I'm a horse guy, not a burn gas and make noise guy, so some questions will likely seem dumb.


I'm getting tired of running a snowblower into the wind - both ways dammit!

Minimum engine size?
4x4 seems like a necessity
Brand choice?
Maximum mileage on a used machine?
Winch operation of plow lift?

Any other pertinent info to use while looking?

How much snow do you need to plow? If you need to do more than a driveway, I'd suggest an old pickup or something. We have a an '85 full sized Blazer at work that will move a BUNCH of snow. We threw some old tractor weights in the back for extra traction. The only problem with it is that it's a 4 spd and you'll wear out your clutch leg shifting between forward & reverse.

Fine for a foot or so of snow,but not for serious stuff. Problem with plowing around here is you run of out place sto put the snow.Once you get that 2 ft or so berm on the side of the drive way, you are done.
I blow with big Yardman that will go thru 3 ft and blow 30 " wide. When it gets deeper,I have to use the tractor with the bucket.

I have seen after market hoods you can buy to attach to bigge blowers

I've plowed 2-3 foot of snow from my driveway with my 04 Honda Foreman so yes, it can be done and done easily. Did it last year and you know how much snow we got then and I have been doing it for 9 years now.

Mike, I wouldn't consider anything under a 400 and preferably, a 500 or 550 would be ideal. I like Honda's but Yamaha's are a good rig too. I use my Warn 2500i winch for lifting and lowering the plow, using a short piece of synthetic rope. 4x4 is a must and diff lock would be even better but Honda doesn't offer it on their machines.

I see lots of wheelers on Craigslist that would work and some already have snowplows. Be wary of wheelers with snorkels and mods that are used for riding in water.

Here's one that's ready for plowing.

http://anchorage.craigslist.org/rvs/3595889179.html

Pickup or similar won't work because of space constraints. A wheeler would be perfect if properly equipped. I have enough room to push the first well out of the way.

If we get 6" at one time it's a lot, and it's usually pretty light stuff. It gets heavy when the snow is followed by rain when the low tracks to the west of us.

I don't want to put a lot of money into it for maybe 10 plowings per season. I saw one at the park'n'sell for $7500. 190 miles, 350 Grizzly (IIRC). That's 3X what I paid for my little Tacoma! For that much money, I'd rather step up to a JD tractor.

I'd look at something a bit bigger than a 350 Mike. My 450 does a good job of moving snow. I think i've plowed maybe twice this year, compared to about 20 times last year.

Gotcha. $7500 is too much for maybe 10X per year. maybe if I had one I'd see riding it more.

I'd echo all that AKMH has said. I've never plowed with less than the grizzly 660, so can't speak to a minimum engine. I wouldn't have hesitated to put a plow on my little 300 fourtrax, just happened into the grizzly first.

4X4 is a necessity. You will not push much of anything on frozen ground in 2wd.

I like the grizz. Diff lock is nice to have, but I've only used it a couple times plowing. It isn't something you want to have on most of the time, but it is nice when you get stuck in mud.

Couple things:
Plowing a lot is tough on front wheel bearings. You end up putting a lot of weight and side load on the front wheels, unless you are running the blade at 90 degrees and just pushing.

Lots of up/down on the winch is tough on a winch. But everything is tough on a winch...

You'll be doing a lot of forward/reverse/rinse/repeat. Look at the different transmission styles. One thing about the hand shifter on the grizz is that you are shifting into reverse at the same time you are lifting the plow. My winch controls are on the left, same side as the shifter, so that's a little dumb. Fastest would be an all foot shift that would let you run the winch with the hands and shift with the feet. I don't know if anyone has that.

Also, I know "some" honda's with the automatic transmission had a really high first gear that I wouldn't think would be ideal for plowing. Never owned one, but I have a buddy that constantly complains about it, even for just playing in the mud.

I think Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki all build pretty good utility machines. Every Polaris I've ever seen has broken quickly and expensively, so I generally avoid those, but others seem to like them....

Mileage is a crap shoot, as it all depends on how it was used. Plowing is tough on a couple areas mentioned above, and probably others that I just haven't seen failures on yet. I try to avoid hopped up big-wheeled, snorkeled stuff as mentioned. Also try to avoid machines where every piece of plastic has been busted. I'd look at them pretty much like buying a used 4wd truck. If it looks like it was abused, it was. If it doesn't, look closer.

Simple, Cheap machine with a plow...

Oh yeah, $7500 is way too much for that atv, their MSRP is a lot less than that from what i've seen. You should be able to find a 660 or 700 Grizzly on CL, I see them there all the time.

I need to get a newer wheeler myself and I keep telling myself that once the Foreman dies I'll get a Grizzly but there's only 1 problem. The Foreman won't die.

There was more to the package. It was the machine (with 190 miles), winch, blade, and a little tilt trailer.


What can you tell from the pics in that link, Chris?

You can't imagine how much snow I have shoveled/blowed/plowed and made money doing it coming from McCall Idaho that gets snow up to there roof on a regular basis. Shoveling out windows for light was a yearly thing just like 20-45 below zero where diesals had to run #1 hearing oil not to gel up.

Shoveling roofs was big time money.I had the manual plow on my polaris afc back then and it worked great. Used to plow my yard to be the first snow free yard there with it. Anyone who says it doesn't work has never done it or tried it in a place they have a winter carnival and a ton of snow.

I can pile snow atleast 10 feet high with my rhino and a winch operated plow. If you get
allot of snow you need a big plow and allot of traction.



I use this to plow many people out around here including church parking lots but it only got about 2 feet deep this year.

Jayco

It looks like a clean rig Mike, but I would want to know miles, use, etc before looking at it. I've never owned a Kodiak, and only run them a little bit.

Looks like they lack a low range, which might be a concern for plowing.

Don't think they had the diff lock either if I remember correctly? That wouldn't concern me much - 4wd and chains for plowing is tough to beat.

Had a couple of buddies that owned the Kodiaks and they both busted a-arms on them. I don't know if it was just there machines or if there was an on going problem with them. My 1 buddy had his go out 3 times, once while we were out bear hunting.

For $6500, this one sounds like a decent deal.

http://anchorage.craigslist.org/rvs/3522656969.html

Another. http://anchorage.craigslist.org/rvs/3546445262.html

Finding one with power steering would be a huge bonus.

My neighbor plowed with both a honda rubicon (10k miles) and now a yamaha grizley. both have worked pretty good as he is hard on all equipment. The honda with the hydrostatic transmission and solid axles lasted the best- he sold it for a nicer ride and wished he still had it. I have a 500 rubicon if you want to test drive one. Good luck

Hell yeah, Dan. Lets go wheelin'!
lol...


Seriously, I need to try one.

Come on out next week - I'll let you try some real beer that does not come in cans..

Shhh.

I got a 400 artic cat 2003 with a manual clutch.. I have never had a problem moving any snow... Plenty of power.... I will say going from drive to reverse is a hassle.. On my next wheeler i will make sure its easier switch gears.....

I would say for the plow part dont buy a cheap one.. Get one that angles, saves time i think....

If you already have a blower then just rewind the motor. Wind should be no issue.

Snow Blower link

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.

I'll have to disagree with that. I have a 2x4 Kaw. It's totally useless in snow without chains. It sits and spins and even 4" will bog down the front tires. Pushing the fronts through snow is the biggest problem because it just can't get the traction in back.

As much better as the 4X4 is then 2X4, the real diff lock is better in 4X4 then the open or limited slip designs.

I cannot count the times I've been stopped in 4X4 , backed up, selected diff lock and just continued on like magic. This is especially true with my Rhino

400cc engine min.
4x4 w/ locker
chains (maybe)
winch
synthetic rope
4'-5' blade

anything else?


It turns out right now isn't the time to get a machine, but I plan to have one before next winter. I'll keep the snowblower, but I'm getting real tired of running it into the wind.

Thanks for all the help.

I wouldn't worry too much about the chains, i've never used them and have had no problem plowing my driveway. A suggestion on the synthetic rope and winch, make sure the fairlead, either roller or hawse, is smooth with no burs or deep gouges or it will eat that synthetic rope. Mine has a hawse fairlead which is recommended for syn rope.

As a luxury, i'd put hot grips on it too but it's not a neccesity (sp?).

And if you can find one, get a blade setup that can be adjusted to push the snow off to the side. My Moose plow is setup that way and it makes moving snow easier when going up and down the driveway.

Yeah. That's why I added the 'maybe' to the chains. my driveway is flat and didn't really think they'd be necessary.

If you get wet/heavy or crusted snow, you'll want chains. Also, if you don't get the whole thing "clean", and you have an inch of packed snow, you'll be spinning like crazy and will need chains to bite.

Tires make a big difference too... I have 589's for the summer, but they are horrible on snow/ice. I run the stock tires in the winter with chains.

That's another reason I want a blade. Rained-on snow is tough to toss with a blower because of the density and stickiness. It sometimes will jam in the chute.

Maybe I'll just move to Arizona!

One thing I don't do is plow the first snow, I like to leave an inch or 2 before I start plowing but my driveway is gravel and fairly long. If it was asphalt I would probably plow after the first snow.

That's a given.

depending on depth, I'll hit the first snow with the blower, but with a generous height adjustment. Are wheeler plows built for that too?

You can run the stops down farther to get more clearance. If you have loose gravel, they will dig in a bit, but it isn't too bad. That's probably the best option.

Trying to lift the blade a couple inches with the winch never worked out for me. Any bump and you porpoise, and then you end up with something resembling whoops on a supercross track...

This was early in the year. The banks have been pushed back once and I have a couple at the end of the drive that are 6 or 7 feet high. NO CHAINS on the tires, just an old Sportsman, and the bike ain't new either.

This is what I plow with. 2007 Yamaha grizzly 660. I've got 14" itp wheels and 27" itp mud lite XLs on it which added a good bit of clearance over stock wheels/tires and insane grip. Put the HMF exhaust to add a little power to turn the bigger tires in nasty stuff. It's got a 52" state plow on it and I like it way better than a standard plow. Pushes much more snow with out spilling over the top.

Not a snow pic but I use it to help grade the driveway and the added weight in the front doesn't hurt things

I plow with an 08 800 Polaris.

i have a 1990 honda 4trax and it does a great job ive plowed snow for all the neighbors around for 2 blocks up to a couple ft also do our circle since the city rarely does side streets or they get to them 2 days after the snow ive piled it 6-8 ft high

I've also plowed with a 4Trax 300.
I have used a Timberwolf 250 too.
Both 2WD. Chains work wonders. Once you drop the blade the front is losing much of it's traction.
It can be done, and work fine on the cheap.

You get a wheeler/plow yet Mike? I've been plowing like crazy lately, and you can't even tell because the damn snow keeps falling!

I've moved more snow in the past 2 days than I have all winter.

I always figured that using a wheeler as a plow was an excuse to justify the purchase of a wheeler to the CFO. Maybe I'm just jealous since our driveway isn't long enough to justify one, and we have a retaining wall on one side which makes a snowblower by far the best tool.

Even consider one of these?

No. Money has leaked off in other directions. that's OK though, I'll have one for next season.

Hell, I haven't had the snowblower put to use in a couple of weeks. The sun here is so bright...it hurts!

Does it have wipers and defroster?

Also, that thing looks to be blowing the snow OUT of the scoop, the flapper on the chute is clamped down and dry. WTF?

It was a quick google fu, looks like an artists impression. It seems like one of those things where you look at it and think if you used it somebody would pull your man card. But secretly, you really would like to get one.

Not sure about the heater or defroster, I figured your first question would be regarding a beverage holder.

I seem to suffer those money leaks too!

A beverage holder just would not work!

And look at how clear it leaves the driveway! My Honda doesn't do that!

True, the vibration would just spill that vital amber liquid!

There are a lot of things wrong with that picture...

An artiste that never drove one!

Avoid the automatic trans models, they have a snowmobile clutch & drive belt, I have plows for a 350 & 400 Yamaha & both will do the job, (both 4x4)

Rubicon and foreman are built to work. Manual or auto ?

My Honda engages the rear diff lock when 4X4 is selected, only the front diff lock is selectable separately.