Hi i was wondering if a 2008 recon 250 manual shift could plow some snow i live in michigan we dont get very much snow 4 to 6 inches couple times a year thanks

 

I move snow with my 02' 450 Foreman but doubt a lighter/2wd bike would do very well.

I'm in SE MI also and didn't have to use it to move snow once last winter, yeah [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] !

 

A guy here in town where i live in minnesota uses his 2 wheel drive polaris trail boss for plowing snow all winter. he just uses chains on the back and pushes snow very good.

 

hey there,
finally a post I can reply to....with an experienced answer.

Yes you can plow with a recon....sometimes it's a challenge, but usually easy.

So, you average 4-6 inches snowfall at a time.....that's not much. Do you have a flat driveway or an incline? Either way you should be fine with the recon.

I'll give you some background: I live in Western NY, and yes we get a fair bit of snow....probably fairly similar to what you see....mostly less than a foot with the occasional heavy snowfall. My driveway is probably 150-180ft long with an incline on the front 1/3 of it. It's a simple dirt/gravel drive as well, no cement. I've used my '04 manual recon for the last two seasons. There were only two occasions when I had some trouble, essentially two blizzards that left at least 18-24 inches of snow....and I did eventually clear a narrow path to accomodate our cars. It just took some finesse...and a bit of abuse to the recon, a bullet-proof quad if there ever was one.

Gear I'd recommend:
42 inch blade, nothing larger.
V-bar chains for the back tires.
One 60-70 pound tube sand on the back rack for added traction.

My gear is all cycle country, but I'm sure there are others that are as good or better. Manual lift for the plow is up to you....I have an electric lift kit, but it's a pain to wire up. I ended up splicing into the circuit for the lights, this meant I had to have the headlights on while running the plow....a serious drain on the electrical system. If you go this route, be prepared to end up pull-starting the quad at some point as the battery will eventually get low.

The other PITA is cold morning starts...be ready to "babysit" the recon's throttle and choke when initially starting on particularly cold days. My advice is to be patient and let her really warm up....this helps recharge the anemic battery and get the fluids flowing.

So long story short; yes you can plow, but sometimes you need to work around the limitations of the machine.

I'm still impressed at the recon's ability to take abuse in harsh conditions, a truly simple yet great design. Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions.
-sean

 

If 4-6 inches a couple times a year is all you get you should be fine, tire chains will probably help alot. I have a 4wd quad but sometimes plow it 2wd just to see how well it will do. With the plow angled so it pushes it to the side it easily pushes 6 inches of snow, but if your making piles or trying to push piles of snow your going to struggle without 4wd.

 

I do use a 325 trail boss ,weight the rear , also with tire chains , also need to know where your going to push it ,I usually wind row the snow then have a snow blower to blow it over the bank .

 

I use an 250 Ozark. No chains , but I put a 60 lbs weight on the trailer hitch. We get alot of 4 to 6 inch snow falls. Plus one 8 to 10 incher every year. I have no problem what so ever. I plow about 1 and a half acres of driveways in my housing development. Happy plowing!

 

Put on Hand and thumb warmers and have at it.
Plowed a lot of snow with a Recon, here, and it worked well
----- Gregg -----

 

i live in NY, we get a good amount of snow. i have an inclined driveway, i used my recon to plow it, it can only handly about 4 inchs at a time. occasionally, i had to take several trys to get up it to start plowing downhill. i had a 42 in with vchains and a sandbag, if you get a huge storm, like we did last winter and got 2 feet of snow. i had to plow about 4 times during it. works fine though and where you live it should be alright. be carefull with the shifting when you do it, its easy to burn out the clutch if you do it wrong, hope this helps. happy plowing [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]