# smallest atv for plowing?



## gotgetter (Jan 3, 2001)

Hi guys. Was wondering what you guys think should be the smallest atv used for plowing?
Think a 250 4x4 is too small?
Thanks.


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## DYNA PLOW (Oct 14, 2000)

a 250 will work just fine, i plowed with a 250 three wheeler for a few years and it worked fine.
dan


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## gotgetter (Jan 3, 2001)

Hey Dan, I didn't even know a plow could be hoked up to a 3 wheeler.
But that's good news that a 250 will work, that certainly brings down start up costs. I just sorta assumed that a 250 may have been too small. 

Anyone else have any input?


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## WHITE=GREEN (Jan 14, 2001)

IMHO, a 250 is probably a bit to small, not because of the power, but more a weigh issue. our sidewalk crew is using an 02' grizzly 660 that weighs over 600 for the machine alone. add a 200 lb. operator and a few bags of salt on the racks and the rigs weighing 1000 lbs. pushes snow great but without the weight to help traction you might be in trouble.


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## jeffex (Oct 19, 2000)

I have a 2wd yahama 250 beartracker 02" model. We may get 1 or 2 snows of 4-6 inches a season. I am thinking of getting a plow for the atv. just wondering if anyone has experience with 2wd setup. is there enough traction to push this amount of snow?


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## John DiMartino (Jan 22, 2000)

jeffex.your going to need weight for plowing any bigger accumulation.Weight down the rear rack real good.


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## WHITE=GREEN (Jan 14, 2001)

johns right, you will need weight to plow with a 2wd. many years ago, before 4wd existed on quads, my neighbor had a 2wd i used to plow neighborhood driveways. i built a wood box out of 2x4's and plywood that i could fasten to the read rack and put a few solid concrete blocks in it. oh yeah and his quad had chains on it too. it plowed fine except when i got on a hill then it was worthless. if you are looking at doing commercial sites with this quad i highly reccommend NOT using chains. as soon as your tires break loose and spin the chains will scratch and destroy concrete.


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## steveair (Feb 24, 2000)

Hello,

are the chains really that bad on the concrete?

I just got my dingo set up with a 54 inch blade and tire chains on the rear. The machine with the plow is about 1500lbs and then myself for extra weight. So far, the chains are working great and I have noticed no damage to the crete when they spin. But then again, the tire rpms aren't very high, so maybe its the fast spin of the quads tires with the chains that causes the damage.

I'm really curious how well the quads work. My machine weighs much more and has total 4wd, and with the plow angled it will start to 'sway' away from the blade angle with only 3-4 inches to push. When you try to push into bigger piles with the blade angled, or when the snow piles up in front, you really get tail spin (especially on hills)

Was wondering how well a quad really works for walks. I would think they would get pretty useless in heavier snow without using a v-plow. I could only imagine the bigger machines with 4wd being of any real use.

steve


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## RCIPlow (Mar 3, 2001)

Used a Polaris 95 Explorer 4x4 400 Auto with high/low, and All Wheel Drive. Did a great job. Used the low range awd a bit. Thinking I might cut the blade down from 48" to about 40", seems a bit bigger then we needed.


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## Waterchikn (Dec 19, 2000)

I have seen a Honda 250 with a cycle country 48" plow. It worked real well in about 3-4 of wet snow, it had tire chains. I could see that machine pushing 5 or 6 inches of snow, if it was light "dry" snow I might believe 7". Sure did the side walks quick. Backdraging was impossible tho... just a thought......


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## yorkpaddy (Jan 31, 2001)

yeah i was thinking a 4wheeler with a plow would be a nice set up for plowing. it would be great for cleaning out parking spaces i would think. With a good operator it could really fly in and out of those tight spaces. A dingo would seem like a waste of time, they are so slow for ground speed. with a 4wheeler, you could actually transport it without throwing it on a trailer. The only drawback I see is that you would probably have to manually angle the plow, Does anyone know if they make power angling systems for them?

oh and i'd like to hear more about the plow system on that 3 wheeler


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## cthom (Aug 30, 2001)

we have a 2001 artic cat 250 4+4 and it pushes great, and has plenty of power and fun to ride.


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## golfmanres (Jan 3, 2002)

Hello there i have had a Honda reancher 350 2x4 for about three years now and just sold it the other day because i baught a truck. it worked really well with a state plow on it and chains. never needed salt on the racks at all just an FYI any more info just ask.


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## WHITE=GREEN (Jan 14, 2001)

yorkpaddy,
no one makes a power angle for an atv that i know of. i searched high and low even talked with the experts in the field and no one knew of one. however there are rumors that some of the larger atv aftermarket manufacturers are working on a power angle for an atv. lets hope. this is the only drawback to using an atv to plow.


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## turkeywing (Oct 18, 2001)

Just thaught I would let you know if you are using atv with plows we have TURK-KEY WINGS that fit them and they work awsome They will cut your time in half.

Rod
"put the snow where you want it to go!"


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## Avalanche Owner (Jan 12, 2002)

*ATV Plow*

I have a 99 Grizzly with a 60 inch plow....works great...one of our jobs is a construction supply yard and the Grizz is great for getting in between pallets and stuff....

on small lots I can go alomost as fast as the truck cause I can spin it and plow 2 ways...

it does get cold though when your out there for a long time....

Cycle country does make what they call an RBARK kit....
it's a remote blade angle release kit...basically it lets you pull the pin remotely so you can push the plow against something to angle it without getting off the machine...


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## mxrdrvr3 (Feb 7, 2002)

I have polaris 400 or 425 (forget which) 4x4 straight plow, myers salt spreader on the back.

This machine is great for doing sidewalks and residental driveways, I find it better to do driveways with the quad than the truck, but keep in mind my customers drives are small city lots and all flat land, but as far as the salt spreader goes, I bought it from northern tool online this spreader would be great for doing commercial work as it throws the material about 30 or more feet(stings when u get hit in the leg with it too...lmao) but not so good for the residential as it throws the material way to far, i have found that a broadcast spreader is still for me.

As far as power goes I have never felt that I needed all of my 400 or 425cc's to push the snow in fact my uncle has a 325 that does just fine, i used it last year to do some sidewalks and drives and pushed 14" of wet snow just fine, with just me on the machine no chains or extra wieght (I wonder if guys will call me a fat a$$ now...lmao )


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## 90plow (Dec 22, 2001)

I had a 2X4 honda 300 with chains on the rear. It pushed the snow the most I pushed was about 10 inches of heavy wet snow alot of wheel spin, and hills were a bad thing on this. I also mead a rear suspension canceler out of 2 2x4s and it went from the rear rack down to the hitch never really got to try the thing i made plowing snow before i sold it. But i did see how much it helped with the trraction in the yard and it helped a bunch i put some metal weights in a box on the rear rack about 200 pounds.


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## Bow Hunter TJ (Oct 22, 2003)

I am running a new Kodiak 450 with a cycle county 50" blade..
I can lock it in and out of 4wd adn also have a front diff lock. I find I can push a lot of snow so far at least 6" or so in 2wd and I can do it pretty fast. I do have a lot of tire slippage in 2wd but I can go pretty fast since it is an automatic. Like others said above if you run into any hills it is impossibe to back up them and pretty diffucult to push up them too.. A two wheel drive would work ok but not Ideal... I also have a liquid deicer tank and boom mounted on the rear rack that weighs around 180lbs when full so that helps alot....

I would just add some weight and forget the chains and you should be fine..
as far as the 250 yes it will push snow fine the weight diff can be made up with some salt bags or something.. the problem you run into is you will have to run slower in a lower gear and some one with a 400 or 600 machine would do a couple more drives an jobs an hour because they will have the weight and the extra power to move it faster.. In this bussiness time is money so I figure I could make an extra 60 to 100 dollars and hour because the size of my machine.. the diff in speed will get greater as the depth of the snow increases.... Just something to think about..
If you put out a couple of extra grand now It could pay for itself in just a couple of events... By all means if you can get an Automatic Tranny.. I am not a fan of them for recreational riding but for snow plowing they are money makers!!! 

Yamaha has a new fourwheeler out this year called a BRUIN it is in the mid 4000 dollar range and is 350 with an auto (No low range though) But I push 80% in high and have not had a problem yet...
Honda also has the new rancher with the manual tranny that is a 350 (actully a 327) it is also in the mid 4000 range ..


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## PLOWMAN45 (Jul 2, 2003)

the 4x4 makes a diffrence and weight we still use a 1969 wheel horse 12hp kolher with a 8 speed tanny aggresive tires with weight that the thing was unstopable so 4x4 really help im sure let me know i wanna get one


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