Don’t Call It A SHERP! The New Amphibious 4×4 Fat Truck Goes Anywhere It Wants

If it looks like a dog and wags its tail...well, here's how it *is* different

As much as we’ve discussed the SHERP ATV in our office and over on TFLoffroad, it’s not the only player in town when it comes to quirky go-anywhere vehicles. This particular boxy amphibious ATV comes from Zeal Motor, Inc., who manufactures a similar looking truck using a four-cylinder turbodiesel engine. In this video, our friend Dan Atkinson was on location at this year’s Work Truck Show in Indianapolis to get a first-hand look at the Fat Truck.

Don't Call It A SHERP! The New Amphibious 4x4 Fat Truck Goes Anywhere It Wants
[Photos: Zeal Motor Inc.]

The specs

This Fat Truck weighs 4,900 pounds on its own, but it does come with some towing capability and it is built to handle seriously tough terrain. The truck comes with bespoke Low Ground Pressure (LGP) tires, that only inflate to 5 psi when fully inflated. However, drivers can lower the air pressure down to 1.5 psi depending on the conditions, then raise it again thanks to an onboard air compressor.

Under the hood, Zeal Motor fitted a Caterpillar C2.2 turbodiesel four-cylinder engine. It’s no rocket, with the 2.2-liter unit making between 49 and 67 horsepower at 2,800 RPM. The engine makes its maximum torque (between 122 and 153 lb-ft) at just 1,400 RPM. The Fat Truck’s top speed is 20 to 25 mph (40 km/h), but it can traverse hills upwards of 25 degrees and handle sidehills of about 22 degrees. Power is delivered through a hydrostatic transmission. On the water, the Fat Truck’s top speed drops to just 2 mph.

Don't Call It A SHERP! The New Amphibious 4x4 Fat Truck Goes Anywhere It Wants

Dimensions

The Fat Truck is slightly larger than the SHERP, measuring in at 101 inches tall and 101 inches wide. To accommodate eight passengers, it is slightly longer than that, at 146.5 inches. Ground clearance also measures 19.7 inches, which should be enough to see those eight people (2 in the front and 6 in the back) over most obstacles they’d face off-road.

Don't Call It A SHERP! The New Amphibious 4x4 Fat Truck Goes Anywhere It Wants

To get into the Fat Truck, you open the locking front door and climb a small ladder. From there, the driver controls the vehicle through a centrally-mounted joystick, rather than a traditional steering wheel and pedals. Thank to its incredibly short wheelbase and drivetrain setup, the Fat Truck can turn 360 degrees inside its own dimensions, making it much easier to maneuver than large trucks through tight areas.

It’s not exactly meant for recreational use, the Fat Truck is technically available for sale. It isn’t cheap, though, coming in at an eye-watering $127,000. Or, if you’re a construction company and you just want to rent one of these, you can do so for about $9,000 a month. Zeal Motor also offers different sorts of packages for the Fat Truck for law enforcement, rescuers and so on.

What do you think of the Fat Truck? Let us know in the comments below!