Plowing with a sportsman

[duden89]

Im looking at getting an 93 700 sportsman and was wondering how many of you guys out there plow with one? Im planning on doing a decent amount of plowing this winter if this all works out, and I found a good deal on a plow system on craigsllist. Its a glacier II plow system with a 60" blade. Wondering if anyone has used this system or has any advice? Ill post a link to the craigslist ad at the bottom. Thanks in advance for the help guys.

Polaris Sportsman Glacier 2 Plow System

[MUDDIE49]

Ive plowed with a 550 xp with the 60 inch and it works great...its looks like a great deal on craig's list...i'd go for it....Muddie49

[North Branch]

You need to read in these forums a little bit about the Glacier II system. They are cheap. There are much better plow systems.

[blueline15]

Overall, atvs will plow pretty well

do you mean an 03 spmn 700? not a '93...and if so, that plow system wont work on an 03 spmn 700 anyway.

[duden89]

Ooops yeah I meant an 03. I was pretty sure the mounting brackets wouldnt work so I asked the guy and he said he'd lower the price $50 and not include the mounting brackets. I think I remember seeing that mounting brackets were about $70 online, but I'd still need a winch to run it but Im sure I can find a used one on craigslist or just get a new one. Whats wrong with the glacier plow systems? Are they just cheaply built with thin metal? I work at a metalshop part time when Im not in school so I can do repairs to it as long as the whole thing just doesnt fall apart.

Well after reading through the forums for a little while I heard the plow mount and base are weak and known to bend, but no one on the forums has had that problem directly that ive seen. Wondering if maybe I could just reinforce both? Would be very easy for me to do if thats possible (never even looked at these so I had no idea what is and isnt possible). If none of this will work, what system do you guys recommend I look for? All I know right now is I want a 60" blade.

[brivy1900]

i have heard nothing but good things about the Glacier I.

[duden89]

Alright after hours of searching the web, I'm still lost. I know I want a 60" plow that i can adjust the angle of. The quad Im looking at also doesnt have a winch, so I need some sort of lifting mechanism. I think the glacier II looks like it'll work just fine, but I just dont know where to buy it and how much to expect to pay. I dont mind having a handlever for the lifting mechanism if its alot cheaper. So pretty much where should I look to buy one and how much should I expect to pay?

[splinter84]

Originally Posted by duden89

Alright after hours of searching the web, I'm still lost. I know I want a 60" plow that i can adjust the angle of. The quad Im looking at also doesnt have a winch, so I need some sort of lifting mechanism. I think the glacier II looks like it'll work just fine, but I just dont know where to buy it and how much to expect to pay. I dont mind having a handlever for the lifting mechanism if its alot cheaper. So pretty much where should I look to buy one and how much should I expect to pay?

Half way through the winter you will be putting a winch on, trust me. Hand levers are cheaper, but if you do a significant amount of plowing, your going to be sick of lifting the blade manually. If you run a 60" blade into a snow drift, you may not even be able to lift it without backing out etc. They are a pain.

We picked up a pair of ATV's and plows this year, a 2003 and 2010. My wife and I have about two hours of plow time on both of our ATV's, and we are very thankful to have a winch. I highly recommend a winch. It is going to provide you more services than just plowing snow as well, especially if you start riding more. I suggest visiting a Polaris dealer to check what plows they stock (if your looking into brand new equipment). For example, my Polaris dealer had the Glacier II plow system and an Eagle plow in stock. The Eagle plow is made in MN, and he informed me that it was overall a better built plow than the Glacier II. We bought the Eagle plows brand new for about $400. ($100 discount each for purchasing a new machine earlier this fall). The mounting bracket worked just fine on our 2003 Sportsman. It basically is a skid plate that mounts on the belly of the ATV. A mounting bracket then slips into the skid plate. Piece of cake.

For a brand new plow and mounting bracket, I would expect to spend some where around the $500 mark. You can find good Warn winches on Amazon for $300. That is a pretty good price for an excellent winch. These prices are for brand new equipment though.

[Hullhorr]

I bought a new Sportsman 600 in 2004 and they were running a deal for the Glacier Plow system for $49 at the time when you bought a new ATV. The dealer gave me the generic plow system though with the hand lever. I installed it just to see and I was less than thrilled. It worked OK, but was nothing like the Glacier setup. I called the dealer and complained and ended up having to go to corporate Polaris complaining to get the dealer to honor the Glacier system. The down side was the Glacier system didn't come with the winch so I had to pony up for that, but it was an easy inexpensive install. I put a 2000lb. Superwinch on it in lieu of the more expensive Warn winches and it worked great. Harbor Freight has generic ATV winches that are also very inexpensive and from what I've read are very reliable.

The nice thing about the Glacier system and winch is the clearance you get under the blade when you raise the plow all the way up. You get like 11" of clearance. With the hand operated ones you only get like 4" of clearance. The added clearance is great if your loading and unloading the ATV from a truck or trailer with a ramp. If you have real deep snow it's also nice cause it lets you push the big piles out of the way. The other nice feature about the Glacier system is when you remove the plow you can't even tell there is a mount for it on your ATV. You only lose about a 1/2" of ground clearance under the ATV with the plow removed.

I had the 48" blade on mine and it worked great pushing snow. I wish I had never sold that setup.

[duden89]

Alright Ill be sure to dish out the extra cash for a winch. Sounds like I'll just stick to a glacier plow system. Now I just need to find a good sportsman, I've looked at a few. Test drove a 700 and it was pretty quick, how much slower is the 500? Is it a major difference? The main use is going to be for plowing and I would guess a 500 wouid be powerful enough to handle my needs. I am on a budget so it would be nice if I could drop to a 500 and save some money as compared to a 700, I just dont want to sacrifice alot of performance