Whats a good snow plow for Commercial and residential use?


Do I need to beef up the front end?


Any other things I should do for lotsa plowing?

i have always run western pro plows 8.6 with real good luck.my new truck i am trying a new boss 8.2 power-v with high recomendations we will see how it go's

Take a look at a HINIKER (http://www.hiniker.com/pag/cplowvid.html)


It does not use a lift piston , it uses a piston with some type of linkage. IIRC it will push or pull on the piston so you can apply down pressure hydraulically for scraping down a driveway or a parking lot.





The "C" plow allows you to flip the plow over for easy back-blading





I alsmost bought one, but decided a snowblower was easier on my wallet and truck.





Thttp://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Clown.gifNYEdited by: GMC-2002-Dmax

Someone mentioned this site the other day on the DieselPlace.


http://www.plowsite.com/


Lot of good info. I just posted something cause I am also looking at buying a plow.


Here's my post:


http://www.plowsite.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13143

Truck will handle a plow with ease. A few things will make it easier though.


First is turn your torsion bars up some if not done allready, this will help in the sag you get when lifting the plow up. I also added timbrens in the front(replaces oem stops), they helped out lots.


Put some weight in the box if your not running a salter(1000lbs or so) as this will help out with the rear tires getting traction and take out some of the front end sag. Depending on snow and accumulation i run in 2wd alot with a skid of salt in the rear.(30bagsx88lbs=2600lbs).


Defiinetely skins with some good bite help, i've found that the bfg a/t's work awesome. The skinner the tire the better grip you will get than a wide tire that will float on top of the snow and get you no traction.


As far as plows i run a 8ft poly Artic plow with removable wings(box plow idea). Plow weighs 962lbs one of the heavier out there. Basically your plow selection should be partionally determined by how close your dealer is for service and support. You do not want to be driving a long way for a part you need when its still snowing and you need to keep plowing. Meyers, Artic, Western, Boss seem to make quality equipment from my experience. As far as the Hiniker, neat idea but from what i;ve read and heard stay as far away as possible. I wouldn't put anything smaller than a 9ft on a dually as if you go smaller then the outer wheels will be running in your windrow and loosing traction. It will be even worse when you angle the plow. Your probably allready used to having to watch out for your dually flares, but they seem to stick out more when plowing for some reason(lol), becareful.http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Confused.gif


I've been plowing for 11years now(no expert by any means) and the dmax is by far the best plow truck i have ever used, yes even better than a solid front axled truck.


I see you have an 01 and an 03. Make sure your NSBU switch on the side of the tranny is upgraded on the 01 to the tan coloured one. I've gone threw the factory black one(01 switch) upgraded to the tan coloured one and that still went on me. I now carry a spare with me just incase. Learnt my lesson last year when the tan one went on me when i still had 12hours to go. Had to plow the remainder 12 hours in 3rd gear only as it was sunday and couldnt get a new switch. Needless to say the tranny temps were way up there, definetely won't do that this year with the Suncoast under her.http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Cry.gif Hope this helps and let the white gold start falling anytime. Later Jeremy





Edited by: heartbeatcanada

heartbeatcanada, Where did you pick up the timbrens? I heard a lot of good things about them. I mentioned it to the Western dealer and he looked at me like I had two heads.

for build and ease on use i choose the boss. all i own right now is meyer and fisher. but ill never buy anything but boss. There mount system is the easiest to use over all of the others and i have seen alot of plows a friend of mine sells and installs. he has done more boss plows this season already than meyer all last year. best part is when your done plowing you drop everything in less than a minute and you can be plowing again in lees than a minute. no lift frame hanging on your ride all winter. cost is comparable across the board. if your interested grady let me know and ill get ya a quote.

Stizo


I got my timbrens from a local truck accesories store. I phoned Timbren direct and they wouldn't sell to me, but gave me the number of a distributor close by. Go to timbren.com and either call them or there might be a list of distributors on there page??? I run the timbrens in the rear as well for the salt in the back + truck pulls. Truck hardly squats at all with 2600lbs, but when empty shes a little rough. Rears are a 15min install, fronts were a bunt 2hrs, don't know if it was me or what, but a couple tools got tossed around that day.http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Ermm.gif The fronts didn't change the ride one bit. Definetly worth the coin. Later Jeremy

Good price on Timbrens (http://www.awdirect.com/awdirect/catalog.cfm?dest=dir&linkid=215&linkon=subsection)


Definitely a good investment on an IFS plow truck.


I'm plowing with a Fisher 8'6" V. Depending on the areas you're plowing, a V plow helps out tremendously. I've been using it for two years with no problems whatsoever. I don't think I'll use a straight blade again. All in all, the D-Max/Allison is a great plow truck combination.

Go V. JMO Blizzards look kinda interesting though but I havent played with one.


I also wouldnt buy a V with a full trip.


Timbrens were easy install. 2 hours? I didnt even take off my front tires.


A CC dualy is going to be a PITA in tight places. Even a dualy with a 9' blade will be a PITA in alot of residentail.


Get some balast for the back and a blinky light of some sort.

Ok!....Thanks for the help.....


Now the next delima.





Do I go with the Fisher V plow 8'6"? Or just the regular HD 8'6"?


The truck I am putting it on is a GMC 3500 Dually Reg Cab.


Oh yea I got a blinky light!


Gonna wait and see if I need the timbrens.

When I was looking for a plow there were the people that had a v plow and the people that wished they had one,or so it seemed.Now that I have one would never go to a straight blade unless money was a issue, as they are approx 800.00 more for the v.

I'm a programmer for Boss....so I'm a bit biased. :)


I can tell you that we are experiencing HUGE growth every year and rapidly taking away the market from Fisher/Western (which are owned by the same company). We are constantly trying to make our product better while coming up with new products. We just got a patent on a slick tailgate spreader that will be out next year.


If anyone has any techinal questions about our plow I'd be more than happy to answer them.

So when is Boss going to come out with a trip edge for thier V blades? Or have they already?


I think 8'6" is on the limit side of a dualy.


Check out http://www.snowplowing-contractors.com/forums/index.php its a fairly new site but has a bunch of good guys on it.


Once you go V you wont go back. JMO


Timbrens are cheap and easy to install. I would install em but thats JMO

The trip V is in the works, but I think most of the new development is working on a Boss plow for smaller trucks.....the Jeeps, Toyotas etc

I like how fast the Boss is but I dont like how fast it can stop you when it dont trip http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Ouch.gif No idea on time frame of a trip edge? The fact that it was a full trip was the reason I didnt even look at a Boss for my Chevy. Still undecided about when the fleet gets added to, we will see what fisher/western has to offer as well as Boss then.


Hopefully I will get used to the Fishstick.....I dont know if I will like switching between modes or not, havent played with it enough. I did like the Boss handheld thoguh....I guess we will see what i like once I get accustom to the fisher.


Why dont you guys work on the plows for the real trucks, it cant be that hard to make a plow to live behind a jeephttp://dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Tongue.gif Snow shovel and some ducttape and you guys should be done with your design. J/Khttp://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Big Smile.gif

LOL....yeah, I'll tell the guys about the new shovel/ducktape design. :) No, I couldn't even guess a timeframe for you. I'm not really in the loop when it comes to the new stuff....but I know the AutoCad / ProE guys are busy all day designing stuff....so hopefully in the next season or two.

Has anyone found the light wires for roof mounted lights?

Gradyghost


"Has anyone found the light wires for roof mounted lights?"


when I installed my roof marker lights I remember seeing the wire harness for the roof mounted lights up in the roof liner. My truck has the plow prep package with the switch (button) on the dash.


Engineer Bill

pull down the headliner and it will be there, most guys run it out of the 3rd brake light instaed of drilling into the roof.


I have the upfitter thingy printed out that details it but I cant remember the site....maybe someone can point you in the right direction for the uppfitter guid on the net.

This guy is serious....
http://www.plowsite.com/attach/2/1340.jpg

http://www.plowsite.com/attach/2/1344.jpgEdited by: hoot

FISHER EZV PLOW 8'6" In the trunk. Gonna do install tomorrow.


Trying to find the wires in the celing so I can wire up a blinky light.


Timbrens going on after plow is installed. So I can measure before and after results.

Grady... the nice thing is the EZ-V doesn't weigh a ton. I gotta get Timbrens too.Edited by: hoot

EZ V PLOW installed. Timbrens installed.


CAn't find where the wires are for the blinky light in the ceiling?





Now all I need is snow!

And pictures!

To find the wires for plow light....


I removed my overhead console (1 screw), slighty pull down on headliner, look towards driver side. Mine were about centered over the driverseat. There was about 2' of wire bundled up w/elec tape. Maybe a little more, plenty there to work with.


Next, take 3rd brakelight assbly off, just let it dangle. Then fished a stiff wire (10-12 ga.) toward front. Found my fished wire and taped it to the 2 wires in headliner. Then pull it all back thru.


Drilled about a 3/8" hole towards the bottom of stoplight, siliconed around the wires, spliced in the beacon with a couple feet of wire.


All done in an hour or so....ready for snowhttp://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Big Smile.gif

BOSS, 8.2V with urethane edge. Hit two things with my "V" first was a curb that hit straight on, it stopped me dead, mouth hit the steering wheel, bit my lip, smashed the curb to smithereens(sp?), it tripped all right, the hinge destroyed the curb. The second and last thing I hit with the plow was a manhole lid, pulled that bad boy clean out of the hole and sent it flying above the hood of my truck. It broke out a piece of cutting edge that left a 6 inch dribble in the middle of my plow everywhere I plowed. After that I bought a Urethane Edge, will never go back. If you're afraid of melting the edge down then you probably don't have enough snow on the ground. V plow if you plow more than driveways.

OK guys what about the warranty?


I wanted the snow plow prep package on my new 04 2500HD DMAX, but the salesman said they don't put that package on the DMAXs cause the engine weights enough for the front end let alone put a snow plow on the front of it. When I went to gmbuypower.com and built the truck I wanted it let me place the package on the truck, but when I took the print out of the truck I wanted the salesman told me the bad news.


Also I thought about just going the aftermarket route, but shops have told me they won't even put on for you cause it will VOID the warranty.


Just wanting to know if anyone else has run into this problem or did I get alot of BS fed to me.

You'll find that as soon as you add the diesel option, there is no weight left for a BIG plow.

Ford and Dodge have the same issues.

The Crew Cab makes it worse. I'm getting a plow that exceeds the weight IF YOU HAVE THE CAB FULL OF PEOPLE. That's why they won't allow a heavy plow on a Crew Diesel.

I said.... who plows with a truck full of people?
The plow place said.... they bring the snow shovelers with them.

This is what I'm doing... Do not do this at at home
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Wink.gif



http://www.uscom.com/~hoot/cars/duramax/gmc/plow/redcrewV.jpegEdited by: hoot

Yes it is supposed to void the warranty. No I don't care, the four door Tahoe I had ran a plow, big deal. Yes the front end wasn't designed to hold an 800lb plow AND 5 of your best drinking buddies, but who is going to be up with me at 2 or 3 in the morning anyway. ( I don't drag snow shovelers, calcium and spreaders with me.) If GM vehicles were really THAT GOOD they would warranty them for 3 yrs or 100k miles whichever occured first. Many people if not all of them who actually work their pickups exceed the mileage within 12-15 months. If you are worrying about breaking your precious truck stay in bed. Go buy a urethane cutting edge, it is easier on your truck than a steel edge.

Gettin there..

http://www.uscom.com/~hoot/cars/duramax/gmc/plow/nightinstall.jpg

Looking at the weather report today. Hope you got it on.

Good luck hoot ...lemme know if you need any help.


Snowing here got one inch so far Friday night 6:30 PM EST

Good luck hoot ...lemme know if you need any help.


Snowing here got one inch so far Friday night 6:30 PM EST

Got it up and running tonight Mike. Except the lights don't work. I need to know where they picked up and what color were the wires for the turn signals, parking and DRL's. I spliced into the wires coming out of those bulbs. If you pop your headlights out you can see what color to color the used. I did some cicuit testing and made educated guesses but GM uses ground switching so I'm not sure if what I did works.

Mike

? for Hearttbeatcanada;


You mentioned the NSBU switch on the transmission- old- black new-tan. What does NSBU stand for.

It's the gear selector on the Allison transmission ...


It stands for Neutral Safety Back Up ,switch...





Mac http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Approve.gif

The black thing with the two wire harnesses.

http://www.uscom.com/~hoot/cars/duramax/gmc/allison/allisunder.jpgEdited by: hoot

Thanks guys