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I am looking to get a snow plow for a truck. I need to be able to hook up the plow, clear the driveway and unhook the plow and then drive to work. Anyone know what brands are easy to unhook/hook up? I know that some of them have the hydraulics mounted on the plow rather than on the vehicle so you kist connect wires and not hydraulic lines. Anyone know what brands are this way?
I have no plowing experience. Is any brand of plow easier to use?
Is there any reason to select a ford or chevy for plowing purposes? Is one easier to hook a plow to? Is there anything I can do to avoid burning out the transmission? or should I just start saving for a replacement
I really like the Western ultramount. Easier and quicker than any other I have ever used. The answers you get will depend on what part of the country the person answering from lives. Northeast they are obsessed with Fisher and their Minute Mount. It really doesn't matter what brand truck you are mounting the plow frame to either. You hook the plow to the plow frame and that method is the same regardless of truck brand. As for burning out your transmission it will really depend on how many drives you are doing and the terrain you are plowing them in. If it just for your own driveway down by Detroit I don't think you will move enough snow over the course of the trucks life to wreck the transmission.
Thank you for the suggestion, but I do not think that a handheld will work for us (unless you mean a shovel, which is our current solution), because our driveway is almost 200 feet long with woods on one side (cannot put the snow there) and the house on the other side for part of the driveway. There is a parking area for five cars up by the garage. Even with a light snow (i.e. 3-4 inches) there is a lot of snow to move.
We have a blade that goes on the front of our rototiller, but snow shovels were more effective than that little thing. It does not have enough weight to push any significant amouts of snow and gets stuck constantly. Our drive is gravel so a snowblower does not work (takes too long anyway).
Thank you Bydand.
We will probably use it to do some neighbor's drives and sometimes my Dad's (if we can drive on the freeway with a plow). We may also clear a lane of a street one in a while when no one is looking if we have a repeat of one day last year (took forever to plow the back streets - usually they are very prompt).
The cost of having someone come do it is astronomical. Last year we had it plowed once, it cost $100 and they gave us a discount as a favor to a friend. They said that normally, it would cost $150 to $200 with us on the high end because there is nowhere to put the snow (most of it goes out the end of the drive and across the street, some goes to one side, but only on part of the driveway.
Is there any special trick to plowing a gravel driveway?
Ultramount looks great. I like the monkey! I need to make sure the hydraulics remain on the plow. In some parts of Detroit, they will steal the hydraulic units from parked trucks.
For a gravel driveway the first couple times you plow keep the shoes down a couple inches so you still have some snow on your driveway. Once a good ice base has been formed, drop the blade all the way down and it will not build up anymore during the winter.
You can drive on the roads with a plow, just remember that is is WIDE. $100 a drive? Wow, I'm in the wrong business during the winter. I used to pay $20 for a decent sized drive, and then when I got a plow, I charged, TOPS $30. Of course that was when I was living in Maine and everybody and their brother had a plow truck.
Until I moved out of the snowbelt I always had the best luck
with the Western Brand of plow's and yes I've had them all
I'd also get a 3/4 ton truck as they tend to have a bit more
ground clearance and the uni-mounts ride lower, don't use
the overdrive on the transmission and make sure it has a
cooler hooked up and if your in really deep wet snow avoid
using 4X4 low just make a few more pass's.
What about a snow blower/thrower? I would think it could throw the snow up into the woods, this might be less trouble than pushing with a pickup. I personally like the BDM Italian made mini tractor that can mount a snow thrower, tiller, mower etc.
You probably already know this, but unless the pickup is a 4WD it probably won't do very well with a plow.
Another possibility is a tractor, I use my old IH Super C 1954 model with a simple angled blade, works well to plow out my drive but we dont get that much snow and I can push it to the side.
I have never used a truck-mounted plow, but offhand I would think for quick mounting and dismounting you may want to build a rack for it, maybe with a tennis ball on a string that you aim to make hit say your rear-view mirror, or some other obvious landmark, so you can get lined up on the plow for a quick mount/dismount.
Boss V plows are the best/easiest to plow with, IMO, especially when you have not many options of where to put the snow. They hook/unhook pretty easy too, but are not cheap. What about a used ATV with a plow if you only have a little to do? Depending on your budget, its something to think about. I've plowed with Fords and Chevys and they are both nice. The only thing better about the Chevys is that you dont have the SES light on all the time...... (haha)
Thank you. These are good ideas. I thought about a snow blower. My dad uses one on his partly gravel drive. It is a very very cold experience becasue some of the blown snow blows back on you. He also ends up with gravel all over his yard. He has to repair the blade thingy a lot too. Newer ones have soft blades that may not get damaged by rocks. not sure. I do not know whether it would work on the woods side because some of the trees are close to the driveway. The snow will just bounce of and back into the driveway. Maybe it will not be a problem, not sure.
I like the idea of sitting nice and warm and clearing the drive. Besides I have very little time usually. My dad spends a couple of hours doing his drive and it is not twice the length of ours.
I cannot spend hours clearing the drive
I would only consider a lawn tractor or a truck. Something that we have some other use for. A garden tractor with a blade is probably too light weight. A full size trctor is more than we need for other uses. We only have one acre of land (for now, may buy adjoining properties eventually). We only got grass this year, but we aare able to more with a regular little mower so a garden tractor would be nice, but anyhting bigger would be overkill.
I am leaning away from Ford since every one that I find that I can afford has that horrible coil on plug configuration and I do not like replacing those dumb coil packs all the time.
I really like the Avalanche, but I have never seen a plow on one. Can you put a plow on an Aalanche?
I thought that $100 was insane too. That is why I decided to buy a plow. A used plow costs at least $2000, but a truck that already has one does nto usually cost any more than one without a plow. The problem is that a truck with aplow may already have a worn out transmission if they have been doing lots of plowing.
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