MAXTRAX MKII Olive Drab Recovery Boards

MAXTRAX MKII are the recovery boards most people should buy, and Olive Drab is the muted green in the range — flat and low sheen. Wedge a pair under your drive tires and you drive yourself out of mud, sand or snow under your own power. Made in Australia from reinforced engineering-grade nylon, sold as a pair, backed for life.

Olive Drab is the one that disappears into a green build. The color was first made at the request of the United States Marine Corps, and it stayed because it suits earth-tone and green rigs where Signature Orange fights the paint. Against forest and wet timber it reads far more naturally than Desert Tan, and it hides mud staining better than any light color. The honest cost: like every muted shade, it is harder to spot once buried, so the Telltale leashes earn their keep.

Mud is a grip problem, not a flotation problem. Sand is loose, so the board spreads load. Mud is slick, so the board's job is giving the tread something solid to bite. Clear the worst of the slop from in front of the drive tire before you push the board in, or it floats on grease. On a long rut, plan on moving the boards two or three times. Rinse them before the mud dries — dried mud packs into the lugs and they come out slippery next time.

• The honest default. MKII is enough for most drivers. Step up to the XTREME only if you use boards hard and often — recovery work, driver training, competition.
• Quiet by day, invisible at night. Blending into green ground is the point, but the same muting means it will not catch a flashlight beam the way orange does. Leash them every time.
• Six handles and a shovel end per board. On a muddy track that shovel end is what you use to scrape the rut out ahead of the tire, instead of hunting for a tool.
• Lifetime warranty, and we rarely see one come back. The failure we do see is bridging in very cold weather with a hard impact. MAXTRAX has always taken care of it.

Mounting these? One Universal Mounting Pin now fits the whole MAXTRAX range, which leaves two choices. Thread length: 17 mm for bracket mounting, including every bracket we sell, or 40 mm through a camper panel. Capacity: a two-board pin for this pair, or a four-board pin if you run two sets.

More recovery gear and traction board mounts.

Stuck between two colors, or unsure which mount fits your rack? Tell us what you drive and where you wheel and you will get a straight answer. We were MAXTRAX's original U.S. distributor and have stocked the brand since it first reached the United States, and the full range sits in our warehouse in Prescott, Arizona rather than a drop-shipper's.