Hi Guys, we just got a family ATV, The 2004 Honda 400AT!

It's been a fun machine, I am set on a snowplow for it. We have decided to go with the cycle country manual lift, they have the work power series in 48" and in 2004 as seen on their www.cyclecountry.com website they have a new Workpower 2000 54" straight blade (only in black) I was set on the new 54" model until I read some of the good things about the 48"...

Our driveway will take some creative pushing as it's not just straight. I have heard that the driveway itself is the determining factor as well as the machine the plow will be mounted too.

If this is true, I'll try and give a description of the surface area - The application is blacktop and an L shape, in front of the garage doors it's about 34' wide, that area in front of the garage doors is about 40 deep and then makes the L shape and heads down towards the street at about 18' wide - basically a big L 70' from the curb to the top of the L, we have sidewalks (not sure how wide...maybe 48"?)

I have heard and read on cycle country .com that the new 54" is supposed to be an ideal plow... Hopefully it'll be comparable to the easy lifting of the 48" which I sampled at the dealer.


[b] Not sure about when angled if it'll tear up the grass on the walks if it hangs over a few inches?[b]

[b] Do you guys plow with the blade angled normally, and leave it that way for the job?[b]

[b] Do you think I should go with the 48' or 54" cycle country blade for my needs?[b]

I have decided to go w/the manual but am undecided on the plow... check out www.cyclecountry.com and select products, then blades, the straight and the choices will pop up. The 54" cycle country (part # 10-0170) is not something dealers yet have in stock or even in their catalogs but can order, I have found a few dealers that have it (not local though) The cycle country rep on the phone was very nice.

Any direction on this would certainly be appreciated.

Thank you,

Phil

 

Litegide, my application is different than yours in that I have a farm lane that is about 6/10ths of a mile long and is only about 8’ or so wide. Therefore I use an angled straight plow and essentially have the job done in one pass out and one pass back, pushing the snow off to the side as I go.

I bought the standard Yamaha plow (48”) for my Grizzly. In hindsight I now wish I had gotten a wider plow (perhaps 60”) since after I added ITP wheels and 26” or 27” tires (generally run 27” 589’s in the winter time) the quad now is wider than stock (by nearly 4”) and is now wider than my snow blade (even when it is straight). When you angle the plow you actually lose snow blade width so the tires extend even more beyond the width of the plow.

For your application you may have to run with the plow straight to push the snow ahead of you and off the edge of the base of the “L” on your wide “L” shaped driveway. On the way down to the road you may be able to run with the blade set at an angle and work the snow off to the side after starting in the middle. You might also be able to do the sidewalk with an angled blade, but depending on the depth of the snow you may not be able to tell exactly where the sidewalk is and you may overlap the edge if you drift off of the path a little. I don't think you will tear up the grass though because I've plowed walking paths directly over ground where there was no sidewalk at all before without damage to the grass.

If you’ve never plowed snow with an ATV before you will be surprised to see how much snow you can push and how easy you can do it (especially in 4WD), even with a smaller machine like yours. I also bought snow chains for my tires, but I have not needed to use them yet (the machine does well enough on it’s own even with stock tires)...

 

2ATV,

Great videos! I really enjoyed them - The mud was fun to watch.

Thanks for the advice on plowing. ... yeah this will be a new experience altogether, The rancher AT is about 44-45" wide, do you think the 48" or 54" is better? Maybe the 54" if the plow doesn't scoop up grass along the sidewalks as I was thinking?

Thank you,

Phil

 

I have a 48" Blade always off to the side. If you don't know where the grass begins I suggest putting some visable markers on the edge. Last season I put about 100 miles on my Rancher plowing. And for Gods sake watch out for those curbs!!!! and sit down the whole time and keep a reasonable speed.. TRUST ME!!!

 

Mr Plow, what do you mean have the 48" off to the side? did you mean angled...or do you plow with a 60 and use a 48' when you do sidewalks?

Has anybody ever heard of the cycle country electric angled plow kit lift Part: 10-0160 ?


please advise - thank you

 

Depending on how much you angle the plow you may loose, say, 1/6th of the width. This would make a 48” plow only about 40” wide so your wheels would stick out more. Personally I’d recommend the 54” plow because of this width loss situation when you angle it. When I’m plowing with the Grizzly and the 48” blade, there doesn’t seem to be any noticeable resistance when pushing snow with an angled blade (or even with it straight for that matter) so I could certainly handle a wider plow without any problem (I think you could with a 400 too).

As for the angle kit you speak of, I think that would be really convenient if you need to go from straight to angled a lot (with your situation I think you will). That saves getting off the machine and changing it manually (the way my plow works, you lift a spring loaded pin, rotate the blade lining up the next hole and drop the pin).

My blade however spends nearly all of its time angled now because I bent the plate (that has the holes where the pin drops in to) when I hit a large rock so I ended up drilling three holes through the top & bottom plates and ran a large bolt through there and tightened it up (it pulled the plates back together). Now to change from angled to straight I have to unscrew that bolt which is a big pain. However for what I do the plow spends about 99.9% of its time angled one way. I still have to be careful with rocks though, that farm lane that I plow is very rocky, and if the quad bounces wrong it can sort of nose dive into a rock (that’s hard on the plow, even with the blade spring loaded so it will break away – fold under)...

 

I have the 48" plow and keep it angled. I only use it straight when I'm attempting to go between cars.

 

I have the cycle country 48" plow on my 400AT.Angled it more than
covers the tire width. I have an extra detent cut on each side to
angle it a little more. I have the CC electic lift to lift higher yhan the
manual lift.I also mounted the cable operated angle release.Will be
ordering thepower angle this week. The 48" is just right for sidewalks.
54 may be too wide.--Irvin Toms
P.S. It is also wide ehough if you have C series wheels on.

 

Irv, how long does it take to lift it and drop it with the electric lift? Is it the cycle country lift? I found the electic enagle kit for 249.00 let me know if you want the source. I talked with cycle country and they told me that the electic angle kit cannot be operated from the manual lift but only with winch or electric lift? Bummer, the manual lifts I thought were very nice... I'm now curious about the cycle country electric lift.

Is angling the blade and then returning to straight or angling opposite first angle a commmon habit when plowing?

Phil

 

Electric lift is alittle slower than with a winch. It's nice to have a way to angle without getting off all the time
I also have the cab you can get from Dennis Kirk or your dealer. If clearance is an
issue ,the electric lift will raise a lot higher.Where did you find the 249 price on
the power angle?. My ph. # 815-734-4033 or 734-4906 Itype w/ 2 fingers so give
me a call if you want or give me yor # & ican call you--Irv Toms.