MAXTRAX XTREME Gunmetal Grey Recovery Boards

MAXTRAX XTREME is the recovery board for people who break recovery boards. Eighty-eight replaceable hard-anodized alloy teeth bite into ice, rock and packed clay where a molded lug skates, set into a reinforced heavy-duty engineering-grade nylon deck made in Australia. Lifetime warranty, sold as a pair, in Gunmetal Grey — the understated one in the XTREME range.

Gunmetal Grey is the XTREME that does not announce itself. On a gray, black or gunmetal truck it reads as part of the build instead of a stripe of safety orange across the roof rack, which is the point for a lot of people running a serious board. The honest cost is visibility: this is near the bottom of the range for spotting a board once it is buried, kicked sideways or dropped in shade. If you wheel alone or after dark, a set of Telltale leashes stops being optional.

Metal teeth grip harder, and they will hurt a tire if you drive badly. Air down first. Dig out ahead of the drive tire so the tire meets the board instead of climbing onto it, and seat the ramped end well under the tread. Then lowest gear, minimal throttle, and above all do not spin the tire — spinning a tire against alloy teeth is what chews sidewalls and tread blocks. Drive off the far end onto firm ground rather than stopping mid-board, and never reverse back over the teeth under power.

• The MKII is the honest recommendation for most people. The MKII does the same job lighter and with no risk to your tires. Buy XTREME for a mission-critical need for a board that will not break — recovery operators, tow truck drivers, 4WD trainers, racers.
• Gunmetal Grey hides well, including from you. It disappears against mud, wet rock, shade and darkness. If you run this color, run leashes.
• 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.
• The teeth are the serviceable part. All 88 are user-replaceable, so a board dragged over sharp rock is a parts order rather than a write-off.

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 — and 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.

Not sure the XTREME is the one you need? Ask before you spend the money. 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 on our shelves in Prescott, Arizona rather than a drop-shipper’s. So we can tell you whether your driving really calls for alloy teeth, and which pin suits your rack.