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New member ....thoughts on Tacoma/Boss HTX vs GMC/Fisher

3K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Goodnyou 
#1 ·
I have been searching this site with google for many years and decided to join recently just to share some of my OPINIONS on what I have been doing, with the hope it will help someone else....

I am a landlord in Boston, we own 15 buildings, a few lots and the rest driveways.
I started 10 years ago with a used 2002 F350 with the ubiquitous 8 foot fisher HD(3 plug, I think). That served us well, never broke down and the only bad thing was it was tough on some of the smaller driveways and it wouldn't fit in my garage. I replaced it with a 2012 new f350, and aside from the newer one having a little better maneuverability(actually a lot), no issues, but it still would not fit in my garage. I had a bright idea in 2015 and traded the ford for a GMC 2500 with the same Fisher 8' straight blade. Only reason was to get the truck in the garage.

First points - (and I don't consider myself a ford or Chevy guy:

The GMC rides so much better! I can drive it without feeling like I am bouncing all over the place. I don't plow commercially, so no comment on ruggedness of IFS, but for my needs would be hard to go back to a Ford. I use regular cabs, so my dislikes of GMS was the armrest was not a since as the ford, and most importantly, the back window is almost useless once you have a bed toolbox, visibility is limited. Other than that, I just like the ride of the GMC.

Fast forward to this year....we have added properties so doing it all with one truck is getting hard....so I decide to purchase a new Tacoma access cab(V^/auto) and after much hand ringing, a 7' Boss HTX plow.

(I don't consider myself a ford or chevy guy, but I do consider myself a "fisher" guy, having owned fishers my whole life.(I am old, I plowed snow in blizzard of 78 with a willys jeep with chains, I think we were about the only guys doing driveways without heavy equipment, we would constantly get the jeep stuck trying to get a first pass, we had a short bed Chevy CST 4Wd and used it to pull the jeep out))

I expected to buy the fisher plow for the Toyota. But when I looked at it, the fisher was 100lbs lighter than the boss or Meyer. I called Fisher and they did not offer much help at all...I expected a conversation about high strength steel, weight limitations on the Tacoma, but all I got was "let me look up and see what fits"....there is a guy locally that is mounting the heavier fisher plows on Tacoma's, but I did not really want to go against mfg recommendations and get anything custom. So that left Meyer and boss. I did not really look at SD, Curtis, Western(fisher) , because of dealer support .

So my decisions were Meyer or Boss, 7(or so, Meyer is 6-9 I think) or 7 1/2, and poly, stainless or steel.
To make a long story short, I opted for the steel boss 7 ".

I decided against Meyer because of the new electrical system "upgrade" it did not sound like a good way to connect truck to plow.(they use trailer connection). And I think there were issue with front turn signals coming on with brake lights. It sounded overly complicated and unreliable.(opinion). So that left boss. I decided on the 7 for driveways(really happy I did), and the plain steel(plain only because I wanted a red plow on my silver truck, I fluid film my plows, wash off after each use and store inside, and plow private lots that don't use a lot of salt, so did not feel I need stainless), and chose it over poly only because I could not see a benefit of ploy and some people said wet snow sticking to steel was the main advantage or poly - which was never an issue for me.

So, after the last blizzard of 17 inches ....I drove the Tacoma and send my guys out with the GMC.....I think the Tacoma is just awesome. For small lots and driveways it just cant be beat. I like the controls on the fisher much more than the Boss, feels more refined and precise, the boss buttons for angle are so large I have to make sure I turn it off when transporting, otherwise I could see myself angling the blade and hitting something with the angle movement. The boss is easy to get on and off, but I think(I need to verify) you either need ballast in the truck or a floor jack to get the plow high enough to get on and off the Tacoma. But ignoring height issues plow is easy to take on and off. And I don't use the smart switch or whatever they call it, it just tilt the frame up with my hands and it snaps right in. I stacked snow over 6 feet tall with that thing. And for those that think plowing "beats " on a truck, I let the weight of the truck do the work, just easy and raise the plow as I hit the pile. Just a bit.

So really happy with both vehicles, I had to go and make room at the big lot and move a big pile back. I took the GMC, the Tacoma would not be good for that.

Oh yeah - I was amazed at how well the Boss backdrags and scrapes. Makes me think about not getting a trip edge for my next "big truck"...remember, I don't do streets unless cleaning up right in front of my buildings....I did not get the new boss downpressure, sounded complicated. Based on how well this backdrags, no regrets.

I don't have a backdrag on the fisher, wondering if I should get one now that I see how poor it backdrags compared to the much lighter boss.

Can't think of anything else, hope someone finds this useful, I did a lot of research. Only other thing is we love the Honda single stage blowers and abuse them continually. we put 2 in the back of each truck and they make short work of walkways sidewalks.

And I know there are strong opinions on what is best in trucks, plows etc....but I think the real answer is it depends on what you are doing and what tradeoffs are ok with each individual.....

My next decision is to go with a v blade on the big truck(not sure how they would do on driveays that are tight on the 8) or just a 7.5 straight to get more maneuverability on the GMC....probably going to buy a 7.5 blade and try it and if it works out get rid of the 8 or keep as a spare.
 
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#2 ·
Welcome to the site.

You mentioned ballast weight. I always recommend using at least the minimum amount of ballast weight that the plow manufacture recommends. It makes a differences.

Also, for my second plow I went with a Fisher 8.5' V-Plow. I don't know how I ever got by without one in the past. Even when doing single wide driveways it's a lot more useful then my straight blade.

Good luck, NYH1.
 
#4 ·
Always had a couple of Toyota pickups and tacomas . I finally sold my last one last year . Replaced by bobcats . I do stuff in Boston back bay . The short wheelbase made these things awesome for tight work .i still miss the tacomas every storm . Certain small lots they were the best . No opinions on the boss. Haven't tried one . Had fishers and meyers on the tacomas with great success . Put a snow dogg on one . It was a piece of junk. Electrical Connectors suck , mounting system sucks . I had a 2001 Tacoma with 180k miles that had a rusty frame . Toyota replaced the frame on a 13 year old truck . I was the third owner. Good luck doing that with an American truck . I second the honda 720 machines as well . We Beat the crap out of them
 
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