Plow for side by side

[eyecatcher]

Anybody here run a V blade plow on a side by side? Thinking of getting rid of the tractor and snowblower and getting a blade for the side by side.

My biggest concern are the hard drifts.

 

[1lessdog]

Stick with the tractor and blower. You get rid of the snow with a blower. With a plow, if you dont push it far enough the first time you may run out of room by end of winter. I have a 7 ft blade on my 6x6 and it will really move snow. If its hard snow you go right over the top of the hard drifts. And if you put a V plow on your side by side and start ramming the snow to get thru. Your going to tear stuff up. Plus you will get stuck and then you tear around to get out. And you tear more stuff up.

 

[jdfisherman]

Reminds me of a former neighbor. Got rid of his snow blower and went with a plow for his ATV. Halfway through winter he couldn't push the piles anymore and ended up buying another blower to get through the winter. Stick with the blower.

 

[jtillman]

I can't speak to a V-plow, but I have a Yamaha Rhino with a 5ft straight blade, and it works for me, but I have a fairly big lot where I can push snow around pretty far away. If you don't have room to push the snow, a far way away, don't bother with it.

Hard drifts SUCK regardless if it's a plow or snowblower in my opinion. What I've learned with hard drifts is that I need to shovel a bit to break up an edge of the drift, and then it's pretty easy, just takes longer.

I do believe pushing snow is quicker, but you will also tear things up (yard and gear), drive over your mailbox (a few times), back into a car, etc. a lot easier than you can with a snowblower.

 

[eyecatcher]

I should have stated in my original post that I live in western ND so less snow then most places on average.

I have a big yard with a lot of room. Most of the snow usually blows right on through except for a drift or two. My biggest concern is when I get a big drift that hardens up.

 

[jtillman]

I should have stated in my original post that I live in western ND so less snow then most places on average.

I have a big yard with a lot of room. Most of the snow usually blows right on through except for a drift or two. My biggest concern is when I get a big drift that hardens up.

You should be fine then, with my straight blade I just pick away at those hard drifts and take some time so I don't abuse the SxS. A V-blade should be better at that.

 

[KDM]

Grass is meant to be covered with snow to keep in from freeze drying. If you are pushing snow across your lawn and off the grass you need to be ready to deal with dead, brown grass in the spring from both freeze drying and scraping the top of the grass off with the blade. Just a thought.

 

[ktm450]

I love my blade on the sxs. i to have lots of room to push snow and a fairly big driveway/yard. I wish i had the adjustable v blow for blading but when buying blade it was over my budget.

as far as drifts go, i just take little at a time if needed, but it would have to be pretty dang hard before it noticed any issues. i usually push all the snow into a wind row and then use the bobcat and blower to send it over the tree rows. just bobcat with blower takes far longer to do my drive way then the sxs and blade. have sense added tracks and thats a game changer intself also.

 

[BrokenBackJack]

When we lived on the farm, I moved about 3-4 acres of snow in the farmstead when we got snow. Took it down to the grass and did this all winter, every winter. Never had a problem with the grass coming back in the spring.
We had blades, buckets, snow pushers, and snow blowers. Used them all and each had a purpose and a place to use it.
One nice thing about a blower is you blow it wherever you want it.
I used the snow pusher more on the Bobcat, as I made piles where I had openings so it would slow the snow down so it wouldn't blow so much into the yard. If your yard is surrounded with trees, you don't need to do this.
We had the Bobcat with the snow pusher or we put the snowblower on that.
Also had the Backhoe with a bucket.
Had the ATV or SxS with a little County blade on front to push the little bit that would be on the cement in front of our garage, as my bride went to work early so didn't want her to drive on the snow and pack it down.

 

[bigv]

Grass is meant to be covered with snow to keep in from freeze drying. If you are pushing snow across your lawn and off the grass you need to be ready to deal with dead, brown grass in the spring from both freeze drying and scraping the top of the grass off with the blade. Just a thought.

Sorta true but not completely. I had large die off of grass this spring/summer. It winter killed. I learned that if a decent amount of snow (2 ft) sit in a spot for at least 90 days, it can/will kill it. We had snow starting last november all the way to april. Hence, my very blotchy yard.

Question to all....I have a '19 polaris sportsman atv. 570. Very nice machine. Use it mostly for little bit of ice fishing, light hunting and pushing snow. I have the plow that connects with two pins underneath., then hook with winch. In nearish future I may buy my old man's Tracker sxs. Can I get the same bracket to fit underneath so I can use same blade?

 

[Wirehair]

Have an adjustable blade on our Kawasaki Mule as well as a blower on a compact tractor at our place. Other than light/med snow, the Kawasaki SxS does not get the job done as fast as blower for reasons stated above.

 

[Allen]

Over the years I have used everything imaginable to clean various driveways, including a damn shovel.

I have the benefit of LOTS of trees around my rural, circular driveway, so hard drifts aren't usually an issue even though snow storage is a problem. Nonetheless, my current favorite is an old JD F725 and its snowblower. I can clean my circular driveway in about an hour and a half with it. If I use my small tractor (43 hp, JD 4120) with a bucket, its over 2 hours by a fair amount. I've even done it with a 5 hp walk-behind blower, that takes over 3 hours. I also have a homemade dirt blade for the tractor and that is also a solid 3 hr task for anything more than a couple inches. Even though it's a metal blade on a floating 3-point hitch, I have to put 160+ lbs of suitcase weights on the blade for it to be even remotely effective at pushing hard snow, then again it's not necessarily designed for snow.

It sounds like you're willing to risk a rare event for ease of effort. If so, I'd suggest that once in a while, you are going to be under-armed for the task at hand. How often that may happen is really the question here. How tolerant are you of being under-armed when it comes to snow removal? Are we talking gravel driveway, or is it paved?

I'm risk intolerant, I maintain both my F725 and its blower for primary use, but I also have the tractor to use when Mother Nature gets feisty.

In the end, it sounds like people have success at using a SxS blade to tackle a hard drift, but there may be a better tool for it. I have a paved driveway and the sharp-edged snowblower has generally out-performed a weighted blade, and when push comes to shove...the cutting edge of the bucket with the weight of the tractor takes care of my hardest of the drifts.

 

[1lessdog]

Sorta true but not completely. I had large die off of grass this spring/summer. It winter killed. I learned that if a decent amount of snow (2 ft) sit in a spot for at least 90 days, it can/will kill it. We had snow starting last november all the way to april. Hence, my very blotchy yard.

Question to all....I have a '19 polaris sportsman atv. 570. Very nice machine. Use it mostly for little bit of ice fishing, light hunting and pushing snow. I have the plow that connects with two pins underneath., then hook with winch. In nearish future I may buy my old man's Tracker sxs. Can I get the same bracket to fit underneath so I can use same blade?

I have 6 or 8 of the brackets/plate that your needing.

 

[Eatsleeptrap]

Tracks and an extension for the blade moved a shit ton of snow this winter. Once we got used to it, we could push the snow right up the tractor piles. Winters like last year or 96-97 you are screwed no matter what you choose.

 

[PrairieGhost]

I have run a Swisher plow on my 2006 Polaris Rang since I bought it in 2006. It's adjustable left to right. It's getting really worn, but I have slammed into banks hard and rarely been stopped. I live on two acres and my driveway is 33x90 feet. I'm at the end of a drive with about 20 neighbors between me and the main road, which is about .25 miles. I can clear a foot of snow all the way to the road before the neighbors are up and a day before the plow comes. That only takes me 20 minutes, but the driveway takes nearly an hour because it's forward and back so many times. The end of my driveway is a 90 degree turn and strait is a very steep 15 foot drop. I push everything over that drop, and if it gets to high I slam into it breaking it away and pushing it over the edge. The sxs is light enough to drive over the hardened snow although I have fallen in a couple of times. The end of the driveway looks larger and larger because it normally gets pushed out flat. The county plus misjudged the size and dropped his front end in one year.

 

[SLE]

.....................Hard drifts SUCK regardless if it's a plow or snowblower in my opinion. What I've learned with hard drifts is that I need to shovel a bit to break up an edge of the drift, and then it's pretty easy, just takes longer.

I do believe pushing snow is quicker, but you will also tear things up (yard and gear), drive over your mailbox (a few times), back into a car, etc. a lot easier than you can with a snowblower.................

I guess I think it depends what he's using for a snow blower, are we talking about a garden tractor blower or are we talking about a 8fter running off the PTO of a 50hp+ tractor? big difference. I love my tractor when it comes to moving snow. I also have a atv with a blade which is quicker if there's only a few inches of snow. I would disagree, the tractor tears up way more shit as there's no forgiveness with the bucket or the lorenz blower!

 

[SLE]

 

[SLE]

I will add that I'm hoping to find a cheap snow pusher for this winter as the bucket is a PIA for doing any final cleanup. Doesn't matter if you back-drag or push, the snow just spills around the ends right away. You can get a clean job done with it but there's more effective ways. FYI, I have zero issues with hard drifts or motor-grader windrows. A Lorenz blower with the paddles instead of a full circular flighting on the augers is so much better and will chew through damn near anything! I also have basically retired the ATV and plow. I don't even plan to hook the plow up this year. I mean if I have a choice of getting bundle up and using the ATV or sitting in the cab with the tunes cranked up and a cup of coffee in the morning, even if it takes me an extra 1/2 hour I'm more than glad to pay the diesel bill.

 

[ktm450]

Sorta true but not completely. I had large die off of grass this spring/summer. It winter killed. I learned that if a decent amount of snow (2 ft) sit in a spot for at least 90 days, it can/will kill it. We had snow starting last november all the way to april. Hence, my very blotchy yard.

Question to all....I have a '19 polaris sportsman atv. 570. Very nice machine. Use it mostly for little bit of ice fishing, light hunting and pushing snow. I have the plow that connects with two pins underneath., then hook with winch. In nearish future I may buy my old man's Tracker sxs. Can I get the same bracket to fit underneath so I can use same blade?

I wouldnt waste your time with the 2 pins underneath. Once u go with the quick attach u dont even have to lay on the ground too hook up. Plus u wont loose the ground clearance with the plow frame going under the sxs frame.

i currently run polaris plow set up on my general with the quick attach. but my last sportsman 500 had a moose plow and there rm4 quick attach. no laying on the ground to hook or unhook. took 30 seconds or less to hook up or disconnect.

 

[ktm450]

I will add that I'm hoping to find a cheap snow pusher for this winter as the bucket is a PIA for doing any final cleanup. Doesn't matter if you back-drag or push, the snow just spills around the ends right away. You can get a clean job done with it but there's more effective ways. FYI, I have zero issues with hard drifts or motor-grader windrows. A Lorenz blower with the paddles instead of a full circular flighting on the augers is so much better and will chew through damn near anything! I also have basically retired the ATV and plow. I don't even plan to hook the plow up this year. I mean if I have a choice of getting bundle up and using the ATV or sitting in the cab with the tunes cranked up and a cup of coffee in the morning, even if it takes me an extra 1/2 hour I'm more than glad to pay the diesel bill.

this is why i like the general more then my older bobcat with blower tunes, heat and cub holders plus my dog likes to ride shotgun. lol