# Can an ATV push.......



## Ipushsnow (Oct 29, 2007)

a sidewalk full of heavy, wet snow pushed on it by a city plow? I know it all varies, but lets say a 4x4 500cc atv like a Arctic Cat, Honda or Polaris. I have been strongly considering adding one to the fleet and ran into a friend that I knew used one for a years. He said, "skip it, they work great 80% of the time, but if the snow is wet they suck. Get a good 2 stage snow blower and be done with it." I know his was a larger (500-700cc) machine.

This kind of shocked me. I thought the torque these machines have is incredible, and they would eat through snow like that. So any truth to what he said?


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## EaTmYtAiLpIpEs (Aug 23, 2007)

i dont have a problem with heavy snow with my 2000 arctic cat 500 4x4. i would highly recommend one.


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## Dustball (Dec 5, 2008)

Ipushsnow;766800 said:


> This kind of shocked me. I thought the torque these machines have is incredible, and they would eat through snow like that. So any truth to what he said?


It's the traction, not the torque, that's the problem.


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## EaTmYtAiLpIpEs (Aug 23, 2007)

my quad can pull my 6klb boat without an issue because I move my boat all around camp with it. what you want is a heavy quad like mine or the other member on here with the military polaris atv.. the more weight and the bigger the cc the better. my quad weighs a little less then 800lbs without the plow. with the plow on and up it weighs in at about probably 900lbs.


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## leroycool (Jan 22, 2009)

i would say a quad moves snow much better than a snow blower ( i will never go back ) 

+1 quad 

i have a 300 honda and there has been nothing ( yet ) than i cant push


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## Steve G. (Jan 18, 2009)

Go with the ATV, the snow blowers are slow and they dont do well in heavy WET snow.

Ours is a polaris 600. The pic right below this... I got off the quad to take the picture (keep in mind this is heavy snow) .... when I got back on it, it pushed this pile from a dead stop with ease!


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## CityGuy (Dec 19, 2008)

Blowers and wet snow are not a good combination. We used to run an atv for sidewalks but the wind was just too much. We have since gone to an asv tracked machine with a modified blade.


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## Outty330 (Dec 4, 2008)

I run a 2004 Bombardier (Can Am)Outlander 330 and have had no problems pushing snow. I live in upstate NY and we get clobbered with lake effect and so far there has been nothing I was unable to push.


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## banksl&s (Sep 7, 2007)

500cc Arctic Cat and a 60" Moose plow and no problems here. The only thing you might run into is after the pile "freezes" you won't be able to move it. Stay on top of things and you shouldn't have a problem.


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## ABES (Jun 10, 2007)

Even with new tires the one I run struggles really bad in the deep snow. Honda 650 with a 60" blade. It is awesome for lighter snow though.


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## shtuk (Sep 7, 2008)

more than half of the snow i plow has been "missplaced" by city crews. there is no snowbank or furrow that my AC 500TRV cant move. I have added around 100lbs of weight, 50 on blade- 50 on rear of quad, which has improved my scraping capability.


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## nhgranite (Feb 26, 2009)

my v-twin 650 prairie worked better than my 700 single king quad motor wise. depends on how deep that heavy wet snow is and the surface your working with. an aired down a/t tire works best aswell.


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## sublime68charge (Dec 28, 2007)

I would say a V blade would be the best.
you set it in the V positions and just push the snow off to both sides'.

with straight blades angled you get plow steer and your leading edge will bite into the hard pack snow from the street more and knock you off the sidewalk.

With the V you just push straight through the snow.

yes it might take more work in the bigger snow falls' but in the smaller ones you can fly.

for the bigger snow falls it would take the same about of time as a snow blower but in the smaller ones it would only take 1/2 to 1/4 the amount of time.
problems due occur though if you don't push the snow back far enough at the start of the year.

just my thoughts.

sublime out


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## Steve G. (Jan 18, 2009)

sublime68charge;768130 said:


> I would say a V blade would be the best.
> you set it in the V positions and just push the snow off to both sides'.
> 
> with straight blades angled you get plow steer and your leading edge will bite into the hard pack snow from the street more and knock you off the sidewalk.
> ...


I second what he's saying about it taking the same amount of time as a snowblower would in the big (12"+) snowfalls but in the smaller ones it blows through what a single stage blower would not be able to handle and a dual stage would be to slow at doing! Plus snow blower widths are what... up to 36" if you wanna drop $2500 on one. The ATV will be good with a 54" if your doing sidewalks.


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## ATV Plow King (Mar 9, 2009)

I'v never had a problem with mine and iv been plowing for the past two years,
and have encountered some pretty wet deep snow and still pushes with ease.


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## Badgerland WI (Dec 3, 2008)

Dustball;766839 said:


> It's the traction, not the torque, that's the problem.


Very good point. wesport

This is one of the reasons that some folks have switched from ATV's to UTV Mini Trucks instead. It's not that a decent displacement ATV can't push the snow, its more often that enough traction cannot be obtained. Mini trucks weigh-in at 1500 lbs with an average 1200 lb payload (I've used as little as 150 lbs in the bed when plowing in heavier snowfalls).

Just something else to ponder...


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## sven_502 (Nov 1, 2008)

I have to agree with the weight thing. I havent found a damn thing our foreman wont pull in gear 1 (hondas have no low range gear 1 is just retardedly low) IF i have traction. This includes a 5x8 piled down with 5000lb of asphalt. My buddy had an arctic cat like Eatmytailpipes, but his was only a 300, and he pulled a dump trailer with it that was half full. Definitely not the torque, its the traction. What somebody needs to do is figure out how to fit the polaris front locking diff in a honda foreman. A good rule of thumb is if a foreman wont pull it it wasnt meant to move lol.


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## mikeyd915 (Sep 22, 2014)

Bigger the better. Go with a 500+ 4x4. I went with the polaris sportsman 800. Research the brand. Some don't have true 4 wheel drive. Some are really only 3 wheel drive.


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## glngib (Feb 1, 2011)

Add some weight and good tires makes a difference.


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## jpell (Jan 2, 2014)

I have a Polaris Sportsman 800 4x4 and have never had an issue moving snow, scraping, or pushing around what the city tosses on our sidewalks.
+1 for an ATV


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## Sprag-O (Dec 31, 2013)

My little Zuki 250 never had issues moving snow...


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## Sprag-O (Dec 31, 2013)

Forgot to add... Sometimes quads do suck...


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## sublime68charge (Dec 28, 2007)

you was playing king of the mountain and got pushed off the other side?


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## Sprag-O (Dec 31, 2013)

Yeah, Last year I didn't have a lot of places to put the snow... I started way back, and before I knew it I had a 6'+ hill that was 15-20' long. It became a ramp, push snow up and over the back, keep building it bigger.

A few times I didn't stop fast enough.


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## pusher82 (Sep 18, 2014)

I've got a 400 Suzuki Eiger, with a 50'' Moose plow and have added chains to the back tires, and rarely have slippage issues in any snow condition, however, a 32 degree 8" snow late in the year comes to mind. I can see that a V plow would be a good addition to divide the snow so you can "organize" it better. For that first pass through, the V plow could be a huge help, and to help eliminate chasing lines. Chains will make your unit way better, and my tires have are very marginal, because with chains, it just doesn't matter, you can get'er dun. Don't know what the collective effect of chains on all 4 tires would be, but suffice it to say, massive improvement, though turning sharp in 4 wheel drive cld be a bit of a chattery hassle.


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## Sprag-O (Dec 31, 2013)

My machine does fine with ITP Mud Lites, but I don't deal with too much ice. And yes, that first pass to cut the snow open can be rough.

I was thinking of adding removable wings for the whole snow control issue.


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## Doughboy12 (Oct 15, 2014)

I've had to get the truck out more than once to rescue the ATV...Not sure if I can pull off the reverse of that...might find out this year now that I added an MVP3.


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## jasburrito (Jul 9, 2014)

Chains on all four tires helps a lot. Down side is they tear up the surface. I stopped using my chains. Only use the chains for ice fishing now.


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## Doughboy12 (Oct 15, 2014)

jasburrito;1889957 said:


> Chains on all four tires helps a lot. Down side is they tear up the surface. I stopped using my chains. Only use the chains for ice fishing now.


Chains won't help much when all 4 tires don't touch...like in the king of the hill stuff. As far as running them on pavement...no thanks.


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## sublime68charge (Dec 28, 2007)

Doughboy12;1889901 said:


> I've had to get the truck out more than once to rescue the ATV...Not sure if I can pull off the reverse of that...might find out this year now that I added an MVP3.


the key here is that the truck can rescue the ATV with out much trouble or shoveling involved.

the ATV rescue for the truck is a whole other ball game. that you don't win very often.

good luck with the MVP3


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## Mike_ (Aug 23, 2014)

I've been kicking myself in the butt ever since I bought my plow, it works good but with some of the big dumps of snow we've gotten the last couple years I wish I would have spend the extra dough for the V-Plow. It would have helped making that first pass on some drifted drives.


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## IPLOWSNO (Oct 11, 2008)

I got chains but my tires are Sedona ripsaws the chains embed into the deep tread making them worthless!

I also have a vee, I think I bothered putting it into vee once, I put it into scoop mode more though!

Problem is its a real hassle with bent pins frozen cotter pins machine wider than the plowed area!

I cut off the pins and just bolted it in a slight scoop vee pattern!

By the time I get around to plowing my driveway it's deep as hell.

If its over 2' I blow out an area where I can work from , and push out from there!

I've pulled out of my garage to only get a few feet before the snow engulfs the quad!
Once snow is between the plow and quad your stuck that's why I blow out a safe area first!


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## Mike_ (Aug 23, 2014)

That's the same tires I have on my UTV.


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## IPLOWSNO (Oct 11, 2008)

I think they suck in the mud lol


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## Mike_ (Aug 23, 2014)

Yea not as good as I had hoped, I'm going to try something else when these wear out.


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## IPLOWSNO (Oct 11, 2008)

Yea that's the problem I don't think they will wear out lol


I went to a hare scramble had my 21 to daughter on back grandson in front.

I went down a wrong trail and lazily turned around and a simple mud hole was actually a pit of doom!
Before I was stuck I got them off so I could move around, or so I thought!
I was in it past the rack just 2 tires and no where to winch from at all!
I found a culvert pipe but it was in line where I was stuck so it just pulled me into the bank harder!
Smoked the crap out of the tires and found a snowmobile stake I put under the winch line to lift the front out and my line snapped!
I knotted it back together and cringed while that knot worked its way back to the winch!

Then she popped up out of the hole and on our way we went!
Later as I was washing it, I must of had a piece of wood in that mud hole because it chewed up my tire a little!


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## Mike_ (Aug 23, 2014)

They are a tough long lasting tire I've got about 4,000 miles on mine and I do a lot of pavement driving around town all year we can get permits to drive UTV's on city streets. I hit this water hole this summer (even added a 2" lift) and got high centered, I winched it out and gave it hell going back through, made it out on it's own nobody else would even try it.


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## Mike_ (Aug 23, 2014)

Nothing wrong with a little mud!


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## IPLOWSNO (Oct 11, 2008)

Your lucky you can pay a permit too ride in town!, I pay fines lol but I only ride my ktm on the street because I like the Ho advantage too avoid the fine lol

See I want a utv right uptil I seen your water cross pic, I like too stand up to keep my balls dry lol

Yea I doubt I'll ever wear these out lol my midlites wore quickly though! For being a radial I get a wobble at high speed from a front! I was kind of pissed to see made in china on the tire !!


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## Jackets (Jan 4, 2015)

Grizly 660 with 28" studded Mudzillas pushing a modified Moose plow (extended from 50" to 72") Works very good for all until the plow was widened and now its to much to push if its really wet stuff.

Attached picture is after i first got it mounted. That 1/4 cutting edge it came with was a joke. it was replaced with a real cutting edge for a 72" tractor blade.

Jackets.


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## IPLOWSNO (Oct 11, 2008)

I've been pushing 6" snowfalls every fricken day for a week, but my area I plow is like 50 city driveways lmao

Yesterday minus 2 was a bit cold lol

I finally get called in to try out my new loader and 6 passes I'm done! What a waste of time! Came home and plowed another 6"s


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## rg1 (Dec 3, 2010)

Give some thought into what size snow plow blade you want. What size sidewalks? A 60" plow blade may be too wide for sidewalks and dig into the turf? A 54" blade when angled will be as wide as the atv or still may be too wide for some sidewalks. Smaller snow plow widths will be easier to push. Might ask about snow plow blades for sidewalks. I have a 54" for my 500 Foreman. Sometimes I think I wish I had bought the 60" but the 54" does fine but I don't plow sidewalks.


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