Maxtrax Dentistry - tooth replacement

[Tin175 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tin175]

I was helping someone at Nagala rocks bypass on Fraser and they melted a bunch of teeth off my brand new Maxtrax. I was disappointed that they guy didn't listen when I said to go easy and not spin the wheels, but I was also surprised how easily you can melt lugs off.

I spent a good chunk of cash buying these and now they were not going to be as effective with a bunch of lugs worn off.

The damage.... Pretty much all 4 look like this.


While driving back to Brisbane came up with a plan to do some dentistry and make them better than before.

Took me a week or so to refine the design. Lugs are same height as the original but a bit chunkier. I decided on an 8mm thread to hold it in place and a low profile nut so that I could still stack the Maxtrax on top of each other on the Maxtrax mounting pins.

Maxtrax CNC machined Stainless steel tooth.


Installation involved drilling an 8mm hole from underneath the lug and then cutting off what was left of the lug. It was pretty easy to cut.


Tooth has been implanted. Bit of bling looks good. It very solid. Don't think it will melt in a hurry.


Underside view. Low profile so the Maxtrax still stack.


Really happy with the result. Looks quite good with the shiny metal on orange contrast. I only made 4, but looking at the carnage again, I'll probably need alot more.

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

Mr Tin, you've done it again!!! Great idea. What do you reckon the cost per Tooth would be???


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[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

You've got me interested too!

[mackayvx Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close mackayvx]

Great idea, and its a very clever solution and I have a lot of burnt lugs on my maxtrax too but...

Id make the call that the steel is possibly a bad idea in regards to tyre wear. I think if you were to spin the wheels on them steel bits you would be shredding lugs off the tyres!

Seeings how your obviously a handy bloke, maybe a hard plastic that could be machined up could be a bit better on the tyres?

[Ian Reid Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Reid]

Great idea, and its a very clever solution and I have a lot of burnt lugs on my maxtrax too but...

Id make the call that the steel is possibly a bad idea in regards to tyre wear. I think if you were to spin the wheels on them steel bits you would be shredding lugs off the tyres!
?

Yep looks like a good solution.

If they are hard on tyres then it will encourage you not to spin the wheels, alternatively keep this set for guests and let them shred their tyres


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[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Id make the call that the steel is possibly a bad idea in regards to tyre wear. I think if you were to spin the wheels on them steel bits you would be shredding lugs off the tyres!

Agreed, nice engineering but test them on somebody else's tyres.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Guest end only. All good.

[Tin175 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tin175]

Mr Tin, you've done it again!!! Great idea. What do you reckon the cost per Tooth would be???

Its a bit of a tough one as although its only a small part it is a bit fiddly and there are a few operations in this job. Unless I do hundreds of these the price will be about $15 per tooth. I reckon I could do sets of 4 for $50.

[Tin175 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tin175]

Great idea, and its a very clever solution and I have a lot of burnt lugs on my maxtrax too but...

Id make the call that the steel is possibly a bad idea in regards to tyre wear. I think if you were to spin the wheels on them steel bits you would be shredding lugs off the tyres!

Seeings how your obviously a handy bloke, maybe a hard plastic that could be machined up could be a bit better on the tyres?

If you're not spinning the wheels on the lugs I don't think it will be a problem. Traction aids were originally made of metal. The extra grip and strength of the steel lugs may even help pull the trax under the wheel instead of spinning on the lugs.

Hard plastic won't be strong enough in the thread area and will probably just pull out.

Need to plan a trip to the beach to test them out. Anyone in Brisbane doing a trip soon?

[MidLifeCrisis Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close MidLifeCrisis]

Having used Maxtrax a bit I would be reluctant to replace with steel. Someones spin is unavoidable. If you end up making plastic ones I will be definitely a buyer. Especially now I have your paypal payments set up

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Hard plastic with a metal screw from behind (keep it clean mlc).

[Tin175 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tin175]

Aluminium might be an option. Not so harsh on the rubber but stronger than plastic.

[Tin175 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tin175]

Could also round off the stainless version so that its not so aggressive and sharp. More of a nipple or rounded stud shape.

[sunchaser Member Find all posts View Profile Close sunchaser]

Just another option for people out there. this is a pic of some fibreglass gridmesh i picked up at my local tip. it's extremely tough and fairly light weight, perfect for beach sand recoveries, as for mud? well i try and stay away from the stuff.... cut it to whatever size fits your roofrack or behind your rear seats etc.
You can find plenty of places that make it on the net.

[57one Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 57one]

I'm going to do a day trip up to Bribie on the 28th and I'm bringing an X3 with me, so could very well get some testing done. Was there for Queens Birthday weekend, and it is the most chopped up I have seen the beach and inland tracks too. I had to do a couple of recoveries, including a mates brand new Ranger .