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

[milkman636]

dont know average.....but here are some pics View attachment 668881 View attachment 668882 View attachment 668883 View attachment 668884

That definitely qualifies as heavy snowfall. My biggest snow event of a winter will typically be 15"-18". snows of 8" to 12" are more common. I only remember a couple that have broke 20". Some years are milder, but in the last decade we've had two winters where we didn't see grass from December til April, and I've had 8' high piles in my snow dumps and 6 footers at the end of my driveways. But it doesn't come all at once, and it rarely gets over knee deep in the yard here. Do those big snows stick around for several weeks where you're at? or do you typically get melt between snows?

 

[PILOON]

Think physics.
To push a load the pusher needs 2 things.
Weight and traction.
You need the pusher to be heavier that the pushed load plus you need traction.
OK, add weights and chains on all 4 wheels and U can push a fair bit but then will the drive linkage be up to it?

I see UTV's handling minor snow events, like a few inches*-- but not major events**.

* those U can usually drive thru
**those you can't other than with 4WD (maybe).

I'm in snow country!
I've seen a few contractors try UTV's for light fast service but all changed their minds and soon returned to plow trucks or big tractors with highway gearing and blowers.

 

[milkman636]

HST transmission's are not the "cure-all" for UTV's and I personally wouldn't buy one.

HSTs are most efficient at low flow conditions. They are a trade off. The RTV has two things going for it for plowing snow: weight and the HST. My personal experience is that both are helpful in low speed snow plowing. The trade-off would be a huge drop off in HST performance at top speed, and the higher maintenance cost for filters and fluids.

Right now, the newest thing with wheels and an engine I have is 8 years old. So I've been trying to look at owners manuals for different equipment I'm considering to get a feel for maintenance. Frankly, I'm surprised at the amount of maintenance items listed on the RTVs. Its more than I expected.

 

[grsthegreat]

That definitely qualifies as heavy snowfall. My biggest snow event of a winter will typically be 15"-18". snows of 8" to 12" are more common. I only remember a couple that have broke 20". Some years are milder, but in the last decade we've had two winters where we didn't see grass from December til April, and I've had 8' high piles in my snow dumps and 6 footers at the end of my driveways. But it doesn't come all at once, and it rarely gets over knee deep in the yard here. Do those big snows stick around for several weeks where you're at? or do you typically get melt between snows?

Our biggest overnight snow event since i have been here was 48? Our snows generally stay throughout season, but not always. Last season it kept melting between snows, but didnt fully melt off till nearly april. Very long , but not an overly cold winter. During actual snow season, on average, we can get 4-6 a night so pretty easy to keep up with. I have quite a few neighbors that use atv plows and as long as they catch snowfall early, they do ok. But on large dumps, they really struggle. Seems like they never catch up. No one here has tracks on them.
In the past i have had to go clear their driveways with blower or plow. Especially when their driveways have narrowed down to width of atv.

 

[milkman636]

Think physics.
To push a load the pusher needs 2 things.
Weight and traction.
You need the pusher to be heavier that the pushed load plus you need traction.
OK, add weights and chains on all 4 wheels and U can push a fair bit but then will the drive linkage be up to it?

I see UTV's handling minor snow events, like a few inches*-- but not major events**.

* those U can usually drive thru
**those you can't other than with 4WD (maybe).

I'm in snow country!
I've seen a few contractors try UTV's for light fast service but all changed their minds and soon returned to plow trucks or big tractors with highway gearing and blowers.

My plan is to keep my current tractor setup and add the UTV/ATV capability for light and moderate snows, along with doing with the 300' of sidewalk duties I'll be picking up next winter. I also have kids that like to ride bikes and quads, and I have fun tailing along behind them. There's no one perfect product, I'm just hoping to find the one with the best chance of serving both functions and providing me the ability to carry a passenger or some other stuff too. Plow trucks and tractors aren't gonna do well on some of the places I plan to go with the UTV.

But then again, the whole point of this thread is to see if my expectations of being able to remove snow regularly on a UTV that can go 40 mph are realistic. So far it seems like we have several members doing it and I haven't had a horror story yet. So who's got one to share?

 

[milkman636]

We are quite happy with the Boss 6x6 and since its a working machine, has something the in box nearly all of the time. It also pushes snow quite well. Let us know what you end up with. :thumbsup:

Probably the next quote I'll get will be on one of these: Specs: PRO XD 2G AWD - Avalanche Gray | Polaris Commercial

It's like the ranger with a 4" longer wheel base and 7" longer bed, and 250 lbs. more payload capacity.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Moving any kind of real snow with a UTV is (in my mind) like having to eat Thanksgiving Dinner with one of those Plastic Take Out Food Sporks! First, you can "Probably" do it, until it breaks.

 

[ArlyA]

Moving any kind of real snow with a UTV is (in my mind) like having to eat Thanksgiving Dinner with one of those Plastic Take Out Food Sporks! First, you can "Probably" do it, until it breaks.

Can you tell us about your atv or utv snow pushing experience?? I've done both, and used our 6x6 to clear our yard and drive with. You couldn't pull that machine from my cold, stiff fingers. Will this machine work for the OP??? No idea!

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have friends that have destroyed their UTVs plowing snow. I have a friend who works in a shop where landscapers, apartment complexes, government take their wrecked stuff to get repaired. Believe me, I have heard the stories.

As for my Diesel Mule with the lift kit and larger tires. 4wd, lockding dif. Thing is about the most useless vehicle on the planet when the snow is beyond six inches or so. I require a vehicle that can (generally speaking) drive in any amount of uncleared snow. NOT have to make a cleared place first.

I also had a DIESEL 8wd, ARGO (factory prototype) with tracks. Also, snowmobile transmission. Again, such a recreational based machine just can't compete with heavier equipment.

 

[DIXIEDOG]

HST transmission's are not the "cure-all" for UTV's and I personally wouldn't buy one.

Same here except I'd have to say "I personally wouldn't buy one"... again. CVTs work very well I pulled my clutch apart on my 12' 825i to clean it up....all those years of plowing and the belt still looks great.

HSTs work well on tractors but for a side by side I'd rather have more immediate power response, in my opinion a properly tuned CVT gives better power delivery

 

[East30]

I'm three years into my RTV1100 for plowing. It's certainly a skill to push snow, hats off to those who do it well. I've had good luck with mine, I'll upgrade the plow when I move further north into retirement. For now it works great, for $600 with extended push bars to make sure the tracks are clear and connects to the front hitch receiver. (I bought a scratch/dent return, I think they're $750 or so.) It's a Denali 66" Pro model. An electric hydraulic system is available for directing the blade, but I passed on that. Hasn't been an issue, but I'm sure it would be hard to live without once you have it. Slow and steady I can push a lot of snow. With the tracks I go up and over the existing mound of snow and simply keep extending it further out past the driveway into the yard, and not upwards. I've had no issues doing so. Plus having heat and the radio, I don't mind going a bit slower.

 

[milkman636]

I have friends that have destroyed their UTVs plowing snow. I have a friend who works in a shop where landscapers, apartment complexes, government take their wrecked stuff to get repaired. Believe me, I have heard the stories.

As for my Diesel Mule with the lift kit and larger tires. 4wd, lockding dif. Thing is about the most useless vehicle on the planet when the snow is beyond six inches or so. I require a vehicle that can (generally speaking) drive in any amount of uncleared snow. NOT have to make a cleared place first.

I also had a DIESEL 8wd, ARGO (factory prototype) with tracks. Also, snowmobile transmission. Again, such a recreational based machine just can't compete with heavier equipment.

I've done work for several property managers and government organizations in my lifetime. I'd venture to guess most of their typical equipment users could ruin any piece of equipment. If you told me owner/operators were having those troubles I'd find it more concerning. I'm interested in more specifics about you Mule problems though. Are all four tires spinning when you have trouble in 6" of snow? Is it a traction issue? or an issue with differentials that aren't actually locking? Ground clearance? I ask this because I remember pulling a guy with a lifted Ram pickup out of a ditch down the road from me. He had one front wheel spinning in the air and his truck was crippled. He was not very happy with his truck either.

 

[milkman636]

Same here except I'd have to say "I personally wouldn't buy one"... again. CVTs work very well I pulled my clutch apart on my 12' 825i to clean it up....all those years of plowing and the belt still looks great.

HSTs work well on tractors but for a side by side I'd rather have more immediate power response, in my opinion a properly tuned CVT gives better power delivery

8 years of plowing and other use on the same belt sounds great! That's what i'd be hoping for. I can only guess that Maine would get more cold and snow that I do. How many hours/miles do you have on the machine?

 

[milkman636]

I'm three years into my RTV1100 for plowing. It's certainly a skill to push snow, hats off to those who do it well. I've had good luck with mine, I'll upgrade the plow when I move further north into retirement. For now it works great, for $600 with extended push bars to make sure the tracks are clear and connects to the front hitch receiver. (I bought a scratch/dent return, I think they're $750 or so.) It's a Denali 66" Pro model. An electric hydraulic system is available for directing the blade, but I passed on that. Hasn't been an issue, but I'm sure it would be hard to live without once you have it. Slow and steady I can push a lot of snow. With the tracks I go up and over the existing mound of snow and simply keep extending it further out past the driveway into the yard, and not upwards. I've had no issues doing so. Plus having heat and the radio, I don't mind going a bit slower.
View attachment 669097

That's a nice rig. Slow and easy is much less likely to damage things anyway. Unfortunately that business of making a living usually puts some time pressure on the seat time. But, I'd love to try a rig like yours out some time. You and ArlyA have me wanting to try some tracks now to see hat I might be missing. I wonder if they would fix Indusrtial Toys trouble with his Mule?

 

[ArlyA]

Milk, tracks* or pods, which is there real name are spendy but I'd not push squat of snow without them. Not sure I'd even have a blade without them but most of my snow pushing is on the yards grass or packed snow. Nonetheless, the 6ft blade has been good addition for us. We do not run the pods after snow is gone.

We did do two days of joy riding with the machine in snow this past winter. Below the links are to the events.

Here is one. Here is another we did at a old cat rondo old cats

*tracks are the rubber part with lugs. Pods are the entire unit you add to give you extra flotation.

In this photo, we are parked on 4ft of base.

 

[East30]

That's a nice rig. Slow and easy is much less likely to damage things anyway. Unfortunately that business of making a living usually puts some time pressure on the seat time. But, I'd love to try a rig like yours out some time. You and ArlyA have me wanting to try some tracks now to see what I might be missing. I wonder if they would fix Industrial Toys trouble with his Mule?

On thing I'll add, since the photo was taken and breaking the winch cable plowing, I added a block & tackle. It's a big difference for winch style plowing, I think. More control, by slowing the lift and drop by half speed and a true lift rather than pulling back to raise the blade. Easier overall on the winch too. I switched to a synthetic cable as well.

 

[shooterdon]

The key for the OP is he is using it for light snows and sidewalks. He has a tractor for the heavy work. A UTV solution should work for him.

I used a Polaris 850 with a plow as my only snow weapon for two winters. I needed chains and it was useless for piling up mounds of snow, but it got the job done and I live where we get 120-140" of snow a year. I never damaged anything. I had the Polaris brand plow on it. I broke two shear pins so that is how you "protect" the UTV from excessive forces. Carry two spares with you as you SOL without them. You can use a bolt in a pinch but then you might prang something if you are not careful.

I would never recommend a UTV as the only snow weapon for areas with heavy snow.

BTW, those tracks are not cheap and it takes over an hour to put them on and remove them. They will reduce your speed by 50% and throw mud all over you so they need to come off for riding trails. I had a set and sold them.

Lastly, I would never buy a Polaris SxS after owning two of them. I currently have a Kawasaki Mule and it comes with a three year warranty. Polaris warranty is 6 months IIRC...and there is a reason for it being so short. You will not need an extended warranty with a Kawasaki or Yamaha IMHO.

 

[ruffdog]

On thing I'll add, since the photo was taken and breaking the winch cable plowing, I added a block & tackle. It's a big difference for winch style plowing, I think. More control, by slowing the lift and drop by half speed and a true lift rather than pulling back to raise the blade. Easier overall on the winch too. I switched to a synthetic cable as well.

View attachment 669130

If I were you, I'd get the plow mount further back on the UTV to shorten the entire package. Then, the lift point for the plow would be closer and more direct to the lift point.

 

[nybirdman]

Just picked up my Moose,60" plow for my Kodiak.Front mount with the pulley system(RM 5).Should be an easy quick install when needed.This will be the back-up to my Kubota with an 8ft.FEL mounted plow.Plowed with my old Kawasaki ATV for years,so have no doubts the new Yamaha with do fine.

 

[milkman636]

The key for the OP is he is using it for light snows and sidewalks. He has a tractor for the heavy work. A UTV solution should work for him.

I used a Polaris 850 with a plow as my only snow weapon for two winters. I needed chains and it was useless for piling up mounds of snow, but it got the job done and I live where we get 120-140" of snow a year. I never damaged anything. I had the Polaris brand plow on it. I broke two shear pins so that is how you "protect" the UTV from excessive forces. Carry two spares with you as you SOL without them. You can use a bolt in a pinch but then you might prang something if you are not careful.

I would never recommend a UTV as the only snow weapon for areas with heavy snow.

BTW, those tracks are not cheap and it takes over an hour to put them on and remove them. They will reduce your speed by 50% and throw mud all over you so they need to come off for riding trails. I had a set and sold them.

Lastly, I would never buy a Polaris SxS after owning two of them. I currently have a Kawasaki Mule and it comes with a three year warranty. Polaris warranty is 6 months IIRC...and there is a reason for it being so short. You will not need an extended warranty with a Kawasaki or Yamaha IMHO.

That's all good feedback shooterdon. So the pods must effectively have something like a 2:1 gear reduction. That would definitely add some grunt to the additional flotation and traction. It would be interesting to try a wheeled version of a vehicle in snow and then switch to a version with pods. Mounting/dismounting, maintenance, longevity, and cost would all have to be looked into more before investing in a set. But, they're still something I'll be on the lookout for an opportunity to try whenever a future opportunity presents itself.

That Polaris SxS owner feedback is kinda why I'm skittish. I know two guys that love them, but they both seem to be trading them out every 12-18 months. A friend of mine has a 15 year old midsize ranger that he just uses for tooling around his his hunting property, but I don't feel that experience quite represents what I'm looking for. What were the biggest issues you had with your Polaris SxS?