I have had plows from Cycle Country, Moose and Warn. The Moose is the heaviest of the bunch, but it could have been even heavier to work better. My present unit it a 60" Warn with the side blades on both sides, top rubber and a Montana Jack 40 lb. weight bar on top. I've been plowing snow with an atv since '95 and the two most important factors are weight to keep the plow down on the pavement and side blades to push more snow in the direction you want.

IMHO a plow that is not really heavy or without side blades makes for a lot more going over and over again to completely remove snow down to the pavement. They are real time savers. I also think the Warn actuator is superior to using a winch to lift the blade.

Chains are ok if you don't have cement or asphalt and are on ice, but I don't have any use for them. They chew pavement up pretty good. I've been using 27" ITP 589's MS and previously used MudRunners. Both are an excellent choice in snow. I would rate the 589's slightly superior to the MR's.

I'm quite happy with the present Warn setup. Anything better would have to be a snowblower.

 

Jack, I have never used the side blades due to being concerned I would crush them when packing the snow into piles, what is your experience with that. Depending on snow condition I can usually stack about 5 ft. high. If I don't stack it then I run out of room too quick. I would appreciate your input on that because I agree that the side blades would save time.

One thing I did was to coat the blade with a pickup bed liner like Rhino. That stopped the snow from sticking to the blade and cut my fuel consumption down about 25% which means to me the ATV isn't having to work as hard. I found the snow would also curl better and allow me to stack it higher which was a big plus for my situation.

As far as adding weight, my first ATV/snowplow combination was a Bayou 300 and CC 48" blade. I added the weights but found it created traction issues for the ATV so I added weight to the ATV also. The combination got so heavy it was slow and made it hard to steer. I finally got fed up with it and built a system to apply down pressure on the blade by only adding about 8 pounds of weight. The system is adjustable so I can change it from no down pressure to as high as 80 to 90 pounds in a minute or two. Usually I run it at 40 pounds. The only time I run it high is if I need to peel up some packed snow. I currently have the idea patent pending and hope to license it out to the plow manufacturers. The selling price of it will be about the same as the weight bar from Montana Jacks.

 

since i started this thread, i will say what i went with, for $418, i got a Moose 60 inch with a manuel lift, no shipping as i bought it at a local (non franchise) shop in my town. I couldnt beat that, nobody online was within $100 of that for the moose. I really wanted the Warn, but it was $595 for the cheapest 60" online and i figure the Moose will be fine.

 

The first plow sides I tried were the brand named "Plow Sides" I don't think much of them, they are not very strong and the company no longer is in business. used them for two years though. The units made by Warn for their plow are really built very well.

If the snow piles get like rock ice solid i take the sides off just to make sure. That usually doesn't happen until February.

 

I've got a Cycle Country 60" and it works very well. I had the manual lift on my Polaris and it was VERY fast and effective for snow removal. IF I was going to do it over - especially if I had a Honda, I would get a Moose. They have reduced their pricing and are more price competative with Cycle Country than they used to be and they are a much more solid design. Another thing to consider is dealer availability. I can tell you from experience that these companies WILL NOT deal with you personally and it can be a PAIN IN THE @$$ to get parts if your dealer isn't on top of stuff!

 

Never had any use for chains, but I do recommend using weight on the rear of the ATV. Hanging a 150 or so lbs. of plow on the front will definitely take some of the weight off your rear wheels, which will tend to let your rear end "skate out" when you hit some hard packed snow or heavy drifts. I've been using a 50" Moose blade for 5 years now, and have had no trouble at all. It's built very solid. My only regret is that I didn't go with the 60". That "down pressure" system that Reb2 is working on sounds intriguing. I hope he keeps us informed of it's progress.

 

I just ordered my plow today. An American Mtg. Eagle plow. 60", standard blade(I'll also be using it to push rock and sand in the Summer), with the hydlaulic turn kit. I went with the Eagle because I really like the quick mount system they use. Makes it easy not only to install the plow onto the ATV, but remove the frame mount for trail riding. I'm curious to see how well the hydraulic turn works and if it's worth the extra dough. Seems like I got a great deal. Only $345 complete(not including the hydraulic kit) at www.recstuff.com, including free shipping! That's about $50 less than any other dealer I could find on ebay, and about $60-70 less than any other local dealer. This price may have been a "show special" though, as I originally found these guys at the Mpls Snowmobile and ATV show a couple of weeks ago. Now, all I need is snow in MN to try it out. I'll let eveyone know what I think of the turn kit once I use it a couple of times.

 

my friend has a 48 inch cycle country blade on his recon, it works just fine around here, im ordering a 50 inch moose, will traction be an issue? or wil i just have to add weight to the back of my quad, and how much hevier is it to take away from the power?

 

I use a 5' Moose County plow with a Warn 2000 winch to raise and lower it. It works very well for moving the snow. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Do you have any information on the hydlaulic turn kit? I'd like to learn more about it.