Owosso, MI. I am in the process of building our new house. The problem is my 1400+ ft. gravel drive. Does anyone have a recomendation. I have a '79 k10 to mount a plow to but, this is my daily driver so whatever I get has to be able to be conveniently disconnected. Also I will only be plowinf my own drive, well maybe mom & pops too.
Just to do your drive....Find a beater or a farm truck with a plow for $1000 and dont even register it. It'll cost you that much just to get a plow and get it on your truck. Just my opinion
Get an old tractor or pickup/plow,and if your keeping the stone driveway-get a Urethane edge for your plow-it will glide over the gravel,quitely and smoothly,not plow it up into the piles like a steel edge,while it trips like mad and jerks your truck.
On the higher end, Western makes their minute mount plow, and Hiniker has a very quick hitch system also. If your drive were 200' I'd say go with the tractor, but that might get a little cold for a quarter mile.
Westerns old mount system was the uni mount, they now have the ultra mount system. Fisher makes the minute mount system, and now have the Minute mount 2. Both systems are very easy on and off. However, being that it will be only for your drive, you may not want to spend around 3K for a plow. Look for used plows in the paper. Many times a good plow can be bought for under 1500.00. Dino
My drive is almost 3 time that length and after plowing the gravel for 10 years, I paved it. It now takes less time and gas to keep it plowed and no more broken bolts, welds, or twisted metal. As soon as you can afford it, get it paved with a base coat and do the top coat a few years later. No mud and you will appreciate your home that much more. I know of people that sold the home, rather than pave the driveway, because they felt that they couldn't afford it. The new owner would do it and move a few years later and make a whopping profit for that one improvement. In short, you can't afford not to do it.
bigugly, hey neighbor! I had the same problem when I first built my place to. But it gets old putting that plow on as much as we have to plow up here. So I ended up just leaving it on and thats how I ended up getting into the snow removal business. People would stop me and ask to get plowed. The only other thing I could tell you is, have one of the locals do it for you, might be cheaper in the long run. But anyway, welcome to the neighborhood and I'm sure you'll figure it out. Kraco_1
