Do you actually plow snow with your UTV? for multiple seasons?

[crazyal]

It's more money but have you thought about a snow blower for a UTV? The problem with a plow is that once the snow banks get built up higher than the plow the snow just goes over the top. If all you ever get is 8" snow falls and it's mostly gone before the next event than a plow is great. But, up north, where snow lasts for months banks can pose a real problem. Most plow trucks push the snow into a pile where the weight of the truck helps. With a long sidewalk pushing it into a pile may not be an option. With a blower once it blows it it's gone (unless the wind pushes it back).

I started off plowing my driveway with a 2 1/2" ton 4wd dump truck. It has a 10' blade and the weight and power to move lots of snow. But by mid January the limited spaces to put the snow were full and I was now dealing with trying to move it with my loader. It would also get more difficult to plow because, as I said earlier, the snow would go over the top of the blade. When pushing snow to the places where I could pile it I often had to make repeated passes. If the snow was wet heavy stuff it took even longer to deal with.

I have a front mounted blower that I us almost exclusively now. If you are looking for a long term solution and you get plenty of snow I would seriously look into a blower over a plow. It's not as fast for smaller storms but I just make a pass down one side of my driveway and back up the other. Unlike a plow where the vehicle's power, traction, and weight are all needed the blower does the work and all that's needed from the vehicle is to slowly move forward. The pictures I've seen of UTV snow blowers have wheels so they don't even weigh down the UTV's front suspension. A plow is hard on a vehicle but a snow slower shouldn't be.

 

[m7040]

Yes I have the Boss V plow it angles forward as needed to push up into piles. You can move each side blade separately. Absolutely love it. Very heavy duty. Installed it myself and saved a ton of money by buying at the end of season.

 

[m7040]

Actually the side blades move together into a V for plowing or moving them out for piling up in snow banks

 

[ArlyA]

We use a 6x6 but for snow, we have pods on it. On it we use a 6ft blade and couldn't be more happy with what it can push and we really do receive snow here in the big lake snow district. I can't comment on doing that job with rubber tire equipped machine. Why mess around? Get pods! I have a thread about using this plow somewhere here.

Hope that helps.

 

[ArlyA]

I've also used a UTV to push snow with. Both of these machines have CVT transmissions.

 

[Bocephous]

I had a 2007 Suzuki Vinson ATV for 13 years and plowed snow with it for many of them, no issue. Plowed a 1/2 mile track around our field, and sometimes even a couple of our logging roads. I traded that in on a 2020 Yamaha Wolverine X2 and will be purchasing a 66" KFI plow set-up for it soon. Be back at the end of the winter, God-willing, to report my findings.

 

[ededic]

I love the exhaust stacks on your Gator. That's one advantage I can see to looking for something older is the freedom to mod it up. Is there any chance you are related to a guy in his early 90's named Joe that i know? You share a last name with him and he moved back to western Michigan from the middle of the state a couple years ago. He still sends birthday cards to my kids.

Thanks. The video in the series “to make a grown man giggle” is the night my neighbor and I built those stacks. The stacks kept the exhaust out of the cab when backing up and also provided the heat in the cab.

Sorry, I don’t know Joe. He sounds like someone I would like to know.

 

[milkman636]

We use a 6x6 but for snow, we have pods on it. On it we use a 6ft blade and couldn't be more happy with what it can push and we really do receive snow here in the big lake snow district. I can't comment on doing that job with rubber tire equipped machine. Why mess around? Get pods! I have a thread about using this plow somewhere here.

Hope that helps.

That does help. You probably get double the amount of snow as I do. And I've previously looked at the x2 sportsman, which is the 4 wheeled version of your big boss, as a replacement or my Rancher. It offers a little more power and utility than my Rancher did, How many winters have you used the Polaris? How has it held up? And are those Polaris branded tracks? That Rhino pic is probably a good sign for my potential Viking path also. Have you experienced any issues with the rhino and plowing?

 

[grsthegreat]

My kawasaki 4010 mule came with a plow. I tried it....useless really. If i had sidewalks than maybe. But for long driveways. No. Took it off. The wife tried using it to move manure piles during summer in horse pens...worked ok for that..

My plow and front blower on tractor are too easy to move snow to bother with utv.

 

[milkman636]

My kawasaki 4010 mule came with a plow. I tried it....useless really. If i had sidewalks than maybe. But for long driveways. No. Took it off. The wife tried using it to move manure piles during summer in horse pens...worked ok for that..

My plow and front blower on tractor are too easy to move snow to bother with utv.

I'm a little gun shy on snow blowers. I had a bad experience about a dozen years ago with the only snowblower I've ever owned. It met a big rock that one of my kids left in my driveway. The rock was completely covered by a foot deep snow and I had no idea it was there. Basically it was the perfect sized "murphy" stone to trash my blower, light enough that the front auger could pick it up, but big enough that it trashed the impeller when it hit the throat of the chute. Multiple shear bolts sheared, but not before one the augers bent, and the spinning impeller bent backward and gouged into into the housing, and cracked the metal housing. So that blower went bye-bye during the second winter I had it. I sold it for for $350 for parts basically and I never tried another. The only problem I've ever had in 35 years of blading snow was a broken 3 pt. lift arm on an old Ford tractor in sub-zero weather. All that took was a quick trip to the farm store and a couple wrenches to fix.