What Size

[Tim1075]

What size blade would you guys put on an 1985 f-250 4x4?

 

[Snow Pro]

7 1/2 or 8' with Pro Wings.

 

[Skookum]

Follow what the plow manufacturer "up to size" recommends as well as Ford's weight limits.

Watch asking that question on this site. Several guys like putting Boss v plows on little 1/2 ton trucks. They might recomend something like a 16' Avalanche for that beefy 250.

 

[GeoffD]

You want an 8.5, because of the big turning radius. Trust me 7.5 is way to small, 8 is ok, but 8.5 is the best.

Geoff

 

[Lazer]

Skookum,
I feel like that comment might have been directed at me.

For the record:
I would NEVER recommend an Avalanche 16' pusher to be mounted on an F250.

I ONLY recommend ProTech.





On a serious note, almost all the good products & services we have is because somebody had a crazy idea and pushed the envelope.

 

[Tim1075]

I have a 7.5 western on it i just wanted to know if i should go bigger.

 

[Lazer]

If you've already HAVE that blade, I'd put on Pro-wings and run it for this season.

 

[Michael F]

Tim, stick with the plow you have, it paid for no sense in spending 3-4 thousand on that old of a truck. Add pro wings for $170.00, to gain extra plowing width (20").

 

[GeoffD]

Yes if you have a 7.5 on it, then keep it. Add pro wings, or look for a used 8.5' blade. However your cheaper option is proabably pro wings, but I have never used them.

Geoff

 

[diggerman]

Keep the plow you have and use it.The truck will handle what ever V plow shy of a ten footer you want to put on it,that is based on experience. If you would like to listen to the advise of some designer whos worried about his butt and not your bottom line,the truck will hardly handle what it has on it and really they would not recommend plowing with their truck at all.If you listen to the advise given here you better sell the truck and buy a new 550 Ford with a six footer so you don't get picked up for overloading the front axle.Be cautious of the advise given here because it is all given by about 20 of us and there are thousand of plowers out there, take it with a grain of salt and hopefully you have enough experiance to weed out the bull.When you ask such a question as the one you did the experience and income is so varied that often very little of the advise is worth any thing and you have to base your decision on what you know to be true and what you see around you. Sorry so winded just getting a little tired again of people constantly saying what can't be done when it is being done and done successfully, and when they are so willing to give advise spending others money so freely(like trading in a brand new truck for one with a little heavier front axle, what kind of monitary hit is that poor sucker going to take, bad advise)So again I say keep your truck and blade and maybe spend a little money for some wings if you have the accounts to justify one.

 

[GeoffD]

I hardly think the standard advice is to buy and F 550. BTW I run either a 9' Fisher MC streight blade or a 9.5' Fisher v-plow on my F 550s.

However if you want to have a truck set up that is legal, that is the way you must go. I currently have 2 trucks that will be overloaded everytime it snows, do I like it? No. However I am not going to replace two perfectly good trucks just to have all my V-boxes on F 550s. However as I get the funds to buy these trucks I will.

Also if the DOT doesn't want to have trucks overloaded when the roads are clear. Isn't it even more dangerous to be out on snow covered roads with an overloaded truck? Can a 1 ton handle a v-box and plow, sure, however I would want a good driver behind the wheel.

Only I will admitt that sometimes I feel the front end overload is Bull, a extra 100 lbs isn't going to change much. Only its when you put a 9' fisher on a GMC 1500, that i belive you do indroduce some ishues with safe opperation. Yes I was the one with the 9' fisher and GMC 1500.

Geoff

 

[diggerman]

Tell me how is the 9' fisher unsafe other than exceeding the manufacture recomended load?Did you ever really have trouble with it.Further more it seems that certain practices that are given here, many of us have done at different stages of our business that we are ademently against when spending someone elses money.Its alot easier to make a little comprimise when you are looking at a truck that is a bargin knowing that it can make you good money even if the set up is not ideal, but when it is someone else they are an idiot for trying to just use what they have.I'm the one with the 9'2" Boss on a 1/2 ton and I have never felt it was remotely unsafe and the money output for the truck and blade was 1/5 of a new 1 ton and blade.So tell me whos doing a better job of keeping their over head down.

 

[GeoffD]

Ok, for one the ground clearance on the front end was almost nothing. The Blade was so close to the ground, that if it was angled, the corner could grab a pot hole and the truck would do a 360, saw it happen. The truck would over heat, because you couldn't angle the blade. With the frost heaves that we expeirence in Maine every year, this pot hole spin, is a bigger isshue than many think. Secondly, when we used to plow with the thing, we had to keep out speed up, and a running start was always needed.

Ok those are my reasons for the truck being unsafe.

I never said you were an Idiot for useing a 9' blade on a 1/2 ton. Ya got to use what ya got, and only spend what you can afford (if a 1/2 ton is all you want to spend or thats all you can afford, than thats fine with me) However I will have to agree with others, saying that a 9' blade on a 1/2 ton will not work well. Why does it matter what I use for a plow truck? If I can pay for it, thats all that maters in my mind. I buy used stuff, exevators, loaders, a bucket truck.

Your right I ran that 9' blade in my early days of running the company. Ya know what when i bought it, the guy at the plow shop laughed called me crazy, and told me it would be nothing but problems. I had to admitt to him in 95 when I sold the truck that he was right. So why did i put a 9' on a 1/2 ton? Well it was installed the day of a storm in novemeber 1988, we had just got a new lot like 2 days before, a lot big enough for one truck. The plan was to go buy another truck, infact we ordered one the same day I put the plow on the GMC (but storms come faster than truck orderd). However it was going to snow, and we need a truck their (the new lot) that night, the GMC (because the GMC was going to be a driveway truck) had like 10 drives at the time, because we didn't add as many as expected, so we said have the other driveway truck do the drives. The GMC will get a 9' blade and do the lot, till the new truck comes in on order, then we will get a 7.5 and switch blades. Well the dealership we ordered from found a truck at pooling co, and got that one for the same price (with the same options) as the one we ordered, and the truck came with a 9' blade, and it we got it in a week. However up till 1987? we used to run 8' blades on 1/2 tons and really never had a problem.

Geoff

[Edited by GeoffDiamond on 11-02-2000 at 12:21 AM]

 

[slplow]

You could buy a 8.0 to 8.5 plow. Or, buy a new moldboard. A 7.5 plow is too small for that truck. I would do one of those options if you do alot of driveways. If you do alot of parking lots, the prowings would be a better choice. The Prowings do not backdrag very well. Good Luck

 

[diggerman]

Thanks Geoff,those are some of the reasons I don't own sraight blades anymore,with the 9'2" V we have to V the blade out sometimes to keep it from tapping on the ground but never had anyone spin one,they better not be going that fast.With V we cut right through even our deepest snows and never had a truck over heat, ever, because of a blade(at least around town,all city streets here).Actually I just bought a 90 3/4 ton ford that has a 8'2" on it I will most likely switch wings between it and the 1/2 ton this year.The 9'2"Boss on the 1/2t is not ideal but it has worked and worked well,hey go figure its a V6 too.