I am kind of mulling over the idea of a snowplow for my Xplorer. I have the 400, so I know power is not a concern. I want to know mainly 2 things.

Realistically, how much snow can I expect to push, you know how deep of powder, how deep wet snow. I have a LOOOONNNNG driveway (close to 1/2 mile) and would like to be able to push all the snow off to one side. Pushing all of it all out the end is unrealistic. Also, how well does your plow 'roll' snow out the side? Does it angle steep enough to do this good?

Secondly, my driveway is all gravel. Can I expect a plow to be able to push off the snow, leaving about an inch on the ground so as not to push all the gravel into the ditch also? What do you have to do to be able to do this? Is there some kind of stop, or skid you have to buy seperately, or can you do it with your plow as-is.

Lastly (yea, I know, this is 3 things, not 2) would you recommend a 'V' type plow or a solid one? I will likely do 90% of the plowing to one side, and would like to be able to reverse the plow at the end of the drive and be able to push snow both ways.

Thanks in advance...

 

if i were u i would look at the moose 60" in either the regular or the County plow. it would plow your drivway fast.

late
jon

 

I have the moose 50" country plow it is a solid straight blade that angles either way. and it is on a magnum 325 and i have plowed about 1 1/2 foot - 2 feet of snow (powder) and about 8 - 10 inches of wet snow.... and it has a hig wing on one side like the highway plows so it alows you to throw it pretty good.

If your driveway drifts alot and deep you should get the v-plow or better yet a snowblower.....but you probally wouldnt need it..i ahve plowed alot of snow wiht my setup and it works great.

00' 325 Magnum 4x4

 

Thanks for the replies so far. To clarify things, all I have next to the driveway is an open cornfield, (hopefully) with harvest complete, so the drifts aren't deep. If we get a foot of snow, the drive usually is that deep or less as it is slightly elevated from the level of the cornfield. Usually more of an even blanket.

Anyone have experience with gravel? I think that will be my main concern, not to push $200 worth of gravel into the field where it won't do any good.

Also, I would likely go with manual lift if it would work good enough. I am 6' tall & 190# and consider myself average strength or above. Thanks again.

 

I plow with a 48" stright blade,up to 7" wet.I also have a 54"V-plow.We dont get much more then 8' around here,but I cant see were you would have a problem with a foot or so(get the top flaps for whatever you get)if it "s to deep you can make 2 passes,one with bladeup,one with blade down.
As for gravel driveway ...a winch will let you set it whatever ht you want.Alot of people here dont want the blade on the fancy driveways.....NO problem

 

The regular Moose 60" plow with a top rubber does a real nice job. It will do what you want particularly on a long driveway. The only thing I dislike about all the plows is that they dig lots of stone and gravel when you plow with their normal blade skids. I bought a couple of blade skids for a Western Plow (truck plow) and made brackets on the back of the Moose to accommodate. We did the same with the Cycle Country plow. Plowing with the skids in place and adjusted to your conditions makes it a breeze. Without the skids, you will have all your gravel on the side in spring. I paved ours last year and it's a dream plowing on pavement now.

As far as snow, we get lots more here in McKean PA than you can think about with the lake effect dumps. Getting close to 200" this season. 100" of that was in Dec. alone.

 

Yeah i have to agree wiht jack because i live in potter county PA and we get alot of snow here..

I took my skid shoes off because even wiht the jam nut tight they came loose and fell off....so what we do is just drive on the snow like the first 6-8 inches and pack it down..then you dont tear up any gravel...

00' mag 325 4x4

 

I'm amazed at how much snow you can push. Cruising up and down a long driveway takes very little time. I have the 48" plow and it takes only 2 round trips to clear my 300' driveway. You can cruise at a pretty good clip.

You can become very popular by plowing your neighbors driveways as well. It's a great payback to my neighbors for taking care of my dogs when I'm away on vacation.

My house and garage are layed out in an "L" pattern, and what takes considerable more time is clearing in front of the garage where there is no place to put the snow other than driving it about 75 feet. It requires a back and forth motion about 50 times to clear this area. Overriding the reverse-override button is highly recommended.

 

For three winters I plowed three 150 yard driveways and ½ mile of road (all gravel) with a SP500 and Polaris 48” (straight) blade. This year I upgraded to a Polaris 60” (straight) blade, and just in time too!

We’re in sand country here on the big river. Anyplace that’s not hard-packed gravel is sand. The stock shoes or skids that come with the Polaris blades are worthless here, they just let the blade dig. I had a welder make me some new shoes for the blade out of ¼” plate. They’re just a (approximately) 4x5 plate turned up about an inch back from the front like a ski with a bolt welded to the center so they mount up like the stock shoe. The first set I had made one of the shoes caught something and bent the bolt. Now I have the front edge of the shoes tack welded in 2 spots to the wear bar on the blade. Pushing snow is the only thing I use it for and once it’s set I have no reason to change the adjustment. If I ever have to take the shoes off it’s a simple matter of grinding through the spot welds.

If it snows 4” or less we just drive over it. Piling up snow just increases the duration of the ugly “melting season.” This year some of our piles were 4’ high by necessity. The best advice I can give you if you want to pile the snow on one side of the drive is to start the year off by clearing an extra 3’ to that side. With a straight-on push you can pile snow to the moon but piling off to the side with an angled blade is limited to about 2’. After that it just drops back in the driveway behind the blade and you end up driving over it as you push because the blade can’t throw it up on the snow bank, at least that’s been my experience with a straight blade in this year’s significant snowfall.

Before I used the quad to push snow I was using a 4-wd diesel tractor with a 54” front blade and a 60” back blade. It amazed me to find the quad was the better tool for the job. It does the job faster and far more comfortably.

 

I have the cycle country V blade and like it.
You can angle both sides forward for the final cleanup pass and you don't get so much spillage around the sides.

You will be amazed at what you can do with an ATV and snowplow. For-sure, disable the dang reverse over-ride switch. You *want* to be able to apply power while backing up, especially if you push the snow into a ditch and need to back out.

And you will love this: Ignore the part that says only plow in low range! With the space you have, put in high and go. At 25 - 30 mph the snow flies off that plow like you had a big snow-blower. I've seen it go 10' high and probably at least that far to the side! However, if you want your belt to last, don't plow in high range at less than about 10 mph .. if you're gonna go slow, use low range.

Some photos:
The V plow - http://marina.fortunecity.com/victor...snowplow.html?

Plowing snow: http://marina.fortunecity.com/victor.../moresnow.html

More snow! How much can an ATV push?
http://www.geocities.com/sevenprospe.../snowplow.html