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They said it couldn't be done! I have been snow plowing for over 13 years and I am hear to tell you that you can put a snowplow on lifted Jeeps and any other truck with a lift !!! As the story goes... it was time to retire my old pick-up truck and I really wanted to make better use of my 2005 Jeep Wrangler TJ Rubicon (with 6,000 miles). I am not a commercial snow plower as I usually only plow my own Fast Food store's parking lot w/drive thru, my own home along with several friends and neighbors and the occasional person that asks me for help. Well have I got a set-up for you! I am proud of my black 2005 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. It is an automatic and is lifted 4 inches. I started the conversion to make it a snow plow this last July! I made many, many phone calls trying to find a really good snow plow and I was amazed how most manufacturers do not understand the need to have a snow plow that can hop on the sidewalks (6' or wider) and clear the snow and slush that the big highway rigs throw on my property from the main roads that borders mine. Also my drive-thru lane cannot be negotiated with a full size plow. I will list the modifications it took to do this job right and if I get enough response I will even post pictures to illustrate the modifications and show off my ideas and my great looking rig. Two things were done to make this all happen. First thing I did was choose a Sno-way 'MT' with the 6'8" blade and all of the goodies which includes a wireless remote control, rubber curb bumpers and the plastic sheath that hangs over the top of the blade to prevent blow over at higher speeds. The Sno-way 'MT' weighs over 420 lbs. so as you can imagine I was not comfortable with all of the weight out front while traveling at higher speeds. So I came up with this idea to find some tractor 'suitcase' weights and have a bracket made that mounts in my Rear trailer hitch. I found Five 60# 'suitcase' tractor weights that you grab by their handle and drop each weight onto the bracket and lock in place with a 3/4" rod that slides through the middle. The Total weight with the bracket is about 320 lbs which happens to be the tongue load limit of the trailer hitch. Just to make this set-up really neat I had all of the pieces coated with the same rubber armour material that is sprayed onto pick-up beds. It looks great and makes it so I can easily install and remove the set-up in just one minute. >>> Now for the most important modification! The frame of the Sno-way plow must remain very close to level in order for the Snow blade to maintain its correct operating angles. But when the frame is level the three mounting points were 6" below the mounting bracket (from Sno-way) that was mounted on my Jeep's frame! So: (1) the two mounting points were removed from the frame of the plow. (2) three 2" square heavy gauge tubes of 4", 6" and 8" lengths were stacked on top of each other and welded in place on top of the sno-way frame. (3) The two mounting points were now placed and welded on top of the square tubing that was just welded in place. Now the mounting points are six inches higher than stock. (4) The center lift/pivot arm was also lengthened by 4 1/2" to accommodate the change. Because lift/pivot arm is at an angle it was NOT lengthened by the same 6" the mounting points were raised. That is the whole job... all done... works fantasic! So why did I choose the Sno-way? Four main reasons: (a) The Snoway is the only fully hydraulic plow that has 'downward pressure'. This is big as when you are pulling snow away from garage doors and other tight areas.... this feature is huge! (b) the Snoway 'MT' series is a very, very heavy weight plow and I know that after 10 years this plow is still going to be in great shape. (c) the mounting bracket is rather simple to modify (d) Most important is the fact that I did NOT create an engineering nightmare with this modification. The extra 'stress' for plowing should transfer mainly onto the Snoway frame and should NOT overstress the integrity of my Jeep Rubicon. Keep in mind that the axles on a Rubicon are rated much higher than a standard Wrangler. I am not an expert but I am very comfortable that the axles can and will handle the extra 420 lbs. on the front axle and the extra 320 lbs. I put on the rear axle. I do not have any airbags or any other suspension modification as a result of this snowplow installation. I have already plowed here, in Colorado, several times with this rig and I smile every time. I travel up to 60 MPH without any concern at all and I can tell you this rig moves a lot of snow and moves it fast! Would I recommend that you take a great Jeep like mine and plow for hours and hours? No. I wouldn't do that to any great rig. But I only do my own plowing and I take great care in not abusing my equipment. My last truck was an S-15/GMC Sonoma (S-10 chevy) and I plowed with it for 13 years, put on 150,000 miles and I was proud to tell the new owner that the truck will not use a drop of oil, get him 20 MPG and plow snow like no tomorrow. My fast food store was the first store to open in the Blizzards of 2006 and 2002. I know what I am talking about. One more piece of advice... I will only use an automatic transmission for snow plowing. An automatic transmission has a lot of give and keep in mind that you are moving back and forth all of the time. Hitting snow banks at just 2 of 3 MPH can be jarring and stressful on a drive train with a manual transmission. An automatic transmission allows you to 'feather' into your work. I never 'lock' my axles nor do I plow in 'low' range. I can move mountains of snow with very little gas pedal in the normal 'drive' mode and with 4WD engaged. This 'blog' is only my opinion and my experiences. I wouldn't do anything to 'hurt' my Jeep. I hope I could be of some help. Keep an eye out as I may posting pictures of my 'set-up'. I am not familiar with the new lighter weight snow plows that Snoway has introduced for 2008. All I know is that they are not as tall, are lighter weight and as a result are not as 'heavy duty' as the 'MT' model. If they mount the same as my setup I would imagine my modification will work just as well. But like I said... I have now seen one in person. I have the setup I want as I know it is built to take the work it needs to do here in Colorado. One last thing I want to make clear is how I am convinced my modifications do NOT allow extra 'torque' or 'leverage' to the frame of the Jeep. It is my opinion that the frame of the snowplow itself will absorb the extra leverage. To me this is crucial as I see other manufactures 'hang' their mounting bracket 'below' the frame of the vehicle and in my opinion that is something I would not do to my Jeep.... or any other vehicle. Good Luck!
