Are Recovery / Traction Boards Actually Useful?

[mdk100]

I was wondering how GoTreads would work out. I was concerned about how the hinges would hold up over time, and if they would be too light and just shoot out. They work ok compared to the bigger, static ones?

All I can say is I haven’t broken mine yet!

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[dwkoski]

I carry them on the hunting land in Alabama because of the red clay. When it’s wet (even damp) you can get stuck in a flat field and a shovel or winch is not useful. That stuff is like driving on grease

 

[New2This]

I've had my bronco and recovery boards for a year. I've only used them once.

Short story: (hold Judgment)

I was at an OHV park I've been to a few times. I was meeting up with a group I didn't know very well. A few folks were running late so I exchanged numbers with one of the guys and told him I was gonna run a quick simple trail I've done before.

first 3/4 of the trail was easy. I was 2 obstacles from the end of the trail. I came up on a muddy rutted area with some standing water. saw some tire tracks coming out the other side. I engaged Mud/ruts GOAT mode and cleared it easily. I came up on the last obstacle another muddy rutted area but this time mud was a lot thicker and no standing water. Again, saw some fresh tire tracks coming out the other side. got a little momentum and hit it. got halfway through and got stuck in a low area. couldn't go forward, could back up a little bit but couldn't get out. did all the usual things to try and get out. Lockers, no lockers, mud/ruts etc. no dice.

felt like a failure. ;-)
Texted the group and dropped a GPS pin asking for a pull. While waiting, I thought to grab to boards out of my trunk (had never needed them before). put one under each rear wheel. threw it in reverse. got out easily. called the group and told them I was free.

Boards were lost to the muck. I didn't dig around for them. they were Amazon knock offs ~$150

Moral of the story: Don't wheel alone. Recovery boards can be useful.

EDIT:
I had already aired the tires down. I had both a tow strap and kinetic strap. I had a shovel available. I have a air compressor.

 

[Snacktime]

I find people are easily gimmicked into thinking that traction boards are helpful. I find people tend to buy traction boards before more helpful gear and fail see how much of waste they are. Lower tire pressure does the same thing but way more effective.

Rather have ratchet straps, harbor freight come along or air compressor. Way better recovery items to spend your money on.

 

[Mishra42]

Like most (all?) of my recovery gear I carry mine as insurance more than anything as I like to get way out and away from people. That was also the catalyst to design the mounting brackets that I carry on my website - it keeps all of that gear tucked so far out of the way to the point where I forget I'm even carrying it anymore.

I used my ARB boards on the river bank to help these guys that lost their transfer case. I wouldn't say it was exclusively the boards that got them out, but a combination of available resources that got them out - traction boards included.

I like your shelves, but I'm assuming they're not soft-top compatible?

 

[UtahBrandon]

I like your shelves, but I'm assuming they're not soft-top compatible?

They're compatible until you try to retract the soft top all the way The soft-top cross-bars follow the contour of the roll bar when retracting so they do cause interference.

 

[Mishra42]

They're compatible until you try to retract the soft top all the way The soft-top cross-bars follow the contour of the roll bar when retracting so they do cause interference.

Hmm, well Pittsburgh is notoriously cloudy, I almost never bring the top down all the way. I'll need to think about it.

 

[UtahBrandon]

Hmm, well Pittsburgh is notoriously cloudy, I almost never bring the top down all the way. I'll need to think about it.

There's only 4 bolts attaching It to the roll bar and my customers that have soft tops have said that they just remove it in those infrequent cases when the retract the top all the way.

 

[MadMan4BamaNATL]

That is exactly what I'm talking about re:the not really stuck just shovel and a couple rocks in my OP lol.

Do all the people using them to get unstuck on YouTube not know how to use a shovel? Does Matt just always have a second vehicle with a winch, and therefore is spoiled for choice?

I’m late and this will be a debate until the end of time, but be careful with antidotal evidence to discount them.

A few qualifiying questions for you: Do you have a recovery kit set up? (Straps, shackles, shovel, etc?). If not, those should be the first purchase for recovery if stuck.

Do you air down? Have a compressor to air back up? Airing down increases grip more effectively than anything else and it improves the ride and saves your rig from hard jarring if down to at least 20psi.

Slipping down into 4L will help to get you unstuck most since it brings on all your torque at low speed.

Does your Bronco have both lockers? Usually locking the rear and turning off traction control will usually get you unstuck if you have decent tread on off-road tires in anything other than deep mud or snow.

The mud is where I find my MaxTrax to be the most useful and yes, they’ve been used. Going uphill in mud, or some sort of crossing, that’s when you may benefit from them. The biggest issue with them is where to mount. I mount on my roof rack with a Yakima platform, but I don’t always have that mounted when I hit trails. Won’t carry them in the Bronco because when they’re muddy, they’re muddy.

So, are traction boards necessary? No, but they can keep you from winching and if you don’t have a winch, the boards are a smart insurance policy, but only if you have good ones. I wouldn’t buy any other than the MaxTrax or those from ARB.

 

[Alanp970]

Watch the Xoverland video where they did the Mckensie trail. It was impressive to watch them basically build bridges with traction boards to get their rigs thru that swamp. The best instance I personally had was winching a truck that broke thru crust and sank in the mud. As I winched him out the truck continued to slowly plow ruts. Used traction boards on front tires and it climbed out and stayed on top of the crust. My winch was getting a serious workout until we got that truck to climb out. Traction boards are not necessary but can be a helpful tool.

 

[popo_patty]

They work great! Loool. I actually don’t use em. Too big.

 

[Callelk]

I’m late and this will be a debate until the end of time, but be careful with antidotal evidence to discount them.

A few qualifiying questions for you: Do you have a recovery kit set up? (Straps, shackles, shovel, etc?). If not, those should be the first purchase for recovery if stuck.

Do you air down? Have a compressor to air back up? Airing down increases grip more effectively than anything else and it improves the ride and saves your rig from hard jarring if down to at least 20psi.

Slipping down into 4L will help to get you unstuck most since it brings on all your torque at low speed.

Does your Bronco have both lockers? Usually locking the rear and turning off traction control will usually get you unstuck if you have decent tread on off-road tires in anything other than deep mud or snow.

The mud is where I find my MaxTrax to be the most useful and yes, they’ve been used. Going uphill in mud, or some sort of crossing, that’s when you may benefit from them. The biggest issue with them is where to mount. I mount on my roof rack with a Yakima platform, but I don’t always have that mounted when I hit trails. Won’t carry them in the Bronco because when they’re muddy, they’re muddy.

So, are traction boards necessary? No, but they can keep you from winching and if you don’t have a winch, the boards are a smart insurance policy, but only if you have good ones. I wouldn’t buy any other than the MaxTrax or those from ARB.

Agree, but then it depends on where you live and wheel. Here in ID we really don't have sand and they close a lot of the FS/BLM roads during the winter to keep idiots from tearing up the trails or more importantly, being stranded. To that, even recovery gear outside of a shovel won't help if your traveling alone which most hunters do and there are days when we do not see another sole on the trail to pull you out if you get in a jamb. I carry recovery gear but a compressor and good tires are my #1 requirement. We don't exactly have great cell coverage and having In Reach, Spot, etc., are a must. I have a GSRM radio and can hit repeaters where I typically hunt and leave a hand held on the kitchen counter for my wife in case something happens. Even if I'm 70 miles away I can talk to her and give her my UTM coordinates so she can get a friend to bail me out if needed.

 

[RobWTX]

I've had my bronco and recovery boards for a year. I've only used them once.

Short story: (hold Judgment)

I was at an OHV park I've been to a few times. I was meeting up with a group I didn't know very well. A few folks were running late so I exchanged numbers with one of the guys and told him I was gonna run a quick simple trail I've done before.

first 3/4 of the trail was easy. I was 2 obstacles from the end of the trail. I came up on a muddy rutted area with some standing water. saw some tire tracks coming out the other side. I engaged Mud/ruts GOAT mode and cleared it easily. I came up on the last obstacle another muddy rutted area but this time mud was a lot thicker and no standing water. Again, saw some fresh tire tracks coming out the other side. got a little momentum and hit it. got halfway through and got stuck in a low area. couldn't go forward, could back up a little bit but couldn't get out. did all the usual things to try and get out. Lockers, no lockers, mud/ruts etc. no dice.

felt like a failure. ;-)
Texted the group and dropped a GPS pin asking for a pull. While waiting, I thought to grab to boards out of my trunk (had never needed them before). put one under each rear wheel. threw it in reverse. got out easily. called the group and told them I was free.

Boards were lost to the muck. I didn't dig around for them. they were Amazon knock offs ~$150

Moral of the story: Don't wheel alone. Recovery boards can be useful.

EDIT:
I had already aired the tires down. I had both a tow strap and kinetic strap. I had a shovel available. I have a air compressor.

Ahh, good ole Bridgeport muck!

I had to use them once in my F-150. It was easier to use the recovery boards than try to hook up a strap and get towed over the crest of the hill I got the right side high centered on. No front locker, that might have helped. All I did was spin the front tire with the least traction, and 1 rear tire in the air. Rear locker was not enough to get me over the stupid rock at the top. Used a traction board and added a medium sized rock to the lift the front part, stuck it under the right front tire and climbed out.

Just like any recovery gear, you can use what you have for different things. Winch should be a last resort (according to an off road recovery class I took).

 

[FilmcoBronci]

I have found boards useful a couple of times in the snow over a shallow creek bed where the creek's ice broke, and we were on the transition of the incline, from water to ice, and ice to snow. They were excellently handy for that particular wheel slippage. It happened twice, and they worked both times, so we keep them handy on remote film shoots.

No other experiences with them outside of those two instances, but those were enough. We probably could have figured out a high velocity wheel spinning way to get out, but these proved to be the easiest, quickest, and least messy and we had camera gear setup and was not worth the risk of flying s#it. It wasn't a desperate situation by any means but the boards made the most sense.

For the record, we carry full recovery kits, (Straps, shackles, block, tree saver, etc.
We have used each component of the kit at some point.
Experiences in bad places has convinced me that there is no good reason not to have the appropriate gear on hand to get you out of a potential s#it show.

 

[FilmcoBronci]

I carry them on the hunting land in Alabama because of the red clay. When it’s wet (even damp) you can get stuck in a flat field and a shovel or winch is not useful. That stuff is like driving on grease

Have worked on sites in Georgia. This is no joke.

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