Plowing snow with a Gator 6x4

[ehatcher]

My gator with snowplow

http://ehatcher.smugmug.com/Other/John-Deere/i-ZbsvXmn/0/M/snappy-003-M.jpg

I did a little research on plowing with a 6x4 before I bought the plow . Google searches turned up a couple of threads on the topic and few people seemed enthusiastic about plows on 6x4s. Some felt the Gator turned poorly while plowing and others felt that 6x4 Gators just got stuck too easily. I decided to go ahead and try it anyway. After a couple of storms I found the Gator works fine in the snow. I have run it around the yard, on trails and up hills in over 8 inches of wet snow, with no weight in the bed and the Gator worked fine. I put 350 pounds in the bed to plow and had no problems at all, turning was fine, pushed lots of snow and never got stuck. I am very pleased with how the Gator works in the snow. I suspect that people who have had trouble were not running aggresive rear tires and were not putting weight in the bed.

I would be curious to hear from others who are plowing with 6x4 Gators

Eric

[Gator Hunter]

Really nice setup you have there, Eric! I haven't seen too many 6x4s in my neck of the woods.

[Wayne]

Hey Eric nice looking rig. Is the cab and roll bar a kit or fabed looks good

[ehatcher]

Hey Eric nice looking rig. Is the cab and roll bar a kit or fabed looks good

It is a Mauser cab that came with the Gator when I bought it. The only downside is that the previous owner got rid of the doors and they are serious ca$h to replace. I will probably fab up some doors at some point.

[millerdb]

Really nice looking rig. Does the battery have any trouble keeping up with the auxiliary lights?

[ehatcher]

Really nice looking rig. Does the battery have any trouble keeping up with the auxiliary lights?

No problem at all, they are 55 watt bulbs and even with the top lamps and the headlamps on at the same time, the battery does not get run down. Sorry for the late reply, I have not been on the forum in awhile.



Eric

[xxcanuckxx]

I was wondering if you are still around on the forum? I would really like to pick your brain on trying to set up my 6x4 for snow plowing...

EDIT: removed photo from quote.

My gator with snowplow

I did a little research on plowing with a 6x4 before I bought the plow . Google searches turned up a couple of threads on the topic and few people seemed enthusiastic about plows on 6x4s. Some felt the Gator turned poorly while plowing and others felt that 6x4 Gators just got stuck too easily. I decided to go ahead and try it anyway. After a couple of storms I found the Gator works fine in the snow. I have run it around the yard, on trails and up hills in over 8 inches of wet snow, with no weight in the bed and the Gator worked fine. I put 350 pounds in the bed to plow and had no problems at all, turning was fine, pushed lots of snow and never got stuck. I am very pleased with how the Gator works in the snow. I suspect that people who have had trouble were not running aggresive rear tires and were not putting weight in the bed.

I would be curious to hear from others who are plowing with 6x4 Gators

Eric

[ehatcher]

I was wondering if you are still around on the forum? I would really like to pick your brain on trying to set up my 6x4 for snow plowing...

I check in - sadly the 6x4 section is not a real active. What can I help with?

Eric

[xxcanuckxx]

This is what I have, I think it's standard to have the front hitch receiver. Would you happen to have more photos and tips on what I should look for on the install? I think I am going with a standard John Deere plow set up. They offered it to me for $2500 installed, I'm 1 hour north of Toronto, Ontario.

1613


I check in - sadly the 6x4 section is not a real active. What can I help with?

Eric

[ehatcher]

My setup is an Eagle plow with a Promark winch, the whole setup (plow, mount, push tube and winch) was only about $750. As you can see from the pics, my system mounts to the front subframe. I looked at a John Deere setup and it mounted to tabs welded to the bottom of the main frame back by the rear wheels. The Deere setup looked a good bit more durable than what I have: I suspect you could do light grading with it. For my needs the Eagle setup works fine and it is very easy to install/remove the plow. Not sure if this setup would work with a front receiver.

The mount is a little bumper affair that the winch bolts to. On the bottom you can see the mounts that the plow mounts to - two pins, hook the winch on and it is set to go:
http://ehatcher.smugmug.com/Other/John-Deere/i-7zs9LGH/0/M/1002107-M.jpg

The winch/plow mount bolts to the subframe with four bolts:
http://ehatcher.smugmug.com/Other/John-Deere/i-J9rS4VC/0/M/1002106-M.jpg

The winch is a Promark 3500lb with a mechanical brake. Apparantly you need the mechanical brake to keep the plow from creeping down. The 3500lb size works well, I have yanked some stumps with it and pulled myself out from deep ruts with it.

I went here for mine http://www.promarkoffroad.com/ They were easy to deal with but they did not realize that the mount they have will fit 6 x 4s newer than 2001 - mine is a 2007. They also insisted I buy a winch mount with this setup - but the plow mount already incorporates the winch mount (they refunded me and took it back.)

Hope this helps. Good luck with your plow and post some pics when you are done!


Eric