I've had several 4X4 ATV's with plows. Prairie 650, Prairie 700, and Wolverine 350. I sold the last one 2 years ago because there really isn't many places to ride them and I don't have the spare time I use to. Now I am looking for a cheaper used ATV for plowing my driveway and maybe an occasional trail ride. What machines would you recommend used for plowing. I prefer something that shifts quick from forward to reverse because I plow the snow out my driveway and across the street so I need to get in reverse and get out of the way of traffic. Any input would be appreciated.
P.S. I would have kept the Prairie 700 but I had almost $10,000 invested in it to sit as a snowplow plus I needed the garage room.

 

One of the easiest to drive quads made A Polaris Sportsman they 03 and up have a nice shifter for Forward and Reverse Plus the weight of a Sportsman realy makes for good traction. I love mine for this exact reason!

 

my dad has a 06 foreman with a big 52" state plow and it plows fine and its only 2x4. we just set two sand bags/tubes on the back

 

I use a Sportsman 500 with a 52" Glacier (quick release) plow. We get a fair amouint of snow here in Michigan and the liquid cooling and 4x4 helps a lot when it gets deep. When I had a bigger plow I would put 3 60 pound sandbags on the rear rack to balance it. Now I use 2 sandbags since thew plow is lighter. It's hard to accidentally spin the wheels, but still easy to do donuts. The EZ-Shift or whatever they call it is nice; just pull the **** straight back to go into reverse and push straight ahead to go into low or high. I use a winch to raise and lower the plow and the rocker switch for it is right by my left thumb.

 

I push a 60" plow with my brute force no problems

 

If I went out and bought an ATV for plowing I would get:

A 4-stroke, for a couple of obvious reasons.
500cc or bigger because I know it will handle it for several years.
Liquid cooling because it can be hard work.
4x4, not 4x3 or 4x2. If the snow gets deep you need 4x4 to push it on top of an existing pile.
Something with a low range. I prefer auto over manual but that's a personal choice.
A plow that's a little wider than the ATV so the snow doesn't roll off the ends and go under the tires.
My plow fits on my sidewalk too. You may want to measure yours before you buy a plow.
An electric lift or winch. Preferably with synthetic instead of wire rope.
I like having a thumbwarmer because my throttle thumb gets cold but I don't need handwarmers.
Protective gear for the cold is a must for me.

Brand doesn't matter but heavy weight is a good thing. The Polaris pigs do well in this case, but not so good if you're trying to trail ride on top of the snow. IRS vs. SRA doesn't matter at all IMO. A lot will depend on what type of snow and how much at a time. I'm guessing hondarider94 doesn't get that much snow all at once if a 2x4 can handle it. I could be wrong.

If anyone has anything to add to the list or something they would do differently I'd like to hear it.

 

One of my main reasons for the Poo is plowing.
Weight = better traction.
Shift pattern = an easy movement from R - L & L-R. No fishing thru gears.
"Seamless" AWD operation = It's on when you need it.