There are few household chores that are more back-breaking, tedious
and downright unpleasant than shoveling snow. Let’s face it, people
die every year from this torturous task so there must be a better way.
Better yet, what if we could get the snow out of the driveway and get
a little time in the saddle of our ATV’s while we were at it?
Enter, the ATV plow. With these handy ATV accessories you can effortlessly
clear the white stuff from your driveway in less than half the time
and when you’re done you can do a few donuts. Let’s see
you try that with a shovel.
ATV plows aren’t exactly new. There are literally dozens of different
plows offered by numerous manufacturers. They all include three basic
components – a plow blade, a control mechanism and a mount.
There are certainly differences in quality and design from manufacturer
to manufacturer for all of these components but the differentiating
component of any plow system is the control mechanism. The control mechanism
fits between the mount and the blade and provides the user with a way
to raise and lower the plow blade. At the low end of the spectrum you
have hand-operated systems which employ a lever that runs under the
ATV and up to the operator to raise and lower the blade. Some systems
use a winch to raise and lower the plow. This is a bit easier on the
operator but repeatedly moving back and forth wreaks havoc on winch
cables.
One of the most effective solutions is a powered system that employs
a dedicated electric motor to raise and lower the plow. Our friends
at BlackLine were
able to provide us with just such a plow. We quickly found out, however
that BlackLine sent us much more than just an overgrown snow shovel.
The BlackLine ATV Plow turned our humble Honda Rancher into a mini-bulldozer.
Construction and Features
Proudly made in the USA, the BlackLine ATV Plow is clearly designed
to do more than just shovel snow. All major components are robotically
welded and powder-coated to withstand 1000 hours of continuous exposure
to salt spray and 5000 hours or exposure to UV light. The red polyurethane
wear bar at the bottom of the blade is reversible and, of course, replaceable.
Unlike hand and winch operated plows BlackLine’s electric lift
mechanism provides up to 500 lbs. of positive down-force so pushing
gravel, mulch or dirt is not a problem.
To protect the plow, the ATV and your driveway the BlackLine plow uses
springs that allow the plow to “trip” when it catches an
edge or a corner of pavement. The plow can be locked in place using
supplied pins to prevent this tripping when moving gravel or dirt. This
feature is exclusive to the BlackLine plow.
Installation
Installing the BlackLine ATV plow was easier that I expected. The kit
came with everything we needed. We started by removing the stock front
skid plate and replacing it with the BlackLine skid plate. The replacement skid plate was MUCH
thicker than the paper thin stock unit and it included a Class 2 Receiver
hitch to mount the plow blade to. We did have a bit of trouble with
a mount point that wasn’t in exactly the right place but the instructions
did mention that some modification may be necessary in order to get
the mount plate attached to the front of the frame.
We like this mounting system much better than some we have seen. The
standard receiver hitch provides a foundation for mounting other accessories
to the front of the plow and it makes removing and replacing the plow
a very simple task. Also, when the plow isn’t installed there
are no bars or pipes under the ATV to reduce ground clearance.
Once the mount plate was installed we needed to run the wiring. The
control relay mounted easily under the bodywork near the fuel tank and
connecting the wires using the water-resistant connectors was nearly
foolproof.
Once the wiring was complete all we had to do was bolt the plow blade
to the lift mechanism and insert this assembly into the receiver hitch
and we were off to the races.
One additional note, you are probably going to need to air up your
front tires a bit. Our Honda was running 3 p.s.i. and when we hung the
200 lb. plow of the front the Bridgestones begged for mercy. Adding
2 p.s.i. to each tire seemed to do the trick but your results may vary.