Quantcast
Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Any advice regarding clearing snow with a Big Bear 350? 

I've a long straight driveway to clear at a new hobby acreage and we got lots of fresh snow!  Is it any better to angle the plow and run the length, or push the snow side to side into the ditches? 

I've never plowed snow before and have a steep learning curve as to what will prove more efficient! 

Any advice from the experienced would be appreciated!

Posted

Angle blade and run the length if you can, if you get large amounts of snow frequently and are able, pushed it WELL off each side of the driveway because it will build up making it more difficult to plow as winter drags on. Of you don't get it far enough off your driving lan will become narrower and narrower as winter progresses.

  • Like 1
Posted
8 hours ago, Freedomflyer said:

Angle blade and run the length if you can, if you get large amounts of snow frequently and are able, pushed it WELL off each side of the driveway because it will build up making it more difficult to plow as winter drags on. Of you don't get it far enough off your driving lan will become narrower and narrower as winter progresses.

Ah, I should have signed in before I went!  It wasn't near as deep as here in the city, so I should be able to expand the narrow lane I cut.  I did end up angling the blade and made 4 passes up/down the lane.  

I was surprised how easy it pushed.  The Big Bear had no issues with tires spinning nor motor loading up even as the blade overflowed heavy wet snow.  With the long straight driveway, and room on each side, clearing the snow doesn't seem as daunting as it did before!

My only issue is that the winch isn't sensitive enough to adjust the blade an inch or two at a time.  I will need to modify how I'm grabbing it so that I can position the blade more accurately.

But over-all, seems an excellent (and kinda fun) way to clear snow!

Posted

Ya, I think that should work.  I'll take a look for one or even just use nylon line and a couple hooks to make one up. 

I think 3 passes would be enough.  Much more and I won't have enough distance from winch blade to lift it up and out of the way.

Thanks!  

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

FWIW, on my Kawasaki Bayou 300 4x4, the guy I bought it from made a plow winch from a Mercedes car power window motor and mounted it on the front rack.  Used the original power window buttons.  Works fine for about 45 mins-then the battery begins to struggle due to voltage drop.

  • Like 1
Posted
On 11/22/2021 at 11:49 AM, Fhai Catz-eteh said:

I installed a light duty sheave on a swivel (snatch block configuration) instead of hooking right on to the blade mount and in slows the in/out down so you have better button resolution on the blade up/down.

1806411252_20211219_114519209.thumb.jpg.6466ae9c2cc0904489e4738a3262cd64.jpg

  • Like 2
Posted
On 12/15/2021 at 9:40 PM, Freedomflyer said:

Finally got some snow, enough to mount the plow.

20211215_173556.jpg

Looking forward to this kind of level up. I was looking for a used ATV but they all were snagged up or priced high. Enjoy the time!

Posted

It's a bit nasty pushing snow when the temperature drops for sure.  The high today was -9F (-23C) (low at -22F) and with a fair bit of time mucking around trying to get the old girl started (I ended up removing the plug and heating it up) it got a bit miserable on the hands and feet. 

We've enough snow now that the original advice of pushing a wider path than you need has really come into effect! 

  • Like 1
Posted

I also have a Yamaha big bear 350 with a plow. I found that the two parallel bars supporting the blade were hitting the ground before the plow blade was all the way down, leaving about 3 inches of snow that wasn't plowed. I had to bore new holes in the brackets that the blade is attached to so that the blade was several inches lower allowing it to go all the way down to the ground. Much better snow removal here in Kalispell, Montana.  My battery also went dead from constantly raising and lowering the blade while plowing. Is this normal? Shouldn't the stator be charging the battery enough that this wouldn't happen?

  • Like 1
Posted
On 12/31/2021 at 7:30 PM, jamo said:

I also have a Yamaha big bear 350 with a plow. I found that the two parallel bars supporting the blade were hitting the ground before the plow blade was all the way down, leaving about 3 inches of snow that wasn't plowed. I had to bore new holes in the brackets that the blade is attached to so that the blade was several inches lower allowing it to go all the way down to the ground. Much better snow removal here in Kalispell, Montana.  My battery also went dead from constantly raising and lowering the blade while plowing. Is this normal? Shouldn't the stator be charging the battery enough that this wouldn't happen?

I haven't had any battery issues plowing with my 350 Big Bear. 

I try to keep the blade an inch off the ground as I have a rough gravel driveway.  My blade seems to tilt a bit when I rotate it to push on an angle.  I'm not sure if the quad "rocks" or if the mount moves, but the trailing side seems lower regardless if I push left or right.  Any ideas?       

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Forum Topics

    • By Thumpinhard25
      First thanks for any help guys, new to the forums and it's gotten me this far. I bought a 2001 bear tracker 250 for my family to get around the dirt bikes races. It wasn't running right and had a high idle. Previous owner thought it was a carb problem, so he ordered a new Zoom carb and new intake boot, but it still had the same high idle. ( I believe he had the throttle cable adjusted wrong, because it idled fine when I put it back together) So I tore down and cleaned the stock carb, and it started up and idled fine, but needed to have the choke 1/2 out to run.  I swapped to the new zoom carb and had the same issue. Choke half out bike ran ok. I played with the needle and the pilot screw with no change. ( bike did seem to be running rich though, but didn't get better when I tightened pilot screw or raised meddle) I Took it to the races and once I started bouncing around in the cattle fields the quad started cutting out real bad. It would barely run.  Sometimes it would run with choke off, sometimes choke 1/2, sometime choke full. I cleaned carb again, checked float level, and boots, no change still wouldn't run. Then suddenly it started running ok again.  This makes me believe it's an electrical issue rather then carb. I know there's no air leak, it's been checked, both carbs are clean( I've swapped them out a couple times, it starts up immediately and usually idles fine. But then bogs down/ or stutters under throttle. I saw the post on the guy who disconnected his rectifier and reconnected and suddenly it started working again, which lead me to believe it may be electrical and not carb.  So any advice on what I should check? Any way to test the CDI or rectifier?  Once again, I appreciate your help.  
    • By Mikey69
      Heres my story. Kinda long. I guess I was a late bloomer when it comes to quads. I had never ridden a quad in my life. Rode Dirt Bikes as a kid growing up. Back in Oct of '06 I found a Mustang on craigslist. Took it for a test drive one morning before work. Fast car. 351 Cleveland. I had planned on meeting the guy again after work. For some strange reason thats still to this day beyond me, I stopped in Hillsboro MotoSports on the way home from work. I had 6 Grand on me. There was a left over '05 sitting by the front door. It was on sale for $4999. It was $5499 OTD. I didnt even look at anything else. I knew nothing about quads accept I thought it really looked coool and I had the money in my pocket to buy it. I was sitting on it when the salesman walked up and asked... "Can I help you?" Without hestitation I pulled 60 Ben Franklins outta my front pocket and said "I want this Quad. Load it up in my truck." It was just about dark by the time I drove away from the shop. BTW, I didnt bother to ask my ol lady if I could buy it. LOL. Anyway, I took it by the house and showed her. She was kinda stunned but not mad. We drove over to a friend of mines house and unloaded it. I took it to the field across the street from his house. HOLY CHIT!!!!! I was surprised by the power. I had it for about 2 weeks and took it to Sand Lake. I was there a few hours and rolled it on a banked turn at the top of the bowl right before you get to the one-ways. When it rolled, I flew off and landed on my belly. The quad came bouncing and landed on my back. For a month I couldnt even walk. I was scared of it. I considered trading it for a 250EX. Went back to the shop. The salesman said..."Dude!!! You dont want a 250EX!!! Trust me. Just get used to it" I still wasnt convinced. I put it on craigslist for $4000. Calls were coming in. I had a guy that wanted to come look at it that evening. I decided to take it for one last ride at Browns Camp before I sold it. I was still afraid of it. After about 5 minutes I started feeling comfortable on it again. I decided right then, I loved my Honda 450 and would learn how to ride it instead of selling it. That was late Nov of '06. Work was slow for a Painter in Oregon. My new job everyday? Going to Browns Camp and ridding my Quad. I bought my Girl Friend an '02 Blaster. I rode my 450 for 4-6 hours almost every single day for 3 months. And yes, I know my way around Browns Camp pretty well. LOL. In March I bought her an '06 TRX250EX (Thank God I didnt trade my 450 for one of those) LOL Since then, I have become totally addicted to quads. I love them. Couldnt imagine not owning at least one quad. Luckily I have two. My "07 was $6500 OTD in July of '07. Bought it for my Girlfriend. Traded in her 250 EX. A month later we broke up. So, I wound up with two Honda 450's.
       
    • By Gunny
      Hope you enjoy the video ....
       
       
       
      ...
       
       
    • By Ajmboy
      So we are almost a month into winter and I've been so busy working on my house that up until today, I didn't realize that we just haven;t gotten any real snow yet to warrant putting the plow on my grizzly. So that got me thinking, what are the latest plows out there and what ATV plows are the best? I've got 2 snow plows for my grizzly, a quadboss pile driver atv plow set up and a snowsport ATV plow. They are both a bit dated now and I tend to stick with the snowsport due to ease of use and I just like it so much. So if you have a plow on your ATV, please let us know what it is and post a picture with your atv/plow would be awesome. Would also like to know what you like and dislike about it.
      This is back a while when I did a write up on these 2 plows.... in 2009 I got the snowsport and in 2012 I got the quadboss.
       
    • By Kaz
      Troubleshooting a no spark issue, was running OK, maybe a little rich, turned it off, now no spark. I've checked/ohmed out the main key switch, the start/stop switch, neutral switch, brake switch - all good. It will crank the starter, but no spark with the starter or when I try the pull start. I've checked all fuses and diodes. Swapped battery. New plug. New coil. Swapped in a used CDI - no help. Traced, removed, cleaned, reattached all grounds. Removed things like my winch from the circuits to be sure a bad relay or something was dragging it down. When testing voltages, the orange wire going from the CDI to the ignition coil shows no/very low voltage-shouldn't it have 12V on it? Sometimes I get a very weak, intermittent glow on my spark tester, but not enough to fire the plug. I've checked continuity on just about all wires in the harness. Checked/cleaned/lubed w dielectric grease- all connections, redid a few that looked old/dirty. I've checked the stator resistances, all good, but have a stator and rectifier ordered anyway, will arrive Sunday. I verified that the rectifier has a voltage output back to charge the battery while cranking - 10.5-11V, low, but expected while starter is engaged. What else can I check as part of troubleshooting? I have a Haines service manual, but the 1999 350 4x4 seems to be an odd model, there isn't an exact electrical diagram for it, but found one for another year that has all the same number of wires and same color wires, so I've referenced that. Any hints, tips or advice would be appreciated! Thanks!
×
×
  • Create New...