# Plow Clearance?



## matstang (Dec 17, 2009)

Hello all! Nice to have found a good forum with what seems to be a bunch of knowledgeable guys helping each other out! I came across a good deal on an older ATV 
(96 Kawasaki Bayou 300 4x4) for $750. Well, a week ago I came across a 3 year old CC plow for $100 and couldn't pass it up. My intent was really not to plow with this machine, but I figured I couldn't go wrong for the price! Well, I fabricated up my own mount and it works great--all except the push tubes contact the bottom of the frame when lifting the plow and it only leaves me with 6 1/2 inches of clearance. (Raising the plow with a winch BTW). Is there anything besides a permanant lift/bigger tires I can do to remedy my problem? I have to take driveway dips very slowly and at an angle so as to not bottom the plow out. Oh, and my wear bar is about due for replacement...that means clearance is only going to get worse!! Any help would be ... well, a big help!


----------



## sublime68charge (Dec 28, 2007)

if you drop your rear mounting Point down a couple of inches you can than raise your plow up higher.

How much is dependent upon how much lower your willing to drop the back mounting point.

the First Gen Moose Plows had there connecting point pins running right through the square Tubes. This cause 2 main problems first being low Plow lift height due to plow tubes running into the bottom of ATV much like your problem and 2nd being there mounting plate on ATV had brackets that hung down low and got bent up when rinding over rocks and logs in summer time. 

There 2nd Gen Mount had almost the same tube design excpet at the square tube end was weld on the end of the tubes was a plate that stuck up 2" and was pinned into the ATV mounting plate that had only a 1/2" drops for this plate to be pinned into. by lowering the rear connect point now the blade could be raised higher and also you are much less likley to bend up the connecting points on the ATV plate. you said that you made your own mounting plate so I would thinkg to make drop extension to lower your rear blade mounting point down a couple of inches is not beyond your skill level.

How much is hard to say. 

you could also bow your tubes so that you can get some more lift out of them before they hit the bottom of the ATV.

My dad has plowed with a CC blade on a Kawi Praire 360 since 99 and last year his tubes was dragging on the ground with the blade down to many years of being pulled up tight to the bottom of ATV and alot of Snow pile smashing I would guess. Took them off of ATV and had them bent back straight and then Welded some angle Iron down the Push tubes to help keep em straight.

just my thoughts on this 

sublime out.


----------



## chuckraduenz (Jan 4, 2009)

i built my own plow. and 6"s seems about right. sub has given good ideas. i bent my push tube fram some to get a few more MM's out of it to get it on my trailer. and to prevent the tubes from bending anymore. get a spring and put it between the winch and plow hook. i did this on mine and it works great.


----------



## matstang (Dec 17, 2009)

Thanks sub for the input. I've thought about bending the tubes, but didn't know if that would affect the angle of the plow in some negative way. However, didn't think about dropping the mount plate down an inch or so. I do plan on removing the mount for summer riding because it would cause some interference so that might be a good option. Chuck, do you have clearance issues or is 6" enough? And, the spring you've installed is between the hook and the winch cable? Or do you simply hook the winch hook to the spring which is connected to the plow? Ok and I'm gonna cheat and ask another question...can I just replace the wear bar with any 1/4 steel plate or do I need to by the CC wear bar? Thanks again boys...


----------



## chuckraduenz (Jan 4, 2009)

if you lower your plate .you will get a bit more hight. i havent had no issues. but im not loading my wheeler into the back of my truck where i need 3' of clearance. if you just plan to use it round the yar 6 will be fine. the spring is hooked to the plow. the winch is hooked to the spring. iv used 2 differnt springs so far. a door compresshion spring (door spring) and another spring i got at my last work. this way it has some free play. yes you can use a 1/4" plate. thats what i have on my homemade plow. this is my second winter and its only wore off 1/4" but 1/8" of that was the one corner of the wear bar. so really its only wore off 1/8". you will just need to get regular bolts as careage bolts wont work due to the drilled round holes.


----------



## matstang (Dec 17, 2009)

Cool, thanks. Yeah I don't have clearance issues loading it into my truck. Just have a small 4wd Toyota so not much of a ramp angle to deal with. I think I'll just lower the mount holes on my mounting plate. Thanks for the trick with the spring as well. I read that in another post of yours and am only now considering doing it! Also, kudos on a good looking homemade plow. I'll have to get that wear bar replaced soon as I've only got about 1/4 left until I'd hit the plow!


----------



## matstang (Dec 17, 2009)

Just an update: I had a good days worth of plowing yesterday and found that 6 inches is probably the minumum amount of clearance that I'd want on my plow! It worked fine and I did scrape a little when going through driveway dips, buy that's what plows do--scrape! Thanks for the input.


----------

