To ensure optimal performance and longevity of your ATV you must follow the specified service schedule. In addition, you may have unexpected warranty issues and problems where having a well-reputed dealer nearby is key. Please note that the ATVs recommended in this post are chosen with snow plowing in mind only. Most people are going to use their ATV for other things such as trail riding or collecting firewood. Other riding applications are going to require a different set of features.
For recreational trail riding, you would likely want a more powerful engine, and for hauling firewood, you need to look at the ATVs towing capacity as well.
If you plan on only using your ATV for snow plowing, you will likely be just as happy with an ATV that costs two-thirds of the price of a premium model. In fact, if removing snow is the only task you need the ATV to do, a snow-blower maybe your best option from a financial standpoint. Even if you plan on adding some utility work such as gardening or small-scale farming, you do not need the top-of-the-line ATV model to get the job done. The more expensive models are generally packed with more powerful engines and extra features that you may not actually need to plow snow.
An ATV is not specifically made for plowing snow. It does the job quite well, but is it good enough for what you need? This post goes more in-depth on how good ATVs actually are for snow plowing in various applications and snow conditions. Those of you that are new to snow plowing or specifically snow plowing with an ATV may be interested in reading this post on how an ATV plow works. Sign in. Forgot your password?
Get help. Privacy Policy. Password recovery. How Not to Ruin Your Bike. Plug vs. Patch Explained. What You Ought to Know. Avoid These Beginner Mistakes. Or Slower? How Long Do They Last? All of these engine sizes have pretty amazing power at their disposal. If you only plan on using the ATV for snow plowing in winter, there is really no need to buy an cc plus machine. A cc will be more than adequate. If some of these uses include heavy towing or the thrill of speedy trail riding, fulfilling these needs may end up being the deciding factor of what engine you buy and not how much power you actually need for the snow plowing.
Also, if the cost is of importance to your decision, not only will the purchase price of a larger machine be higher, you may also want to take into consideration the higher fuel consumption a bigger engine will require. The only reason why buying a bigger cc machine may make sense is because a bigger engine usually means more weight. What is actually much more important to the snow pushing capabilities of any ATV is how heavy it is.
More weight will give you better traction and momentum. The extra weight of the bigger ATVs also has the effect that it helps with keeping the bike stable.
It will take that much more of an impact to knock it to either side. You will find that you run out of traction because of low weight long before you run out of engine power. It is not the only factor, but more weight will always give you better traction between your tires and the surface, in turn, allows you to push more snow. This is also why a cc machine would cause problems even though the engine power could be adequate. For small amounts of light and dry snow, just about any ATV will work just fine.
But as soon as you take on the heavier wet snow, try cutting through drift or compact snowbanks on the side of the road; you will need a bit of momentum to get through. And as you may remember from physics class, momentum is the product of mass weight and velocity speed. Ideally, the traction alone should be enough so you could just push anything with full control at low speeds like a bulldozer.
But no ATV packs this kind of weight, so you will need to add some speed to the equation to build up the needed momentum. With bigger weight, you will need less speed to break through the same amount of snow. Just remember that with bigger momentum comes a bigger risk of bending or breaking things.
A good tip is to push the snow further at the beginning of the season, so you have room for adding more behind this as the season continues. If the snow pile freeze hard, it will be almost impossible to move it with any weight ATV without a serious risk of breaking some things. This is the easiest step you can do to achieve better traction and momentum.
It will also help with maneuverability, especially when backing up hills. The most basic solution is to strap down a couple of sandbags on your rear cargo rack.
If you overload your ATV, the best case scenario is that you will have trouble plowing through the snow. Worst case: you can damage your ATV and cause bodily injury. Never overload your ATV! Working on any vehicle in frigid temperatures is never ideal. Change the oil, check tire pressure and thread, check electrical wiring, and ensure all elements are debris-free and working properly.
The plow depth needs to be set at the perfect spot where it clears the snow without overloading the ATV and so that it does not damage the surface underneath.
You may have to change the plow depth when you are plowing on different surfaces and with varying depths of snow. The proper angle of the plow depends on the driveway or surface that is being plowed. Also, the winch cable may need to be straightened out every now and then. To do this, unhook cable from plow and shift winch into free-spool mode, then pull winch cable out most of the way, leaving a few wraps to secure cable to winch drum.
Then shift winch into lock mode and reel cable into the vehicle with slight tension applied to hook strap to straighten the cable. Skip to content Skip to navigation Skip to footer. Clear a Wider Path Push the snow out into the yard at the beginning of the season, so that by the end of the season, you still have a full width of driveway to plow.
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