My home made snow plow

[MikeyM]

Hey all, been quite a while since Ive been on here due to work getting in the way! wanted to show you all the plow I made for my Max II. It sure doesnt look very appealing right now.....with how cold its been, I havent had a chance to paint it. also since this picture, I bought the correct plow springs for it from Sears. To date, Ive plowed with this 13 times, all of which, ive hit pot holes, parking curbs, pavement buckles etc....ive really been relieved to see, she just keeps goin!

I had a really good friend of mine do some metal work for me and it all has held up great! For the axle plates—I made a cardboard template for my friend and made it easy for him to fab up. they are made from 1/8 inch steel, bolting to the first and middle axles (bolted on top of the nuts holding the bearing flange in place). There wasnt a lot of thread exposed there, but was able to get about 6 turns off of them. I went ahead and used blue loc tite on them just to keep them secure. The front is just angle, welded together, and the plow is a 48 inch craftsman plow I bought from some guy on craigslist for $10. I use this to plow my parents office lot which is next door to my house. Its been giving the atv quite the work out since the lot is so long, but it can handle up to about 5 inches of snow. Anymore than that and I have to lower the blade half way, make a pass, then go back and get the rest. In my drive way, it can handle whatever I throw at it, no problem. but the office lot is a good 300 ft deep so the snow really loads up by the end.

Side note: if you notice, I have a non roller fairlead on the winch. Rookie mistake on my part. It was one of those "eh i'll order one" then forget. As im typing this, Im waiting on the UPS man to show up with a roller fairlead and new winch cable. Both the original fair lead and cable are destroyed from repetitive use. Im not worried about it, but for those who are looking to do this, make sure your winch is properly set up.

[MikeyM]

Also, to raise and lower the winch, without letting go of the sticks, I zip tied my winch control to my left lateral. this way I can control throttle and plow and keep movin

[gearhead1937]

So do you have to remove the axels to remove the side plates??

[MikeyM]

no, the plates sit over the top of the bearing flange bolts. so all I need to do to remove the plates is remove the tires. It's possible to remove the plates with the tires on, but it'd be harder to do

[gearhead1937]

Cool, I.m thinking of making the same type setup for next winter. My plan was to 'slot' the bottom of the side plates so they can be put on/off without pulling tires or anything. Unbolt and slide up off the axels.

[riotwarrior]

you have done what I was thinking with a plate to my axles, nice job, just buy a short 5 foot cable for doing plowing and when done install long cable that way you only wear out a short piece!

JM2CW.

[MikeyM]

Cool, I.m thinking of making the same type setup for next winter. My plan was to 'slot' the bottom of the side plates so they can be put on/off without pulling tires or anything. Unbolt and slide up off the axels.

Thats exactly how these are. They are open on one side where they can just be unbolted and dropped out. I think if I stop being a tight wad and bought a set of ratchet wrenches, it wouldn't be an issue

[MikeyM]

you have done what I was thinking with a plate to my axles, nice job, just buy a short 5 foot cable for doing plowing and when done install long cable that way you only wear out a short piece!

JM2CW.

well thats what Im going to do with the old cable. we are due for another 3 inches of snow tonight into tomorrow, so I need to rig up something. UPS man brought my new cable, but the fair lead was rescheduled for monday due to a "late train"

[humanshield]

This looks a LOT like my old design from a few years ago (Still in use) I used heavier plate I think 3/8" (likely over kill). And I bolted to all 3 axle flanges. What I did was place a deep nut (Coupling Nut) on all of the studs of the flanges. Which gave me a place to Bolt them too. Gives me a slolid mount point. So I have to pull 2 pins and off comes the plow. I do need to remove the wheel to easily remove the mounting plates however.

[spookum]

Uh... Just as a heads up that fair lead is for synthetic rope (it is junk because the groove in it). Using it on steel winch cable is a no no. Let me know if you would like help finding the proper one some place.... I would hate to see you or anyone get hurt..... Or if your cool with it for now pretend you never saw this post. Cool setup!