Show how you mount your traction boards

Thanks for posting this. I’ve been looking down this entire thread waiting to see these on the side of the rci bed rack. Just curious if I’ll be able to mount other brand boards from Amazon that have different hole locations.

 

Long time? Had this system in South East Asia in the '60s. Used them to get out of rice paddies almost daily.
Even made complete aircraft runways out of them, but of course the military was doing that in WW2.
Now see villagers make fencing out of the planks we left behind.
Superior quality for what they were designed for! But heavy, sharp, and can do a number on a vehicle if they shoot free.

Oh yeah, my traxs today, mounted w/ carriage bolts in the bed rails & wingnuts:

 

Ratchet strapped at the end of the bed against the cab window side

 

Here is my set up.

 

Do you think it would be possible to mount the boards using the first set of holes on the board instead of the second one? I like your setup but I have a bed cover so the boards would have to be mounted below the header rail. If so, all you did was buy the RCI hi-lift mounts and used the X-bull included hardware correct? Thanks in advance!

 

Oh yeah, it works fine. I mounted them that way first, but liked the look better with them mounted higher up. They will fit right above the bottom of the bed mounted on the lower holes and the length of the X-Bull fits perfectly between the wheel wells.

 

I ended up getting some Maxsa recover boards for my Twocoma after almost getting stuck on some muddy roads early last year and took a similar approach as others have that have mounted it to the side of the bed using the existing bed rails. The reason I went with this design was because the Maxsa boards don't fit in the front of the bed and my truck didn't come with a front bed rail, and I wanted a minimal design that doesn't stick out a whole lot and would still allow me to carry a mountain bike as far on the driver side as possible without smashing the rear derailleur. The wooden beams sit on the composite bed liner, so the weight is shared between the bed rails and the rigid liner. See below for some pictures of my first prototype made out of wood. I'm currently in the process of getting a local shop to waterjet the second revision out of 6061 aluminum, and making some minor tweaks to the overall design.

Reading through this thread, it looks like most of the people here are pretty handy so I can provide design details. If there's anyone interested in buying a whole kit from me, let me know. If there are enough people interested, I can get enough parts in to make a few kits. Some of the tweaks I'm doing are to minimize cost of the overall design, be compatible with Maxtrax, and make it compatible with Tundras.

 

Parts from Lowes: 3/8 x 16 carriage bolt in the bed rail with fender washer and nut... Hand knob on top

 

I have the XBull ones on my RCI bed rack.

 

2 3.5 inch 5/16 t-bolts
4 washers (1 in the rail channel, one outside)
2 lock washers
two nuts
teflon tape (in case the bolts or nuts corrode)
2 small hand knobs

The t-bolts might have been sufficient, but I wanted a little more security, so I went with the washers both inside and outside the rail. I used some extra washers in between to keep from over tightening and crushing the rail. This approach negates the need to use t-bolts at all. The washers actually fit perfectly into the notches inside the bed rails making it so they can't slide around very easily should they loosen up. The holes that are already in my traction boards made it difficult (but not impossible) to use larger hand knobs, so I went with small ones @ Rockler. The boards are quite secure where they're mounted at the top corners, and I typically have a 5 gallon gas container tied up against the boards so there is absolutely no flexing or bouncing off the back wall of the bed. At the moment I'm using velcro cord straps to hold the boards together at the bottom.

Parts:

• https://www.rockler.com/t-slot-bolts-5-16-18-thread-t-slot-bolts
• https://www.rockler.com/rockler-easy-to-grip-low-profile-knob-female (rockler has many options - search their site for knobs)

My traction boards:

• https://www.offroadinggear.com/coll...g-bag-2-recovery-boards-for-snow-mud-ice-sand

or

• Offroading Gear 4x4 Vehicle Extraction MaxGrip Tire Traction Mat | Offroad Recovery Boards w/Leash & Duffle Bag | Heavy-Duty Treds for Snow/Ice/Sand/Mud | 2 Pack | Orange
  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SDBLNNY/?marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&seller=A1XHBJGGS102AI

I haven't had to use the boards yet, but they seem pretty nice for the price. I can say that I've got an awning from these guys I use for my teardrop trailer that's great and their customer service is awesome.

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I had these mounted in the bed. When I actually needed it they were buried behind the camping gear under the topper. What a pain in the ass. I'm going to mount them to the roof rack from now on. But these do look like some great setups

 

Got this lock on Amazon for $8. Used a grinder to make the head fit in the rails of the prinsu rack. The other corners with take a normal 1/4” carriage bolt. Stronger and cheaper than those dumb $60 maxtrax mounts.

 

So far, just two straps on the divider. Once they're off for use, they just get tossed into the bed as this is not a super-fast on/off/on thing. The straps pass through the divider. The buckles are on the back side near the top. Easy off but on....not so much.

 

X-Bull mounted on the front oem rail. I chose black so they wouldn't stand out.

 

Link to Amazon lock?

Edit: I'm blind, I see the link

 

I would imagine that you could, it's fairly modular. I ended up mounting mine on a completely different rack system and with a different method. Reach out to Chad and I'm sure he would answer that for you.

 

May be a dumb question, I’m still waiting for my maxtrax to arrive but what is this secured to?

 

How I mounted my Recovery Boards. I figured since I looked at other ideas before I put mine together, I might as well show mine.

 

Looks great!! Would love to do same mount. What did you use? Thank you