Recommendations on traction board mounts

[Offroadnutz]

Ive had my traction boards mounted to my roof bars with big zip ties for several years now. Its worked fine that way but now im looking for a better and more user friendly way. I thought about drilling holes in one of the bars and using bolts with wing nuts through the holes in the boards but couldnt figure out what to do on the other end.
Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[DintDobbs]

I'm not sure that I understand the question. Drill holes in the rack to put bolts and wing nuts on the rack, to hold the traction boards on, I grasp that - but what "other end" are you referring to? The back end of the truck, where the traction boards sit on the rear roof bar?

 

[Offroadnutz]

Yes the back bar where the traction bars would sit. Im unable to lengthen or shorten the distance between the bars so I cant just line up the rear bar with the mounting holes in the traction boards.
i could always just drill holes in the boards but I dont know if this would effect the structural integrity.

 

[DintDobbs]

Could you possibly bolt or weld a fabricated bracket onto the bar, to extend to the end of the boards? Then you could use the existing holes on the boards.

 

[the_great_white]

Get you some of these pipe clamps and a piece of threaded rod (cut to length) washer and wing nut
If you have to drill a hole, do it to your traction boards and not your rack

 

[T4R13]

I have a cnc plasma table if you need any special brackets cut

 

[Offroadnutz]

Get you some of these pipe clamps and a piece of threaded rod (cut to length) washer and wing nut
If you have to drill a hole, do it to your traction boards and not your rack

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That just might work. Thanks…

 

[genocache]

I think I'd be tempted to mount them to the outside of your mounts. Maybe replace the stock bolts(carriage?) with some longer ones with the threaded end to the outside. From there you could dream up brackets that would get what ever type of pin to hold the boards on. makes the boards easier to access and frees up the rack space.

This is what I dreamed up for mine;

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[Offroadnutz]

I think I'd be tempted to mount them to the outside of your mounts. Maybe replace the stock bolts(carriage?) with some longer ones with the threaded end to the outside. From there you could dream up brackets that would get what ever type of pin to hold the boards on. makes the boards easier to access and frees up the rack space.

This is what I dreamed up for mine;

Sand Ladders

Land Rover sand mat mount and table

14 Aug 2021 I made some mat mounts and are fairly happy with them, except the aluminum ones are not universal fit, they have to be EX...

poppageno.blogspot.com

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new rack mounts; Roof Racks — Gamiviti

The side mount set up on that Rover is pretty slick…I had not considered something like that.
My creativity was lacking on this project so glad I ask for some recommendations. Got a couple good ideas here…..

 

[OTH Overland]

Mounted them on my WJ roof rack with two sections of low profile Uni strut the length of the boards running from front to back and attaching to the rack cross bars. Then installed the mounting pins from Maxx trax to the uni strut to match the holes in the boards. if you have other brand of board you can use all thread and wing nuts in place of the pins.

 

[Offroadnutz]

Mounted them on my WJ roof rack with two sections of low profile Uni strut the length of the boards running from front to back and attaching to the rack cross bars. Then installed the mounting pins from Maxx trax to the uni strut to match the holes in the boards. if you have other brand of board you can use all thread and wing nuts in place of the pins.

Got any pics?

 

[OTH Overland]

Got any pics?

The better half of OTH has the WJ at work today, If she gets home before dark I will grab a couple, otherwise will try and get them in the morning before she leaves.

 

[OTH Overland]

@Offroadnutz, here are some pics of my traction board mounts. The uni-strut is low profile from Home Depot painted black, I mounted it to the cross bars with T-nuts as the bars had T track that made it easy. for round bars, Uni-strut makes all different kinds of clamps, should be able to find a conduit clamp that is close to the same size as your bars, then you can slide them back and forth to fit bar spacing. for the board mounting pins, I use some from Max Trax as I use their boards and they allow me to secure either two or four boards, we typically have two on the WJ and two on the JK, but will move a set over if we are going on a difficult trail or in snow or sand. plus they are lockable. could also use carriage bolts up through the slots secured with slots, and then use wing nuts and washers to secure the boards. as a bonus drill a small hole through the end of the bolt for a mini padlock to prevent the wing nut from being removed.

 

[Offroadnutz]

@Offroadnutz, here are some pics of my traction board mounts. The uni-strut is low profile from Home Depot painted black, I mounted it to the cross bars with T-nuts as the bars had T track that made it easy. for round bars, Uni-strut makes all different kinds of clamps, should be able to find a conduit clamp that is close to the same size as your bars, then you can slide them back and forth to fit bar spacing. for the board mounting pins, I use some from Max Trax as I use their boards and they allow me to secure either two or four boards, we typically have two on the WJ and two on the JK, but will move a set over if we are going on a difficult trail or in snow or sand. plus they are lockable. could also use carriage bolts up through the slots secured with slots, and then use wing nuts and washers to secure the boards. as a bonus drill a small hole through the end of the bolt for a mini padlock to prevent the wing nut from being removed.

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Nice! Im pretty sure I can make this idea work with my setup. Seems like it would be pretty inexpensive too.

 

[Red_Leaf_Overland]

I made clamps for the side of my roof basket. The same would work if you ran flat bar or tube down the length of the boards on your rack. Once had the clamps make i welded threaded rod where the hols were spaced and put large washers and nuts on. Didnt have time to make flags on the nuts befre this pic was taken ( I built it pretty much day before my trip) so I had a wrench in the back seat for them if i needed to loosen them off.

 

[Offroadnutz]

I had actually thought of doing that but after measuring I realized I wouldn't be able to fit my 4runner in the garage. Im about 4" away from the garage door as is.

 

[OTH Overland]

I had actually thought of doing that but after measuring I realized I wouldn't be able to fit my 4runner in the garage. Im about 4" away from the garage door as is.

parking in the garage is a wish list item that has pretty much gone away for now, The WJ fits in the garage with the boards on, but not with the Thule box that we carry the Gazelle tent in, so we typically leave that off unless we need it. The Ram it too tall, wide, and long to fit at all. and the JK requires that I pull the RTT and air down the left side tires to 8lbs to get under the door, so that only happens for service work as we like to have it ready to go for spur of the moment trips. Been waiting too long to tear down the current garage and build something "overland sized" where I can get the rigs up on a hoist. Just need enough time to get the drawings done and get it built.

 

[Jaybadd]

@Offroadnutz, here are some pics of my traction board mounts. The uni-strut is low profile from Home Depot painted black, I mounted it to the cross bars with T-nuts as the bars had T track that made it easy. for round bars, Uni-strut makes all different kinds of clamps, should be able to find a conduit clamp that is close to the same size as your bars, then you can slide them back and forth to fit bar spacing. for the board mounting pins, I use some from Max Trax as I use their boards and they allow me to secure either two or four boards, we typically have two on the WJ and two on the JK, but will move a set over if we are going on a difficult trail or in snow or sand. plus they are lockable. could also use carriage bolts up through the slots secured with slots, and then use wing nuts and washers to secure the boards. as a bonus drill a small hole through the end of the bolt for a mini padlock to prevent the wing nut from being removed.

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Thanks for post of your traction board mounts. Genius! I have not worked with uni track before. How did you secure the track to the rack? I know you mentioned using a t-bolt. The nut appears to be inset, how did you attach the uni track to the t bolt? Did you use one of those track bolts with the spring on it? Hope that makes sense. Thanks for your time.

JB

 

[OTH Overland]

Thanks for post of your traction board mounts. Genius! I have not worked with uni track before. How did you secure the track to the rack? I know you mentioned using a t-bolt. The nut appears to be inset, how did you attach the uni track to the t bolt? Did you use one of those track bolts with the spring on it? Hope that makes sense. Thanks for your time.

JB

Responded to your PM

 

[El-Dracho]

On the one hand, it is important that the recovery boards are safely stowed away. Like everything else in the vehicle. Because anything that is not stowed properly will either be annoying on the tracks due to rattling or can become an unwanted projectile on steep off-road descents or in the event of an emergency stop or even an accident, posing a risk of injury. Especially, please carefully think about everything that goes on the roof rack with regard to your roof load, vehicle height, your center of gravity and ultimately the driving characteristics and safety and weigh up whether it makes sense.

On the other hand, of course we want easy access to the recovery boards. If possible, I recommend a simple attachment where you can get the boards out and back in again quickly. Simply because anything with complicated screws or mechanics can easily break and will be annoying. Wing screws or a knob tend to disappear into the sand and mud forever. Locks get dusty and muddy and then often no longer open. Simple solutions are also easier to repair. I simply have two hooks for my sand ladners on the side of the rig, where I hang them, and two tension locks at the bottom. They still fit in there, even if they are slightly bent after a recovery.