Snow Plows: Do the V-Plows work?

[shawnco]

I am considering getting a V-Plow snow plow for my 2008 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI ATV. Has anyone had any experience with these V-plows? Are they better for deeper and/or hard pack snow?

Thanks,
Shawn

[shadowwalker]

We have a straight blade for my moms 450 wolverine. The reason we got the straight is because we do a few neighbors drives. You can angle the blade left or right to make the snow all go one way.
The reason we didn't get a v-blade is because you really can only use half the blade if you need to do more than one pass. If you had a long narrow drive you could get by just fine with a v.
We have never had an issue with deep snow. I have pushed a lot of wet heavy snow, especially at the end of drives and after you do a couple passes down, it really starts to pile up on the edges.

Also, I would advise against the electric lifting plows. They take too long and strain the battery because you generally aren't at high enough rpms when plowing to keep a good charge. The lift handles are so much better, we got rid of the electric to get the manual lift.

[shawnco]

Thanks for your response,

Based on your experience plowing with your ATV, would you expect a V-plow to be able to cut deeper through deep snow versus a straight blade? Even though it may take longer and be less efficient than using a straight blade?

I will be plowing at our mountain cabin that typically has 1-2 feet of snow from 2-3 weeks of previous snow. I understand that an ATV with a plow may sometimes be challenged with this much snow, that is why I'm trying to determine the best blade for "extreme" deep snow circumstances for an ATV.

[Hondamaster5505]

Originally posted by shadowwalker
We have a straight blade for my moms 450 wolverine. The reason we got the straight is because we do a few neighbors drives. You can angle the blade left or right to make the snow all go one way.
The reason we didn't get a v-blade is because you really can only use half the blade if you need to do more than one pass. If you had a long narrow drive you could get by just fine with a v.
We have never had an issue with deep snow. I have pushed a lot of wet heavy snow, especially at the end of drives and after you do a couple passes down, it really starts to pile up on the edges.

Also, I would advise against the electric lifting plows. They take too long and strain the battery because you generally aren't at high enough rpms when plowing to keep a good charge. The lift handles are so much better, we got rid of the electric to get the manual lift.

We have a winch hooked up to our plow on our wolverine and havent had one battery/electrical problem:confused:

[54warrior]

I honestly can't see an ATV being very effective at plowing 2' of snow. I've been using my neighbors 600 Griz. for several years now, and it plows really well. I simply can't see the thing just plowing through 2' of snow though. I do think that the V-plow would have better success, but it seems like it would put quite a strain on your machine.

[shadowwalker]

Originally posted by Hondamaster5505
We have a winch hooked up to our plow on our wolverine and havent had one battery/electrical problem:confused:
We haven't either, but it has been known to happen, especially with older batteries and stators. Think about it...You are using the winch to move the plow up and down (you do this a lot when you do several driveways), and the lights are on. I know I switch between 2 and 4 wheel drive depending on the situation (if I need to make tighter turns, or push deep snow, etc.). It is also cold out, which strains the battery too. All of those things strain the battery and you're at low RPMS most of the time. I'm not saying it will happen often, but it could become an issue.


Based on your experience plowing with your ATV, would you expect a V-plow to be able to cut deeper through deep snow versus a straight blade? Even though it may take longer and be less efficient than using a straight blade?

I think the only real issue is going to be the first pass. Once you have that first pass plowed, you then can take smaller amounts of snow at a time. Also, the type of snow will play a role. If it is mainly powder then there should be no issue. I have done 6" of heavy wet snow with the wolverine and a straight blade. I push all of the snow down to the street, and there was probably close to 3 feet of snow the width of the drive, and then I pull the snow out into the street, followed be several passes (using maybe a third of the blade) to bring it passed the driveway and too the curb. (Sounds like a process but I have found it to be the quickest way)

I use to plow with a 2wd 250 Recon, and could do 4" of snow with that.

And for something humorous, when I am cleaning up by the curb, my plow actually will scrape up the hard packed snow on the streets that the cars and snow plows have packed down.

In snow 2 feet deep, you are going to only be able to use a 1/4 or 1/3 of the blade at a time.