The Honda Rubicon transmission was built for hard work. Honda rates it conservatively as they do with everything that they build. It's a safe bet that anything made by Honda will comply with numbers twice the ratings.

 

Outrage, why do you think a SRA is better for plowing? I would think that IRS, like my Cat, will give you more ground clearance (12" in my case) and thus be better for plowing through snow. What are your thoughts?

 

Hi Catterman, I dont know how you guys plow in Alaska, but the way we plow in Europe, we dont need any clearance at all, except some inches. We push the blade forward, and the ATV drives on the groomed surface. So almost no clearance necessary. Do you guys pull the blade behind the ATV? Dont get for what you need all the clearance?

 

We must plow different. My driveway is wide, and we get a lot of snow. I can't just put the 60" blade down and go forward and be done, I have to put it in reverse, back up, and often drive over the un-plowed area to set up my plowing direction. Therefor, if I didn't have all the ground clearance, I would get hung up. I hope this makes sence.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

I would think weight would be the biggest factor and tires second, not the suspension. I also think "all-wheel" drive would be better than "3-wd".

The heaviest 500 cc all-wheel drive would be the best. Would that be the SP 500 HO??

Some ATV's are just better at some things than others. And the question was "best 500", not 600s, 650s, 700s, 750s, or 800s. The best would probably be the SP 800 out of all of them with it weighing in close to 10 tons. LOL

 

Well, you might be right about the weight of an ATV, but if I take a look from where you come from, its no question that you can easily plow through your Utah powder. If you have heavy snow, you need a heavy ATV.

Imagine:
Just one ordinary snowshovel of snow in Europe is in worst case as heavy than a bucket of water! Maybe a little truckload of snow in Utah has the same weight, right? Without chains on all 4 wheels and a proper weight on the ATV , you wouldnt even be able to get out of the garage. I have seen ordinary pickup trucks in the US and Canada, plowing huge amounts of snow where we need Big Trucks (heavy dumptrucks) with 500 hp and about 17 tons of sand on the dumper to get the same jobs done. (4 X 4 with chains on!)

 

Svalbard11, we get wet and heavy snow all the time here in the US. It is very common in the fall and spring, even here in Alaska. We do understand how heavy it is and have to deal with it many times a year.

 

As for plowing the heavy stuff the tires & motor size are probably the biggest factors. As for SRA vs IRS I've found that the lower center of gravity seems to work slightly better (easier to get under snow). The power is more in line with the blade. I've never found that ground clearance is a factor when plowing since the blade is in front. Like I said this is just my opinion.

 

I got home from work yesterday and what did I find? A snow drift that was up to my racks right in the middle of my driveway! I actually drove through it with my Bronco II, just trying to get to my house. Then I fire up the ATV, and I spend the next hour plowing. It was one of those drifts that get so hard you can walk on without sinking. I had to raise the ATV blade up as high as it goes and hit the drift running! Now, I can't turn around and push the snow next to my house, so I have to put the ATV in reverse and back up through the path I made, remember by blade was up as high as it goes and the ATV actually rode some on top of the drift. I almost didn't make it the way it was, if I was an extra 4 inches lower I know I wouldn't have made it. Now are you guys telling me you have never had enough snow to experience this??? What do you do when you have 3' of snow? Or do you guys only use the ATV for plowing when you have 6" or less?

Outrage, I used to plow with a SRA, they have advantages, but for plowing I am never going to go back, I have never had problems with ceter of gravity or "not getting under the snow". What was your previous experience? What ATV was it on? I have found that what really matters is how the plow attaches to the ATV. I never have problems getting under the snow. What plow setup did/do you use? Maybe that was the problem?

Those are just my thoughts, I have been plowing with ATV's for 6 years so I like to think I know what I am talking about here, but again, I am wrong a lot of times too![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

 

I've never had any real problems with either the IRS or SRA when snowing but I don't use the ATVs much for this unless it's a light snow. Sounds like most of what you're saying is about riding in the snow? Now that's another story all together. An IRS machine will almost always be the better of the two. Even with that I'd still say that the type of tires you have make an even bigger difference.

I currently have a Vinson. The other IRS machines had a smaller engine so maybe that's what I was really seeing?