Put the plow mount on my Sportsman last night the blade is suppose to be here today. My question is regarding traction. Will I need chains for my wheeler? I have stock tires on the thing and they are lousy in mud. I am plowing a flat cement driveway and sidewalks with it. Any comments appreciated. I also am wondering what kinda tires I should be looking for? I will be doing general utility work nothing overly taxing but would like to be able to take it down to the trails occasionally and get around. My front tires are in need of replacing so should I do all four tires at the same time? Can I just get 25" tires for the front and leave the back alone? I don't have a great deal of extra cash with Christmas coming so I need to find an inexpensive put practical answer. Jay

 

You should be able to plow the cement with out having to use chains. I plow my sloped gravel driveway without chanes. You will NEED 4 wheel drive!!
Have fun.

 

CHAINS? When someone asks that question my answer is would you rather have the atv do what it can or would you rather have it go beyond and break gear?Traction aids are all in how you use them,common scents got to fit in there somewhere.If you think nothing can stop you because you have chains on -BINGO broken gear.As for tires,if your going with the factory specs you could change one tire only if you wanted to.If you're going with bigger meats you'll have do all 4 as to keep the right ratio.Mine came with the rawhides- awsome tire.Just my 2 cents worth.bodean "02 500 ho x Sportsman many mods[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

You should be able to get away with the tires you have now. I plow with a 95 Scrambler without any problems. Mine has 2 year old stock tires on it. The only problem that I have is sometimes pushing the wet stuff with the blade turned the quad wants to turn away. I just lean farther forward to get a little better bite on the front tires.

 

Traction aids are also a good thing if used wisely. I never once said anything about going off roading with chains on. I simply inquired wether my tires will hold their traction on snow covered cement or wether I would need the aid of chains while I plowed. Nothing about pushing the quad beyond its limits. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img] Thanks for the advice guys. I can't afford four new tires so if I can get away with getting two new tires with the same diameter then I will go that direction. Jay

 

That sounds like a good plan. Chains will help a lot, but it's will scratch the crap out of your driveway and sidewalks. That's why I chose not to use them - new driveway and all!! lol Sure, I spin the tires alot, but it keeps on pushing! We are susposed to get snow today - so I gotta get my bum back out to the garage and get my new throttle cable installed. Good luck, and don't have too much fun!

 

I just plowed 6" of slush yesterday without chains on a sloped asphalt driveway. Plowing on the level or downhill was no problem at all. Pushing that heavy stuff uphill caused me to spin a little, but the AWD handled it pretty well. The weight of the Sportsman really helps out. We got 6" more inches today, but it got colder so it's the fluffy stuff. Time to really have some fun!!

 

Last weekend we had a good size storm and had 16 inches of snow and all I did was put it in 4x4 and it got plenty of traction to push the snow with out spinning. We had some big drifts too and it just went right through without spinning, so I dont really think you would need chains, it might just put more stress on the quad and possibly tear away at the driveway.

 

My uncles 98 sportsman500 has no problem plowing with stock tires...I plow in gravel,grass and cement it does pretty good..

 

Thanks guys.

I just got done putting the blade on and I think I am ready for my first snow storm! I was driving it around tonight though and one of my bearings or joints are going bad I can hear it squeaking so off to shop it goes for diagnoses. I hate to have them do it but my garage is not heated. Jay