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Using an ATV to plow snow

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vick12
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4 Syracuse, NY
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2002-07-10          40245

Anyone with experience plowing snow with an ATV? Looking at the Yamaha 660 Grizzly. Needs to be able to handle 12" of wet snow. I'm torn between ATV/small tractor and suspect I'll go tractor just to be safe. But the ATV would be more fun, so hoping you can talk me into it. TIA, Bob

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jwa
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2002-07-10          40249

I plow with a Honda Foreman 400, about 1/4 mile dirt road in up state NY. It does a great job but the rough road I dont think is to good on the four wheeler. The mount system for the plow is on the small tub frame and Im seeing some wear at the mount locations.

If your plowing on a paved drive way you will be ok, otherwise I would go for a compact tractor. Ive been looking for one but just have not found the right deal yet.

The four wheeler plows great, I bought chains for it but only used them once when I first got it. Found that the four wheel drive is more that enough to plow. Also Id go with the larger plow, I got the small one and now wish I would have went larger.

....

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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
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2002-07-11          40273

The guy across the street from me when I lived in Alaska had a four-wheeler and a plow. It was a step up from the Sears garden tractor I was using, which was next to useless. I finally got a lightweight Winter Wolf plow for the front of my truck. It would move snow 6 or 8 times faster than the four-wheeler across the street. The ATV will do the job but be prepared to spend a lot of time in the saddle. A compact tractor or a small pick-up with a 82-inch blade will do it much, much faster. Plus you can get the whole kit for around a thousand bucks. Tough to find anything worthwhile that you can hang off a tractor for that price. ....


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dsg
Join Date: Jun 1999
Posts: 528 Franklin, Maine
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2002-07-11          40282

Vick,
I plowed snow with a Honda Foreman 350 for 8-yrs. and a 400 for 2-yrs. I've plowed both wet and dry snow from 2" to 18" and would never do it again. You could buy a 4WD pickup with a plow on it for $1500 and save alot of $$$.
On the other hand if you bought a tractor you could use it for many other things. Plowing with an ATV is very time consumming, you would need chains for wet snow and the smaller the plow blade the better. A larger blade will push the ATV to the side, you don't have weight on your side like with a truck. I have 2-Honda's, ATV's are a blast But not for plowing or heavy ground engaging work.

David ....

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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2002-07-12          40290

I saw a friend plowing the parking lot of her family's hotel with her 4-wheeler two winters ago. She had just gotten a blade and was trying it out. The snow that was there was fairly hard and my impression was of the blade bouncing around a lot and snow coming off both ends of the blade and probably underneath as well.

I don't remember the blade angling but you'd think it would about have to. If it didn't angle, snow would come off both ends of the short blade, and you really couldn't clear a very wide area. But even if the blade did angle, I imagine the snow would get too deep trying to plow the stuff that had already been plowed.

Anyway, back and forth across the parking lot she goes all the while we were eating. She was playing with a new toy. I've never seen her or anybody else try to clear that lot with the 4-wheeler after that. They have a Cherokee with a blade, which isn't all that great either. Serious plowing here is done with 3/4-ton 4x4's.

For speed, you can't beat a truck since in moderate snows they plow about 10 mph faster than road gear on most tractors. I think tractors with a blade work at around 7-mph and maybe 3-mph with a blower. A tractor with a loader and blower may have an advantage over a truck in very heavy snows and drifts. A blower also can save a lot of time if there's no convenient place to put the plowed snow. A major skill in snow plowing is figuring out where to pile it and how far back to push it so you don't run out of space by spring.
....

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vick12
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4 Syracuse, NY
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2002-07-12          40305

Yeah, I was afraid of that but figured I had to give it a shot. Thanks for all the feedback, off to explore the tractor forums. ....

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dgavin
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 19 West Wisconsin
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2002-07-29          40800

The question is TRACTION !
I plow in Minnesota with a Kodiak 400 with no problem 85% of the time.The power is more than plenty but keeping traction is the trick.Get some good chains and even a 250
will do the job. ....

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RichardD
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 12 NY
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2003-02-21          49742

I agree with Mark. I bought a winter wolf ($450 at BJ's - it was a floor model demo, awsome price - snowbear, the company, set me up with everything) for my Pathfinder, and now use it on my Trooper. Go to www.snowbear.co to see all the trucks and "fake" trucks they make mounts for. You will be amazed. I knew someone who had one on a Geo tracker. Another guy had one on his chevy van, 2wd, carpet cleaning truck. He plowed his own driveway. In big snow he used chains. If you have a truck, get the winter wolf. It is not commercial grade, but it works real well. ....

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RichardD
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 12 NY
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2003-02-21          49743

obviously, it is www.snowbear.com I forgot the "m" ....

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plots1
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 563 mo
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2003-02-21          49744

iuse big bear 400 4x4 works fine but like mark said its time consuming.go with compact tractor if you have very much to do, asyou can push larger blade. ....

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NoExperience
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 3 Arnols, California
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2003-10-17          66487

ATVs are great for a lot of things, but moving snow isn't one of them. They are too light and therefore don't have enought traction. As said by others, get a 4x4 truck and plow. ....

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kubotaguy
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 360 Shepherdstown, WV
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2003-11-26          69705

I'd definitely go with a compact tractor. Then buy a 2 wheel drive ATV to play with. I plow snow with the compact tractor and then with the time left over play on a Honda 200 2 wheel drive. 2 wheel drive ATV's are less expensive to buy and the smaller ones are easier to handle when playing.
Have fun ....

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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2003-11-27          69758

Several people around here have them but I don't think anybody depends on them for clearing drives. They don't carry much snow on the short blades. Even if the blade angles so snow comes off only one end nothing very wide can be done. You end up plowing snow that was already plowed and it gets too deep pretty fast. The main use for them seems to be clearing walkways and paths to ice fishing huts.

A friend who had a hotel got a new 4wd ATV and got a blade for it a couple weeks later. We saw her racing back and forth across the hotel parking lot with the blade bouncing around and throwing up birms either side of the blade. It also was putting very little snow off the lot. She was playing and she only did it once and then it was back to the guy with the plow truck. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2003-11-27          69767

We used to use ATV's with blades for clearing sidewalks and they worked very well for that purpose, but all they had to do was basically roll 4' of snow off the sidewalk and over the curb into the parking lot where the plow truck could get to it.

Later we experimented with a subframe which held a small gas engine behind the ATV, and a snowblower intended for a garden tractor in the front. While it worked well it din't work any better than a good walk-behind model that cost half as much. Besides, you could only put one of them in the back of a truck, you can put 4 walk-behinds in the same pickup box.

Best of luck. ....

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kubotaguy
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 360 Shepherdstown, WV
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2003-12-03          70215

I remember when I was in college, they used to use John Deere gators with plows and salt spreaders on the back to clear and salt the side walks. They worked pretty well until the snow got too deep. I like the compact tractor as I can push snow with the FEL or pull with the blade on the back. We don't really get enough snow where I live (maybe 70 or 80 inches a year) to justify a blower. We did get a nice snow last year (about 30") but the little B-7200 I had pushed it out of the way, although the going was slow. ....

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Anonymous User
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2004-02-27          78099

Hi
I live in rural ohio and used an atv and 36" plow with chains to plow for several years. I now use a Kaw Mule 3000 with a 60" blade. It used to be ahrd work, now it is fun. Also alot more uses for that mule than the atv around the orchard.

thanks - Ken ....

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GaleHawkins
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 44 KY
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2004-03-20          80537

We were in Valley Forge in Jan (very cold and snowing)and the guy in charge of keeping the sidewalks and entrances clear liked his ATV plow. I do not remember the make but it look about the size of a Mule near me. It had the bench seat I beleive. ....

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NoExperience
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 3 Arnols, California
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2004-03-22          80763

ATV might be good for sidewalks, but when you have to push a lot of snow, an ATV just hasn' got enough weight to supply good traction, even a 4x4 w/chains.

In my neck of the woods, you need a tractor to plow (or a snowblower if ya' don't have a long driveway). ....

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rparch
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 16 West Central Wisconsin
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2004-09-04          95573

Hi
How about a Ranger 6x6 with weight in the box? ....

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Iowafun
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 955 Central Iowa
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2004-09-04          95579

Up der in northern Minnesota where I used to live, ATVs were used quite a bit to move snow. But then, we all worked for a manufacturer. My Sportsman 500 did a nice job pushing a 5 ft blade. But you had to be ready to turn and shove the snow pile off to the side. Wet snow especially as the weight of the snow would overcome the weight of the ATV. You make many short passes. In dry snow, you can plow like you were in a regular county snowplow (blade angled). But the wet stuff is real trouble.

I use a utility tractor now. It's nicer since where I'm at in Iowa, I often get bad drifts between the garage and shop. ATV wouldn't be able to handle the 3-5 ft drifts I get. The tractor with loader and blade works better for me. Plus I use it to mow 3 acres in summer. Loader works great for moving stuff like dirt for the wife's flower beds. Or for clearing the garden, etc. ....

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app_farmer
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 1 Todd, NC
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2004-12-15          102302

I've had good experience with a Prairie 360 4x4 and a 50" 3-way tilt blade. I live in Western NC at 3600' elevation, so it's not like I'm regularly dealing with blizzards, but we do get 3 or 4 10"-12" snowfalls per year (usually wet and heavy), and a bunch of 4"+ snowfalls besides (less than 4" and I don't usually bother plowing). I plow 1/3-2/3 of a mile, depending on what my neighbors have done before me (late sleeper here...). It is slow-going, but I have no problems with traction (the Kawa Prairie is >600 lbs.).

That said, there are some limitations. It takes at least two passes to clear a good vehicle path. Plowing is best accomplished on level ground or going down-hill. I occasionally push a little snow going back up, but it can't be much, and even so, I need to lock-up the front differential when doing so (the pull-to-lock diff. is a nice feature on Kawa's).

This atv/plow set-up was bought after a terrible experience of bending an auger on a BCS snow-blower attachment. After that, I would not recommend that anyone with a gravel driveway (particularly large gravel) even try to mess with snowblowers.

-app ....

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grinder
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 677 central Maine
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2004-12-16          102330

I plowed driveways and camproads here in Maine for 25 years,
with as many as 60 customers.
It seems to me it would depend on your location(how much snow),and what your trying to plow.
I have seen people get by with an ATV, until the snow banks
freeze up,and they are out of room.
For me , you just can't beat a small diesel tractor with a blower.
No lawn damage, don't have to go out in the middle of the night and open it up(pick up truck). and you have a tool(toy) that has many other year round uses.
How far from Art White are you? I'm sure he would be glad to help you. ....

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beagle
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1333 Michigan
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2004-12-16          102339

My neighbor plows his drive with an ATV, He needed to put small sheet metal screws in the treads for studs. Without the studs, he had no chance against even a 4" snow. I towed him out with the Kubot, what a great feeling.

His asphalt drive takes a beating from the studs. Doesn't seem worth it. ....

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brokenarrow
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1288 Wisconsin
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2005-01-24          104868

Beagle It takes all kinds I guess? A 3K driveway getting beat up with the studs dont make sense at all>
Kubotaguy
You are so right about the smaller atv. I have a recon and have a blast on it. My buddy has to back up and either go over the sapplings or screw around back and forth out in the woods (with out snow) I whip the little light thing around and keep jammin. I am a smaller guy so it aint so bad. Only thng I miss is the independant suspenstion. The old body is not as young as it used to be but you cant beat a small toy for fun! ....

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