Plowing with an ATV

[E3A]

I used to plow with a Polaris Sportsman 500 and found that any decent push would cause my rear end to spin out next to me. Became very frustrating. To help, I put a ball mount (without a ball) into the trailer hitch receiver and put a length of threaded rod through the hole with washers and nuts. Then I dropped a bunch of 35 pound plates from a barbell set onto the threaded rod. In other words, I made a $5 ATV ballast. It did help but wasn't ideal. Others I know say that when they switched to Grim Reaper tires it was a world of difference. I never got that far - I sold the ATV and bought a tractor

Plowing with the ATV was great fun with smaller, powdery storms . The one where we got 10" of wet slush was not.

 

[Sportsman762]

Plowing with an ATV in deep frozen snow can be a challenge. A large atv with a small blade will push through deep snow easier than a large atv with a large blade. I used a 01 Polaris Sportsman 500 with a 48" blade. The blade barely covered the width of the ATV when angled but it can push deep wet snow. The kubota BX with a 54" blade at work could push more though, only because it weighed more. The Kubota RTV's with a 72" blade could not push as deep of snow as my ATV. I often see where people will put a 60" blade on a small atv and then wonder why it cannot push deep snow. The wide blades are great for clearing a wide area, however they handle deep snow poorly. We used the RTV's on the 8' wide sidewalks, whereas the BX was used on smaller sidewalks and clearing the bus stops. The BX could push the deep snow from 2 lanes out of the pull offs for the buses, whereas the RTV's would struggle. We would also use the BX's to cut through banks where they had pushed entire parking lots up. The NH TC45SA with a 72" blade could push one heck of a snow bank. The operator got bored one day and made a 5' tall snow bank with it, he just kept packing the snow and pushing it higher.
To push back snow banks we would use the RTV's because they had a better heater and only take a partial swipe. If the banks go to bad some poor soul had to use the open cab TC40 TLB and loader all the banks back at night.
Tractors with small blades will push a lot of snow, however it will take time. Lighweight ATV's with big blades are great for light fluffy snow falls but cannot do much.

 

[jrclark]

I had an 05 Polaris Sportsman 700 with Maxxis tires all the way around and HD front springs. That's almost an 800lb machine before my heavy *** sat on it. A few years back when we set all sorts of snowfall records, I used it to plow our road and most of the neighbors driveways. You just have to be smart about how much the machine can handle. If you're getting a ton of snow, start plowing every 6" or so to make it easier on yourself.

It was a fun setup, but I'd never trade it for my tractor and rear blade. The loader makes it far easier to push piles.

 

[ericher69]

I had an 05 Polaris Sportsman 700 with Maxxis tires all the way around and HD front springs. That's almost an 800lb machine before my heavy *** sat on it. A few years back when we set all sorts of snowfall records, I used it to plow our road and most of the neighbors driveways. You just have to be smart about how much the machine can handle. If you're getting a ton of snow, start plowing every 6" or so to make it easier on yourself. It was a fun setup, but I'd never trade it for my tractor and rear blade. The loader makes it far easier to push piles.

yeah I hear you! Sorta defeats the purpose tho. Much rather wait for the storm to be over then fire up the Kubota and get it done with the blower.

Sent from my iPhone 5s 64Gb using TractorByNet

 

[JDgreen227]

I have a Honda Foreman 450 with a 50" Moose County Plow and it does fairly well in dry snow but as others mention, mine runs out of rear traction quickly. My solution was to bolt a poly toolbox specifically designed for ATV's to the rear rack and put about 250 pounds of vinyl coated barbell weights wrapped in old blankets (so they don't shift around) inside it. If you try this method, reinforce the bottom of the toolbox by using wood strips (mine are 1" oak) to run the bolts through to prevent the vinyl from cracking.

 

[check]

I use a Can Am 650 XT Max with a 60 inch plow, and it works very well up until about 8 inches or so of snow. After that, I break out the BX with the blower, and also blow out the snowbanks that I build up. The combination works great!

 

[Farmer495]

I USED to have a 5 foot blade on a quad, tire chains on all four tires and 4x4 diff lock, all 4 wheels always turned. It did good until you got more than a foot of snow, and only if you had somewhere to push. Any "real" snow fall I had to use the tractor anyways. Quad was nice for light snow, just more of a "Florida" snow removal set up not a Canada one lol.

I would not do it again, for what I spend on the blade, push frame and chains, I could have had a nice walk behind blower.

 

[JDgreen227]

I USED to have a 5 foot blade on a quad, tire chains on all four tires and 4x4 diff lock, all 4 wheels always turned. It did good until you got more than a foot of snow, and only if you had somewhere to push. Any "real" snow fall I had to use the tractor anyways. Quad was nice for light snow, just more of a "Florida" snow removal set up not a Canada one lol.

I would not do it again, for what I spend on the blade, push frame and chains, I could have had a nice walk behind blower.

My Moose plow and the winch and plow mount cost me about $550 back in 2001...yes I could have purchased a walk behind blower for that but what good is a blower when you want ride the trails in summertime?

 

[Farmer495]

My Moose plow and the winch and plow mount cost me about $550 back in 2001...yes I could have purchased a walk behind blower for that but what good is a blower when you want ride the trails in summertime?

Oh I got lots of use out of the quad, still have it, but the blade is long gone.

 

[check]

I USED to have a 5 foot blade on a quad, tire chains on all four tires and 4x4 diff lock, all 4 wheels always turned. It did good until you got more than a foot of snow, and only if you had somewhere to push. Any "real" snow fall I had to use the tractor anyways. Quad was nice for light snow, just more of a "Florida" snow removal set up not a Canada one lol.

I would not do it again, for what I spend on the blade, push frame and chains, I could have had a nice walk behind blower.

The biggest advantage of the Quad is the breakneck speed with which you can plow. I can clear so much, so fast with it, and it is definitely my "go to" toy when plowing up to 8" or so (and most of our snowfalls are at or less than that). In fact, I only use the tractor FEL and rear blower as needed for real deep stuff and/or cleanup work. It really does save a lot of time with this two-stage procedure, and it is great fun to be plowing along on the Quad at full throttle with the snow flying off the blade! I also find it quite amazing how much power and traction the Quad has - much more so than the tractor without chains. (Chains, of course are a different matter - they turn the tractor into a tank!)