HOW DO I?

• Choose A Plow Blade
• Order a Plow Kit
• Size Tires and Rims

Choose A Plow Blade

One of the most difficult decisions to be made while considering the purchase of a Moose snow plow is to decide what size and style to order. Do I want a 50" plow or 60" plow? Do I want the Moose Standard plow blade or the Moose County plow blade? Let's go over a few facts that will allow you to make an informed decision.

First consider the width of your machine. What is the measurement from outside of tire to outside of tire? A 50" Moose plow blade when angled all the way to the left or the right will clear a 44.5" swath. A 60" Moose plow will clear a 53.5" swath. Ideally, you want to keep your tires running in a clear path. Most machines will be able to run within the swath area of the 50" plow while moving forward but will exceed the width when turning. Turning or rather the controlled ability to turn depends on your tires running in a clear path and eliminating any crowding of your wheel against the windrow. Although the tire on the windrow side doesn't need to run completely in a clear path, it certainly makes steering more positive and safe. Even the smallest displacement of modern 4x4 ATVs can "push" a 60" blade full of snow. The function that is difficult is, once again, the controlled ability to turn. Most machines under 450cc do not possess enough weight over the front wheels to allow the machine to turn with a 60" blade full of snow.

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In deep snow with long expanses of plowing
surface, the Moose County plow blade excels.
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Machines under 450cc generally go with a 50" blade. Machines over 450cc use the 60" blade although there are a lot of folks that prefer the 50" no matter what size their ATV is as long as their machine's width isn't excessive.

The next decision is whether to go with a Moose Standard plow blade or a Moose County plow blade. The Moose Standard blade is 16" high on either side whereas the Moose County blade is 26" on one side and tapers down to 16' on the opposite side. The face of either plow possesses a radius that is excellent for

rolling the snow, which allows you to push more snow volume due to the lack of snow sticking to the plow blade.

The Moose Standard plow blade works beautifully for short stretches of driveway and moderate snow depths. The snow will roll making pushing easier and the snow will deposit itself into a windrow immediately off the side of the plow.

In deep snow with long expanses of plowing surface, the Moose County plow blade excels. With the taper design the snow rolls and gains velocity and when it comes to the edge of the blade the windrow has enough kinetic energy built up to actually throw itself. Although the faster the forward speed the further the windrow will move we encourage the operator to use a safe rate of speed so as not to impair steering ability relating directly to the operator's health and welfare.

Based on what is said above you should have a better idea of what to order for a plow blade. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask a question or two of the ATV Guru.

Order A Plow Kit

Ask a group of ATV enthusiasts what makes for the best snowplow set up and you're likely to get varied answers. Keeping this in mind Moose Utility Division created a way for an ATV owner to buy the snowplow components that best fit their environment or personal tastes in machinery. Remember, we make snow plow kits for primarily 4x4 utility ATVs. If you have a two-wheel drive utility ATV, check the application under Part Numbers and Pricing at Products/Snow/Bottom Mount Kit for your machine. If you have a sport ATV, we will not have a plow for it. Read on to find out how to order a plow kit that meets your personal satisfaction.

The very first thing you'll need to select is the plow blade of choice. You can learn more about Moose plows by reading HOW TO: Choose a Plow Blade. With your blade chosen you will need to place a Universal Push Tube, part number M91-11001, on your order list. This is the only part of the plow kit that doesn't have a few options. This part will fit any machine we offer a Bottom Mount Kit for. Speaking of Bottom Mount Kits, this is the third component you will need and it is model specific. Find the Bottom Mount by referencing the plow components page by going to the Make first and then the Model and Year of your machine.

You're almost home. The last thing you need to figure out is how to lift the plow. Most, but not all ATVs, have a choice of a manual lift, an EZ Lift, winch and winch mount or electric lift. Let's take a few moments to explain the different types of plow lift mechanisms.

Manual Lift - Hand Lift is another common term. A Manual Lift consists of a handle, lift rod, bellcrank and lifting chain. There are a few ATVs that we don't make a Manual Lift for because the machines are so enclosed there is no place for the lift rod to pass through. A Manual Lift is very fast but it also requires a fair amount of operator input.

EZ Lift is an advancement of the manual lift or hand lift idea. The mechanism is rack-mounted for stability and ease of installation. The EZ Lift has a lever that still requires human input for lifting of the plow but a whole lot less muscle is needed because the unit is spring-assisted. The spring can be adjusted to the point where most of the work is taken out of lifting up the plow blade.

Electric Lift or Plow Actuator as some call it, is a compact, electric motor-driven spool, which uses a small diameter cable to lift and lower the plow blade. An easy to use thumb-operated push button switch is mounted on the ATV's handlebar to activate the motor to raise or lower the plow blade. A pulley (snatch block) is mounted below the ATV's bumper. Check the Electric Lift applications under Part Numbers and Pricing at Products/Snow/Electric Lift by Warn to see if the Electric Lift is compatible with your machine.

Winch and Winch Mounts are probably the most popular because the winch is serving two purposes. Instead of simply being used as an insurance policy for getting out of tight spots on a trail ride it can be used for lifting the plow also. To avoid interference between a winch and plow blade we suggest using one of our winch mounts. This winch mount puts your winch in the proper location to avoid interference that is caused by mismatched aftermarket products. The second advantage of using our winch mount is the bonus of having a roller fairlead, which is included. A roller fairlead allows the cable to be dispensed off and retrieved on to the winch drum without wear and tear to the cable. A plain fairlead wears and frays the cable; a roller fairlead virtually eliminates it.

Moose offers two winches to choose from. We have a 1700-pound winch and a 3000-pound winch. Check them out in the SNOW section or use the links from this article.

All the basics have been covered. If you still need help with choosing a plow kit please don't hesitate to see your local dealer found in the Where To Buy section, or send an e-mail of inquiry to the ATV Guru.

Size Tires and Rims

Unless you trade in your ATV every year or two, you will need to buy replacement tires. Or if the stock tires aren't what you want you'll be forced into the shopping mode also. I'm not going to get into tread patterns here because talking tread patterns is about as productive as an argument between NASCAR fans about which automaker is the best. Just as which car makes the best racecar, tread patterns are a matter of opinion, machine type, driver ability and environment.

What I want to do is clear up the confusion of sizing tires and rims. Tire and rim sizing contain some of the same information but show it a little differently. We'll start with tire sizing first. A common tire size is 24x11-10. The tire sizing can be broken down like this: 24 = The outside diameter (also known as height) of the tire in inches at the manufacturer's suggested tire air pressure. 11 = The width from the sidewall of the tire to the opposite sidewall in inches. Some manufacturers measure at the sidewall and some measure at the tread and document maximum tread width. Either way the measuring points will yield roughly the same result. 10 = The inside diameter of the tire in inches. When you hear people talking about tires they will refer to a 24x11-10 tire as "twenty-four by eleven on ten." Now you know what those three numbers mean. Now we can move on to the finer points of rim sizing.

With our 24x11-10 tire as an example, the rim that would most commonly match up is a 10x8 rim. Not all 10x8 rims are the same so pay attention here. Chances are your ATV is not the only model or brand that takes a

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When buying tires for existing rims, never buy
tires more than six inches wider than your rims.
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24x11-10 tire but the hub bolt circle and offset will be different from one ATV to another. Most often you will see a rim listed as 10x8, 3+5, 4/156. Here's what all that means: 10 = The wheel diameter in inches measured at the tire bead surface. This dimension is in direct relation to the last two digits of the tire size. 8 = The actual width in inches of the rim from inside of bead face to the opposite inside of bead face. 3 = Inboard (side facing towards the ATV) dimension of rim in inches from bead face to wheel hub mounting surface. Sometimes you will see a "LB" after this number. "LB" stands for Large Bell and pertains to the extra room created to accommodate brake drums or disks. 5 = Outboard (side facing away from the ATV) dimension of rim in inches from outside bead face to wheel hub mounting surface. 4 = Number of holes needed to match the number of studs on the hub of the ATV. 156 = The diameter in millimeters of an imaginary bolt circle where all the holes are spaced equally within it. You'll hear people refer to 10x8, 3+5, 4/156 as "ten by eight with a three plus five offset having a four on one fifty-six bolt pattern."

Knowing what you know now you're probably wanting a little more information to tie the loose and ends and make complete sense of all this. You've probably noticed the rim width is narrower than the tire width. When buying tires for existing rims, never buy tires more than six inches wider than your rims. A minimum also applies where you should never buy tires less than three inches wider than your rims. The difference between tire width and rim width is needed to insure the tire bead is seated on the rim with the low tire pressure that ATV tires operate at. I hope this helps you. Should you have any questions don't hesitate to consult with your local dealer or fire an e-mail to ATV GURU.