Is there any damage you can do to your ATV riding in deep snow as long as your in low. Looking forward to heavy snow over Christmas in Northern MI. After a long day of snowmobiling we plan to play on our Polaris ATV's. The snow will be deep and we just want to make sure that we are not hurting or machines. Thanks.

 

Does riding in High in deep snow cause a problem?

 

For low speeds, like under 10 or the machine is under a load you should be in low gear. That is what I have always been told.

 

FZ580, my friend and I were riding all day Saturday 12-09-00. He was on his Polaris 400 and I on my small Suzuki King Quad. We were in three to four inches of snow, with 12 inch drifts. The Polaris was in two wheel drive the whole 43 miles. The KQ on the other hand was in four wheel drive but keeping up. We were in Gladwin, which is right at the rim of the snow belt for our state. While 12 inch drifts are a little much for the KQ, the Polaris, didn't miss a beat. So I talked my friend into swapping for a half hour. He doesn't like riding Suzuki KQ's... But then, some of us do like a challenge...
Chuck, Suzuki KQ 300, GPS & lunch...

 

I rode my Sportsman 500, 99 model, in slushy snow and a little bit of ice for about 1 hr. We were hotdogging, but this is what happened:

The trans belt got some wear on it because of the spinning tires and no traction.

Other than that, no prob.

 

Chuck,
I allways welcome the opportunity to ride any quad.It gives me a better chance to make up my own mind on how it rides/drives ect,and I wont have to depend on others for evaluations.I really did not mind it at all when we switched quads.I actually forgot how fun the King really is to ride until we switched.So actually,I did'nt mind it at all.Though,I still like my Xplorer more,
Bill