Sur Trek on TV

[Duck89]

Tonight I was watching the show 'Gearz,' with Stacey David, and last half of the episode I caught was about a Sur Trek aatv he was working on. I know this aatv has been mentioned on this site before and some of our users have a Sur Trek or two, but I just thought I would bring it up again and post the links to the youtube videos of this entire episode because it was pretty to watch.

It is an interesting aatv for sure, although issues such as steering, especially in water, lack of turning radius certainly didn't help with its popularity, or lack thereof

Also, http://www.6x6world.com/forums/conte...k-8x8-atv.html

[MaxRules]

Good videos. Stacy David is the best gearhead on TV. He test drove an Argo Bigfoot years ago when he had the "TRUCKS!" TV show.

He sure polished a turd with that SurTrek, that thing was beat up. Lots of details to getting it rolling again were 'fast forwarded' to make the show. There is a heck of a lot more work to getting that stuff in order than what was shown. I am surprised those Vampire tires swam well at all. He even had them on facing forward. The Trek floated high in the water and I think that helped it's water speed. Also, he used some type of basic 4-stroke muffler for that Polaris 2-stroke. A 2-stroke really needs an expansion pipe, I'd like to see how it runs in comparison to the regular 4-stroke pipe/muffler.

[m38inmaine]

I wonder if those military markings were real "in service" markings or applied by the previous owner to mimick a military vehicle. If the Army did use it that would be quite interesting.

[Duck89]

I wonder if those military markings were real "in service" markings or applied by the previous owner to mimick a military vehicle. If the Army did use it that would be quite interesting.

I did a little bit of brief research and I was unable to find anything on SurTrek and the military or anything based off of those numbers on the machine. However, I would not be surprised if there were a few of these vehicles used by the military at one point. Attex had their version of a military vehicle in the 8x8 tank trainer and as popular as amphibous vehicles were back in those days, it is very possible SurTrek had a military role of some sort. I found the picture below and thought that it appeared to be another military-looking SurTrek, but I believe it is the same one as in the videos above!

surtrek.jpg

[jpswift1]

Martin, Here's some background on that SurTrek. It was sold on ebay a couple times and the last owner before Gearz got it, ruined its originality and killed the value of it by painting it to make it look like it was a military vehicle when in fact it never actually was. If it were up to me, I'd say keep it original since it's a rare machine.

[MaxRules]

I recently got the 'all-terrain vehicle story' book written by sid wallach of Recreatives. In this book, it says the Sur Trek was considered by the army and it said after testing they concluded the vehicle was 'ok' but because it had a fiberglass body and a few other things they didn't like, the Army never bought any. It also said only about 50 were built.

I highly recommend getting this book from Recreatives. It's a must read for any 6x6 enthusiast.

[Joe M]

Martin, Here's some background on that SurTrek. It was sold on ebay a couple times and the last owner before Gearz got it, ruined its originality and killed the value of it by painting it to make it look like it was a military vehicle when in fact it never actually was. If it were up to me, I'd say keep it original since it's a rare machine.

JP, they did make a few in that color.
From what I have found from my researched, they made around 300 units total.


Shaun Seymour, who worked with John Plessinger developing the Wedge and Tricart told me at one point The Sperry Rand Corp. was going to buy the rights to the Surtrek, but after a disastrous demo for the executives, decided not to. Shaun told me that during the demo, two reps from Sperry Rand, who were in the back and two from AMF, in the front, took the Surtrek into a pond. At that point in time it didn't have the torsion bars between the front and back sections. The driver gave it full throttle and rolled it. It sunk in 8' of water. Shaun said he helped fish it out of the pond.

I sold my Wedge to Shaun, and he's restoring it to original. Here's the last email I got from him back in July 2011.

Thought Id bring you up to date on the progress.Today I finally got the engine to run . I rebuilt the original carb - did not work. I cleaned the air purge hole into the cylinder lower chamber thinking that the air change was not pulsing the fuel pump diaphragm-did not do anything. Replaced the fuel pump lower cover where the fuel line attaches-.no progress. Tried to gravity feed the carb-no progress. Finally I got a new carb-that did not work. So after talking with Mike at Richards Relics he gave me a tip. clean all surfaces between the carb and the block-use new gaskets and a new cork sealer for the connection. Use gasket sealer on all surfaces then it should run-- if it didn't then spray ether around the main crank gasket as it cranks- if it runs you need a new main seal. But WE WERE lucky it started right up and runs well.So it runs.

Next step is to redo the steering cables- then find an air cleaner.Then reassemble the seat pan and seat. Have a seat cushion made from a pattern of one from a guy in Florida Ive been helping.

The gas tank repair was not succesful but I found a go cart tank that holds 2 gallons. Need to install it. Then put the rear grill and muffler in place.

Dont remember if I told you I got a set of replacement tires from Richards Relics They have been installed. Also found a louver from a guy in Texas who is parting out his wedge.

Thats the up date- getting closer to being done. Will stay in touch.

Regards Shaun

Shaun lives about 30 minutes from me. I got a little of track, but thought you might like the story.

[wildman]

This is the story as Shaun wrote to me a while back...

BTW, he has 2 Wedges now.

Well first a little background. New Holland was looking to dabble in some other types of businesses that would utilize the physical plants they had. They were also in the process of returning Bill Dohl to New Holland from Zedelgem, Belgium and needed something for him to do, so he was given the job of locating endeavors that would fit this bill. Larry Halls had designed a scooter type minibike that had wheels and a ski with a belt to push it along. This became part of the project. AMF in York, PA (current Harley-davidson facility) had developed an articulated 8-wheel off road and water vehicle that was available for sale (AMF wanted out... stay tuned). There was also a 6-wheeler available from another company. The Tricart prototype from Fiberglas of Ohio was also looking for a home. Larry Ruble from field test was made a part of that trio.
The AMF unit was negotiated back and forth with New Holland wanting to do some actual operation both off road and in the water. Finally some type of agreement was reached and we got the prototype for a short period for some actual use in its environment, not a lawn. A large demonstration was set up at Nolt's pond (New Holland, PA) to actually operate it in a field (which went well) and in the water. I had been asked by Mack (former NH prez) to participate in the festivities along with Earl Moates as the pit crew so to speak. Well Larry and Larry and Bill climbed into the beast two in the front seat and one in the rear. Into the water the faithful lion went with a lurch... then it was free floating in the pond. Since propulsion was the rotating wheels, Dohl, the driver attacked the throttle with a vengeance. The result was corkscrewing of the front section as a reaction from the rear section. Remember, they were fully articulated. The resultant rotation between the two sections rotated each dumping all travelers into the pond and sinking the vessel with a splash and gurgle. Earl and I entered the cold pond trying to rescue everybody. The large croud of spectators left quietly and peace covered the loud expletive comments from all the crew... Dohl's was the largest and most prolific. All three riders lost their glasses in the pond altho Earl and I tried to find them to no avail. A very wet group pulled the AMF to shore, we hooked a cable on it and dragged it from mother Neptune. Got it on the trailer and we all returned to the service shop where we were stationed. Everything was wet. We tried to dry out money, wallets and the paper licenses PA had at that time. We now knew why AMF was trying to sell it and why it was so hard to get it to operate. Larry Ruble returned it to York the following AM. This was the start. Next episode when I recover from remembering the beginning... Shaun

[hydromike]

That was a fantastic story. I really wish I could be in the R&D Department of a modern day amphib factory. The varied stories of soaring successes to miserable failures could be the makings of a great book...

Thanks for sharing a truely cool bit of AATV history...

[Stonewall]

Thanks for posting that story! Great bit of amphib history right there!

I really wish I could be in the R&D Department of a modern day amphib factory. <snip>

I'll need some help to get the Hustler Corp. back in business in a few years....

[wildman]

Thanks for posting that story! Great bit of amphib history right there!



I'll need some help to get the Hustler Corp. back in business in a few years....

SW… if you ever make that Hustler thing happen, I’d like to know what happened to all the old SPD drawings, tooling, molds, parts, etc. All that stuff was in Hustler’s custody when they turned out the lights.

[Stonewall]

Well, from what I understand, Richard Clark bought out what was left when Hustler Corp. closed their doors. I haven't taken the time to look up the former owner yet, and it will probably be several years before anything comes of this (I have to get my engineering degree...). Anything's possible though, and I'll be sure an keep y'all updated on anything I find.

[sofob0909]

This is the story as Shaun wrote to me a while back...

BTW, he has 2 Wedges now.

I would love to hear the rest of this story. I have a Surtrek and find this story hilarious.

[foxspoiler]

Brandon, where did you find the book ? I have searched online and cannot find.

[MaxRules]

Brandon, where did you find the book ? I have searched online and cannot find.

Just call Recreatives at 800-255-2511. It's a great book but for some reason they make no effort to advertise or sell it.