# What problems should I expect?



## boneslawns (Nov 5, 2012)

Own a lawn company and looking at taking care of my accounts this year with an ATV. What problems can I expect to arise? Heard alot about broken bolds, springs tripping, blade wear. Things like that. Also from a liability stand point. Is there any thing I need to watch out for. I know cars and such, but Im talking about things like tearing up the pavment and drive and similer things that I can or would be most likly heald responsible for. Also what kind of insurance do you guys have with the ATV. Will my Liabilty be fine or is there something else I need?
Thanks for any input!


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## Antlerart06 (Feb 28, 2011)

Snow gets over 6'' have fun ATV will clean it but it takes time be best have truck ith a plow or something bigger then atv when the snow is deep


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## ALC-GregH (Nov 26, 2008)

If you're only doing a few then the atv will be fine. I used my Grizzly in the big storm a few years ago and it did fine. I busted through 3-5ft drifts with it. I got stuck one time.


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## Antlerart06 (Feb 28, 2011)

ALC-GregH;1510682 said:


> If you're only doing a few then the atv will be fine. I used my Grizzly in the big storm a few years ago and it did fine. I busted through 3-5ft drifts with it. I got stuck one time.


Dang 3-5ft drifts with a Grizzly That be something fun to watch

Not saying you didnt but be a waste of time and money on a ATV


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## ScubaSteve728 (Jan 17, 2012)

I have been plowing driveways for a few years now i believe 5 years now. I have a Kawasaki prairie 360 4x4. first of all. make sure you have a good quad with working 4x4 and a good winch if you are using it to lift the plow. first thing to do is take off the steel cable if it has it and buy some good synthetic winch snow plow rope 
http://www.streetsideauto.com/p/war..._content=pla&gclid=CNKV3tHiu7MCFROnPAodm3gAcw
make sure you have bright work lights forward and reverse for snow plowing at night. maybe even a small strobe light that plugs into the cigarett lighter so people will see you 
buy good warm clothes and boots.
make sure you have a good plow that is big enough but not too big for your machine. the bigger it is the more cc you will need to push it and the snow. 
change the air filter put a k&n in it and it will greatly improve your performance. 
before the season make sure the battery is good and all fluids are topped off and belts and chains are good. 
make sure you have a backup snow blower just in case 
thaw out the quad after use get all the salt and snow off it immediately and wash it because it will rust away small bolts and bearings
if you are using a truck make sure you have good ramps'
if you use a small trailer make sure you have a good truck that can lug it around in the snow
put fluid film on the trailer so it docent rust out because it will

personally i have gone through quite some snow drifts that were maybe 20 inches at the most anything over that just get the snow blower out and it will take less time

any other questions refer to my youtube account i have atv snow plowing videos and knowledge 
http://www.youtube.com/user/scubasteve728?feature=mhee


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## boneslawns (Nov 5, 2012)

thank you. I also have a prairie 360 4x4. I will take a look at your vids. What mount do you have? Center?


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## My07Brute (Feb 9, 2011)

Antlerart06;1510549 said:


> Snow gets over 6'' have fun ATV will clean it but it takes time be best have truck ith a plow or something bigger then atv when the snow is deep


Maybee if its a wet 6", then yes.



Antlerart06;1510691 said:


> Dang 3-5ft drifts with a Grizzly That be something fun to watch
> 
> Not saying you didnt but be a waste of time and money on a ATV


Um, my quad plows fine and is way quicker than the old 26" snow blower. I have no problem with 6"+ light snow, just got to know how to plow is all.


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## Antlerart06 (Feb 28, 2011)

My07Brute;1511497 said:


> Maybee if its a wet 6", then yes.
> I didnt say wouldnt plow it
> Time is money The more time you spend less you make unless you working by the hour
> 
> Um, my quad plows fine and is way quicker than the old 26" snow blower. I have no problem with 6"+ light snow, just got to know how to plow is all.


I dont use a blower never owned one Snow gets deep faster to use a skidloader 
My little Gehl fits on 50'' sidewalks
2 years ago we got 24'' from one storm and ATV was helpless only thing wouldgo was skidloader on walks
I wouldnt know what to do if I didnt have the skidloader


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## ScubaSteve728 (Jan 17, 2012)

with an atv its important to plow with the storm 4-6 inches at a time. each machiene has its limits and the operator skill and exprience must be taken into mind.
i just came in from plowing the first snow like 10 minuites ago in rhode island 3-5 inches with some drifts. might have to go back out in the morning to clean up but we will see


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## jasonv (Nov 2, 2012)

Your big limiting factor with a 4-wheeler is the weight. As in you don't have nearly enough. The engine size, contrary to speculation in this thread, is completely irrelevant.

About those 3-5 foot drifts mentioned above... BULLS**T!!!!
3-5 inches is more like it.

Just think about what happens when the snow is deeper than the blade. It no longer plows, it submarines and gets bad stuck. A typical TRUCK plow is only 2 feet tall. 4-wheeler plow 12-15 inches, the machine itself is only 3 feet tall.


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## ScubaSteve728 (Jan 17, 2012)

I have a 42 inch quad boss center mount.
I have a 2500 pound warm xt with synthetic rope to lift it


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## CReynoldsMIZ (Nov 8, 2011)

I too have a 2005 Prairie 360 4x4. I have a 54" PowerBlade...was manufactured by Canadian Tire i think before Swisher bought them out. It is VERY heavy duty, probably weighs a hundred pounds i would guess. I also have a Warn 2500 pound winch that came on the ATV. I bought the setup last year, and here in Missouri we had no snow to try it out, but i am very confident it will do fine. My reasoning is, before the Prairie, i had a 1990 Kawi Bayou 4x4. I was new to plowing and bought a used 60" plow from someone on craigslist, and to my astonishment, it actually plowed REMARKABLY well. In 2009-2010, and 2010-2011 we had record snows here in MO, and I built up a small business very quickly. I repaid my investment of plow and winch within about 3 hours, and made very good money. In 2011, you may remember Snowmageddon, the blizzard that ripped through the midwest. My little aircooled 300cc engine plowed 14 inches of snow for 20 hours straight, which ended up being about 28 driveways bringing in about about $2,200 worth of cash for me. Kinda good pay I would say! All of this was from advertisement on Craigslist, and hard work. The Bayou never let me down once, and I never got stuck. Alot of people dont think they can push that much, but you really just have to know what you are doing. If it was me, I would definitely try advertisement in older, well developed neighborhoods because that seems to be where the elderly live, who for at least me, seem to be the base of my customers. I just wish I lived in a place where we had more snow, because it can be extremely profitable. At this time, I do not carry insurance, but I have never damaged any of my customers property. If i was a "legitimate business", then I would probably look into it, but at this time its a risk I'm willing to take as I consider myself a very responsible individual, and am not really plowing around cars and I always ask my customers what I need to watch out for before I go out and start. It is also very fun, which makes it seems like you are stealing their money, because honestly Id probably do it for free!!


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## ALC-GregH (Nov 26, 2008)

jasonv;1512011 said:


> Your big limiting factor with a 4-wheeler is the weight. As in you don't have nearly enough. The engine size, contrary to speculation in this thread, is completely irrelevant.
> 
> About those 3-5 foot drifts mentioned above... BULLS**T!!!!
> 3-5 inches is more like it.
> ...


Call it whatever you like, I busted open 3-5ft drifts at customers driveways a few years ago in the bad storms we had. Sure it billowed over the blade. It even was piling up on my lap. It still went through it.


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## Reb (Feb 8, 2008)

It is interesting how people make judgments without asking questions or having all the information. I have only been plowing snow with atv's for around 15 years now so I still have to think out how to handle some of the problem snow falls and drifts.

Plowing out drifts isn't that difficult if a person thinks things out first and has a good layout to push the snow into. I have cleared some pretty high drifts, no idea how high they were but they have been atv height and higher by clearing a path on each side of the drift then start peeling away at the drift to thin it up until I could knock a hole through it. Once I get the hole through it then just peel it away as the atv could handle it.

With the exception of clearing out in front of a neighbor ladies garage, I only plow for myself. As a general rule I don't plow until there is at least 6" and both of my atv's will handle a foot of snow, but we do tend to have a dry snow here. One of the atv's is a Traxtor 500 which is a heavy machine so it will handle snow that is blade height which is 16". The other is a Kawa P360 which is my first pick to use due to being much faster than the other atv which is gear drive. Both machines have 60" blades, 2500 lb winch and synthetic rope setup so I have 4 ropes coming off the drum.


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## Reb (Feb 8, 2008)

Something I thought about after posting the above is both of my atv's have down pressure systems on them. Without the down pressure system it would be much more difficult to push the amount of snow I do and in some cases I wouldn't be able to push it.

A down pressure system such as the one Cycle Country offers does more than allow you to cut and peel the snow, it gives you blade control. When pushing into deep snow you can start with the blade fully down. As the snow builds in front of the blade causing the atv to loose traction you just start bumping the blade up which transfers weight to the front tires giving you more traction so you can push further in. Without the down pressure system I found the blade would just climb up onto the snow when I tried bumping it up. Its the same principle as operating a dozer, the operator works the blade to get maximum traction so they can push more material.


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## Antlerart06 (Feb 28, 2011)

Reb;1512624 said:


> It is interesting how people make judgments without asking questions or having all the information. I have only been plowing snow with atv's for around 15 years now so I still have to think out how to handle some of the problem snow falls and drifts.
> 
> Plowing out drifts isn't that difficult if a person thinks things out first and has a good layout to push the snow into. I have cleared some pretty high drifts, no idea how high they were but they have been atv height and higher by clearing a path on each side of the drift then start peeling away at the drift to thin it up until I could knock a hole through it. Once I get the hole through it then just peel it away as the atv could handle it.
> 
> With the exception of clearing out in front of a neighbor ladies garage, I only plow for myself. As a general rule I don't plow until there is at least 6" and both of my atv's will handle a foot of snow, but we do tend to have a dry snow here. One of the atv's is a Traxtor 500 which is a heavy machine so it will handle snow that is blade height which is 16". The other is a Kawa P360 which is my first pick to use due to being much faster than the other atv which is gear drive. Both machines have 60" blades, 2500 lb winch and synthetic rope setup so I have 4 ropes coming off the drum.


You are right how to clean drift ATV can clean deep snow as long you have time
I dont have time to mess with a atv in deep snow if it cant clean a walk in first pass then the snow is to deep for it period
My skidloader is faster one pass its done 
O yes 30+ years plowing snow


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## Reb (Feb 8, 2008)

Antler, no question the bigger heavier equipment will save time. A few years ago I bought a tractor with a front end loader and mounted a 7' blower on it so for the bigger storms I use it now. I also try to only use the atv's in the beginning of winter until the ground freezes so I tear up less with the tractor. My main point was for the guys that don't have access to bigger equipment that the atv's will do a lot if a person just plans out their push a bit.


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