Who knows about ATV's/Quads?

[Icemaster]

Thinking seriously about firing the guy who's been plowing our lane, he's steadily gotten expensive and a bit more dishonest as time marches on. Had a chat with him mid-season just to make sure that he understood that he didnt need to send his crew out just to try to burn off the annual retainer. Then he sent his crew out 3 times during one storm. Uh....why not wait until its over?

Final bill comes in with two trips on it for service they never performed. Ended up paying the guy somewhere around $350. Per house. 6 houses on the lane. Seems excessive to me....

Anyway, I've been looking at buying a utility ATV with a snow blade and doing it my damn self for a variety of reasons.

If you were me - what would you get? How big 450, 600? What manufacturer?

Any recommendations?

[gprsh924]

My cousins have a bunch of atv's but they have a 99 Honda Foreman 450 that they use for plowing and utility use. It has been a good workhorse.

[Tim Hancock]

I have a Polaris 350 2-stroke 4X4 with a plow on it and it does just fine, but I were you, I would purchase a four stroke. 4 wheel drive is mandatory for plowing snow. You really need not worry about power as anything 350 cc or bigger will have plenty of power for doing work with. Hondas are very well built and last forever. Other brands can be OK, but the Hondas are a no brainer as far as quality goes.

[LakeCleElum]

My neighbor plows our private road to six houses with a Polaris 700 4X4. It does a good job, but he did have the transmission go out last year. Sometimes we get a wet heavy snow. I've always worried he was pushing the limits sometimes.

I agree, you paid way too much last season...

[Embraer]

Our 4x4 ATV couldn't handle the snow in Northern Indiana...we ended up buying a cheap truck with a plow. Paid for itself in one winter.

[Icemaster]

You know, I considered the cheap truck option when I saw a deal on Craigslist for a 4x4 F150 and snow plow. Missed out on it, otherwise it'd probably be taking up space in the backyard.

The ATV feels like the right answer - storage isn't as difficult as a full size truck, I've only got one garage and I'm losing that in a few months anyway. An ATV I can get into the shed. Besides, I still typically have to do a decent amount of hand shoveling anyway after they plow, I figure I can be a bit more surgical with a smaller vehicle.

I've been headed in the direction of the Honda, simply from the bulletproof reliability perspective.

Thanks gents. I'm all ears for any other suggestions.

[charleskieffner]

i have a 600 yamaha grizzly. aircooled. no foo foo crap. camo/racks/bags/hella lightsadded(500 rounds).

hauled an entire COW ELK less head and guts 4 miles back to camp. its a 2000 has 1800 miles on it. goes hunting and drags my property with mongo dirt drag with 4 8x8x16 cinder blocks on it.

4wd low is awesome. auto shifter.

idiot proof.

i think we exceeded all weight limits on the cow elk and the warranty is over!

[onewhippedpuppy]

My in-laws have a Polaris 350 with a plow and an Arctic Cat Prowler. They've had the Polaris for nearly 3 years now, and it probably gets driven daily (they have 6 kids at home and live on 40 acres). Besides tune-ups and a new battery, it's been flawless. The automatic transmission is really nice, especially for kids or if you're concentrating on other things (like plowing snow).

[Porsche_monkey]

Used Bobcat.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

My in-laws have a Polaris 350 with a plow and an Arctic Cat Prowler. They've had the Polaris for nearly 3 years now, and it probably gets driven daily (they have 6 kids at home and live on 40 acres). Besides tune-ups and a new battery, it's been flawless. The automatic transmission is really nice, especially for kids or if you're concentrating on other things (like plowing snow).

My only problem with my Polaris 350 2 stroke is that it has siezed a couple of times when pulling a roller on a very hot spring day. It is an aircooled motor with a tiny assist fan and when "working" it in low range on hot days at the resulting slow forward speed, it just gets too hot. Mine is a late 90's model and we use it all the time to haul stuff out to the burn barrel, pulling cars and other vehicles around the shop, plowing snow, pulling a self-engined mower and spraying liquid weed killer on the runway. The auto trans (with high and low range) is a nice feature, but I still wish it was four stroke Honda.

[Icemaster]

Originally Posted by PBH

Used Bobcat.

If I was dropping that kind of coin I'd get a Gator.

[911boost]

I have a 1996 Polaris Sportsman 500 4x4, it has been great. I'd get a plow, but my driveway isn't that big, and my house faces south. I bought it for my wife to use when we go camping, and for the kids to ride on with an adult (they are still pretty young). I have the dirt bike.

I definitley wouldn't get a new one, thats for sure, find a used one from a private party.

Bill

[porsche4life]

You should really look at a 4x4 mule. Lock the Diff and put in in 4 low and it will push like none other. We have one and dont plow snow just b/c we get like 2inches tops at one time. But it does pull way better than a 4 wheeler.

[rfuerst911sc]

Is your driveway too big to consider a snowthrower? A good 8-10 hp model will do a great job. Just a thought.

[porsche930dude]

Id get an old rusted out jeep with a plow. Cheap and you'll have heat. And it wont take up as much room as a pickup. Hell most of the 4x4 atvs are as big as jeeps anyway

[Icemaster]

I'm back to considering numerous options. Problem with the snow blower is that I've got a 125 yd lane, two cars wide. If the other side of the lane hops on the bandwagon, multiply by 2.25. Gets to be long and a lot to do with a blower.

I'd rather avoid the jeep or truck, that gets into licensing, insurance, storage, etc.

[Tim Hancock]

For what it is worth, I own an old Bobcat skid loader, a Ford 9N tractor with a backblade and a garden tractor with chains and a blade.

For most snow conditions, My 4 wheeler trumps all for fast and easy snow plowing. I do my house drive, my hangar drive and my neighbors drive. The Ford tractor works good for the first fresh snowfall, but once the drive ices up and the plowed berms along the sides of the drive freeze up, the tractor is worthless.

The Bobcat works good to remove 3' + drifts around the buildings on the rare occasions when we really get dumped on, but the 4 wheel drive ATV just kicks @ss.

No doubt an old jeep would work well too, but you can use the ATV for lots of other household chores and for fun year round. I was mistaken earlier, my Polaris is a 300 rather than a 350.

Here is a pick from when I first mounted the plow and was using a goofy HF winch temporarily mounted to the rack. In the second pic, you can see the current configuration which involved a $49.99 12v Harbor Freight winch that I semi-permanently mounted to the front of my ATV.

I fabbed my plow using an old garden tractor plow....Works great with a rope pull release to pivot and an up down switch mounted to the bars. Takes five minutes to take off the plow.

[Tim Hancock]

forgot the pics

[Icemaster]

Tim you're hitting exactly what I'm thinking. You're setup is pretty much what I've got in mind.

Back in the day, I used to own a tool rental. Had lots of different sizes of Bobcats, moved a lot of snow with each of them. This is too small for a tractor, Bobcat or jeep, but too much for even a large snowblower to handle effeciently. Middle ground in this case is the 4wd ATV with a blade.

Irony is, I'm the one at the end of the lane, and both daily drivers are AWD. If it were up to me, I'd forgo any snow removal as I'm the last one to be worried about getting out. The 87 year old gentleman and his wife next door, that's another story.

Thanks for the input everyone.

[Porsche_monkey]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

forgot the pics

You call that snow? In Canada we'd use a broom for that.