the "Diablo Drop Off" in Anza Borrego. It's about a 300 foot climb up blowsand with deep moguls near the top. My bro tried first in his Ford F-250 diesel 6 speed @ 30 pounds pressure and in 3rd gear low range. He got about 1/2 way up the hill and slowly sank to the frame. Pressure too high. Wrong gear. He reported this to me on the Motorola and bade me lower to 20 pounds and try 4th gear low range, downshifting to 2nd for the moguls, as he slowly backed down making sure he was strait arrow. We both have 6-speeds. The result:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bfj5y93wsd7vfkw/jefe does sand hill at dry wash of the devil Anza.m4v?dl=0
One caveat is that I am running 35 inch AT-3's, (315x75R16) which are not grave diggers and on super single rims on the rear which allows the low pressure footprint to spread out to about a 14 inch by 15 inch patch, much of it on the sidewalls.

When going uphill much of the weight (about 6K pounds) of the TC transfers to the rear axle where the super single wheels reside. The ace in the hole is lowering the pressure quickly and just a quickly airing back up when out of the dune or soup. We use an ARB tire pressure gauge with screw out core feature. It's fast. For years we used a 30 pound CO2 tank with the correct cold temp hardware to air endless tires back up at the end of the day all week at Moab. Now, with just the truck and camper I have a Viair 440, which will pump those meats up to 65 or 80 with a pretty good duty cycle without dissolving into a smoldering, one-piece, no moving parts mess, unlike the cheap compressors from China Freight.
About those who have gotten stuck and had nothing to winch to. No trees; no rocks; no other vehicles. If you have a winch; all is not lost. Depending on the surface, and especially if it's sandy, you can use the 'Dead Man' technique. A bit arduous, but none the less do able. In decades past, I had the pleasure to treat three Japanese businessmen to a day in the desert in my FJ-55/Chevy/Warn winch about 1974. As you will see, the only English they spoke that day was, "DEADMAN!" We shot the dunes and ran up and down arroyos and finally tried to cross the WhiteWater River; a 50 foot across, sandy bottom, fast running snowmelt stream. I started across and we were soon up to the winch but still moving. I had a stack and the Chevy V-8 engine was pretty high up in the engine compartment so it was still running, but I couldn't see the 32 inch tires anymore and water was coming across the gunnels when we finally stopped forward motion. Wading out past the wide-eyes Japanese businessmen peering out the window, I opened the back and plucked out my spare tire, which thankfully was on the cargo floor and not underneath. I oinked the tire to shore and rolled it another 30 feet past shore. I then waded back to get my shovel and pick up the winch hook; winch now in neutral. The winch was the old Warn 8000, with 125 feet of 5/16 wire rope. I dug a hole about a foot wider than the size of the tire, and kept digging, occasionally looking back at the still wide eyed businessmen starring through the front window in the still idling FJ. Actually, the rig was slowly listing as the sand underneath the uphill side wheels was being eroded away. At about the 3-1/2 foot level i climbed out and hooked the winch hook through the center hole surrounding the X-tire iron and lowered the tire to the bottom. After burying the tire, only the secure wire rope was coming out of the sand and gravel. I wadded back to the winch and put it in gear, crawling back in the jeep and using the controls inside. The winch did most of the work and the tires very little in this case, but we were moving. Up and over the bank we kept on right up to the buried spare. Dig the tire back up. Replace the spare. Wind in the wire rope. All the way back to L.A. i could discern only one English word in their rapid conversation in Japanese: an occasional exclaimation, "DEAD MAN!" I think they got their money's worth.
jefe

Here’s the thing. Maybe YOU don’t want to or need to use them. Great. Don’t use them. Any situation can be figured out. I like that Maxtrax can take a four hour recovery take ten minutes. Some people want to complicate stuff with less equipment and more science, great! Some of us prefer to get going and down the road quicker.
928042ac71659eb34589f6ffcd3f8a77.jpg



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MAXTRAX

Supporting Sponsor
Sorry but what is the recommended max weight for bridging with Max Trax?
None.

IIRC, they are not to be used for bridging.

MAXTRAX are not designed to be used as a Bridge or Ramp.

When used per our Instructions, MAXTRAX are designed and warranted for standard 4×4 and light-trucks around 3500kg or 7750lbs. However we know of a few customers who have used them successfully in sand on expedition trucks (Unimogs, Hinos and Fusos) weighing in excess of 6000kg and even the occasional semi-trailer and garbage truck without damage.

Instructions & Warranty Info
 

rnArmy

Adventurer
I was on Amazon.com the other day trying to find something else to add to my order to get an add-on thing to qualify before placing my order (you've been there). So I was looking through my "one-of-these-days-I'll-order-this" list, and clicked on the X-Bull traction mats. They were down to $59, so I ordered a pair in OD green. I would never say or imply they are as good or better than MAXTRAX, but for the price ($59 vs. $299 for the MAXTRAX) I'm going to give them a try. In all my years of Jeeping, I've never been in a situation where I wished I had a set (I'm locked and have a winch), but I also carry a hi-lift jack that I've never used (but once) on the trail. But I can throw them in my wife's Subaru when we take it to the mountains. Now to figure out a mount on my roof rack before ordering another pair.

I think they've gone back up a bit now (up to $79): X-Bull traction tracks.1.jpg

1537591595761.png
 
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craig333

Expedition Leader
I have a pair of maxtrax but when it came time to add another pair I opted for a pair of cheapie chinese clones. We'll see if that was a good idea or not.
 

LandCruiserPhil

Expedition Leader
Some overlanding friends were giving a pair only to get seriously stuck in South America were the Maxtraxs offered no help. Once back in the US they sold them. In there case real bridging ladders would have help. There is a reason serious world travelers carry bridging ladders not Maxtraxs.
 

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