If the charging system is working properly, the battery shouldnt be going dead like that. I've plowed for various periods of time at night (between 30 and 90 minutes at a time) night after night with headlights and work lights on constantly and never have had a dead battery.

I don't know of a way to beef up the charging system.

 

YOU MORE THAN likely have a weak battery

 

Try using a $20.00 battery tender,
I plug mine in every time i get done plowing. I have a pig tail on the battery terminals and plug it in under the rear fender. It keeps the battery topped up nice, Mine stays on the trailer outside and it has been down around 5 degrees alot lately.
I swap the tender around to every thing I don't use much all winter.
Some times my battery will get weak if I run every thing while plowing. then I'll turn off the thumb warmer and it keeps up fine.
I'd put a good charge on it before you plow next time.

 

Thanks for all the advice, i think a good charge on the battery is needed. the Sportsman has only been used a few times since december.

 

if i use my reverse lights with my on while plowing the batt light will flash..but i also have a weak battery it flashes when i first start it..i"ll replace it before recovery season..

 

I just plow snow with an old 95 Polaris 425 Magnum and a stock Polaris/Cycle Country blade. I'm always impressed with just how much snow it will push and how quickly I can clean my driveway and lane. I'm also pretty impressed on how big of piles I can mound up with it.

I know it is easier and faster than using the front end loader or rear blade on a tractor. It is much easier to maneuver and you can just to the job faster and more efficiently.

I've even done the county road to the blacktop when the county crews didn't seem to want to get around to our road. That is a mile or so and it doesn't take all that long to clean that whole road.

Really sucks down the gas when you plow though.

 

We've matched the record for snowfall here set in 1948 (12 feet of snow in a season). If the snow isn't too deep, I can plow a 300 foot laneway with a Canadian Tire-purchased 60 inch PowerBlade and manual lift kit in less than 15 minutes. The storm last weekend dropped 1 1/2 feet of snow (52cm) overnight so it took most of the day to clear my driveway.
My Yamaha 660 Grizzly is equipped with rear chains (with teeth for extra bite). Never put chains on the front wheels. The chains I use fit an Explorer but I haven't cut them to fit. I wrap them one & a bit times, and use thick black bungies to hold them in place. Chains will help big time if you have ice under that snow.
When the snow is deep, you will have to plow with the blade up, then plow a second time with the blade down. Get a 8HP snowblower if you don't have one because your driveway will become as narrow as a hiking trail without one. Blades don't lift and dump, they just push the snow aside. The blower will keep the laneway wide in spite of how tall the walls of the driveway get. The walls here are over 5 feet high in places here now (March 2008, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada).
Stacking the snow with the blade (as suggested above) is a riot. You can push the walls further away from the edge of the laneway by plowing down the edge with the ATV on a 30 degree angle. If you have a winch, you can pull yourself out of any snow holes you get yourself into. Getting yourself into a snowhole situation can be a blast.
I also use the snowplow to keep my logging road clear. I have used the 2500 winch to pull myself forward to plow (winch plowing) when the snow was too deep to do it any other way. The blade has a bit of road rash from smashing into trees and from the stresses of winch plowing. I have had to use the snowblower in the woods sometimes too.
I have recently looked into going to CAT TRACKS - to do so would require extending the snowplow blade forward by 12 inches by purchasing an extension for the snowplow frame. Without the extension, you can't angle the blade. http://www.atvtrackkit.com/plow.jpg
As for using a winch to lift your blade, you'll probably need to change your winch roller for vertical lifting or mount your winch for vertical lifting. The consequences for not doing so = a trashed cable. The MONTANA JACK website shows photos and sells the special roller too. Personally, I'd recommend the manual lift system instead. Lifting the blade is extremely EASY if you backup (to take the weight of the snow off the blade) before you pull the lift handle. The blade has 5 adjustment angles - you'll probably use only 3 positions. Spillage would occur if you used a 48 inch blade with your beast.
I had a loose cable on my battery causing all sorts of electrical grief. Make sure they're tight. The only thing that isn't good when tight is your beer drinking buddies wallet.

 

Im in the same boat as you, im about to buy a plow for my atv. I already have a plow on my f-250 so i dont have to worry about not pushing snow far enough. Im just going to use it around my tree farm and for dirt and brush in the woods.

 

Snow is in the forcast for tomorrow night then it's back up to 60 degrees a few days later. [img]i/expressions/sun.gif[/img] So I won't have to plow for awile yet. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] One thing I want to add is that my ATV plows better with 2 or 3 sandbags on the rear rack. It gets a lot better traction and I haven't needed tire chains yet. One plow I had was so heavy that when I raised it the rear tires were barely touching the ground if I didn't weigh it down. I plow the snow off the end of the driveway all the way to the fence and pile it up back there all winter. No snow banks on the sides of the driveway at all. The plow works great.

 

My son has been plowing snow with ATV's for about the last 12 years. He keeps telling me that it's "fun". I'm still waiting for the first time for me, and then I might debate the "fun" part. However, at least I have a nice, easy to use plow system and an ATV that should handle the job. Putting the plow on and taking it off his CAT is not too bad, and much easier than the one he had on his old King Quad, but no were near as easy as the Glacier 2 plow system.

Anyhow, with a 250 ft driveway, the ATV should save me breaking my back shoveling and sweeping snow every other day in the winter when we get that wonderful "Lake Affect" snow.

We'll see about the "fun" part. :-)