I'm sure the motor would'nt have any problems.....but breaking the cables when trying to get work done and trying to fix them on the spot in cold weather can't be fun. It seems that proper location of the winch to prevent pinching the cable at the fairlead might be and answer and still leave your winch usable if you get stuck. The boat strap is the way to go....but how do you set that up and still leave your winch available for use with the cable is a problem.....

 

I just change back to the cable if I'm going riding where I think I might get stuck for the winter. In the spring I put the cable back on.

 

You could go to
mcmaster and look at spectra rope(it's similar to Kevlar) pn36965t21 they will sell it in any length up to 600'

 

That's why I put those u-bolts on. I keep the right sized wrench and some decent wirecutters in the quad. If the cable breaks, I just resplice the end. As long as you have decent leather gloves (I do in my quad) it takes just a few minutes to repair the cable. And a few minutes every few weeks seems easier to me than changing the cable when I want to ride, because usually, I switch between riding and plowing many times all day.

 

I plow for about 15 houses on average with my Brute Force and for that reason I didn't go for the winch lift. I just don't want to deal with any problems while I'm out plowing on a busy day.

Anyone ever try the Montana Jacks Accessory Receiver System w/ the winch rotator? This seems like a good set up but it costs soo much...about $500 by the time you get all you need. There really isn't any other use for the receiver system for me besides that, so I couldn't justify running that set up.

 

Now thats exactly the type of setup I was thinging about....I'm gonna have to do some research on this now. I wish the pictures and instructions were more clear. I don't quite understand how it would get into the $500 range unless that includes the winch too. I'm sure there would be some type of special fabrication needed that would be unique to each manufacturer and their rack/bumper system..... Thanks Much!!!!!

 

Ok ....I see now....I gotta make a receiver and mount for the winch that plugs into the standard receiver....after that everything just pins right in. My biggest problem then would be getting an extension power lead for the ramsey winch that I want to use and making sure it has the fairlead attached to the winch itself (I'm not sure if the new remote control Ramsay is set up like that or not)....for normal winching duties. An additional firm linkage arm could be made that would allow you to winch up the blade, hang the plow from the linkage type bracket, and disconnect the winch cable so that you could use it for normal winch purposes if you got stuck while plowing. For a single pull situation like that the fairlead would work fine for getting you out and not putting excessive wear on the cable. Hmmmm.....good thing I have a brother who works at a fabrication shop....he made a nice receiver like that for my lawnmower last year!

 

Hey neversunk. You might want to consider a manual lift. My manual lift takes probably about a 15 pound pull to lift the blade. You don't even notice it. The thing I have found nice about a manual lift is that I can easily feather the blade over the ground (over bumps and such) much easier because I have a feel for the blade.
I hope this helps you
BryceGTX

 

I agree with BryceGTX all the way. It really isn't that much work to raise and lower the blade by hand. Some people I plow for have the worst freakin sidewalks and I'm always feathering the blade over the cracks and bumps.

 

You are both correct, I've been concerned about that....I hav'nt used one but I felt that I would get much better feel and instant control over the work surface with the hand lift mechanism. Can you hook up the existing winch for occasional use on a hand lever plow that would simply lift the blade higher than the hand lever takes it so that you can load and unload the ATV up and down a trailer ramp? That would'nt be enough abuse to mess up a cable over the whole winter for me and I think the hand lever would be quicker than the winch anyhow.