The Case For/Against Recovery Boards

[hjdca]

I have a winch, regular strap, kinetic strap & Max trax Boards. I always 4wheel with a group, or a friend, so, I have used my winch around 20 times or so. So far, not the other tools. But, if you are by yourself with nothing around to hook up to, your only choice is the Max trax boards and a shovel, so, I am still glad I have the maxtrax and shovel onboard.

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[RHugg01]

I have a winch so burying the spare could work in a pinch. I have the traction boards mostly for when I need to change a flat. Its a great jack base.

I have some really cheap boards that I bought before I upgraded from a Renegade ( Yes I used it like a Jeep should be) to a Gladiator. They would not survive use with the Gladiator but they would make a good jack base. Thanks for that tip, I will keep them around.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

Traction boards whether they’re fancy plastic ones with replaceable pins or just a cut down sheet of plywood are arguably the most useful thing you can carry other than tools and a shovel. But it’s highly dependent on where you go wheeling.

There’s a decidedly West and arid bias in off roading videos. It’s like all those old mountain biking videos we would watch in the 90s with these long swoopy trails you could film from helicopters. You almost never saw anything back east. The most deciduous, wet stuff you see was/is BC. East coast tails are overgrown, tree canopied and wet. The entire side of my truck is pinstriped. That’s just the way it is. But even east coast wheeling is often in the mountains where the soil is rocky and you only sink but so far in mud holes. When you come down off the mountains it’s a whole different story.

Traction boards are a must for bogs, sand and snow. I mount mine on my rack where they’re out of the way. I’ve never had to use ones on my JTRD which is the first vehicle where I’ve owned actual traction boards, but I’ve also never needed my winch on this current Jeep. In all my years 4wheeling I’ve used a high lift once to leverage a Jeep off a rock, never for anything else. I’ve changed out to a spare once and used a bottle jack for that. I’ve used a winch a few times. But I’ve had tons of times over the years where I wish I had had traction boards and without them had to move rocks or do some or a lot of digging. So technically I’ve needed traction board or could have used them more than any other piece of gear outside of an axe to cut fallen trees out of my way.

I now always carry traction boards, a shovel and a chainsaw. To me they’re as much a convenience thing than anything because they save you from digging or moving rocks. Out west you may find them a lot less useful unless you wander onto the playa after a rain.

 

[starrskream]

I see recovery boards on every vehicle offroad, and thousands of vehicles that I know will never see a dirt road, and for those reasons I already don't like them. The second reason is I love watching all the recovery channels on YouTube, and I never ever see them help someone get unstuck.



But... am I not seeing tons of people that don't need a recovery because the recovery boards did work? What's your consensus everyone, are they a useful piece of equipment? Have you every used your recovery boards?

I saw these at Walmart yesterday, and was considering buying them. They’re made out of a very thick, hard rubber probably wouldn’t work in sand though.

 

[sharpsicle]

Strange reason to think they're not useful because lots of people own them. I'd think to opposite; I see lots of people own them so they should be useful.

And in my experience, they are one of the most versatile things you can have for the price, and they aren't heavy or bulky. From recovery to stability to leveling, they're really nice to have around, and are great for helping out others as well.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

Strange reason to think they're not useful because lots of people own them. I'd think to opposite; I see lots of people own them so they should be useful.

And in my experience, they are one of the most versatile things you can have for the price, and they aren't heavy or bulky. From recovery to stability to leveling, they're really nice to have around, and are great for helping out others as well.

Exactly. Recovery gear exists in a hierarchy of complexity of CONOPs, danger, cost, etc. You start with quick and simple and move towards complex when the simple solution doesn’t work. Some kind of board to go under your tire and give you more traction is dead simple. Why mess with a winch at all if all you need is a little more traction under 1 or 2 tires? And they’re great for helping out our open diff brethren on the trail or at the beach. I’ve used my recovery gear to help others far more than I’ve helped myself.

 

[Jefe1018]

They add 100 overland points in the parking garage of metro areas nationwide. Plus, without them all of these racks would look naked next to $90 2.5 gallon Rotopax. ???

I don’t see much use for them, yet I’ve never had a set. Maybe I’m just that good off road, the Jeep masks my lack of skills or I just don’t do anything wreckless enough. Since getting this truck with 37’s, sold front and rear axles, lockers front and rear + a disconnecting sway bar and a winch that’s never been put to the test, I don’t think I’ve found a damn thing that’s even tickled her yet.

I’ve helped on my share of recoveries, mostly high centered in the sand or rocks, where they’d do no good anyways. I try and take everything with a grain of salt as my high desert to just plain ugly desert environment isn’t the only one on this Earth… some famous YouTubers that live with ear’s shout love to say “If recovery boards got you out, you likely weren’t stuck to begin with”… that has also been my experience around these parts.

But they have a big market with lots of variants in manufacturing, price point, etc. Some people swear by them. I think what I’m getting at is really, find your wheeling style and the things that may be useful in your area and equip yourself for that. Forget what a troll like me might say about your overland rack and mini ladders.

 

[Jefe1018]

Exactly. Recovery gear exists in a hierarchy of complexity of CONOPs, danger, cost, etc. You start with quick and simple and move towards complex when the simple solution doesn’t work. Some kind of board to go under your tire and give you more traction is dead simple. Why mess with a winch at all if all you need is a little more traction under 1 or 2 tires? And they’re great for helping out our open diff brethren on the trail or at the beach. I’ve used my recovery gear to help others far more than I’ve helped myself.

I like this approach… I try to go in this general order (I don’t own these boards):

1) air down (do this first at the trail head to save your back and later embarrassment)
2) sway bar disconnect
3) rear locker
4) front + rear locker
5) evaluate, stack rocks if applicable and available
6) shovel
7) winch

If you get to 7, you messed up ?

 

[GI Grandpa]

I see recovery boards on every vehicle offroad, and thousands of vehicles that I know will never see a dirt road, and for those reasons I already don't like them. The second reason is I love watching all the recovery channels on YouTube, and I never ever see them help someone get unstuck.

But... am I not seeing tons of people that don't need a recovery because the recovery boards did work? What's your consensus everyone, are they a useful piece of equipment? Have you every used your recovery boards?

I carry four in the back of the JT and use them mostly when recovering other people out of the snow. I also have a winch, tow straps and a Bubba Rope, but on a lot of new cars there aren't many good places to hook a strap too and the boards often is all I need. The only time I have used them for me was during a bad storm and I got stuck in my Ram 1500. I also used one to help stabilize and transport a victim of an ATV roll over off Imogene Pass a few years back so they do come in handy ?

 

[Alan SOBX]

As many above said—I drive in sand. I have only bogged once when the sand was deep and soft, it was raining so my treads were clogged and some a-hole in a Tacoma cut me off going over the dune. I tossed in these treads and was out in seconds. The sand was so soft that it spit one of the boards almost a foot deep so it took forever to find that one using the other board to drag through the sand.

They are cheap and fold flat so why not have a pair? I bought a second pair after the above incident.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S0CZZD2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Edit to add that I don’t air down on that particular beach since there are always people nearby. so another reason to need a board. (I definitely air down on remote beaches.)

 

[Sweetums]

I see recovery boards on every vehicle offroad, and thousands of vehicles that I know will never see a dirt road, and for those reasons I already don't like them. The second reason is I love watching all the recovery channels on YouTube, and I never ever see them help someone get unstuck.

But... am I not seeing tons of people that don't need a recovery because the recovery boards did work? What's your consensus everyone, are they a useful piece of equipment? Have you every used your recovery boards?

Winches are great... if you have something to hook a winch line to. A shovel, recovery boards, and some sweat is the best way to get out of being bogged in sand or mud when you don't have any solid anchor point. I usually wheel in Moab, where nice big trees are found in picture books. You can, if you're lucky, find a boulder to throw a strap around, but there are lots of places where you are out on the flats on sandy ground and the biggest thing for a half a mile is sagebrush.

 

[AmishMike]

Sweetums, lasso some tumbleweed as it goes by and hold on!

 

[chasebank]

I saw these at Walmart yesterday, and was considering buying them. They’re made out of a very thick, hard rubber probably wouldn’t work in sand though.

Funny you posted that. Right as I scrolled it into view, I was thinking about when I was a kid and my family would drive on the beach in Daytona, just in a small 2WD family sedan. Anytime the topic of getting stuck on a beach arises, I have memories of them using regular old floor mats. I'm pretty sure a few times to help others as well - almost as a protip "this is how the locals do it".

It'd be interesting to see a test done. Obviously there's cases where that wouldn't be enough. But there's a percentage of that percentage where proper boards wouldn't be enough either. Maybe more often than not, people might be surprised how effective those "recovery mats" right under your feet are. So long as you use them early and not after you've already dug yourself half way thru the crust of the Earth...

 

[PuddleJumper]

I dont. I can see em working for sand. but tbh its a lot crappy plastic that u have to store somewhere convenient and they cost a bit much ofr what they are. I default to my winch in most solo cases. If im on sand i bury my spare and winch off of it like an anchor. Its always worked well. bigger the spare the better. i also don't generally wheel alone. I would like my truck to be a bit more buttoned up before doing serious solo stuff.

 

[Zachanadandy]

In my experience they are good if used right in sand, soft snow, or moderate mud but even then a tug from a kinetic rope is quicker and easier. I only carry them if we are going out solo and likely to encounter any of the above mentioned conditions. You won't see them on recovery channels as there's always a second vehicle to winch from/to. In many sandy, snowy, muddy locations there are no good winch anchors when solo.

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