Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's 4-wheeler For Snowplowing

Bet ya wish you a wheeler and plow about now....snowing pretty hard out there all day

I have a Polaris 500 Sportsman 6x6 that is an ANIMAL at plowing snow! I have the cycle country 52" blade on it and use the winch for up and down. I put a couple of 50 lb salt bags in the bed and when I put it in full 6x6 AWD, you'd be hard pressed to get it stuck! Mine is a 2004 and I haven't had any problems with it. Love that machine but think I ought to sell it to get a side by side now that the kids are getting older. Its a pure work horse!

Chris

I'll take it!

Ok....I'll just box it up and mail it from Michigan! I'll just put some bubblewrap around it!

Chris

Would love a 6x6 with the shaft drives. Mine('05)needs the chains adjusted after towing anything but a light trailer.

Yeah, mine has the chain drive too....that always stumped me. Why would you make a machine to do real work but make it chain drive rather than shaft drive?

I've never had any problems with them, just stumped me. Probably a cost issue.

IB, I have an 04 Yamaha Grizzly 660. I plow with a 52" Warn cyclone blade and use my winch with synthetic winch rope to operate it. I've found synthetic rope is better for plow use and I have a 10' plow rope. It works great with snow up to around 12" (I haven't had to try deeper snow). IMO any good ATV in the 400cc and up class will work fine. I've found as the engine size goes up the weight doesn't so you can only get so much power to the ground. I don't use chains and plow paved streets. If you are plowing pavement a hardened steel wear bar is the way to go. Make sure your blade has a smooth face (repaint if needed) and spray PAM on it so the snow slides off better.

I've mounted a strip of conveyor belting on the top edge to keep the snow from blowing up on my.

I prefer a good sized (13hp) snow blower over a plow. Does a cleaner job, moves the snow farther away from the driveway edge. Once the snow banks get built up and frozen, an ATV plow gets very limited in where it can put the snow.

We don't get much snow here, very rarely more than 4" at a time. I use my Craftsman garden tractor. I bought a dozer blade for it (much more heavy duty than their so-called snow plow blade). It only has rear drive but when I chain it up, it moves the snow very well.

Ironbender - come on out this next week and give the 6x6 and honda a try. Can also go talk to the neighbor who is using a Yamaha to plow...

Sounds good, Dan. I'll give you a holler.

Has anyone tried plowing with a Polaris RZR? With all of the snow we have got this year I am considering getting a plow for mine.

In KS? Won't it be 70* a day or two after the snowstorm?

Ya normally. We got 16" on Thursday. Today we have already had 5" and expecting another 6"-10" by morning. And I am sure you know in Kansas the wind likes to blow. My drive way is probably 100 yards long and is drifted shut right now.

It gets done, but is it worth the cost of the plow, attachments and wear & tear on the machine? Might be cheaper to find someone with a blade on their truck and pay them....

If the pay back is not a year or two it is not worth the stresses that are placed on the machine...

Unless of course you just want to - than no justification financial or otherwise is needed and by all means get one and have fun!

Ya probably going to have to call someone today. I know my wifes car won't get out of the drove this morning.

There's a weight and traction limit with quad runners with plowing.

But you might still be able to get it past the wife if you put a blade on it.

I have a plow on my 89 Suzuki Quadrunner 230 CC 4 wheeler chains on front tires, works great but if I get a big snow I try and keep up with it and don't try to plow to much at once.

Have a snow blower also for berms, and to throw snow when you cant push it any more.

Had the wheeler since 91 one rebuild and a lot of brake shoes.

Many of us learned real quick that trying to do "tractor work" on food plots with an ATV will kill the tranny pretty quick. They are not designed to tow, drag, or push stuff.

I've been using my 2000 Polaris Sportsman 500 Remington SE for 13 years now with a 60" plough up front. I do not use chains on the tires. We get a goodly amount of snow, and that old Polaris is a plowing machine! Recently we got about a foot, and it did fine. A blower does a neater job, and it keeps the banks back nicer, but with a little time, I manage to keep mine plowed back okay. I have some snow banks in my yard that are five feet high. Like others have said, a foot or so is handled pretty easily, more than that takes a bit more time.

I use the 2000 pound Warn winch that came of the bike for lifting and lowering the blade. I just replaced my winch cable with a synthetic one. Like that a bunch. Super light and very strong.

Engine size -- mine is a 500 and it has plenty of power.
4x4 -- absolutely a necessity in my AO. More for getting the plow out of the bank you just hit than for pushing snow.