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]