Need a real big snowplow - where to get?


I am living in Austria and I need a real big plow on my Polaris Sportsman 500. Where can I get one? (online, of course...) (Not the little toys to play with - I need a real good one, 60" - 70" wide and 35" high)

Martin

 

The biggest I have seen is 60 inches you can get them anywhere.
try www.cabelas.com www.mooseutilities.com or just go to a search engine and punch in atv plow.
If you need a bigger plow you might wanna get one for your truck

 

Svalbard-
That is kind of a tough request really. I can totally understand your desire for the largest plow made to put on your atv, but the size you are after-to my knowledge-is not made for an atv. I would highly recommend the Moose plow line, as they are a heavier duty plow, tend to hold up better than the rest. The largest plow Moose makes is the "Moose County Plow", which is 60" wide, and is 26" tall at one end, tapering down to 16" at the other end. The standard plow is 60" wide, and roughly 16-18" tall-even across the top. The suggested list price for the County plow blade only in the 2002 Moose utilities catalog is $222.95, while the standard blade is $171.95. You'll need a mounting kit for the bottom, which costs $48.95, along with the universal push tubes kit-at $159.95. The choice for lifting options varies considerably-manual lift kit is $89.95, the E-Z lift kit is $175.95 and the Electric lift is $185.95. If you already have a winch on your SP500, you can just use that, and won't need to buy a lift kit at all for lifting the plow-the winch will work fine.

These prices are according to the 2002 Moose catalog, suggested retail. Last I knew, www.hi-per.com had the cheapest prices on moose plows and mounting kits, but that was over a year ago now if I remember right. You might also look at atvpartsdepot.com, and denniskirk.com as well, though they are usually a bit higher than the rest.

Now, in all honesty, if the snow gets piled that deep that you want a 70" wide plow, 35" tall, I would highly recommend buying a plow for the front of your truck, Jeep, Cruiser or whatever you have that is a full sized vehicle. The atv simply will not have the power or weight behind it to move snow in that width and depth, it is just too much weight backed up in front of the plow that the atv won't do much more than sit and spin all four tires.

Anyway, I don't know if this has helped or not, but it was worth a try. Best of Luck, and I hope you're able to find something that works for ya,

Mike

 

Hi Cowboy, that helps much.

The problem is just that moose doesnt respond to my emails and over here is zero ATV equipment available.

Will a moose county-plow fit to a Polaris mount kit ? I got an old broshure where Polaris offers a "Deluxe Sportsman plow system" - but I am not sure if the county plow fits to those brackets.

I really would prefer a plow onto my 1/2 ton truck, but we cant get anything over here that fits to a common pickup truck. The smallest plows we can get are 880 pounds. other stuff weighs 1800 or 2600 plus plus - its all heavy grooming equipment.

Where I live, we get easily 2 - 4 - 5 feet snow during the night. A blower costs a tremendous amount over here - like almost everything.

And what lift would you recommend? The Polaris lift handle - or the moose EZ-lift or the Polaris electric lift or a common winch?

Sorry that I am bothering you, but the nearist dealer who would know an answer sits in the UK, and thats a 2 1/2 day trip from here.....



Martin

 

Wow, that is interesting-never really thought about the lack of equipment back there-guess I figured with all the snow you guys get, you'd have all kinds of plows or removal equipment. Anyway, do you have any kind of plows for trucks that are small enough back there??? It sounds like the ones you mentioned are for the huge city rigs, or for big graders or other heavy equipment items. Out here, Costco occassionally sells snow plows for light duty pick up trucks that weigh around 500 lbs. if I remember right. They are a hydraulic unit that hooks up to the front of the truck, then the plow can be detached at the end of the winter so you don't have to leave it on all the time. They utilize a 4 way remote joystick that sits on the seat beside you while driving, and I believe the cost of them was for as little as $800-$1,200, I think made by Meyer-but again, I haven't looked into them in a while now, so I don't remember for sure. They were 8' wide blades, and I'd just have to guess somewhere in the 24"-30" heigth range. Some of the larger farm supply stores can order them in as well from various companies, and with a little luck, they might be able to ship over to your area.

As for the Moose company-they are really hard to get ahold of. I have always dealt with them through various atv dealers who carry moose products, never through the company themselves. I think my brochures came as a result of an email response requesting a catalog from them, that is all computer generated anyway, so that's probably how I got through with that one. Everything else has always been dealt with through various atv dealers.

And, unfortunately I don't think the moose plow will mount to the Polaris push tube set-as far as I know, each manufacturer has a design just enough different that they won't all mix and match, and you can't just pick one blade to put on another companies mounting kit. Polaris does offer a snow plow kit that comes with mounting kit and plow, but I don't know what the quality is like. I've seen a lot of cycle country brand, Moose brand, a yamaha plow, AC plow, some "v" plow thing at a farm store once for atv's and by far the best quality was the Moose. I know of 4 dealers in the area who used to carry cycle country plows that have since dropped service and now stock only Moose plows, simply because they are heavier units.

As far as the lifting system goes, I don't have any experience with the newer EZ lift, or electric lifts. I've used the winch type numerous times as well as the hand lift a few times, and I have to say I do like the winch lift just from my own experience. The only thing you have to remember is to keep a good solid tight wrap of cable on your winch drum, to prevent from pinching and binding the cable. After a couple hard seasons, you will wear out the first couple feet of cable, but that can easily be patched or replaced for pretty cheap. In all honesty, if you already have the winch on your SP, I would say just use that, it will save you a lot of money in that you won't have to buy a different style of lift to do the same job the winch will do, just as easily.

OH, and don't worry man, no bother at all! I'm more than happy to try and help, if I can that is-especially to a fellow atv'er a whole other world away!

Best of Luck to ya, and let me know if there's anything else I can try and help ya with,

Mike

 

Thanks Cowboy!!! That helped a lot!

As it seems you are a cabinetmaker too, arent you? And where is that where you live? Rockys? Looks great.

I had a call to Polaris today and there I found a guy who worked for moose before. What I am going to do is that I will order the Polaris delux plowing system which gives me full clearance and the moose-county plow which is (thats what he said) probably the most reliable plow on the market. Some modifications will be neccessary (he said) but that doesnt seem to be a problem for a Jack of all trades like me.

Heh, the trais where you were riding (your photoalbum) are they open legally? I would be glad if we would have these nice trails open. Its all privatly owned and closed for public use.

Its a mess.

Martin

 

Actually no, I am not a cabinet maker, but I do build log furniture. My family recently took over roughly 1,200 acres of land in northern Washington, just south of the Canadian border, that has been handed down through the family since the late 1800's, very early 1900's. It has a lot of lodge pole pine that grows to a certain size, then dies and falls over. We had roughly 400 acres "thinned" down about 2 years ago now, they took everything 9" in diameter and larger. Problem is they did the logging during the first part of winter with between 2-3' of snow on the ground up there. Consequently, all the limbs, branches and smaller trees that were supposed to be "broken down" into the soil, were simply crushed down into the snow instead. With the snow melted off, it has become a huge fire hazard that I've been attempting to clean up over the last year now. I'd always wanted a log bed, so I decided I'd just try to build one and see how it turned out. That's pretty much how I started building furniture-several people tried to buy my first bed-the one I still sleep on-and as I refused to sell it, I did offer to custom build one for them. Been going ever since. Working on a twin canopy bed now for my 3 year old boy, and will be starting a dining room table with 4 chairs here about the middle of October. Everything I make is all made by hand using a draw knife, and there is no metal in any of my products-what has to be jointed together, I cut down to fit with the draw knife, then use dowels to lock it together. It's fun, I really enjoy doing it, and have plans for opening a small business. The bank however wants 6 months back pay stubs, and as I've been finishing school for the last two years, I haven't had a job. So, I'm currently looking for work to meet the loan requirements for the bank to open my own shop.

As for the trails, yes, those are all "Jeep" trails as they're called, up around my elk hunting area. In that particular area, you are not supposed to ride on the roadways, but you can legally ride freely on any of the jeep trails that you want-and there are tons of them, so it makes for a lot of really good, really challenging riding at times. Unfortunately, it was horribly dry when Rick and I went this last time, so it was very dusty. Still very difficult though as the dirt is like a really fine powder dust, when in fall or spring, it is very deep clay-type mud, very slippery. Fun anyway you look at it though.

As for the plow, I'm glad you were able to come up with something that woudl work. I thought about fabricating your own mounting system to fit the Moose County plow after I posted that last topic, but wasn't sure how "crafty" you were with materials and such. Some guys are great with metal work and welding stuff up, then there are others like me who aren't quite as skilled-I could build something if I had too, but it wouldn't be very pretty! heh heh heh.

Oh, and no, I'm not in the Rocky's-they're more east of me. My property is up in what is known as the Okanogan Highlands I guess you could say-again, more north-central Washington. However, I live about 3.5 hours south of there, in basically the desert-in the Columbia basin area, about 25 miles north of the Oregon border. The Blue Mountains are about an hour and a half drive south east, while the cascade mountains-what I ride in-are about 2 hours to the north west. And, no, I hate the desert and plan to move soon as I find work! I was forced to move back in with my parents after graduating from WSU in an effort to save money. Hunting and four wheeling are a big part of my life-it's in my blood, that's what I know, so I need to be closer to the trees, mountains and such.

Anyway, sorry to hear of the difficult riding areas out there. That is very unfortunate you can't go ride whereever you want. Sadly, that is becoming more and more of a problem out here-all the environmentalists want to shut down the limited areas we do have available, so we're constantly fighting to keep riding areas open to the public. Sad how things work out at times.

Glad to hear you got something figured out, and Best of Luck with that-interested to know how it works!

Mike

 

Heh, Cowboy, thats a real great area where you live!!!!! I was a Production manager in a large cabinetshop in Modesto/ California before I went back to Europe. (Due to Visa problems).

In summertime, I usully took off 6 weeks (which is common for Europeans (smile)) and were guiding tourists from Seattle up to AK, crossing through BC, Yukon- Territory and NWT.

Washington is just great, Oregon even better. I didnt know that the job situation is that a kinda problem, but yes, same here, especially Sweden. Remote areas do not offer many jobs.

1200 acres, woooooohhhhhhhh, thats great! I am jealous on you guys and what kinda freedom you still have. If you own 1 or 2 acres over here, youre neighbours start getting jealous on you. I would like to own so much land, especially in the US or Canada. Over here, I think Prince Charles owns less than you. ;-)

So, in Europe you would be a kinda king or so, G R I N. The valley where I live, is owned by a strange "kinda" king from Northern Germany. I ve never seen him before, I just pay the fines and tickets to him in case they catch me when entering the valley by truck or ATV. I had tons of quarrels and paid hundreds of bucks just because I drove on the roads which are all closed for the public.

It was ever my dream to become a farmer in Western US or Canada, but without much money it will stay an Illusion....

I was so close to get settled in the US, but I couldnt accomplish a Greencard which would have entitled me to stay for ever. I made good $ (30 $ / hour), but I wasnt allowed by law to buy a house or a truck.

When I came back to Europe in 99, I was unemployed and jobs were very hard to get after 8 yrs of recession in economy. But now, I found a good job as a CAD engeneer in a cabinetshop down the valley.

But never the less, I am jeaolous to everybody who can live and work in the US.

US is a great country and a great nation by the way.

So long , cowboy, thanks for all and if you d like to take a look how it looks like where I live, check out these links:

www.montafon.at or www.oberstdorf.de


Best Regards


Martin

 

Forgot to tell ya, checked out those sites earlier today, you guys have some beautiful country out there! It's a shame you can't drive most of it, why do they do that? I guess I just don't understand the whole "king" thing with his boundaries and such. Sorry, but I found it kind of funny you mentioning having to pay all the fines for driving on the public roads-kind of like me getting tickets parking all over up in Pullman because my "green" parking permit was not the "right color green". man, what a joke!

Sounds like you have a good job though as a CAD engineer. Those guys typically make pretty good money I think. As for your dreams of farming-I hate to say it, but I still think of that myself. I was born on a small farm of around 400 acres outside of Omak, up near the same 1,200 we still have now. We had an upper ranch too of around 250-300 or so as well, that was summer range for cattle, also a barley crop as well. Problem was, my Dad and Grandpa couldn't make enough money off of it, so we had to break it up and sell. The original 1,200 is what has been handed down through the family since the late 1800's, early 1900's, and that-hopefully-will never be sold. Seems the large, corporate farms have the benefit of money, and farming as well. A lot of the smaller guys get shut down, or run out from the larger guys, especially in times of low water supply, like we are facing now. When times are bad, they are horrible. On the flip side, when they're good, they're booming, so I guess you have to take the good with the bad, decide just how bad you want it, if you can suffer a few years in a row for that one big year.

Anyway, hope you are doing well, and Best of Luck to ya,

Mike

 

Europe has too many environmentalists and communists and far too many politicians and as..holes where ever you go.

I am living near a whitewarer-river and I grew up with canoing....

In these days it is no more allowed "to protect wildlife". Mountainbiking is just allowed on certain few trails, snowmobiling is just allowed in Sweden and Finland. ATVing is forbidden in whole Europe (except paved roads). Hunting is just for the very big guys and fishing as well. in Germany you need a kinda license for fishing which means you have to attend a school for 1 or 2 years.

Gas costs 6 times as much than in the US, salestax is between 16 % and 25%, unemployment rate between 8 and 35 %.

I love Europe ;-)

BTW: Have you got an idea how much a Sportsman 500 HO is over here? You make a very good deal in case you get it for 21 K.


Isnt it great in Europe?

So long

Martin