Went out today to the "usual" big icy hill that everyone always gets stuck on to do some "good samaritan" work. For two hours me and four garbage men (whose truck was stuck too, and couldn't get up the hill until about 15 other cars were moved) pushed cars up the hill. Yes, I will pay for this tomorrow.
Anyhow, at one point a "local" showed up with a Polaris ATV with the nifty tank-style tracked wheels. He proceeded to pull a car out of a ditch (whose back wheels were in the air), and then hooked up to this 2WD full-size pickup with bald tires and proceeded to tow it backwards up a steep hill for about 500 ft.
That was pretty damn impressive, I gotta say. Didn't realize they had that kind of power.
^^ the squiggle marks on the road were from a County Police (new) Explorer AWD, who required about 5 of us to push to get up the hill.
The WRX had no such problems on its wintersports a few minutes later. Then we posed, lol.
Benz vert on performance summers did. We all got a laugh when the old lady driving got out and let one of the garbagemen drive it up the hill. His buddies were all taking pics and laughing that this was the only time he'd ever get to drive a Benz, going 1mph and being towed by a pickup truck.
I had to empty her trunk and dig into the spare well to find her tow eye and thread it into the bumper. She was like "where'd you get that from??" haha.
Polaris makes very legit equipment, one of these days I'll have my sportsman 500 down here and I'll let you go for a nice ride on that beast.
yamaha
MegaDork
1/6/15 12:08 p.m.
In reply to JtspellS:
Several ATV's make 50+hp nowadays.....some can make upwards of 70-80hp or maybe more.
I'm guessing some of the bigger ATV's are over 115hp easy.
well...89 hp in the Polaris
http://www.polaris.com/en-us/atv-quad/sportsman-etx-blue-fire
yamaha
MegaDork
1/6/15 12:26 p.m.
In reply to Grtechguy:
I guess that wouldn't be surprising from one of the 7-800cc class ones, I haven't paid much attention to anything bigger than 450cc race quads. Snowmobiles have also gotten wayyyy out of hand power wise....
The artic cat z1 turbo belted out 177hp/121tq back in 2008 or so and a 660cc turbo that was making around 120hp. 
Its not power so much as all those utility quads have a granny 1st gear. I imagine the tracks effectively give farther reduction.
I've always wanted a Polaris Quad since I was 10. Maybe one day. 
Two hours?! U must be in much better shape than me. I pushed a guy in a challanger rt with summer tires up a hill and thought I was going to have a heart attack. Good work
I always thought of tracked atv's as the BroDozers of the off-road world... This may have changed my mind!
nepa03focus wrote:
Two hours?! U must be in much better shape than me. I pushed a guy in a challanger rt with summer tires up a hill and thought I was going to have a heart attack. Good work
The secret is to lean against the car while making an angry face while not really pushing while the other SOB's get lactic-acid build up til they puke.
Kenny_McCormic wrote:
Its not power so much as all those utility quads have a granny 1st gear. I imagine the tracks effectively give farther reduction.
This. Its all about the gearing. Power helps, sure. But a good winch could pull that truck up the hill too. The quad was probably much faster though!
nepa03focus wrote:
Two hours?! U must be in much better shape than me. I pushed a guy in a challanger rt with summer tires up a hill and thought I was going to have a heart attack. Good work
That was after I sat in gridlock for 3 hours trying to get to work in DC, while not even getting to the highway. Called it a day after 3 hours, went home, changed, and hit the woodland roads to see how many stuck people I could find and/or help out.
This particular hill is a problem during every snow event. It's shaded by trees so the sun doesn't melt it. It's very steep and falls off to the right where there's a ditch, and it's blind until you come around the corner at the bottom. DUring snow days its mostly non-locals trying to cut around the main roads, who don't know what they're getting into in these backroads....just following their GPS.
ebonyandivory wrote:
nepa03focus wrote:
Two hours?! U must be in much better shape than me. I pushed a guy in a challanger rt with summer tires up a hill and thought I was going to have a heart attack. Good work
The secret is to lean against the car while making an angry face while not really pushing while the other SOB's get lactic-acid build up til they puke.
shh....don't give away the secret.
See how I managed to take a photo while "helping" an e39 5-series with one hand? lol. In the end, 10 people couldn't get that thing up the hill. Had UHP summer tires on it and kept sliding right into the ditch. Eventually he gave it up for a lost cause.
New police taurus (AWd) had some nice winter treads. No problemo for him
This was after the ATV yanked the back of the truck 90* (it was sitting sideways across the road), and then pulled it right up the hill backwards. Not a short hill
Those mattracks are a bolt on.. not factory and super expensive.
In reply to irish44j:
I just wanted to say thanks for trying to restore some faith in humanity. I'm sure those people you helped greatly appreciated what you and your cohorts did.
Your back on the other hand... 
I don't think I woulda helped the tool in a 2wd drive truck and bald tires.
Just say'n.
stanger_missle wrote:
In reply to irish44j:
I just wanted to say thanks for trying to restore some faith in humanity. I'm sure those people you helped greatly appreciated what you and your cohorts did.
Your back on the other hand...
lol....I go to that spot every time it snows. First to watch the stupidity/hijinks, and then to help out however I can (one of these days I'll bring the Sequoia and a tow strap and not bother with all this pushing!) I actually had a lot of fun today. Surprisingly nobody was angry or upset, everyone just had a bemused semi-bewildered attitude toward it (especially the lady in the Benz vert). Most of the people who were stuck actually helped push all the cars stuck "above" them out and all the way up the hill before trying themselves. Nobody tried to "cut the line" or anything. Besides the Polaris guy, two old pickups pulled a couple cars up the hill as well.
The guys who really deserve credit was these trashmen. Their truck was at the bottom and had about 10 cars blocking it when I got there. Those four dudes pushed on every single one of those cars up the hill (and then about a half dozen more that were behind them and stuck) and literally cleared out every stuck car in the vicinity before they (easily) cruised their trashtruck up the hill. And the one lady whose car was about 9th in line who also helped push all the cars, wearing a business suit (with some hiking boots on), chatty and friendly the whole time even though I'm sure she was freezing her ass off (it was about 20-25 degrees).
Also an interesting mix of locals (Clifton is a very $$$$ area), black trashmen, hispanic guys, a couple burly rednecks decked out in camo Carhartt gear driving a big diesel truck, a Sheriff, a county policeman, and a Filipino guy all chuckling together knowingly, telling stories, and acting like they were all friends (in between pushing cars). The kind of interaction that you never, ever see from all those groups of people together in everyday life. So that put a smile on my face as well.
kevlarcorolla wrote:
I don't think I woulda helped the tool in a 2wd drive truck and bald tires.
Just say'n.
yeah., lol....I talked about "winter tires" a lot while he was standing near me so hopefully took the hint.
the problem with that area is that a lot of those people had never been on those roads before and were bailing from the jammed main roads nearby (which are largely flat and straight). They probably had no clue that Clifton is full of sharp turns, off-camber turns, and big hills. A few of them said as much while we were talking.
The guy in the pickup was probably there for 3 hours helping. He was already halfway up the hill and didn't need to be towed as far, but instead of getting himself out first like most people would, he helped pushed almost all the other cars up past his truck (and then got himself towed up finally so the trash truck had room to get by).
