Every now and again, one of these weird ASV Track Trucks shows up for sale, and I immediately regret not owning a large tract of land in the wilderness. This is the same problem I have the Case Unimogs, which I also want to own but have no actual need for. The ASV is powered by an Isuzu-sourced diesel engine and looks like it could survive a meteor strike if necessary. If you live somewhere that’s off the beaten track and/or where it snows a lot, this is the machine for you. Find this ASV Track Truck listed here on Facebook Marketplace for $7,000 in Lake City, Colorado.
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The ASV pops up in a surprising amount of online classifieds sites when you search for it, and it was also known as an ASV 2800HPD. Now, you won’t find one of these on eBay necessarily but you will see them listed in heavy equipment classifieds. Some of them are in spectacular condition, too, equipped with all sorts of additional equipment like plows, buckets, and graders, which clearly demonstrates the versatility of the rig and its capable underpinnings. According to some online descriptions, the ASV chassis is extremely durable and the Isuzu diesel is unkillable. It’s also surprisingly powerful, with 75 b.h.p. on tap – not bad for a farm implement.
The interior of this ASV looks like a proper truck cab, with a functioning dash, gauges, door panels, and bucket seats. Most of the time, when a primarily off-road implement is marketed towards consumers, the interior still feels like it was meant to work at an industrial waste site. Not so here, as the ASV is positively luxurious compared to most tractors and ATVs and four-wheelers. The other cool detail about the cab is the whole thing tilts forward to provide lower body access, but I’m not sure how possible that is with the large exterior cage that this example is equipped with.
Isuzu was known for building a high-quality diesel engine back in the day, and most of its modern-day commercial rigs are turbo-diesel powered. The seller reports that he bought this Track Truck with big plans but he never got around to using it, which I imagine is the same problem I’d face if I ever live out my fantasy of owning a Case Unimig. The truck does have some issues, and this could be limiting the seller’s excitement for going further as he discloses it “….needs left king-pin bushings.” The tracks are in “…great shape,” which is one less thing the next owner will have to worry about for now.
Well, I’ll tell ya’, one or the other. The front wheels, while good for dry trails, will be a problem in snow. The tracks, while great for snow, not sure about on dry. I’ve seen these with front skis and do a superior job. In fact, some pics show these with wheels hopelessly stuck in deep snow. Can’t say enough good about the motor, though. It powered everything from skid steers to reefer trailers. If you ate produce in NJ in the 80s from Cal., you can thank an Isuzu motor. I read, this does have a unique steering setup, with the steering wheel actuating separate track motors, while also turning the front wheels. Even their ads show skis in snow, it’s all about flotation, ask me how I know.
Lake City is a really nice area, couple hours from me, or an overnight in the Jeep, and I don’t recommend this in the snow. Dry, to your hearts content, and plenty of places to do so, but winter can still be pretty tense in the hills, and can overwhelm this unit in a minute. Still a great unit for a myriad of uses.
Note to FB users, these,,,things,,, usually come under the “other” classification, I could probably supply the tip line for months with what’s found there.
If you ate produce in NJ you can thank me and my friends who grew it when it was still the Garden State before it became the Garbage State!
Perhaps I should rephrase that, we never had strawberries in the Badger, except at the A&P. You know, I never gave it a thought as to where they came from, and only years later found out the “horrors” of strawberry transport from California,,,oops, I’ve said too much already,, :)
Haha ! I just KNEW as I was scrolling down, there would be a Howard A. comment on this beast. I do enjoy reading your contributions sir…
And a special thanks to you, as your show kept all us regular schmoes company. We finally had a hero. I can hear it now, Pegs kvetch, “AALLLLL”,
Thanks Howard 👍 and from a West Coast perspective Isuzu is well respected big time in the marine 🛥🐋🐟 🦀🦐 industry as well.
I’d love to know how expensive tracks are for this thing. Provided that they will wear much faster on the dry. Which, I’m sure, is 95% of how this would ever be used.
Very informative your comment Howard, interesting BF Jeff.
Pretty neat toy, but I think I’d hold out for a Bombardier B12.
hard to imagine. A steer wheel’n tracks. Are they connected thru a hydro system? U can steer tracked vehicles w/ the tracks, most know the steering wheel ‘action’. May B they just drive forward & ‘you hope’ the frnt wheels “steer” it. May B it steers better in reverse? I say: “Go one or the other.”
Keep the B12/18 for lrg lake ice fishin excursions. At a few yrs older than me I’d hate to see it meet a tree (steers as good as this) and crumble like today’s alu cans.
Great writeup but please quit calling MERCEDES unimogs “Case” unimogs. Case made great use of Unimogs but always left the Mercedes star on the front. About these ASVs, they weren’t designed for snow,( “built for extreme off-road performance over loose, wet, and muddy terrain with minimal ground pressure.”) Wouldn’t a ski conversion be easy? Wheel to skis has worked well on everything from Model Ts to DC3s. And… wasn’t ASV the ones who used this track design to create the skid steer in the first place?
It sure looks like Chevy/ISUZU Luv cab to me. Could be fun out here in the high desert!
It sure looks like an ISUZU PU cab to me. Could be fun out here in the high desert!
Found a link to the brochure on these. Answers a few questions that others have posed.
https://www.solhem9.se/broschyrbank_ovrigt/Track_Truck_ASV_2500.pdf
A friend had one of these when I lived in the snow. It worked very well on a packed road and didn’t have any trouble if it wasn’t too deep. The front wheels assisted the steering but the differential tracks really did most of the turning work.
Not particularly fast, it was very useful.
When I was farming I could sure have used one to lay down fertilizer in the spring when the ground was still too soft for anything wheeled. This would definitely been in my barn if I had ever seen one for sale.
My snow machine club had one for grooming , worked ok but parts were hard to find , now replaced with a Tucker a much better vehicle for the snow work and parts a easy find!