I live on a 5 acre wooded plot with a 600 foot gravel drive way. I'm looking for an ATV that I used to haul down trees/logs out of the woods and to plow the driveway. Also, just to ride with the grandkids. I have a 4x5 trailer that I load with wood and kids and drive around.

I currently use my John 318 with a 48" plow to plow the driveway. When the snow is heavy or too high it gets pushed around a little by the weight of the snow. I'd like something heavy eough to be able to push the snow with ease. Also, my plow on my tractor is hydraulic and heavy. I've heard that the plows on ATV are lighter and don't stay down when plowing. Is that true?

What size ATV do I need? I'm looking for used, so can you tell me brands or things to avoid or anything that can educate me on ATV that would be helpful.

 

Is a John 318 a front end loader? If it is it's probably better at deep snow than a quad would be. If it's a lawn tractor with a push blade any 4x4 quad will do the trick and be better. I would go with a 500 cc class machine. Plenty of power to push snow in low gear. You'll lose traction before you run out of power. Polaris Sportsman 500, Yamaha 550, Suzuki King Quad 500, and Can-Am Outlander 500 are tops on my list. Honda is probably the most reliable but the others aren't as far off as they used to be. Honda also lacks a full locking front end so you don't get that little bit of extra traction. The modern quad snow plow blades are designed to tip forward if you hit an obstruction like the plows on trucks are. Other than that I haven't really heard of them riding up.

 

A last thought for the king of utility in a quad width machine is the Polaris Big Boss 6x6. It has true 6wd for ultimate traction short of tracks. Has a decent sized dump bed in the back for chores too. Most modern version has an 800cc engine with the previous version having the 500.

 

All the name brand quads are good and any 500cc and up utility quad will plow a lot of snow, no problem. Just put it in low and give it the gas. I find that 2 or 3 sand bags on the rear rack improves traction. I haven't needed snow chains and I've been plowing for years.

 

Thanks for the replies. My JD 318 is a garden Tractor with a 48" blade. No front loader. My son in law said some one he knows that plows had to weld two box on top the blade and put cement blocks in the box to hold down the blade. Since I have a gravel driveway I don't put my blade down all the way or I'll be clearing out the stones. With a winch if I keep it up slightly above snow will the snow push the blade up or is it heavy enough to stay in place? Also, can you back drag the blade to level out gravel like I can on my JD 318?

Will a 500 cc engine provide enough power to pull small logs and trees? How much would you think can be pulled? Our most of the ATV belt drive or to they have shafts?

I was thinking I would need a 700 or 800, but you think I will be fine with a 500cc engine?

 

A 500 class ATV will be plenty to do what you are doing. I have never had a problem with my plow wanting to ride up...I plow my neighbors gravel drive and just leave the plow up a bit and take off the thick of it, then go back once I have an idea how much snow is left and take it down to the gravel. Never had an issue. Any of the 500 class quads are going to spin and throw mud/dirt before they run out of power pulling logs/trees. Like someone above said, put it in gear and give it gas!!

The transmission has a belt drive and then a shaft driven to the rear end is how most (if not all) of the utility quads work.

 

No belt in a Honda transmission.

 

This is a short video of pulling logs up in NH. The one I'm pulling is maybe 25 ft. long by 8-10" in diameter. I had already pulled one up before that was about 30 ft. and a bit wider. This is with a 500 belt driven automatic in reverse. Not sure what the gearing is like in reverse but it's not as low as the low gear in forward but still got the job done.

 

I've pulled trees the size of telephone poles in low gear. No problem at all with a 500. When I tried pulling a tree that wasn't ready to come down it spun the wheels and dug 4 big holes. The belt didn't smoke or slip at all. You don't have to worry about belt drives. Everyone except Honda also has some sort of locking front diferential so you have true 4 wheel drive.

 

Thanks for all the information. I have some more questions, but I'll start another thread.