Plowing 1/2 mile driveway with a UTV. Should it be done?

[ruffdog]

I think the OP will be wanting something around a 7ft+ wide. Once you figure the loss of width from angling the plow, anything less gets pretty narrow. A long run like his drive you want to limit spillover on the ends of the plow and a good angle would do that. Each pass will overlap some of the previous pass too.

 

[LD48750]

I think the OP will be wanting something around a 7ft+ wide. Once you figure the loss of width from angling the plow, anything less gets pretty narrow. A long run like his drive you want to limit spillover on the ends of the plow and a good angle would do that. Each pass will overlap some of the previous pass too.

If he's got open fields all along the drive, just make 4 passes instead of trying to do it with two.

 

[Old Red]

So funny how some folks just don't get it....I plowed my entire neighborhood Saturday. It is a heck of a lot longer than the 1/2 mile drive. It is a blacktop road that has hills, curves.....you name it, it's got it....The UTVs are plowing machines I'm here to tell you. Like I said, I have a Pro Motoalliance Denali Plow and it performs great, but they now make Commercial Western, Boss, Snow Dog, and other type of V Plows for these things. I was talking to a rep and he said the UTV market is picking up a lot of steam and where they are all finding new business because of the success commercial plow operators have had with using UTVs. And get into the kubtoa cab hydro model and you are talking about some serious weight....just not a lot of ponies but you would probably run out of traction before power. My Heavy Duty version of my Polaris ranger is 46HP. I ran off the road while plowing off a steep imbactment and almost tipped over....just lifted the plow, backed up, and tanked right back out in the road. Please do not underestimate the plowing capability of a UTV outfitted with a 6 foot plow. Also, out of all the junk you own and will continue to buy, the UTV as said by the majority of folks on here is one purchase they have not regretted.

I found some stats last night and Polaris Ranger 900XP is the most popular work UTV out of all the UTVs..here are the survey results from over 800 Snow Removal Contractors and the UTVs they own:

35% Polaris

20% Honda

14.5% Yamaha

10.2% Kawasaki

9.2% John Deere

8.7% Kubota

Polaris kinda got a bad rap in the beginning when they had 2 stroke utility ATVs up against the Honda 300.... But boy have times changed. I was a die hard Honda fan all my life growing up. I remember when my father in law bought a 1996 Sportsman 500 4X4. I thought he was crazy. It was belt driven, independent rear suspension, could take 4x4 in and out, automatic...all sorts of stuff. I still have that thing and still use it a lot. Rides like a dream. Around the same time I bought a brand new Honda Forman 450 4x4 that would beat my brains out while driving it on the trails.

 

[jpeters9605]

I use a John Deere Gator 855D for my farm. Driveway is 1500 feet and parking area is large enough to fit 20 cars or so. Use a Boss Vplow and and an 800 lb capacity salt dawg salter on the back. love the way everything works. If the banks get to high I just use the tractor to move them back. If you have access to a tractor you father has then I don't see a reason not to do it. My place is 100 acres and I use the gator every day.

 

[Old Red]

I use a John Deere Gator 855D for my farm. Driveway is 1500 feet and parking area is large enough to fit 20 cars or so. Use a Boss Vplow and and an 800 lb capacity salt dawg salter on the back. love the way everything works. If the banks get to high I just use the tractor to move them back. If you have access to a tractor you father has then I don't see a reason not to do it. My place is 100 acres and I use the gator every day.

You have my dream setup.....how do you like your Boss V plow? I am seriously considering one of these things!

 

[jpeters9605]

You have my dream setup.....how do you like your Boss V plow? I am seriously considering one of these things!

Love it. Only issue is the power drain. Alt doesn't keep up when the LED lights are on and the plow is going. Keep it on a auto charger when not using it and all is good.

 

[jpeters9605]

You have my dream setup.....how do you like your Boss V plow? I am seriously considering one of these things!

Also you'd need to put in the HD front struts $230 and rear rubber coil spacer $30. once I did that all good. Fisher and western are making the Vplow for them now too.

 

[teejk]

So funny how some folks just don't get it....I plowed my entire neighborhood Saturday. It is a heck of a lot longer than the 1/2 mile drive. It is a blacktop road that has hills, curves.....you name it, it's got it....The UTVs are plowing machines I'm here to tell you. Like I said, I have a Pro Motoalliance Denali Plow and it performs great, but they now make Commercial Western, Boss, Snow Dog, and other type of V Plows for these things. I was talking to a rep and he said the UTV market is picking up a lot of steam and where they are all finding new business because of the success commercial plow operators have had with using UTVs. And get into the kubtoa cab hydro model and you are talking about some serious weight....just not a lot of ponies but you would probably run out of traction before power. My Heavy Duty version of my Polaris ranger is 46HP. I ran off the road while plowing off a steep imbactment and almost tipped over....just lifted the plow, backed up, and tanked right back out in the road. Please do not underestimate the plowing capability of a UTV outfitted with a 6 foot plow. Also, out of all the junk you own and will continue to buy, the UTV as said by the majority of folks on here is one purchase they have not regretted.

I found some stats last night and Polaris Ranger 900XP is the most popular work UTV out of all the UTVs..here are the survey results from over 800 Snow Removal Contractors and the UTVs they own:

35% Polaris

20% Honda

14.5% Yamaha

10.2% Kawasaki

9.2% John Deere

8.7% Kubota

Polaris kinda got a bad rap in the beginning when they had 2 stroke utility ATVs up against the Honda 300.... But boy have times changed. I was a die hard Honda fan all my life growing up. I remember when my father in law bought a 1996 Sportsman 500 4X4. I thought he was crazy. It was belt driven, independent rear suspension, could take 4x4 in and out, automatic...all sorts of stuff. I still have that thing and still use it a lot. Rides like a dream. Around the same time I bought a brand new Honda Forman 450 4x4 that would beat my brains out while driving it on the trails.

Honda's problem is that they seem to have given up on the ATV/UTV market and their dealer network is becoming almost non-existent. They continue to make solid machines. I bought one 2 years ago because of their reputation...nothing sexy with simple Forward/Reverse and 2WD/4WD/4WD lock (unlike a Polaris that I looked at that reminded my of an airline cockpit)...but the dealer is a long trip.

 

[teejk]

I think the OP will be wanting something around a 7ft+ wide. Once you figure the loss of width from angling the plow, anything less gets pretty narrow. A long run like his drive you want to limit spillover on the ends of the plow and a good angle would do that. Each pass will overlap some of the previous pass too.

If my math is correct, a 7' plow angled at 45 degrees will cut a 5' path which is about the width of the Honda Pioneer 700/Polaris Ranger 650. With the power/speed on modern UTV's a driveway could be done in a shorter amount of time than my old CC 1250 (and you could buy a windshield!). But (again) if something NASTY is coming, try to stay ahead of it.

 

[2ndhalf]

So funny how some folks just don't get it....I plowed my entire neighborhood Saturday. It is a heck of a lot longer than the 1/2 mile drive. It is a blacktop road that has hills, curves.....you name it, it's got it....The UTVs are plowing machines I'm here to tell you. Like I said, I have a Pro Motoalliance Denali Plow and it performs great, but they now make Commercial Western, Boss, Snow Dog, and other type of V Plows for these things. I was talking to a rep and he said the UTV market is picking up a lot of steam and where they are all finding new business because of the success commercial plow operators have had with using UTVs. And get into the kubtoa cab hydro model and you are talking about some serious weight....just not a lot of ponies but you would probably run out of traction before power. My Heavy Duty version of my Polaris ranger is 46HP. I ran off the road while plowing off a steep imbactment and almost tipped over....just lifted the plow, backed up, and tanked right back out in the road. Please do not underestimate the plowing capability of a UTV outfitted with a 6 foot plow. Also, out of all the junk you own and will continue to buy, the UTV as said by the majority of folks on here is one purchase they have not regretted.

I found some stats last night and Polaris Ranger 900XP is the most popular work UTV out of all the UTVs..here are the survey results from over 800 Snow Removal Contractors and the UTVs they own:

35% Polaris

20% Honda

14.5% Yamaha

10.2% Kawasaki

9.2% John Deere

8.7% Kubota

Polaris kinda got a bad rap in the beginning when they had 2 stroke utility ATVs up against the Honda 300.... But boy have times changed. I was a die hard Honda fan all my life growing up. I remember when my father in law bought a 1996 Sportsman 500 4X4. I thought he was crazy. It was belt driven, independent rear suspension, could take 4x4 in and out, automatic...all sorts of stuff. I still have that thing and still use it a lot. Rides like a dream. Around the same time I bought a brand new Honda Forman 450 4x4 that would beat my brains out while driving it on the trails.

I feel your Pain Red. Folks get it in their head you have to do things a certain way and if it ain't that way it ain't the right way. I put a blade on my ZTR one year and all my neighbors told me how I was going to tear up my ZTR. IT was a commercial grade ZTR I paid over $7k for and not some dept. store job.

I plowed snow with that thing about 6 years with no problems; did my neighbors all with long drives and all of them kept telling me how it wouldn't work tear up my Z blah blah blah. Grasshopper makes a snow blade for their Z and it plows like a beast. I had one for a year and sold it for a profiit after using it a whole year. You know you can do that if you buy right : )

Here is a pic of the one I built a bracket for and plowed with for 6 years and sold the entire rig still working great!

If I ever do buy a UTV, you can bet it is getting a plow put on it.