Have you ever thought about using a tracked UTV for towing a snow groomer?
Tracked UTV’s have lots of advantages and a few disadvantages. In this article, we are going to go over the pros and cons of using a Side-by-side or UTV for snow grooming.
We have used tracked UTV’s to tow our snow grooming equipment for years and have learned lot by trial and error on what setups work best and even what UTV is better for snow grooming.
First off, we recommend getting Camso 4S1 UTV track systems for your UTV. Now CAMSO makes snow tracks for just about every utility side-by-side on the market and they are one of the best track systems out there if you have tires on your UTV and plan on towing a snow groomer it makes it difficult to get traction when your snow groomer loads up with snow or the snow is deep you get high centered so we’ll always recommend using CAmso tracks on your UTV.
You also need to make sure that your UTV has a tow hitch. Most of the modern utility side-by-side’s are going to have a 2-inch receiver hitch. If you do not have a hitch on your side-by-side, this typically means that it was not built to tow something, so keep that in mind.
Types of trails you would use your UTV and Snow Grooming Equipment
- Cross Country Skiing Trails (Classic and Freeskating)
- Nordic Skiing Trails
- Down Hill Skiing Trails
- Sledding Hill
- Walking and Snowshoe Trail
- Cabin Access
- Snowmobile Trails
- Dog Sledding Trails
Pros of using a UTV to tow your snow groomer
Let’s talk about why you should use a UTV for towing your snow grooming equipment, so depending on if you’re just looking to set in some cross-country ski trails may be a downhill skiing or sledding hill or even a snowmobile trail. A side-by-side is much smaller than your average snowcat much cheaper and easier to operate and can be swapped out for tires to you. Be used for trail maintenance in the summer
Typically, if you are using one of the standard, UTVs on the market with CAMSO tracks are going to be around 70 to 75 inches wide with some of the smaller UTV’s even being in the 60 inch range
What matters when you’re out grooming snow, your trails get filled in with snow, which will eliminate some of the width in your trail system. Especially, suppose you have drifting or blowing snow. In that case, this also can make your trail/road seem like they’re smaller, so being able to have a vehicle that will fit down some of the smaller trails allows you to really put in some great cross-country skiing trails and even snowmobile trails in the winter time.
Also, some of those pros versus using like a snowmobile or a track ATV is that some of the UTV’s actually have a cab, so you also can stay out of the weather with a windshield windshield wiper I have a seat to sit down on with the steering wheel, some machines even have heat!
Having a cab on your UTV really is a great addition to your snow grooming experience because you can stay out of the weather. You can stay warm, especially on those days. It gets really cold and you’re may be in a blizzard grooming at night.
Being able to stay warm is crucial while you’re out in the wilderness, grooming snow
The other thing that’s nice with UTV is you have a lot more space to haul other people and you can tow way more than a snowmobile or an ATV. You also have a bed where you can carry lots of different gear like a chainsaw, recovery gear, and stuff to fix the machine or even your snowgroomer.
I cannot tell you how many times that we’ve been out grooming in the storm and we’ve run into a downed tree that we needed to cut up so being able to carry the proper equipment to clean and clear the trail like chainsaws even shovels is always a great idea.
What UTV’s brands and models are best for snow grooming?
Let’s talk about some of our favorite brands of UTV’s for Snow Groomers.
Here’s a list of the top utility UTV’s for Snow Groomers
- Can-Am Defender
- Honda Pioneer
- Polaris Ranger
- Kawasaki Mule
While most utility UTV’s do a great job at towing snow grooming equipment, some of the utility, UTV’s actually go too slow.
You have to remember whenever you add a track system to your side-by-side. You are also adding a bigger sprocket that will gear down your UTV which means that your speeds are going to be cut in half so if your top speed is like 40 miles an hour then top speed grooming is going to be 20. At the same time, we recommend grooming between 7 to 15 mph andt sometimes you need to get a little bit more speed to get a hill.
The Kubota UTV’s are really good UTVs and have a good towing capacity to they actually go really slow so typically their diesel version usually with tracks only goes like 5 to 10 mph, which can be a little too slow for grooming. (I don’t recommend the Kubota for snow grooming as they are too slow)
Also, the Kubota’s are typically a lot heavier than the other manufacturer’s utility vehicles which is more difficult to keep them floating on the snow so if you have really deep snow, they typically don’t do as well as some of the other brands but if your snow is not super deep or it’s more set up than the Kabota does just fine.
Can-Am Defender Polaris Ranger Honda Pioneer 1000 Kawasaki mule are some of the best utility UTV’s for towing Snow Groomers equipment. We do not recommend using a sport UTV version for towing snow grooming equipment because they typically don’t do a very good job at going slow and are meant to tow.
Our favorite is the Honda Pioneer 1000 to tow Snow Grooming Equipment
The reason we like the Honda Pioneer the most is because it has a dual-clutch transmission which means it can go slow and it doesn’t burn the belt. We also feel like this allows for better reliability over time.
The other really nice thing about the Honda Pioneer 1000 is it’s a little bit more compact you have lots of good functionality. The one downside is they don’t come with a very good cab system from the factory.
The Can-Am Defender and the Polaris Ranger I’m gonna group them into one because they are pretty similar. They have similar towing capacities. You can buy them in a three seater or a six-seater. Both of them have full cabs with heat and AC, which make it really nice for grooming in the winter (stay warm).
We personally own a Can-Am Defender Max Limited and use it to haul people as our snowcat, and from time to time it has to pull Snow Grooming duties as well.
Will smaller or different UTV’s work?
The answer is yes, while we recommend the utility vehicles listed above you can use most snow grooming equipment with other manufacturers side-by-side’s, or even what we call a crossover utility side-by-side, like you know the Polaris Expedition, the Yamaha Viking, or even Yamaha RMAX, or the Kawasaki T-Rex.
(As long as it has a tow receiver hitch)
Let’s talk about the cons of using a UTV for snowgroomers
Even though UTV’s are typically smaller than would say it’s standard snow cat they still are bigger than a tracked ATV and even a snowmobile so the size sometimes gets you in trouble because you can’t fit down some of the trails or even some of the more single track type trials you want would like to groom for cross country skiing or downhill skiing.
The other issue is with a tracked UTV is typically a little bit wider over a stock side-by-side, and sometimes your groomer does not fill in or cut down the ruts that you make on the very edges of your side-by-side with tracks the other thing that you run into when using a UTV while Snow groomers is you can get stuck and when you get stuck if you get stuck, it can be really deep snow and it’s a lot harder to get yourself out so we always recommend having the proper recovery gear including having a winch system on your side by side to be able to self recover when you’re out, Snow grooming.
While a tracked UTV is going to be cheaper than using a snowcat to groom your snow. They still are more expensive than a snap snowmobile or an ATV. Typically a UTV news gonna be anywhere from $18,000 to even up to almost $50,000 depending on what you get.
Then add tracks are going to be adding an additional five to $7000 dollars to the overall price tag.
Why Tracked UTV’s are better than using a SNOWCAT for snow grooming.
The reason a tractor UTV is going to be better for Snow groomers. He is just the overall cost and maintenance when compared to a large, Snowcat.
Wow, snow 2 snow cats do an amazing job and they are top-tier I have the blade and a tiller, and sometimes your little really big drags. They do a fantastic job but it’s just more efficient to use so at UTV so you have to decide if it’s worth the cost of spending all that money on a snowcat and also all the money on maintaining the snowcat to get that little bit of extra of better, Snow Groomed trails.
What size of snow groomer should I get for my UTV?
- 72″ wide (SNO-MASTER 72) – CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
We here at Snow Groomers offer the perfect Snow groomers to tow behind your UTV. It’s called the snow master 72 inches wide with a week so that makes it actually 96 inches wide. This is great to be able to get the perfect corduroy for your cross country, ski trails, downhill, skiing, trails, sledding hill, and even your snowmobile trails.
