Area 51 Project - Can Am Flex Plow Installation:

 

One of our good buddies from the Gun Club recently picked up a new CanAm Alpine Flex Plow for his 2013 Outlander Max XT. I performed the installation, and was pleased to find that the directions were very detailed. However these instruction are made for multiple models of CanAm bikes, so you have to be sure you reference the model you are working on at each step.

 

 

 

The Mount for the blade is one of the best I've seen. Its very strong mounting at multiple points already laid out on the frame, even the Can Am accessory aluminum skid plates were predrilled for this mount. You only loose about 1/4" of ground clearance so you could easily leave the mount on year round as there is very little to get caught up on.

 

 

The mount on the plow frame is a self aligning spring loaded clasp, I'll explain more how it works later.

 

 

One of the neatest features of this plow system is an electronic winch stopper. This is accomplished by installing a Magnetic Switch on the back of the aluminum skid plate and a strong rare earth magnet on the plow frame. The switch is connected to a relay that cuts power to the "IN" button on the winch control when the plow frame is about 3/8" from the skid plate. This stops the winch from binding every time you raise the blade and should greatly reduce snapped winch cables. The whole accessory easily plugs into the winch contactor.

 

 

The high mount design of the plow frame makes reaching the "T" handle angle adjuster lock a breeze.

 

 

Connecting the plow to the bike is very easy with this blade, especially if you are on a smooth garage floor or driveway. All you do is drive the bike over the blade, attach the winch cable as shown above, and press in on the winch control. The blade balances, self aligns and locks into place. Releasing the blade is as easy as lowering it, stepping on the yellow lever and unhooking the winch cable.

 

 

The blade itself is a strong plastic composite with a heavy duty steel cutting edge. You can also get side extensions that act as a bucket to help prevent snow from trailing off the end of the blade.

 

 

All in all I think that it is a fantastic plow system. Its more expensive than other blades but its certainly strong, well designed and easy to use. I also think the winch stopper saves a lot of time & frustration from not having to repair damaged cables.

 

Cheers, MIKE

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Copyright © 2011 Michael Smith