ATV's in Afghanistan

JJ_BPK · 03-06-2012, 19:04

Need assistance in isle #3??

My cousin's 13yo is crazy about ATV's. They live on the edge of an undeveloped 1000 acre track and he spends most days out racing his quad with his buddies.

I showed him some pics of quads being used in Afghanistan (see attached).

Anyone have the details on make/model? Are they OTC stock with a paint job or juiced??

Tx

Title: Afghan commandos from the 9th Kandak in Sar-e Takht village, Farah province

lindy · 03-06-2012, 19:12

Nice picture! The WOLFHOUND up front did not go unnoticed!

ODA CDR (RET) · 03-06-2012, 20:08

OTC Polaris

**Peregrino** · 03-06-2012, 20:20

Our guys in the G8 that manage the mobility programs speak well of Polaris. Apparently, they produce a decent product and they've been responsive and supportive. Much more so than their Japanese competitors. Apparently, they've also incorporated some of the LL stuff for product development and today's Polaris is a considerable improvement over just a few years ago.

Prester John · 03-06-2012, 20:37

Polaris Sportsman 800 is what I had experience on.
http://www.polarisindustries.com/en-..._spsmn_800_efi

I can't speak highly enough about the absolute abuse we dished on those already heavily used beasts. When we only had 3, we would load 4 guys and all their equipment on each one for infil to our ORP. They are quiet enough to be discrete and fast enough to really help you make up ground. We ran them all over RC East and I think every one of my team's guys fell in love with them.

Here's a couple other shots of how we had them set up...

JJ_BPK · 03-06-2012, 20:57

Thanks guys,,

John,

I like the way you have the MK-47.. Nice hunting set-up..

This brings back memories of the old TV show The Rat Patrol,, with some bunch of guys running around in North Africa.. Staring Claudine Longet, before she whacked her boy friend..

1stindoor · 03-06-2012, 22:07

We had similar ones in the South when I was there in '06. Extremely dependable. We had one set up with a Mk-19. Not the fastest one out there...but definitely a workhorse that you can depend on.

craigepo · 03-06-2012, 23:13

I have had a Polaris UTV for a couple of years now, and it has been a beast. I bought an 800 CC motor, which will get close to 60 mph on flat ground with one rider. I built a small ford on my place a couple of years ago, put 19 full sandbags in the bed. Squatted the springs pretty well, but the motor pulled the load out of a creek and up a good hill without a problem.

I pull a 48-inch rotary cutter, or a 40-gallon sprayer with the polaris. 800CC has no problem at all with this.

Elk hunted with it in Colorado this year. The all-wheel drive worked really well. Got hit with about 8 inches of snow, and never did stop that thing breaking trails on top of a mountain.

Only mechanical problem I have had was a loose hose clamp on the radiator hose. Once I found the problem for the leak, no more problems. The thermostat kicks on an auxilliary fan at 204 degrees, so the machine handles hot weather work pretty well.

I had an arctic cat prior---not a very good machine. My experience has been the Polaris is head-and-shoulders over the arctic cat.

Edited to add: that 800CC polaris is probably too much machine for a 13 year old. Not enough bubble wrap in the world to keep him out of trouble.

JJ_BPK · 03-07-2012, 05:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigepo

Edited to add: that 800CC polaris is probably too much machine for a 13 year old. Not enough bubble wrap in the world to keep him out of trouble.

He has a Phoenix 200 and will probably stay there until he starts working.. The 200 is more piratical, as he tries to turn it into a jet ski every so often,, ends up at the bottom of the cannal,, fortunately his dad is real good at drying engine..

35NCO · 03-07-2012, 09:46

We had two Polaris 800's and one 600 for sale here on base. You need to go to govliquidation.com to buy it. I went and looked at them, they looked like they had one too many bad airdrops. The axles were bent, and the frames where trashed. Funny though, they still sell for around $150-2500 in that condition. I don't know if people just want the parts, or a piece of history. The depressing part is that if they don't get sold, they refuse to give them away, they just crush them, and sell the scrap metal. I spent about two hours pleading and begging them not to crush one recently, because it did not sell, and I wanted it. They refused, made it scrap metal.

search govliquidation for "atv", they have been coming up a lot lately at various bases. You can get them for as low as $150.00 if you are the only bidder. $150 is the government minim bid.

Small quad at Fort Jackson right now:
http://www.govliquidation.com/auctio...&convertTo=USD

Something cool I saw recently at OutdoorWorld, They had a Diesel ATV, I think it was a Polaris. Thought that was very cool. Would be cool to get it running on Bio-fuel.