UTV Snowplow choice?

[DK35vince]

I'm using a 72" Tusk Subzero snowplow from rocky mountain atv on my SxS.
Seems to work fine

 

[John_Mc]

Ours looks like this (as far as I can tell anyway)
View attachment 919529

That looks more the like current model KFI (because of the square tubes along the corners).

The Denali mechanism looks like this:

 

[ArlyA]

That looks more the like current model KFI (because of the square tubes along the corners).

The Denali mechanism looks like this:

View attachment 919535

That locking mechanism "looks" better!

 

[Paystar]

I have a Boss 6.6 vee plow on my RTV-X1100C. As has been said, they are 400 pounds, but they are listed for the Ranger and others.
But in the past I have used the Polaris branded quick attach plows and frames and they worked well. Just had to adjust angle manually, but I think they have power angling kits now and different lift options.

 

[gstrom99]

I ordered the KFI 72" steel blade plow kit yesterday, at the dealer. "In stock at the warehouse" so he said it should be in by the end of the week. $980. At least I don't have to pay/wait on shipping... I'll add sandbags in the back, would 200 lbs be enough? We also talked about rear chains.

I inquired about a wheeled fairlead pulley (he said not needed - we'll see about that) and a hard wired winch controller, since it only came with the wireless fob. I got back home and peered in to see the winch brand (to get the right cable). Turns out it's a Harbor Freight (Badlands) winch - so I'll do some shopping there.

 

[JJT]

I put 5 5 gallon buckets of sand in the back of my utv when plowing. With vbar 2 link chains on all 4 corners the utv is a snow moving beast. I have the Boss 6.5' vee plow.

 

[Paystar]

My driveway has a grade to it but not extreme. I've never ballasted my Polaris Sportsman with 60 inch razor plow or my RTV.
My RTV has the Worksite tires and the Polaris had the Carlisle Badlands radials and most recently Swamplite Reptile radials.
I don't know how your Ranger is setup for that plow, but with my Sportsman and the Glacier Razor plow, it used the winch to lift and it has a roller fairlead. After a winter it broke the steel cable. I then switched to synthetic rope and it didn't last any longer than the steel.
So I just use a cable clamp now to re-tie the hook every time it snaps.
So every winter I have a bit less than 50 feet of cable, LOL

 

[John_Mc]

I ordered the KFI 72" steel blade plow kit yesterday, at the dealer. "In stock at the warehouse" so he said it should be in by the end of the week. $980. At least I don't have to pay/wait on shipping... I'll add sandbags in the back, would 200 lbs be enough? We also talked about rear chains.

I inquired about a wheeled fairlead pulley (he said not needed - we'll see about that) and a hard wired winch controller, since it only came with the wireless fob. I got back home and peered in to see the winch brand (to get the right cable). Turns out it's a Harbor Freight (Badlands) winch - so I'll do some shopping there.

Is your winch cable synthetic or steel?

I ended up going with one of their Plow Straps, rather than using the cable on my winch. A neighbor who has been plowing with his ATV for years mentioned that he does wear the end of the cable more quickly: it's a lot of in and out motion over just that last short length of cable, and depending on how your angles work out, it can be a sharp bend. Replacing the cable with the strap is supposed to hold up a lot longer. The downside is that you have to change from cable to strap at the start of snow season, and back again at the end of the season. The strap is also only 64" long, so you lose the ability to do longer winching while it is in place.

I also added the optional plow strap roller. It mounts down on the push tube. The strap runs down from the winch, around the roller, then hooks on back up on the bumper frame. This cuts the line speed in half on the winch (as well as reducing the load by half, not that the plow is a heavy load for the winch). The diagram at the link probably describes it better than I am. If you like that slower action on the lift, but don't want to go to a strap, you can do the same thing with one of their plow fairlead pulleys (These can mount on your fairlead, so the cable does not bend as tightly, or down on the push tube, where it works like the strap roller.)

The straps or extra rollers are something you can easily add later, if you try the standard set up and decide you want to make a switch.

One other word of advice: if your Ranger 800 has larger than stock tires or a lift kit, you will probably need one of their push tube leveling kits. These compensate for the higher mounting point of a lifted UTV in order to keep the pivot geometry of the plow properly aligned. Which kit you need depends on how much lift you have. If you have stock diameter tires and no lift kit on your UTV, there is no need for this addition. My local KFI dealer was not too familiar with how this works on a Honda (they are not Honda dealers), so I emailed KFI directly for some input on choosing a leveling kit size, since my tires are bigger than stock.

 

[John_Mc]

I ordered the KFI 72" steel blade plow kit yesterday, at the dealer. "In stock at the warehouse" so he said it should be in by the end of the week. $980. At least I don't have to pay/wait on shipping... I'll add sandbags in the back, would 200 lbs be enough?

I put two of the 70# "Tube Sand" bags that my local hardware sells in the back of my UTV. That worked fine for me, but my UTV is smaller and lighter than yours. How much you'll need will depend on the geometry of your UTV. The further back from your front wheels you can get it, the less it takes.

FYI: a 5 gallon bucket of dry sand weighs about 70#.

We also talked about rear chains.

Are you plowing on gravel or pavement? Chain designs come in a wide variety of aggressiveness, from plain 4-link ladder-style chains all the way up to studded diamond pattern chains, with a few options in between. Some say that damage to pavement from studded or V-bar chains is not a concern, since ATVs/UTVs are so light compared to cars or trucks.

At the low end of the traction scale (but the most pavement friendly) are plain (no studs or V-bars) ladder-style chains. You can find these in 4 link or 2 link varieties (the 2 or 4 refers to the space between each cross chain). 2 link provides better traction and a better ride than 4 link. Their weakness is lateral (side to side) traction. So if you operate on side hills, or have trouble with your front wheels getting pushed sideways when plowing with an angled plow, these may not be for you.

The next step up are ladder chains with V-bars (available in both 2 and 4-link designs). These provide significantly better forward traction, especially in icy conditions. They also improve lateral traction a bit.

The more aggressive chains have a sort of diamond pattern running around the tire. Most of these I've seen have either V-bars or studs. They provide excellent forward and lateral traction. Some are concerned that if you spin these tires, it could damage pavement. (I haven't had that problem with the studded diamond pattern chains on my tractor, but it's slow speed and weighs over 4000# with all the stuff I've got on it, so I'm not really spinning the tires when plowing snow.)

In the middle ground is square-link, diamond pattern chains. The links are formed from square wire, rather than round like traditional chains. They do have a sort of "cleat" in the middle of each link, but it's not as aggressive as a true studded chain. The square edges provide more "bite" than links made from round wire. The diamond pattern provides better lateral traction. These are also a lower-profile chain, so may work in aplications where you have limited clearance and can't fit a studded chain.

Most of our 1/4 mile driveway is gravel, but we just paved the loop up near the house a couple of years ago. My wife was concerned about damage if I spun the wheels pushing snow, so I backed off from the most aggressive chains and went with square-link diamond pattern chains. I have them on the rear only. It's been working well for me, even on the steep section of our driveway. If my front end starts getting pushed around by heavier snows, I might add chains on the front. It has not been an issue so far.

I ordered my chains from Bluejay Industrial. Their web site is not great: for example if you click on the ATV square link chains, it will tell you that "There is currently no content classified with this category", however they DO have them and in a wide variety of sizes. I found it slow getting an answer out of them via email but they were very responsive to phone calls, and gave me a contact for one of their technicians so I could text questions to him - I found him very knowledgeable. (Their sister site in Canada, Wesco Industries has a much more functional web site, but wont ship to the US.)

 

[John_Mc]

@gstrom99 - I just noticed that the plow mount (the part that bolts on to your UTV and stays there even when the plow is off) for your Ranger 800 includes a receiver hitch - something you might get some use out of outside of plow season. That's a nice addition. It's not included on the mount that fits my Honda Pioneer 520.

http://kfiproducts.com/QR-CODES/Manuals/M105255_small.pdf

 

[John_Mc]

My driveway has a grade to it but not extreme. I've never ballasted my Polaris Sportsman with 60 inch razor plow or my RTV.
My RTV has the Worksite tires and the Polaris had the Carlisle Badlands radials and most recently Swamplite Reptile radials.
I don't know how your Ranger is setup for that plow, but with my Sportsman and the Glacier Razor plow, it used the winch to lift and it has a roller fairlead. After a winter it broke the steel cable. I then switched to synthetic rope and it didn't last any longer than the steel.
So I just use a cable clamp now to re-tie the hook every time it snaps.
So every winter I have a bit less than 50 feet of cable, LOL

Switching to a strap instead of the cable will take care of that, but you do need to switch back when you want to use your winch for actual winching. The strap is only about 5 or 6 feet long.

 

[ArlyA]

I switched to a 10ft strap and never going back to cable ever, even in the summer. I get about 2 years of snowplowing before it breaks. No big deal. I believe they are 20ft, 8000lb towing straps and I cut in the middle. Like this.

 

[John_Mc]

I switched to a 10ft strap and never going back to cable ever, even in the summer. I get about 2 years of snowplowing before it breaks. No big deal. I believe they are 20ft, 8000lb towing straps and I cut in the middle. Like this.
View attachment 919751

I looked at doing that, but did not have a good option for attaching the strap to the drum on my winch. (Not sure I wanted to trust the duct tape method). How did you attach yours?

I also need to switch back to cable in the off season, since I need more than a few feet of each on the winch. (The bigger jobs get the 3 point hitch logging winch on my tractor, but it’s convenient to handle the smaller jobs with the UT, if that’s what I’m on when I happen to run into them.)

 

[Paystar]

Switching to a strap instead of the cable will take care of that, but you do need to switch back when you want to use your winch for actual winching. The strap is only about 5 or 6 feet long.

I switched to a B2620 with loader and blower and an RTV-X1100C with a Boss vee plow instead, LOL

 

[ArlyA]

I looked at doing that, but did not have a good option for attaching the strap to the drum on my winch. (Not sure I was to get it it’s my wife’s trust the duct tape method). How did you attach yours?

I also need to switch back to cable in the off season, since I need more than a few feet of each on the winch. (The bigger jobs get the 3 point hitch logging winch on my tractor, but it’s convenient to handle the smaller jobs with the UT, if that’s what I’m on when I happen to run into them.)

Ha! I cleaned the drum and used exactly that. Been holding for like 6 years (do replace the strap every 2 or when it breaks) Duck tape does fine.

 

[Ricn]

My JD diesel utv 4x4 works ok on level ground in snow, not so much on our hilly driveway. If putting 400# in the box it will come up just barely; I should have chains maybe. UTV's just don't have the weight for plowing other than flat ground with shallow snows, at least around here because the snow is very heavy. i use the excavator for snow removel leaving the mule in the shop.

 

[gstrom99]

Is your winch cable synthetic or steel?

I ended up going with one of their Plow Straps, rather than using the cable on my winch. A neighbor who has been plowing with his ATV for years mentioned that he does wear the end of the cable more quickly: it's a lot of in and out motion over just that last short length of cable, and depending on how your angles work out, it can be a sharp bend. Replacing the cable with the strap is supposed to hold up a lot longer. The downside is that you have to change from cable to strap at the start of snow season, and back again at the end of the season. The strap is also only 64" long, so you lose the ability to do longer winching while it is in place.

I also added the optional plow strap roller. It mounts down on the push tube. The strap runs down from the winch, around the roller, then hooks on back up on the bumper frame. This cuts the line speed in half on the winch (as well as reducing the load by half, not that the plow is a heavy load for the winch). The diagram at the link probably describes it better than I am. If you like that slower action on the lift, but don't want to go to a strap, you can do the same thing with one of their plow fairlead pulleys (These can mount on your fairlead, so the cable does not bend as tightly, or down on the push tube, where it works like the strap roller.)

The straps or extra rollers are something you can easily add later, if you try the standard set up and decide you want to make a switch.

One other word of advice: if your Ranger 800 has larger than stock tires or a lift kit, you will probably need one of their push tube leveling kits. These compensate for the higher mounting point of a lifted UTV in order to keep the pivot geometry of the plow properly aligned. Which kit you need depends on how much lift you have. If you have stock diameter tires and no lift kit on your UTV, there is no need for this addition. My local KFI dealer was not too familiar with how this works on a Honda (they are not Honda dealers), so I emailed KFI directly for some input on choosing a leveling kit size, since my tires are bigger than stock.

Thanks. Stock tires and no lift. It has steel cable now, but the synthetic rope or straps look tempting. I'll run it this way at first, and modify as/if needed. I have a ~300 foot, level gravel drive. I have a tractor (with chains if needed, but no heated cab) for the heavy storms. I saw the built in receiver on the mount - liked that.

 

[ArlyA]

We push snow with our atv type machine every winter 3 to 5 days a week. Today I'd take the original cable off first thing and replace with with a 2" flat tow strap.