Quads in Deep Snow...

[rainshadow1]

I'm looking at the most efficent way to travel more of the road than I was able to this year looking for Cougar tracks. The snow came in good, and I havent' seen the last 3 miles of the roads here since November. Most of the time the last 7 miles, but it's opened up a bit now. I was thinking about getting a snowmobile next season, but I got to thinking about what I could do with a 4 wheeler. The snowmobile will only do snow...

Can anybody tell me how a 4x4 Quad will do in headlight deep snow? Will you get significantly further than in the Toyota with chains on all 4's? How tough a ride is it breaking through crust? Things like that. I've never owned a quad.

[mossback91]

Havent done a bunch of riding in snow with 4 wheel drive fourwheelers but those things go good. I watched some guys go through about a foot in a half or crusted snow on them. I was riding my dirtbike up there dunno why I was doing that btu I was and saw those guys comign up which was nice way to travel back through their tracks. Have driven a 2 wheel drive fourwheeler in quite a bit of snow. Alot easier to get unstuck usually. They have the tracks you can get for them too.

[rainshadow1]

Thanks mb, tracks look like the way to go, but talk about MONEY!!! Yikes!

[mossback91]

Too bad you cant rent one and see how it really does in that stuff. Trying it out is always the best way to find it out for yourself haha.

[GoldTip]

I've had 4x4 four wheelers for quite sometime, and they are fine in loose snow up to probably 18", but then they just are pushing too much snow to be of much use.  The tracks for a four wheeler do add quite a bit, but still don't make them into a snowmobile, I've been around them a couple times and they certainly an improvement over the tires, but they are still not a snowmobile, especially if the snow is loose and deep.  

Here's how I look at it.  A 4x4 four wheeler costs around $5-5500 for a good used one, or 6-7,000 for a good new one.  Then another 4500-4800 for the set of tracks.  Why not just buy a snowmobile with the 4800 you'd spend on tracks and have a real over the snow machine?  I can see where your going with the idea of tracks on a four wheeler and a more year round usable machine, but the tracks alone cost way more than a good used snowmobile.  You can find a good used snowmobile for $3-3500.  Your gonna have a hard time finding a good used 4x4 four wheeler for that price.  If the tracks were only $1500 or something, I would probably go the route your suggesting, with the four wheeler and tracks, but as they are so expensive to equip with tracks, I'd buy a four wheeler and a snowmobile and be money ahead, and have both toys! 

[rainshadow1]

Very true. How hard is it on a snowmobile to run for a mile or so on a gravel/mud road? I'm kinda seeing the ultimate west side vehicle that can float on the snow and also run on gravel in the same trip with the tracked 4x4's, but that is huge money. Just have to evaluate how valuable that is to me.

[GoldTip]

A snowmobile will run down that mile of gravel/mud road but it will be hard on the skags and the hyfax as well.

[DeKuma]

We run quite a bit of snow on our quad in 4wd.  But as said above, it gets tough it is too soft and high.  For those days, we put the plow on the front in a wedge ( < ) so you push the snow out to the sides and can get a lot further.  Still no snow mobile, but works out well.
Been running the property in Colville that way for months now.......

[257 Wby Mag]

I've had several 4X4 quads, the current being a Kawi 650 prarie. You're yota will run circles around a quad....