When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Or… they may strap on a pair of Truck Claws. Last winter, our hometown in North Dakota was bogged down with “the blizzard of the century.” In the hospital where I work as an emergency physician, staff were getting rides to and from work by volunteers on snowmobiles, and many staff simply slept at the hospital for the entire week because travel was that difficult. I was amazed at how our ambulance service was still able to function in the terrible conditions, and when I inquired, one crew walked me to the ambulance bay and introduced me to Truck Claws.

Truck Claws are an ingenious traction aid that can be strapped to the tire of any vehicle which has adequate clearance between the fender/tire and wheel/brake assembly. The Truck Claws traction plate is attached to the vehicle’s tire by setting on top of the tire, feeding the attachment strap around and behind the tire/wheel assembly, through the wheel’s spoked opening, and into a ratchet strap. Watch out for the valve stem. Crank the ratchet to tighten the strap around the mandrel, and the traction plate is compressed firmly onto the tire’s traction surface. Once per tire revolution, the Truck Claw will take a mighty purchase into mud, sand, ice, or snow, propelling the quagmired vehicle forward a few inches at a time.

The coefficient of friction added to a tire by the application of Truck Claws is orders of magnitude higher than anything afforded by chains, traction boards, or by decreasing tire pressure. This is amazing given the light weight and ease of storage inside a vehicle, under or behind a seat. I also appreciate that when the bottom of a tire is buried in the mud or snow, Truck Claws are attached to the tops of the tires and will gain their terrain purchase when the tire revolves 180 degrees, putting the traction bar in contact with the ground. Truck Claws are for recovery only, and once you’ve gotten unstuck, they need to be removed immediately.

Seeing the Truck Claws in action on our local ambulance made me an instant believer. I obtained a set to try on my 2021 AEV Prospector with 37” BFGs, and unfortunately ran into clearance issues not only between the tire and fender, but also between the inside of the wheel and the disk brake calipers. I had the same issues when I tried to attach them to a new GMC AT4, a Chevy 2500 truck on stock rubber, and a Toyota FJ on 33” BFGs. The Truck Claws did fit on a stock Jeep Wrangler, a Gladiator, and a Toyota Tundra and Tacoma. I watched a plethora of videos showcasing the Truck Claws in action everywhere from the Arctic to the Bolivian jungle and the Australiana Outback. In each product demonstration, the vehicle had stock sized wheels and tires. There is no reason that a set of Truck Claws in your own vehicle could not be applied individually to a whole parking lot of stuck vehicles (check clearance before using). This makes Truck Claws money well spent and may save you from getting your own vehicle stuck while helping to recover another.

This product is sturdy, durable, portable, and functional, and I believe when applied to an appropriate vehicle, it could be an extremely useful piece of recovery gear and possibly take the place of several others. Truck Claws are backed by a one-year manufacturer’s warranty and are sold in sets of two and four.