Kawasaki Mule 610 Plow Install

[badapplefab]

First I should state I'm generally cheap, and try to do most things myself, as I feel my time is free. When I bought my mule 610, I thought it would be helpful around the house/yard, and that it might be a way to do my driveway. I've always used a snowblower, but with a 450ft gravel driveway at the new house, I needed to make the switch to a plow. I had heard that a UTV works well to plow with, but still had never seen one in action. So as summer began to come to an end, I started looking for a plow for the mule. I came across a 4 way 54" hydraulic plow from a 400 series John Deere tractor for $325 on ebay. It came with the tractor side frame mount, plow and cylinders. Next came the job of mounting the plow to the front of the mule. It took a couple of nights of brainstorming, but I finally came up with solid, clean idea. My plan was to weld on some gussets to the front of the frame and weld a horizontal tube thru these gussets. And then pin the frame side plow mount to the tube, then I was going to run links back to the middle of the mule frame. I sleeved some holes so the links could just be pinned. In the end I had a plow that could be installed and removed by pulling 4 pins. The benefits of using this plow were, 1) it was cheap, 2) solid heavy duty plow with a trip feature, 3) it was hydraulic, and 4) it would be a good challenge. I still haven't gotten to hook up the hydraulics yet, still looking into ideas for a 12v power pack, anyone have any cheap ideas. So my current setup uses my winch to lift and lower, and to manually pivot the plow. I should also add that I incorporated my winch mount to the plow install mounts. Here are some pics, I will get some more when I get a chance. In the end I'm very happy with the install and how well it performed.

Gussets and horizontal tube

Sleeved holes in frame for aft links

Winch mount

Finish Install

 

[DIXIEDOG]

Looks like you put a lot of thought into mounting the plow on your buggy. Looks good so far.:thumbsup:

 

[badapplefab]

Any thought on uses air cylinders, it might be cheaper to buy a 12v compressor and some air cylinders.

 

[badapplefab]

Here are a few more pics of the plow mount I came up with.

Close up from the side. Yes can see I used the John Deere mount off the tractor, I had to chop it up a little. The lower pin is to remove the plow from the mount, while the upper one with the loop is to remove the entire mount from the mule, so I can get ground clearance for offroad use.

The support links that pick up the frame under the seat area.

Another mounted up pic

 

[beenthere]

The fab job looks great. Very well thought out, and finished.

But the plow looks to be too small.

I'd suggest going manual with the plow until you are sure it is the one you want mounted on your UTV. I'm thinking you will be more interested in investing your time and money in an upgraded larger blade. Keep this one with a for sale sign on it.

 

[badapplefab]

the mule measure just under 48" wide, the blade is 54". What would you suggest as a good width, 60". and thanks, i'm very happy with how it came out.

 

[SpudHauler]

Yes, great job of mounting the plow.

Plow width? Swing all the way to the left or right and see if the end of the plow is past the tires. If not, when you are in angle mode you can't push the snow far enough away from the atv.

My RTV for instance is 5' wide and the blade is 6' and when angled it just cleans the 5' width. So really could be 6" wider, but it's not bad.

Too much width is a hard push? Everything is a trade off.

Another thing, when I had my 450 Honda trx with Moose plow and warn winch, I removed the cable and bought a 10' piece for snow plowing. Two things, it saves your good cable and is easier on the winch as well. Because, as you get using the plow, the cable eventually gets all loose on the spool and begins to bind. Hard on cable and a pain to get freed up.

Second thing, after reading many posts here and other places, removed the original cable and cut it in half. 50 feet is allot of cable and will always get bound up sooner or later. 25 feet is plenty and easier on the winch because after pulling for 25 feet and unspooling and re-rigging for the next 25 foot pull the winch has time to cool. A 50 foot pull and the winch is real hot.

Just my opinions.

Oh, and on the angle adjustment. Can't see the release on yours, but on the moose plow, I attached a piece of plastic covered clothes line wire to the lever and ran it up through the front rack with a pull cord handle on the end. To change angle, pull on the cord and put the blade into the bank and go backward or forward until it was set and continue plowing. Worked great and didn't have to leave the seat.
Sweet!

 

[SpudHauler]

You need a power pack if you want hydraulics.

Surplus Center - 12 VOLT DC MONARCH SNOW PLOW POWER PACK

Little expensive but a huge difference over a winch or linear actuator.

Surplus Center - 4.01" STROKE 500 LBS 12 VDC LINEAR ACTUATOR

I switched from the actuator on my curtis because it lacked the power to lift a full blade of wet snow and was slow.

Winch is okay for lift though, but still prefer the hydraulic cylinder.

 

[beppington]

Another Mule 610 owner here. FYI, if you need it, I was able to put a car battery under the passenger side seat. Simply disconnect the cables from the OEM battery, & they're easily long enough to reach that new location. It's a very tight fit, but no mods were needed to get it in there. I did mount a battery mount kit in there, though. It's been in there about 2 years I think, & the alternator seems to keep it charged up just fine. I added the larger battery to extend the radio's run-time (I added the radio, too, of course).

 

[badapplefab]

Just a update, we got hammered last Friday night with 12 inches of snow, I had no idea we had that much snow until I went to plow it. My hats off to the Mule, it had no problem with it at all. I am going to see if I can make the plow a bit wider. Pics to follow once that is done. I can only hope we get hit hard by the storm in the middle of the week, having fun.