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I think there are now four UTVs that make the 50" cutoff. Honda makes one but has a wimpy engine. Artic Cat has the Wildcat. I know two people that had those and one had so many problems it ended up being replaced. It is also fairly new. ...
The Arctic Cat Web-site said that the Wildcat has fly-by-wire. I'm not sure I would trust all those electronics, especially in an off-road vehicle. Vehicles should be simple, in my opinion; I'm rather old-fashioned that way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by elousv
We organize club rides in ATV, ATV/UTV 50", ATV/UTV all sizes. Some trails are like highways and others your fenders are scraping brush. You can go plenty of places with a wide body. In the winter, much of the forest is for tracked vehicles only, snowmobile or ATV/UTV with tracks instead of wheels. Having a winch is a big plus. We go out sometimes with 20 rigs all stuck and pulling each other out. The winch is also used to raise and lower a plow if you have one.
We were thinking that tracks/treads would be more practical than wheels for winter use, and the thought was that we'd put tracks on the vehicle for winter use. Are they difficult to install, or can they be swapped out by the user?
K-R the backhoe is in the back with loader in the front, i am using my father in laws at his place, which has loader on the front it works well, Just not sure if i can afford one. That is why i was asking if a plow truck or UTV is a good option.
Apologies, my goof. I thought you wanted to use the backhoe part to remove snow; didn't think of the loader on the front.
We were thinking that tracks/treads would be more practical than wheels for winter use, and the thought was that we'd put tracks on the vehicle for winter use. Are they difficult to install, or can they be swapped out by the user?
K-R.
Sure, they bolt on just like wheels. They are expensive, a bunch heavier than wheels and require a vehicle specific mounting bracket. Look for ones that are 4 season, meaning you don't need snow. It is also best to try to match them to your ATV/UTV for power and gearing. Besides the obvious tank like advantages, there are impacts as well to steering (harder), fuel consumption (like double) and speed (like half). Speaking of steering, I recommend power steering.
i have a question for plowing. i see a utv brand Hisun i see them for sale with a plow. i know they are made in china. do anyone have positive or negative about them?
i have a long driveway to plow, so not sure if a plow truck, utv or tractor backhoe would be best. i am building a home in sagle off gun club rd..
I thought there was a thread where we specifically talked about snow removal approaches, but I can't find it at the moment. Could have been a side discussion in another thread.
IMO, it depends. Some things to consider are how much time you have, how much room you have to push snow out of the way, what other uses you may have for the chosen tool, whether you are happy to dress for the weather and be out in the elements, or whether you want to comfort of being in an enclosed cab.
An ATV with a plow can work well, but it won't be as fast as some of the other options. Some downsides are that you are out in the weather, and since they can't push that much snow you may find you need to plow often to stay ahead of the snow in a big storm. Also, it may be difficult to get the snow pushed far enough out of the way to make room for all the snow we'll get over the course of a winter. On the positive side, the plow is easily removable and you have an ATV to play with the rest of the year.
A UTV will have similar capabilities to an ATV, but the advantage is you can get some protection from the weather, ranging from just a roof all the way up to a fully enclosed and heated cab. As has already been noted there are many other uses for a UTV around these parts, so you may find that a useful tool to have the rest of the year. Depending on the particular model and the nature of your property you might even be able to use a UTV to skid logs out of the woods if you are doing your own firewood cutting. I have a friend who lives in the Yaak in MT and he uses a diesel powered Kubota UTV equipped with a logging arch to skid logs on his relatively flat property. If you have some steep hills I'm not sure a UTV would really be up to the job of skidding big logs, but I've not tried to use ours that way.
A plow truck can be nice because they can move a lot of snow quickly, and you do that from the comfort of a heated cab. I guess you get a pickup truck out of the deal, but I'm not sure I'd want to be driving around town with a snow blade on my pickup. I do have a pickup, but have chosen not to set it up with a plow.
A tractor can be useful for several other purposes, particularly if you also invest in a few implements. It can skid logs out of the woods, be used for periodic maintenance of a gravel driveway, move material other than snow (dirt, compost, gravel, wood chips, etc.), and so forth. There are different options for how to set up a tractor for snow removal, and each of those has their pros and cons. You can use a rear blade on the 3 point hitch, a blade in front on the loader arms, as well as either front or rear mounted snow blowers. The blowers are nice because they throw the snow out away from the driveway, but in some snow conditions they may be slower than a blade on the tractor. You can get a tractor with a fully enclosed cab if you want, and you can also get a simple canopy to keep most of the snow/rain from falling on you (yes, there will likely be times when you end up plowing snow in the rain).
We use a tractor with a snow blade in front and a rear blade for most of our snow removal chores. We also have a walk behind snow blower that we use for walkways and other areas that are a little tight to use the tractor easily. So far, I'm happy with that set up. I use the tractor for lots of other chores, and couldn't imagine living here without one. We're on 20 acres, have a long driveway as well as other "roads" on the property we like to keep clear, and harvest our own firewood from the property.
With any of the plowing options you do need to be sure to push the snow well away from the driveway early in the year so you'll still have room at the end of the winter. If the nature of your property is such that you don't have room for that, then a blower may be a better option. OTOH, with a tractor you always have the option of putting the bucket back on it and moving some snow piles around as needed mid winter.
I don't think a backhoe itself would be particularly useful for snow removal, but you could use the front bucket for that purpose. My neighbor has a choice of a tractor, a plow truck, or a backhoe. The only snow removal related chore he uses the backhoe for is to move piles of snow away from the road. I think he usually uses the tractor around his place, and uses his plow truck for some other people for whom he clears snow.
We're thinking of getting some sort of ATC for work around our property, and also to explore the off-road trails in the hills. The local tractor dealer had models with fore-and-aft seating (like a motorcycle) or side-by-side. We'd also like it to have a winch and a small snow plow. Our preference is a side-by-side. We had our eye on a Yamaha Viking at the local tractor dealer last summer, but it's already sold and gone. They now have a Yamaha Wolverine in its place.
In the Automotive/ATC forum someone said a Polaris is the only side-by-side that is narrow enough to go on the trails. I was looking at the specs for the Viking and Wolverine and they are 59 inches wide, but the Boundary County Off-Road map we got from the ranger's office says some of the trails have a width-limit of 50 inches.
Are there other side-by-sides that would fit the bill? Would the width even be an issue? The better half says that the majority of trails are for "every type of vehicle", which I assume means Jeeps and such.
Apologies if I'm using the wrong words. I know that, these days, there's an alphabet soup: ATC, ATV, UTV, ADV, etc. I've always called these things ATCs, ever since Honda came out with the ATC-90 around 1970, the one with balloon tires.
By the way, what's an ADV? There was some place down by Ponderay saying, "ADVs Welcome."
K-R.
The big things we need to know are where you are located/how much snow do you get? How long is your driveway? Is it on flat, level ground or up a hill? Do you cross a hillside? Up here around Sagle, I wouldn't try to keep more than 100 yards of driveway open with a quad. It will do it, but you need to stay on top of it and make it a point to plow way wide at the start of the winter to have a place to pile it. You'll also need to plan on carving some ramps to run up on to push it later in the year. The positives of an ATV are the small size/good visibility. You can work with them in restricted areas and not have to worry much about hitting stuff. They also are pretty fast (at least compared to a tractor) and can throw snow when there isn't too much. THe real downside is the blades aren't very tall and once the berms are built up you have some work to do. THe other big positive is that you have a toy to play with when you're not plowing.
Tractors-depends on size. If you have a longer road, a good sized tractor will do the job. The question-what implement? Front mounted blower is probably the nicest thing, but they are expensive and require a tractor with a front PTO. A rear blade (especially with hydro angle/offset), supplemented with a front loader, will always get the job done, but it can be slow. Especially again once the berms get tall, and you have to use the FEL. But, if you have rural property, a tractor is amazingly useful around the properties. I actually recommend buying one and just adding it to the mortgage-it makes so many things so much easier. Not to mention it makes you popular with the neighbors!
Plow truck. Probably the fastest, nice and warm and you have other uses for it as well. Negatives, can be expensive, not as maneuverable in tight places, you can't "back drag" like you can with a FEL so you can't pull snow out of tight places.
In short...there is no one wonder tool-or if there is I haven't found it.
OP-where did you find the sign that said ADVs welcome? I'm a big adventure bike enthusiast.
I agree with Toyman that there is no one wonder tool - there are lots of tradeoffs.
Just a quick note about front mounted snow blowers on a tractor. There are models that run off the rear PTO, which all tractors will have. They aren't necessarily the easiest thing to mount or remove, which is one of the main reasons I didn't go that route. To me it seemed like something I'd want to install at the beginning of winter and leave on until spring, which meant the tractor would become a dedicated snowblower all winter long.
You can also get front mounted blowers that have a separate engine on the blower that runs the blower. I think you can get these with quick attach brackets so they are easy to install/remove from your loader arms.
Finally, there are hydraulic driven front blowers. Some of these can connect directly to your tractor's hydraulics, but they require a fairly large tractor with lot's of hydraulic capacity. There are also hydraulic pump units that run off your rear PTO if your tractor doesn't have the necessary hydraulic capacity to run the blower. Since you are only connecting hydraulic lines, and not a drive shaft to the PTO I think these are a bit easier to install and remove.
All the front mounted blowers are pricey, and the hydraulic models are especially so. Rear mounted blowers are much cheaper, and also easier to install/remove from the tractor, but you end up doing all your snow removal in reverse looking over your shoulder.
I agree with Toyman that there is no one wonder tool - there are lots of tradeoffs.
Dave
I looked hard at some of the European tractors. They have some modest sized units, designed for hillside work (especially vineyards). They have 4 equal sized wheels/tires and a lower center of gravity so they are more stable on the hills. But what is really cool is that several have reversible operator consoles/steering wheels-you can flip the whole seat/controls around and drive it "backwards" while facing that way. Which to me makes a lot of sense. You have the primary PTO out front where you need it with a blower. You could have a bush-hog in front of you so you can mow down brush before driving over it. Several either articulate or have 4-wheel steering. To me, that makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately none are available at common dealers, and none are really designed for a conventional front end loader. To me, that would be ideal-a FEL for tight work up near the house and a blower for everything else-that you can use without looking over your shoulder.
...
OP-where did you find the sign that said ADVs welcome? I'm a big adventure bike enthusiast.
Take Highway 95 north from Ponderay and keep your eye peeled for a wooden sign on the right side of the road. The lettering said ADVs Welcome! I think it was within a few miles of the hippie place on the north end of town. The place had a bunch of trees and looked like a wilderness camp, or maybe a ranch.
Take Highway 95 north from Ponderay and keep your eye peeled for a wooden sign on the right side of the road. The lettering said ADVs Welcome! I think it was within a few miles of the hippie place on the north end of town. The place had a bunch of trees and looked like a wilderness camp, or maybe a ranch.
K-R.
Thanks K-R, I'll take a run up that way and look for it.
Take Highway 95 north from Ponderay and keep your eye peeled for a wooden sign on the right side of the road. The lettering said ADVs Welcome! I think it was within a few miles of the hippie place on the north end of town. The place had a bunch of trees and looked like a wilderness camp, or maybe a ranch.
K-R.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake
Thanks K-R, I'll take a run up that way and look for it.
Forgot to mention... The sign wasn't much higher than the fence it was stuck to, so the snow plows may have buried or blocked it. I don't know how much snow the Ponderay area got, but here at Naples there's a good three feet on the ground, before the plows pile it up.
If you get to Pack River or, certainly the closed cafe on the left side of the road at Elmira, you've missed it.
K-R.
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