86 ARGO 8x8 SNOW PLOW ATTACHMENT

Howdy Ya all :
Brian (BUSHWACKER) Brown here from Ottawa Ontario Canada.
I'm new to the forum. After owning an 1987 SUKUKI LTF 4wd 4 wheeler for the past 20 years, I was tired of going places you just should not be with a 4 wheeler . Namely 3 foot deep mud bogs , and trails that turn into rivers etc.
I was also tired of the cost / insurance of High performance sleds, and 400 HP jet boats that you spin the tach one way ,and watch the fuel guage go the other way .
The other thing that I have found is that the more you own , the more you have to fix , all the time ! If you want to go fast it costs money and you break a lot of parts ! I wanted to simplify my life , but as they say :
You can't go boating with a 4 wheeler,and you can't go 4 wheeling with a boat! So I thought about getting an air boat or a hovercraft but they have thier limitations and pit falls .

So I finally decided on an ARGO . Just bought it on the weekend .
It's an 1986 8x8 with 20"x11"x8" RUNAMUCKS. It originally had a 14 or 16 HP. TECHUMCIE ,but the previous owner put in a brand new HONDA 20 HP V TWIN which now has only 6 hours on it . It turned out to be a nice fit.In fact it was a bolt in swap except for the air filter ,which meant a bit of cal -customification !
He had to cut out about 8 " of the front hood panel and hinge it so that the rear edge of the hood is roughly 5 1/2" higher than stock . He then filled in the gap with a stainless steel wire mesh insert which he pop riveted in . It has a bilige pump, front winch and rear winch mount, out board bracket , hitch and hook for skidding logs etc.
It came with a MINN KOTA 3 speed electric trolling motor, spare drive chain ,sprocket , axle and break calipers and a few brake pads for $ 2500.
Also has a MICKY MOUSE R.O.P.S made out of 1/8" x1"x1" square bar with plywood top . I guess it was good for hauling and hanging his Moose, or hauling crap etc. I would rather build a real ROPS out of 2 " round tube because I wouldn't trust my life to it in a roll over ! Not that that could ever happen in these things, but it wouldn't be hard to make a winter enclosure .

Sorry no pictures at this time, but if requested I can email .

I have a full machine / welding shop at home which brings me to why I am writing this thread .
I am planning to sell the 4 wheeler , but keep and modify the snow plow and harness to fit the ARGO.

What I would like to know is:

If there is any viewers on the forum that have a similar year machine with plow, that could possibly email me pictures and dimensions of the ( " BEARING EXTENIONS -PLATES ) and length / distance of plow harness away from the front wheel and or front tip of bumper etc. and length of drop down plates. The harness itself should not be a problem, but I'm not sure about the extentions . The way I see that they should go ( from what pictures I have seen ) Wroughly 3/8 x 6" cold or hot rolled flat steel rounded at ends with a hole a little bigger than the axle flange ,with 4 stainless steel carriage bolts that go through plastic body into the frame,with 1/4 " back plates , flats, locks and nuts, with RTV windshield sealant around perimiter and around all bolt holes .



I talked to my local ARGO dealer who recently took over from his uncle, but has never mounted a plow ! To his and my way of thinking it would be better to sandwich the plate behind the axle flange, but with out longer axles the sprockets and chain won't line up because of the wider dimensions , not to mention it would look wierd !

Also I have brand new " ITP MUD LITES " on my 4 wheeler which I found good all around mud/ all terrain tires. Since I have not put any real miles on the ARGO since getting it , : can any one suggest if this or other tires would be good / better for mud /all terrain or if they would be any good in the water or should I stay with the RUNAMUCKS ? Any real water miles would be with an out board .

Are the RUNAMUCKS any good for snow plowing without tracks ?


Also : I have one issue with the tranny. When I try to shift into foward, neutral,or reverse with machine running , the tranny grinds and won't go into gear ! But when I start it in gear ,there is no problem .

Is tranny on the way out, or is it some thing simple on the input side?
Any one have any ideas as to what it would cost to rebuild tranny?


My email addresse is : brianbrowny@sympatico.ca

Any help from viewers would be much Appreciated !

THANKS: LETS GO PLAY IN THE MUD!:hmmmm2::hmmmm2:

welcome and I know you will be happy with your upgrade to an Argo

I have a snow plow on my 2007 frontier 650 Argo. the front three bolts on the axle bearing extensions are all that hold the mounts on. You have to replace the bolt with longer ones..about 1/2" longer and they need to be hard..or you risk stripping the thread out on the body. I will try and get a few pics tomorrow. I think my axle extensions are a different shape than the older Argo's be you should be able to make yours easy enough. I've only had my Argo since April but I have a nice smooth gravel driveway now.I tooh the tape measure out and measured them the are 4"x9"x3/8" thick. You might look in the photo gallery here on 6x6 cougar has several pic of his snowplow.

Hi brian brown. Good luck with your new Argo, I have met Argo dealers at the ottawa Sportsmans show who were very knowledgable,. Building your own plow is easy and many guys do it. I suggest that you start by buying the correct extension plate and bolts from an experienced Argo dealer or one who will look it up. My dealer showed me many different ones for different machines. You do not want to change the dimensions of the bearing flange and you want it to stay waterproof. Non amphib tires seldom swim very well if at all. Good luck. Maybe we can meet on a ride. I ride mostly in Prince Edward County but I have ridden in Peterborough, Tillsonburgh,Brockville and Ohio this year. Good luck:hello:

I own a 2000 Argo conquest. I have the factory plow, (6'9"wide), it is mounted to the front wheel extensions & is raised or lowered via the winch.
I plow without tracks, with no problem, when there is 6" of snow or less. Anything more at a time than that, & I put the tracks on. I added chains to my tracks last year & they made a WORLD of difference in traction on icy surfaces!!
Welcome to the site & I am sure you'll be happy with your Argo for years to come.

welcome to the site brian. here in NC we don't get much snow, so i'll not even bother chiming in on the plow discussion. as far as the grinding when trying to go into gear, the input shaft needs to not be moving when you put it in. take the hood off and look at the clutch on the trany with the engine running. if it's spinning it won't go. some ideas to fix that are. idle too high. lower that and see if the clutch stops. the belt may be too tight, or the belt grove dirty or rubbered up. the only other thing i can think of is that one of the clutches might not be disengagine all the way and therefore holding the belt too tight. you probably don't have any trany issues but trying to put it into gear and hearing that grind will cause them. i'm no argo expert, but have been on the phone with the dealer a lot this week trying to diagnos the trany trouble with mine. now it's on the bench and soaking in penetrating oil trying to get the bearings loose of the main shaft.
good luck with your machine

[QUOTE=brian brown;21250]


Also : I have one issue with the tranny. When I try to shift into foward, neutral,or reverse with machine running , the tranny grinds and won't go into gear ! But when I start it in gear ,there is no problem .

Is tranny on the way out, or is it some thing simple on the input side?
Any one have any ideas as to what it would cost to rebuild tranny?

QUOTE]

I agree with racerone about the idle possibly being too high. I don't think there is a problem with your tranny. Argos all tend to do that if the idle is a little high. The idle on my engine changes slightly as the engine warms up. If the idle is too high I can shift by rocking the machine back and forth, with my body weight, or going from neutral to reverse than to low. Hope this helps.

Could someone explain what is meant by 'axle bearing extensions'? I have seen some photos of an extension on the front axle housings on some models where it seems that the plow mount plates are bolted. Are these bearing extensions available for the older argos?

I have an 83 that has 4 bolt outer bearing housings... I had thought of building a plate that will mount to the front two bolts, but feel that I could potentially wreck the bearing housing... any advice?

http://www.6x6world.com/gallery/data...s/SNC00038.jpg


Update --- my question has been answered by the good folks at CN Argo in Calgary --- thanks

hi brian. i have an 04 bigfoot. i have had the same problem with the idle. if you turn it to low it will stall and if its to high it won't go into gear. i set it as low as possible to keep it from stalling and just pull out the choke briefly to slow it down a wee bit and it goes right into gear. push the choke back in and off you go. under the gallery of Maine Argo i have a few pics of my plow set up, most of it was home made. good luck!

If it dies, you may need to richen the mixture screw. Usually the governor controls the idle speed. The vanguard will idle very slowly if the carb is clean and the governor is not interfering.

Another thing you can try is powdered graphite squirted between the belt onto the front clutch shaft area. It doesn't last long, I carry it under my seat.

Or turn the key off 'til it almost dies, then shift.