Been reading all the past posts on snow plows & all I did was confuse myself. Let me describe my situation: I have about 400' of asphalt driveway on a fairly steep slope here in West Virginia. I have a new 2006 manual Suzuki Eiger with a warn 2.5 winch mounted. I need a good quality plow & mount now. I was hoping to avoid removing any plow mounts for summer use. Also winch cable wear seems to be an issue these days. Looking at 50" blades, but most say I would regret not getting a 60". I plan to put chains on all 4 wheels. May be overkill, but ice on this steep grade is spooky.

My questions:

1. Is the 60" too heavy for my 400cc machine?
2. Should I remove wire winch cable & spool on a cheap walmart tow strap for lifting the plow?
3. Is there a system that will allow me to leave plow mount on all season & not drag on everything?

My buddy used his AC 300 to plow my hill once last year. It was icy underneath & once he went down, he almost never made it back up. He did NOT have chains. I think if he had chains, there would be no problem.

Any & all advice appreciated.

Thanks,
HS

 

My Arctic Cat 400 (98 with the LQ motor) would push 12" of heavy wet snow off my driveway with ease. A wide parking lot might be a different story. I used a 60" Cycle Country. Very quick to attach/detach. I did hit the mounts now and then when wheeling, but they come off in about 15 minutes for the summer. (lose about an inch of clearance at the footpegs). The attachment brackets are pretty small. Mild steel so you can always hammer them back into shape.

My suggestion with powered lifting is to buy a snowplow lift. They are little electric motors that lift the plow from the front rack. If you unwind the winch too far you can jump off the winch drum. Wind it up when it jumps (you can't see it) and you are removing the winch to unravel the cable. If the plow lifts when you hit a snow bank (as the only thing holding it down is gravity) the cable can jump off the drum too. The salt also killed my winch and cable. Winches are too expensive to ruin by plowing. You might even want to go with a manual lift.

Just like plowing with anything else, make sure you start the pile far enough away to be able to pile it all winter long. In WV it might not be as important.

The only bummer about plowing with the ATV is that it was so fast I couldn't enjoy it for very long, so I'd do all my neighbor's driveways as well.

See the AC at work on my photo page! I was very happy with it's plowing ability!

If you keep your driveway clean you shouldn't have to worry about ice, unless it starts out as ice and snows afterward. Chains or snow tire carbide studs for cars run down the center tread will help.