I know, two tracked vehicles in a row, and on a Sunday! This one is theoretically usable anywhere in the country not just in snow country, so hopefully I’m safe. This is a 1985 ASV 2500 Track Truck and they were made in Minnesota by two snowmobile moguls who started All Season Vehicles, Inc. in 1983 due to a couple of years of sparse snowfall and the resulting lag of snowmobile sales. This Track Truck is listed on eBay with a current bid of $900 but the reserve isn’t met. This one is located in Stone Lake, Wisconsin.
Edgar Hetteen, the founder of both Polaris Industries (1945) and Arctic Cat (1961) along with one of the top Arctic Cat dealers in the US, Gary Lemke, created ASV, Inc. to try to boost their bottom line after a couple of seasons of what we in Minnesota would call, “wimpy snow”. And, it’s what anyone else in their right mind would call way too much snow! The ASV company had nice growth and by 1994 annual sales were $5-million. In 1995 the company moved into a new 40,000 sf facility but it soon had to be expanded to 100,000 sf to meet the demand. Caterpillar spent $18-million to buy 8.7% of AVS in 1998 and in 2000 they upped their share to 15%. The company had sales of almost $100-million by 2003 and in 2008 they were acquired by the $9-billion dollar company, Terex.
The Track Truck retailed for $16,000 and the company’s new offering, the Posi-Track, a skid-steer vehicle, was priced at $34,000, which was $30,000 less than the competition. The gamble paid off for Hetteen and Lemke, big time. The seller of this Track Truck says that there are spots that have “chunked off” of the tracks over the years but this comes with one spare track and the seller says that they’re the same tracks used by Mustang skid-steer loaders.
It looks pretty good inside and they have heaters that will cook you out, according to the seller. There probably isn’t anything on this Track Truck that any Barn Finds reader couldn’t repair or maintain. They had power steering and a hydrostatic transmission.
The Track Truck came with either gas or diesel engines from various manufactures, mostly Jeep, but the seller says that this one has a Ford 4-cylinder industrial engine. It should have around 75 hp and for a vehicle that weighs around 2,250 pounds that may not sound like a lot but the 25 mph top speed will seem plenty fast in this! If we had a big shop building there is no question that this one would be coming home with me. But, we don’t, and having this in a storage unit two miles away doesn’t make a lot of sense. Hopefully one of you could think of a use for this cool Track Truck?
Love the different sno-machines.
If start posting Shovels I’m out!
Ha! I promise not to show any shovels (although, a classic snow blower.. hmm)..
Like “Da Big Louie” at “Da Yoopers Tourist Trap” ( Great place, btw) I think this works, too.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1683/24036582651_f73dffab6c_b.jpg
This would be so cool to take the trash out to the road when the snow finally decides to fall and drift to lock us in during January and February ! Weld up a plow carriage !
Crap I need this. Wife’s new car?
Ha, I like your thinking, Stiffler4444!
Scotty……….this is actually a 1/2 track…..that is a good thing for maintenance and cost of operation but it looses a lot of maneuverability. A full track vehicle uses clutches, brakes or hydraulics to steer and can turn in its own length, these steer the same as a wheel vehicle and have a pretty wide steering radius.
Cool. Just cool
I think there was a call for something like this, kind of a “light-duty” Tucker, but I’d think the front wheels were not suited for snow travel.( think ATV’s in heavy snow, not the best) I’m sure ski’s were available. Pretty cool, but like any of these machines, probably no fun to work on, and anybody that’s ever changed a track on a skid steer, knows, it’s no day at the beach. I was a Bobcat mechanic for a while, and this looks similar, and were very compact, making it hard to work on. Cool find. If you could use something like this, can’t go wrong here. This unit wasn’t cheap by any means. $16,000 dollars in 1985 is almost $36,000 today, so you’re getting quite a deal.
Trailriders snowmobile club in Baldwin,Mi. started grooming in 1995 with a tt the1ne was donated to us . Bought a 2nd . we groomed 122 mi. that was way more these were designed . After several brands we decided J Deere was best us ..
Southern Adirondack Snowmachine club had one of these , it had a perkins diesel , I think it spent more time in the shop than on the trail . I think that when you turned the steering wheel the track would lock up to make the turn . I liked this vehicle but it was replaced by a piston bully and that with a Trucker . and yes the heater would drive you out !!
Some compact sized Mat-Tracks would complement the half already tracked and that would be even better.