Looking to set up our new Polaris Ranger for plowing this winter.

I am not overly mechanically savvy, so looking at all of the options is just confusing me more.

I will need the winch, mount, and blade - so the full setup. Dealership that we bought the Ranger at wants ~$3,000 out the door for the parts alone, not including installation. That is for their heavy duty mount (easily detachable, supposedly), top of the line winch, and a 72” steel blade. No hydraulics for putting an angle on the blade or anything.

Is that price insane? Are there any good cheaper options? I know that Polaris is overly proud of putting their name on things, so I’m assuming the price is nuts.

Help me out, ARF!

The glacier pro is like $1100, about $500 for winch and mount, if you want to do the install yourself.

Putting the plow together is simple, wiring the winch slightly more difficult but nothing too extreme for a DIYer.

We use a Motoalliance Denali because we caught it on sale before purchasing a glacier pro.

Both attach to the new style front bumper so they are simple to connect and leave no hardware hanging down to get damaged during non-plowing use.

SuperATV is having a very good sale currently for labor day, I would highly suggest looking at their winches at the sale prices.

Plowing is hard on the winch rope though, so you might want to invest in a plow strap to use on the winch in the winter for plowing.

ETA: polaris plow price link (dealer shouldn't charge more than advertised online prices so get the $3000 itemized and see what's there)

https://www.polaris.com/en-us/shop/off-road/accessories/plows/plow-system-glacier-pro-hd-3880007/

@crazyelece

Their ~$3,000 quote included that plow system but with the 72” steel blade and their top of the line winch, which I believe is $900+. I talked to a local shop today that told me to look into KFI plows and a WARN winch. Any experience with those?

KFI plows are pretty good. I am running a Tusk brand snow blade and mount on my Honda Pioneer 500 which works well for me. Shop around and you should be able to find a snow plow and mount for around $750- $1000. I will suggest going with a model specific front mount for the blade. Universal mounts usually mount under the vehicle like on ATV's. I bought the winch and plow from Rocky Mountain ATV and the total after tax was $932

When it comes to winches, get one big enough to pull your vehicle out. Most will recommend one that pulls at least double your UTV's weight. The Pioneer 500 is around 1,100 pounds so I went with a 3,500 pound winch. I will also suggest that you do not use a synthetic winch cable for plowing. Either use steel cable or get a flat winch strap specifically made for use with snow plows. The constant up and down will cause the synthetic  cable to pull tight into itself.

Remember to go wider on the plow blade versus vehicle width. You want the plow to cover the entire vehicle width when it is angled. And yes having a blade that angles is very useful. The Pioneer 500 is 50" wide and I went with a 60" wide plow an it barely covers the vehicle width when fully angled.

We run a Warn plow on a Sportsman 570.

Works great.

https://www.montanajacks.com/

Call this guy. (406) 952-4888

No financial connections, just a friend.

Appreciate the good information from everyone. I’ll let you know how it works out!

KFI is a good manufacturer, but I believe their plow mount extends below the vehicle (not my preference).

Warn is ok, but in the UTV sizes they are overpriced compared to the competition and the quality isn't the same as the bigger lines.

Local shop is still working out the quote on the KFI setup but it’s looking like everything that I would need, including the 72” poly blade and 4,500 Warn Axon 4,500 winch, would be ~$2,700 out the door. To me, it seems like the KFI setup mounts to the bottom of the front of the Ranger, I suspect maybe off of the factory brush guard? Does not appear to mount under the frame like ATV plow setups.

@crazyelece

Owner at this local shop seems to recommend the “higher end?” WARN winches - the Axon line? Said that everything is contained within 1 unit, so less wiring required. Figure they are more expensive but I pay less of his shop rate to install it. Also, he said the WARN stuff is made in the States and he steers away from some of the less expensive brands because they are made in China?

ETA: Any reason not to spend ~$125 more and get a poly blade vs. steel?

Everyone's going to have their opinions, so a few of mine.

KFI might have built a mount for the bumper now like some of the others, and if so it should be a good setup. they hadn't when we were looking a couple years ago or they would have been in consideration. After looking on their site, it does look like they have a "glacier adapter" that would mount their push tubes to the bumper and looks very similar to the MotoAlliance setup we have - good to go!

Warn claims Axon is made in the US, but I'm not sure if that means entirely or just final assembly. I've had issues with Warn with a different ATV sized winch and they didn't stand by anything so I have personally written them off and won't support them in any way. I prefer made in US, but made in China doesn't scare me off if the US made is still using China components. The manufacturer needs to stand behind the product no matter where it's made. IMO in the winch market, Motoalliance (Viper) and SuperATV (BlackOps) are hands down much better values and I have never had an issue with customer support with either. Polaris aren't bad either, but they are considerably more expensive as well with about the same quality. Their advantage is the plug and play nature of installation. SuperATV also has a model called "ready fit" that comes already installed to the mount for easier installation as well.

I would also bump the 4500 to 6000, the cost is usually very similar and IMO the 4500 is bare minimum if you use the winch other than plowing.

As far as the poly vs. steel, I think the added cost is worth it for that. The poly doesn't rust and snow slides off of it better. If it was double the price or something more significant it would be a different story, but after having and using both I prefer poly over steel. I also like the tapered blades (after getting upgraded to one by a dealer error) if the situation allows, FWIW.

Yes, the shop was showing me this “Glacier Style Plow Adapter,” so it appears that will mount to the Polaris factory brush guard and hinge off of that. Thus saving me the loss of ground clearance from an underbody style mount for the plow.

Have a couple of friends locally who have talked me out of paying to have this shop or the Polaris dealer install the plow and have offered to help. They are all mechanically inclined, unlike me. Right now, I’m looking at the SuperATV 4,500 “Ready-Fit” winch (50’ synthetic), KFI plow setup with 72” poly blade, and a KFI roller fairlead. Is there anything else I’m missing to make this all work? Out the door at UTV Direct this is a substantial savings to me vs. having someone put it on, even if I throw a couple hundred bucks to a friend for helping me install it.

Make sure to get a flat plow strap for the winch. You don't want to use synthetic winch rope for plowing since it will tight up on itself and wear out quickly.

Super ATV plow strap for $34.95  or KFI plow strap for $29.50

I've use the KFI plow strap.

You can also just get a cheap Walmart or Harbor Freight tow strap and cut it to length.

This also produces two plow straps, just in case.

Yes you can always make your own plow straps or just by them for the peace of mind. Either way works.

Purchased the SuperATV “Ready Fit” 4,500 lb. winch tonight. Read through the instructions and it seems fairly straight forward. I will have a friend check over my work. I’ll plan to get that installed and then purchase the plow/mount kit. My Ranger has the “Glacier” OEM bumper, so it appears the mount should go on without any additional drilling needed. Only option I’m up in the air on is whether to get the “lift lever” that brings the attachment point of the winch to the push tube up to reduce stress on the cable due to an extreme angle. If I use a roller fairlead and/or plow strap as previously mentioned here, do you think that would be necessary?

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IMO, not worth the added cost.

I use a sacrificial link between the plow and the winch rope hook that pulls apart if the plow is raised too high.

It keeps the rope from breaking and/or the push tubes from being bent if the winch is spooled in too far during a lift.

Another "trick" is to use a pulley on the plow side to double back the pull to the bumper (the same setup you'd use to get double the pulling strength for a typical winch line pull).

It ends up slowing the speed of the lift to gain more control.

That typically is also a benefit to using a strap if you go that route without needing to double back.

@crazyelece

I missed that SuperATV Labor Day sale but ended up getting their “Ready Fit” 4,500 lb. Ranger winch for $450/shipped with a discount code. How does that stack up to what that sale price was? I removed the front bumper in preparation for the winch to arrive. When I mount the winch and put the front bumper back on, I’m not seeing any specific torque values to put everything back down to. Am I overthinking this?

price seems reasonable, it was in the 350-400 range during the labor day sale IIRC.

I'm sure there is a torque spec, but I usually use common sense in those types of situations - decently tight but no where near bolt braking tight.

According to the install directions, looks like 30 ftlbs.

https://cdn.polarisportal.com/servicemanagement-public/KitInstructions/9929522r02.pdf

Got the SuperATV winch installed today. Everything went pretty well except my stupid self cut the opening of the winch switch a little bit too but plus the “wings” on the SuperATV switch are pretty weak. Does anyone make an “oversize” switch that may fill out the knockout better, like the OEM switch for turf/2WD/4WD?

ETA: Supposedly the cut outs in the new Rangers are considered to be “L series” while the cut outs in the older Rangers were smaller and called the “V series.” That’s what I gather from my research. They make an adapter for this that I just ordered from SuperATV. So I’ll pop that in and hopefully it will snug up the switch that was included with this kit. It would be nice if they would have mentioned that in the directions or even better if they included the adapter.

Everything rocker switch related you'll ever need.

https://www.otrattw.net/

The “Ready Fit” winch kit I bought came with synthetic line. Do you think that if I use that with a roller fairlead and a couple times a winter unspool and rewind it I can get away with using that instead of a plow strap?

Everything I've seen says to use a hawse fairlead for synthetic (and what I've used) vs. roller so not sure how that would do in particular.

We opted to use the synthetic on our plow setup vs. respooling a strap as it doesn't get used more than a dozen times a year (Cinci Dayton area = more salting than plowing), so far it's held up well.

@crazyelece

So just to make sure I have this right, you use a synthetic cable winch with a hawse fairlead and no issues to date? What plow setup do you have again?

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I have my SuperATV 4,500 winch with synthetic cable currently setup and mocked up with that hawse fairlead that the kit came with. I haven’t torqued it down yet or put any hook or hardware on the line yet until I decided what direction to go with.

Correct.

2021 and 2022 RGR 1000 EPS Premiums. They get rotated between the home property in OH and the lake property in TN every year.
Plow is a MotoAlliance Denali 72" tapered blade that attaches to the Polaris bumper.

If you're in northern OH and need to plow often I'd recommend the strap, but down here in SW OH the plow doesn't get used as often and the synthetic rope has been fine for our setup.

@crazyelece @aod886 @chumpmiester

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Synthetic cable on the SuperATV winch fraying after the first time plowing today. Everything else seems to be working well. I’ll be installing a flat strap like several of you recommended. The KFI one seems to have terrible reviews online, so considering just buying the Harbor Freight ones you guys recommend.

Can you point me towards a specific product there and give me a general idea of how I’ll safely wind that onto the winch drum if it doesn’t have a “tail” of cable like the KFI and other pre-made plow straps do?

ETA: Something like this cut in half to make me 2 separate plow straps?

@Nate19

This is what I use. I cut it in half, and now have two.

Just take off the winch line and wrap the webbing around the spool. It'll tighten down and be good to go. Some folks will tape the end to prevent slipping when starting out.

Plus side is, it'll give you a chance to clean and inspect your synthetic line every year.

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Tow Strap

@aod886

Thank you, sir. Confirmed that my local HF has these in stock. I’ll pick some up. Have you ever destroyed one? Should I buy (2), as to make myself 4 straps total? Or are they pretty durable?

I have not. Although we didn't get enough snow last year to plow, so that helps.

Was a very odd no snow, but very cold season.

@aod886

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Got it rigged up. We’ll see how it holds up.

@Nate19

Looks good. It'll work.

Although you will get some webbing damage with that roller fairlead. You don't have the side to side usage with the plow that you'd have with a winch. But it'll get tore up.

That's also why your synthetic line was getting tore up.

You'll want this style fairlead for anything not cable...

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@aod886

I have the other style fairlead (hawse?) too. I’ve heard different things about which one is better for which. I thought with the somewhat steep angle down to the push tube on this setup that perhaps the roller fairlead would help vs. the hawse. Am I thinking about that incorrectly? I figured with the rollers it would roll in and out with the strap vs. running back and forth against a static piece like the hawse. I’m obviously an amateur with this though, so let me know your thoughts. Very much appreciate all of your input!

Probably won't hurt the strap. Because of the usage. But the synthetic line will be damaged if pulling off center.

The line is capable of getting in between the rollers and the bolts/substructure.

The rollers are also likely to seize up with dirt and mud. A wire cable has enough friction to work passed that issue. The synthetic won't.

Good info. Happy with this setup for now and hopeful it will hold up. Shoot, if I get 1 season out of a strap that’s ~$7/year from Harbor Freight.

Strap looks good.

I also agree with the fairlead comments above, I've always used a hawse for synthetic and never had an issue.

@@aod886 @crazyelece

Mild winter so far, so I haven’t been able to really put this setup to the test. However, it has held up through the few times I plowed with it vs. how quickly the synthetic line frayed. Love that these straps are so cheap at Harbor Freight and easy to cut and spool up to use. I have 1 extra on hand right now but for ~$10-15 extra, I’ll probably buy another strap to make 2 extras out of.

Good to hear.

It has been a "no plow" season thus far here. Heck, I didn't plow last year. I'm sure the weather will catch up sooner than later.

I have to get a strap, my synthetic rope is predictably fragged out.

And good choice on not doing the belly plate mounting.  Mine is an absolute bear to install using that thing.  Only 2 pins to put in under there, and I finally realized grinding a long taper on them was a big help, still a pain.

Looks like I get to splice my line again.  It’s not hard.
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