I have a P650 with rear chains and a 5' plow.
Can snow deeper than the chassis be plowed? If so, how deep?
Kawi dealer says shouldn't put chains on front tires, only back tires?
What's the deepest snow you can comfortably ride in without getting stuck?

 

the deapest snow i have plowed was 6" that was wet and heavy. i noticed that if you have to go a long way, and the blade is on an angle. it will push you sideways till you have nothing in front of you. i never tryed chains.

 

Most of the time I can get away without the chains, but if it's icy or really wet, then chains are helpful. I only run them on the back. When the county snow plow comes by and leaves the 3-4 foot berm at the end of the driveway, I can push a 48" section of it across the street in one pass. Last year I didn't even take the snow blower out of storage. Your neighbors will stare with envy. I know mine do. Be careful though. The only time I ever smoked my belt was when plowing. And that was with my Polaris which has a 1250 pound tow rating to begin with.

 

Been plowing snow (48" plow) with an ATV since '98, they all did a great job. Never had to use chains, even in extreme conditions.
As was said, if you are pushing wet heavy snow with an angle blade, the back end will try to come around on you. Put 100-200lbs on the back rack to get the back end to stay straight. kawiyowee - try it w/o the chains first, no need of adding extra stress, unless you tend to get very bad icing conditions.
I've gone through 2 feet of light snow; granted most of it fell back in the plowed path, lol. I plowed 16" of heavy wet snow in November, you could only take 1/2 to 1/3 of a blade width in that terrible stuff.
If you run a huge lugged mud tire, you might need chains. Those tires don'y have enough biting edges and contact patchs in some cases.
ALWAYS run in low range.

 

As a noob to plowing (plowed 5 times now) I can say after that last storm- snow, then rain, then snow and now low teens....you need a bulldozer!
As was said if you use the plow angled it will push you sideways if its real deep
The biggest trick is to approach the work intelligently. The first time(s) I plowed I wound up going over the same thing more than once. Long driveway, first pass in the middle, blade angled, and I hit it fast 10mph. turn around come back- blow the snow far enough to the side so as it keeps snowing you dont get a huge wall built up.
I was pushing 8-10" of soft snow no problem, add water and slush and I was having to hold the blade half way up taking 2,3 or 4 passes.

54" Cycle Country plow- manual lift (note[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] manual is faster, but it would have been nice to have electric to keep the blade higher for multiple passes, I didnt think of that when I bought it.
Maxxis BigHorn radials, 03 650 Priarie.

 

Ditto to what CWG said about pushing back the snowbanks; push them way back. The ATV does a great job at plowing, but once the banks set up overnight, you're not going to push them back any further.

 

I would say the best way to find out would be to actually try it out yourself.

I have plowed 12 " before, light powdery, and gotten stuck in 4 inches of wet heavy snow.

Just all depends on how fast you want to push that snow. Never use chains,

If the machine is yours put chains wherever you want to. That is what isnice about owning your ATV

Chris

 

My plowing experience was with a 250 Polaris trailboss. Being 2WD, the V-bar chains worked great. I always started in middle of road or drive with 45 degree angle on plow. Dry snow up to 8" was'nt a problem. If possible try and not let it get over 8" before you plow again. Wet stuff, you bike will let you know; usually around 3-4" with 250. Speed was the key with my old 2WD. The faster you could safely drive the father the blade would throw it. Did a gread job plowing my driveway & 1/4 mile road back to the main road in SD.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Tuff

 

kawiyowee (Cal),

You can plow up to about 2' of the dry snow we get but about 1' of the wet spring stuff before you will need chains at all from what I have found. That is assuming that you are plowing concrete or pavment I'm not sure on gravel or dirt. I can push my big pile down the road pretty well before it has set up but once it freezes I can't move it. In the big blizzard we had a few years back one of my neighbors tried to plow when there was about 24" and he had chains and he was not doing much good as all - but that was a wetter snow.

 

My plow is 54" long by 20 inches high. I can plow through a foot of heavy snow no problem at all with 26" 589s with no chains. Like other guys have said, after you make a pass and you start plowing your own windrow with your blade angled, you have to take a half a blade at a time, and even then the snow is sometimes so heavy it can pitch the rear end of the machine around. I figured out a good method for keeping the quad straight------hit it fast. I peel down my driveway with snow pouring out the side of my quad!! Works good. Sometimes I plow across the road depending on how much snow we have and whether or not the road has been plowed or not. It's a lot of fun and you can see the envy in a lot of guys eyes when they drive by.