# Polaris Ranger.



## BlowerMods1 (Jan 11, 2020)

Wired up and installed a winch on my sons Polaris SXS. A Warn 3,500 lb. with remote. Then he bought a blade kit. Think it ran him around $350.00. Winch and all was $700.00 I believe. Light bar was a nice mod too. Saved something ridiculous for labor since we did the installs, believe it was around four hundred or so. No ethanol concerns as the Ranger is EFI and is used year round. It's a real mule. Much better way to go and will eventually pay for itself. Wasn't hard to install just time consuming. Nice rig for doing jobs around the house and running to the store. Not as clean as a blower but quicker for sure. If I were him though I would carry a portable heater and install a radio. Make it more comfortable anyway but that's just me. :thumbsup:


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## Brent Holm (Oct 22, 2019)

Pay for itself? Lets see what you think after trying to work it a couple of seasons. So you have nearly $20k into a plow rig because we know Rangers are not cheap. My average plow job costs the customer between $40 and $60, bigger jobs can cost double that but still even at $200 per it would take TEN YEARS to make it up, 20-40 years on an average driveway. I do not see it paying for itself anytime soon LOL If you get a lot of snow you will find its limitations quickly because it is not nearly heavy enough for real snow removal. 

I have clients currently making the same mistake, tried to talk them out of it but they are pretty enamored by the idea of owning one of those silly buggys. People almost always find out it would be better and cheaper to pay to have it done and watch from inside the warm house. I like the install a radio and heater part... For what you have into that you could have a real truck with a real plow and chances are it would come with a radio, a heater, windows, doors, wipers etc. I will never understand the allure of those buggys. They have become serious nuisance on the local jeep roads as well... Good Luck though!


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## 2.137269 (Nov 15, 2019)

rhino with a 6 foot poly edged blade, sides and back radio heater kit, what a way to clear snow off big long drives around the shop area


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## Brent Holm (Oct 22, 2019)

87powershiftx2 said:


> rhino with a 6 foot poly edged blade, sides and back radio heater kit, what a way to clear snow off big long drives around the shop area


You claim big long drives.... How much snow? Can it clear a 16 foot wide 1/4 mile long drive after 12 inches of snow? I bet not. Again, you have a ton of money in that rig and it wont push half the snow a truck would. Cute though!


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## BazookaJoe (Oct 6, 2019)

If BlowerMods1's son is buying the Ranger exclusively for cleaning the driveway, absolutely agreed, very bad economy. 

However, if he already had the Ranger for other stuff and is spending an extra $400 or so for a snowblade system, then perhaps it's a very good idea. Everyone's snow situation is different- how does my driveway fill in, how much snow does my area get in a year, and does my driveway have places to shove the snow. 

And besides all that, if his son is having fun driving his Ranger and the snowblade works for him, then what's bad about that?


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## 2.137269 (Nov 15, 2019)

Brent Holm said:


> You claim big long drives.... How much snow? Can it clear a 16 foot wide 1/4 mile long drive after 12 inches of snow? I bet not. Again, you have a ton of money in that rig and it wont push half the snow a truck would. Cute though!


you jealous of some one having money?? 
really it came with the shop when we purchased it along with the berco blower so why not use it , poly blade cleans to the pavement most we plowed was 16 inches locked in 4x4 low

snow in nj lately?? what snow?? one storm dec 1 and 2 when we got that 16 incher , 3 runs back and forth for over 1000 feet . 1/2 hour done


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## Brent Holm (Oct 22, 2019)

87powershiftx2 said:


> you jealous of some one having money??
> really it came with the shop when we purchased it along with the berco blower so why not use it , poly blade cleans to the pavement most we plowed was 16 inches locked in 4x4 low
> 
> snow in nj lately?? what snow?? one storm dec 1 and 2 when we got that 16 incher , 3 runs back and forth for over 1000 feet . 1/2 hour done


Jealous of someone having money? Where did you get that? I just happen to think those are terrible machines for snow removal.


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## Brent Holm (Oct 22, 2019)

BazookaJoe said:


> If BlowerMods1's son is buying the Ranger exclusively for cleaning the driveway, absolutely agreed, very bad economy.
> 
> However, if he already had the Ranger for other stuff and is spending an extra $400 or so for a snowblade system, then perhaps it's a very good idea. Everyone's snow situation is different- how does my driveway fill in, how much snow does my area get in a year, and does my driveway have places to shove the snow.
> 
> And besides all that, if his son is having fun driving his Ranger and the snowblade works for him, then what's bad about that?



I have seen this done repeatedly as UTV's have become insanely popular here. My experiences with them are mostly negative. Plow assembly is too flimsy, machine itself doesn't hold up. Simply wont work if you have a lot of snow to deal with, too light to push piles. I have seen it tried and seen it fail but to each his own, just adding my experience. Some think they have discovered the holy grail, my experience suggests otherwise. 

I tried to push my friends into a bigger better badder blower for their 5000 sq ft stained and stamped drive. The cheaped out and were trying to use a Husky ST224 at 8000 feet in the Rockies. I showed them how much better my Ariens 1027 performed and suggested an even better machine for them. They insisted on the Kawasaki buggy with a blade. I did get them to buy the plastic cutting edge but otherwise it is what they wanted, for whatever reason. I don't care that they went that route, I just know it will prove to be a mistake.


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## BlowerMods1 (Jan 11, 2020)

Brent Holm said:


> Pay for itself? Lets see what you think after trying to work it a couple of seasons. So you have nearly $20k into a plow rig because we know Rangers are not cheap. My average plow job costs the customer between $40 and $60, bigger jobs can cost double that but still even at $200 per it would take TEN YEARS to make it up, 20-40 years on an average driveway. I do not see it paying for itself anytime soon LOL If you get a lot of snow you will find its limitations quickly because it is not nearly heavy enough for real snow removal.
> 
> I have clients currently making the same mistake, tried to talk them out of it but they are pretty enamored by the idea of owning one of those silly buggys. People almost always find out it would be better and cheaper to pay to have it done and watch from inside the warm house. I like the install a radio and heater part... For what you have into that you could have a real truck with a real plow and chances are it would come with a radio, a heater, windows, doors, wipers etc. I will never understand the allure of those buggys. They have become serious nuisance on the local jeep roads as well... Good Luck though!


He bought the Ranger for odd jobs around the house and to have fun with his kids, not strictly to plow snow. Then he saw how much he would be paying for snow removal. Good grief ! and added the plow to make it more versatile. These are great vehicles. He has even made it street legal. He's on his second one now as someone stole the first one from the dealer when he was having it serviced. Dealer replaced it with a brand new one which was an upgrade to the newer 1000 cc. Machine. All he had to do was pay tax. They replaced his upgrades too which I thought was pretty decent of them. He Loves it. It's as good a workhorse as it is at having fun. So far it has done everything he has wanted / needed it to do, no problems. In SE MI our average is 6 to 10 inches per snowfall. This rig handles that easily. Much easier to jump in the Ranger and give it a quick plow than to move around two or three vehicles every time you need to clear snow. 
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Total for the blade was $350.00 period. He uses the Ranger for running back and fourth from the lake / dock to gas up the boat, landscaping, odd jobs around the house, and for hunting his land up north. The grandkids love it too, that alone makes the purchase worthwhile :thumbsup: I installed a seat for the kids in the dump bed and they go mudding with it too. They love it. He has since bought his son a Razor SXS of his own. Follows mom and and dad around on the trails with little sister.
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The charge to hire a plow to clear his driveway is $80.00 to $120.00 dollars a pop, at that rate it didn't take long for the blade to pay for itself, in fact it's already paid for itself - a few times over as a matter of fact. He's saved a ton of money with it. He also gets a better job with the Ranger as a pickup with a larger blade plows up as much dirt and grass as it does snow. No worries about damage to the concrete either as he knows where the boundaries and berms are. Much better option by far without question ! No more re-seeding and repairing his lawn / concrete each season either which is a big plus as well.
.


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## ZTMAN (Jan 11, 2018)

Nice set up OP. Rangers are great. I didn't put a plow on our ranger, but did on the Sportsman. Worked great and believe it or not, moved a lot of snow efficiently.

Got rid of the house with the 1000 foot drive way, so got rid of the toys.

Nice thing about Rangers, they hold their value, so if they are taken care of, not too much depreciation.


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## BlowerMods1 (Jan 11, 2020)

Son had a Sportsman which is a great machine. I miss that one. It was a beast. Great for hunting. Had the racks and the trunk on the back end, front fairing. Had to be carefull with it in tall grass though or it would over heat. Used it for plot maintenance and to haul material for the blinds we built. Believe it was a 500. White - sharp machine.


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## BlowerMods1 (Jan 11, 2020)

I am setting up the shop now to wrench on the Razor. This is the fun machine. Will probably add a winch, trunk, a lightbar, and a front / rear bumper. I would like to see him add some better safety harnesses though since its for the grandkids. Told the kids that nana and papa would buy them the trunk for Xmas but thy wouldn't go for that 

:emoticon-south-park: - You mean we have to share ? funny.


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## BazookaJoe (Oct 6, 2019)

Thanks for the update and "the rest of the story" on your son's Ranger.


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## 2.137269 (Nov 15, 2019)

having a wench on a utv is a most,


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## johnwick (Dec 16, 2019)

My dad has a sportsman 700 with blade. Very cool in that it’s a quick attach, just pull a lever and drive in or out. Goes up and down great with the winch and moves a ton of snow.

He bought it at auction recently for $1300 (the whole machine with blade). Funny thing is that everyone who tested it thought the tranny was bad. They didn’t know you had to push the foot break to shift into high gear. Auctioneer didn’t know any better so everyone thought it was a $1500-2000 problem. He got lucky.


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## BlowerMods1 (Jan 11, 2020)

That's a hec of a deal Johnwick ! Yep those things are awesome. They really hold their value too.


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