I saw an ad for a pretty cool product innovation and I jumped on it. Price was way steep at $172 delivered but oh well, all this stuff is expensive nowadays.
Link to product:
Introducing the Overland Kitted Stealth Folding MAXTRAX® Mount
The company is Overland Kitted and they are actually just up the road a ways in Prescott, AZ. I was much happier to know that I'm supporting a made in America and even made in Arizona product instead of some cheap china crap.
Ever since I got stuck way out in a desert wash near Four Peaks, AZ in my old Land Rover LR4 back in June 2022, and there was nothing but Saguaros to anchor my winch line to, I've been carrying 2 traction boards. I'd never anchor to a Saguaro...bad karma.
I've used them once since then when I stupidly high-centered on rocks and gravel in another wash outside of Lake Havasu City (again with nothing to winch to) and they worked remarkably well.
I had previously been strapping my 2 Maxtrax MKII traction boards to my roof with 2 cinch straps (as pictured above). I cut down 2 straps to just the right length for the job but it was still a major PIA to stand up on the rock sliders or step stool, lean over the black roof rack that turns into a hibachi grill in the Arizona sun, and strap down the traction boards. If you have to use them, then you get to experience the PIA all over again while stuck in the sand or gravel.
I wanted to install the convenient pin mounting system, but that would mean that I have these stupid pins sticking straight up a good 4 or so inches off my roof rack. I wouldn't fit in my own garage or parking garages. No bueno. Then I saw the ad for Overland Kitted's folding pin mounting system and it was like dark clouds parting and the baby Jesus smiling down on me amidst rays of golden sunshine. Take my money.
It took a little mental gymnastics to get the 2 mounts perfectly spaced and rigidly mounted to my cross bars. I thought about mounting them lengthwise and parallel to the long axis of the vehicle, but the distance between the fixed cross bars didn't quite work. You can flip the mounts around 180-degrees to change the mounting span, and I could manipulate the cross bars a bit by moving 1 or 2 forward or back a bit, but I actually like having the traction boards mounted forward, perpendicular to the long axis, and out of the way of the rest of the rack.
Westcott says that the correct bolt size to fit in their rack channels is 1/4-20 which is a coarser thread than 1/4-28. The bolt-head size on the finer thread 1/4-28 is just a bit bigger than the bolt head on the 1/4-20. I had a few 1/4-20 bolts and they slid into the channels fine but I wanted to get all new grade 8 nuts & bolts. So I remove a cross bar and go over to my local Ace Hardware. I find the 1/4-20 grade 8 bolts and a few of them slide in but most don't. Some are a few micrometers smaller than the others. So I just buy the 6 bolts, nuts, and washers that I need (3 per mount) and head home. It took a little grinding down of the bolt head to get them all to slide relatively freely.
I don't know why I was surprised when the bolt went from room temperature to 10,000 degrees F in 2 seconds.
Since the Westcott rack has 2 channels on each crossbar, I decided to add a 3rd mounting bolt to each mounting plate which necessitated a hole drilled in each plate.
Annoyingly, the Westcott rack's cross bars do not have any cut-outs that let you drop in anchor bolts. You have to unscrew the 2 side bolts and lift up the cross bar to slide the bolts in the exposed ends. I tried to drill a 1/2" diameter cut-out in the channels in the middle of the cross bar but I really roached it on my first and only attempt. There's no way I could hold the drill steady when I'm trying to use the drill bit to cut into the sides of a cut-out channel. I obviously need to buy a drill press so I can clamp the cross bar down and then lower the drill bit slow and steady so it doesn't jump. I'm not showing photos of my amateur attempt as I really scored the aluminum. I just flipped the cross bar over so my shame will not be seen by anyone who happens to be on top of my truck.
Now I have room on the mounting plates for 2 more traction boards so maybe I'll blow another $300. Or maybe I'll see if I can cut down the pins to they only fit 2 boards...
