X-BULL Recovery Tracks Sand Trucks Offroad With 4PCS Mounting Pins 4WD Gen 2.0

Recovery boards rattling around loose in the tray are a nuisance. Held to the roof rack with occy straps, they are a genuine hazard at highway speed. This kit puts a pair of X-BULL Gen 2.0 tracks together with the hardware that bolts them down properly, so they stay where you put them until you need them.

Bolted to the rack, not bungeed to it

The mounting set is four pins, eight iron nuts and eight flat washers, enough to hold two boards to a roof rack or a flat base. Pins pass up through the moulded holes in the tracks, the black plastic plate clamps over the top, and the nuts pull the stack down tight. Fitting needs a spanner and a few minutes, no drilling. The current hardware carries an added anti-rust coating, which is why the pins arrive noticeably darker than they appear in the photographs. That coating is worth more than the colour, because this is iron hardware that will live outdoors in salt air and dust.

How the board bites

Under a tyre, the parts doing the work are the raised spikes and the U-shaped reinforcing section moulded across the face. The spikes stop the track skating sideways when a loaded wheel pushes against it, while the U-section stiffens the board so it carries weight instead of folding. Turn one over and a cruciform rib pattern keys into soft ground and resists bending, which is what keeps the track from squirming out from under the vehicle. Both ends step down so a tyre rolls onto the ramp cleanly.

Leashes and something to grab

Two leashes come in the box. Tie one to a board before shoving it under a tyre and you can pull the track back out once the vehicle is clear, rather than walking back down the beach to dig for it — a buried board is easy to lose once you have driven on. The material X-BULL uses for these leashes is chosen rather than thrown in, and they are worth keeping attached permanently. The moulded handle is shaped for a hand rather than punched through as an afterthought.

Key features

• Mounting hardware included: four pins, eight nuts and eight washers, enough to fix both tracks to a roof rack or flat base.
• Anti-rust coated pins: the upgraded finish is darker than the product photos show, and it is there because iron hardware on a roof rack has a hard life.
• Two leashes: drag a buried track back out instead of digging for it.
• Spiked top surface: stops the board sliding out sideways as the tyre bites.
• Reinforced nylon moulding: tough, thermostable and UV-resistant, which suits gear that is stored outside on the roof.
• Four colours: Olive, Red, Black or Blue.

Specifications

• Track size: 910 mm x 310 mm x 60 mm
• Track material: reinforced nylon mixture
• Track weight: 4.7 kg per pair
• Load figure: supplier states 10 tonne load capacity on flat ground. The basis is not given — breaking or working, per board or per pair — so it is a supplier claim, not a rated capacity.
• Mounting pin set size: 13.8 cm x 10.8 cm x 6.2 cm
• Mounting pin set weight: 0.72 kg
• Pack: 1 pair, 2 boards
• Generation: Gen 2.0
• Colours: Olive, Red, Black, Blue
• Carton size: 920 mm x 320 mm x 125 mm

What's in the box

• 2 x recovery tracks
• 2 x leashes
• 1 x sticker
• 1 x set of mounting pins (4 pins, 8 nuts, 8 flat washers)

Fitting and using them safely

• Re-check the nuts after the first long drive and at intervals after that. Vibration walks fasteners loose, and a track leaving a roof rack at 100 km/h is somebody else's windscreen.
• Boards plus rack must sit inside the roof load limit set by your vehicle and rack manufacturer. The supplier gives no guidance on this — the figures are your vehicle's, not the product's.
• Ease onto the tracks at low revs and keep the wheel turning slowly. A spinning tyre grinds the lugs flat within seconds.
• Keep bystanders away from the ends of a track while a vehicle is driving on it, since a board under load can be thrown clear.
• Look each board over after every recovery and take cracked, melted or bent ones out of service.
• Traction aids only — not a jack base, not a bridging plank, and not to be used for snatching, towing or winching.

Fit the pins once and the tracks become part of the vehicle rather than another thing to load before every trip.