Was talking with a friend about which is better for plowing snow, 50" plow with a auto like on my sp500 or manual shift clutch, not sure of his atv, any thoughts..thanks[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

I can't speak for plowing with a manual ATV because I have never used one for plowing. However, I can say that my SP 500 HO auto has no problems pushing snow.

 

my sp 400 pushes snow great...they both work well.

 

I HAVE A PLOW ON MY SP600 AND WOULD NOT PLOW WITH ANYTHING BUT A AUTO TRANNY(FASTER PLOWING) JUST REMEMBER TO PLOW IN LOW GEAR OR YOU WILL DESTROY THE TRANNY IN NO TIME.

 

I had a Honda Rancher ES (Electric Shift) which is basically a 5-speed manual with button shifting. What a pain in the butt that was to plow with. 1st gear was extremely low, so you were stuck plowing at 5 mph or less unless you wanted to shift to 2nd gear. Or you could start out in 2nd gear. Problem was shifting back and forth from forward to reverse. Every time you wanted to get into reverse, you would have to depress and hold the special reverse button and then squeeze and hold the left brake lever and then thumb the button to reverse. Factor in the buttons for operating the winch and there's a lot for the left hand to do. For snowplowing, this procedure was a royal pain. The Honda was a good ATV, never gave me a problem, but manual shifting sucks for plowing for as much as you need to be in reverse.

 

its just like plowing snow in a truck w/ a maunual and your limited to the speed and rpm by the gearing and its pretty hard if your pushing alot of snow to try to shift gears as that would be hard on the tranny.

 

Been plowing with an auto for 10 years now never a problem. Could not imagine having to shift gears while doing so.

Also that is one of my reasons for polaris, a simple slap of the shifter to go from L to R. No having to go through H or fishing through a staggered shift pattern.