I am looking to buy either a sportsman 400 or Magnum 330 for snow plowing. Driveway is only 80 feet in length, 2 cars wide, and up hill. Which one would work better? I heard concerns of going up a hill with the Sportsman.

 

The 400 is about 70 pounds heavier, and other than the bigger engine on the sp, i don't see much of a difference. Also, the magnum has a solid rear axle with only 6 or so inches of ground clearance, which might be a problem in really deep snow, although i wouldnt think it would be too bad.

 

I plow my driveway with my SP400. It is about 100' by 20' and level, never a problem. My neighbor across the street has a very steep driveway about 120' long. I plowed his twice last year. Once there was only about 2-3" and had no problem plowing up. However, one snow was about 8" and very wet. Couldn't even begin to plow up his driveway. So I just drove up and plowed down. BTW, I use the Glacier plow with the 48" blade, great setup.

As far as comparing the 2 (SP400 & Magnum), I was originally going to buy 1 of each (SP400 for me and Magnum for my wife). At the time, there was only a $400 price difference. For $400 more you get IRS, bigger engine, liquid cooled and more weight. I thought it was worth the extra $$ so I bought each of us a SP400. Of course it is up to you if you think the price difference is worth it (if prices are the same now).

 

Bytor, how well does that glacier set up work? I was thinking about it for my 400 too. Does it plow okay without chains? And also, does it remove and install as easy as they show it (is it practical to remove each time)? and last, does it work ok with a regular winch, or does it tear up the end of your cable. my superwinch is REALLY picky about how neatly the last few feet wind in (barely fit) so do you think it would work ok, or would i have to shorten the cable or get the electric lift. I wouldnt want to put on a short synthetic cable as ive seen some do because i would want to use my winch in the winter. TIA tyler

 

I'd go with the SP400, just my personal taste.

I have a glacier plow system also with the 48" blade and love it. Yes it goes on a comes off easy. I used it several times last year and am very happy with it. My only complaint was the blade lifting up on heavy packed snow but a weight bar will take care of that this season.

I use a standard Warn/Polaris 2.5 winch and it works great. I wouldnt bother with the plow lifting winch. Looks like a sloppy setup to me plus it add an extra power wire going down to the unit. If it binds up I'd hack a few feet of your cable.

 

Thanks sigarms

 

tyler,

As sigarms says, the plow is VERY easy to remove and install. I use it with my Warn 2.5 and have no problems, not sure about the Superwinch. We don't get a ton of snow here, but I have plowed up to about 8" of wet snow. As I said earlier, I have never had a problem with slipping and sliding and never needed chains. It does a great job of plowing and makes a good excuse to go out and have some fun in the snow (I'll plow a couple of my neighbors' driveways so I can stay out longer). Overall, I really like the Glacier.

I see you have the front brushguard also. With mine, I have to put the winch cable in the far front hole of the plow frame or else the winch cable will rub on the brushguard. Not sure how the Superwinch mounts, but even if it does rub the brushguard, I have seen where people will wrap the brushguard top tube in plastic (such as a plastic water bottle cut in half) to avoid tearing up the tube. Another plus of the Glacier plow is that the mounting plate that stays on the ATV acts as a nice front skid plate and tow hook [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Bytor- Actually i got some weird brush guard from polaris, it is like the normal one, but it has two small metal pipes in the front of each headlight instead of one (the thin wirelike guard actually in front of the light) as well as two holes for mounting the fairlead. The latter feature means that my fairlead is past the front of the guard, eliminating the rubbing problem, i would assume.

anyone know how well the plow works on a lake? i imagine i might need chains for that, as ice is slippery (duh) and the snow is really crusty and hard- we have had NO luck shovelling it off.

EDIT: found the guard i have (i just have the brush guard shown here) my dealer installed it : brushguard

mine is the one both yellow AND black, the all yellow one is the real polaris one, as noted by the lower center bar (which the cable must rub) and the one light protector