I was wondering what you guys think would be a better set up for plowing.A 1/2-3/4 ton 4*4 with a straight blade and a rear plow(like daniels pull plow)OR the same sized truck with a V plow.The truck would be used mainly for residential and small commercial jobs.What do you guys think?Which would be faster and witch would cost the most?<p>Thanks!<p>from:Adam<br>AB Lawn Care<br>
Adam for what its worth i am probably the only one who will push for the straight blade.I have a v plow and find it has one big drawback and that is its very poor ability to back blade. The v plow flexes when trying to back blade and i truly miss the feature. I feel if i was doing driveways and small commercial lots i would prefer a straght blade and if with practice can do a great job with out the pull plow,although i have never used a pull plow so i cannot comment on this type of equipment.We plow only large commercial lots and this is where i can give you info on.Regardless of the 2 choices in plow set ups i strongly recommend the 3/4 ton as any plowing is abusive to all trucks and therefore the heaver the better.<p>----------<br>J PARKER<br>914-485-4200
The key to this decision is, Are the drives,"pushouts, or Pullouts". If they are pushouts, the answer is unquestionably get a v-plow, because you will have more flexability in adapting to weather conditions, as well as the fact the smaller the lot or more crowded a lot is the greater the advantage to having a v-plow. WHen I say advantge I mean that you can move snow from point A to point B in aprox 2/3 the passes of a straight blade, and you can stack snow 50% higher. With a v-plow the time savings doesn't come from the V position, it comes from the scoop position. those who use V-Plows in my experience will use the plow in the scoop position about 3/4 of the time. <p>However if you have a lot of pullout drives, and or loading ramps,pits,docks, then I would consider the rear plow and straight blade combo. V-Plows generally do not back drag very well, since they have only single acting cylinders to position the wings forward and use springs to return to V and or hold the blade straight when back draging the tendency is for the wings to fold forward as the weight of snow increases. Boss has locking cylinders, but I haven't yet seen them work, and the are a several hundred dollar option.<p>Sorry that was so long but I felt I needed to explain any thing I said.<p>Price, V plow new 3500-4600 installed, generally 300-500 less if you set up. <br>New western 8'6 proplow 3100 installed, rear plow 1500-2500 depending on l;ocation of dealer and brand.<p>My personal advice is do not try to put a vplow on a 1/2 ton or light 3/4 It takes a stout truck to make a v-blade truly worth having, because any thing smaller that about 8' doesn't move enough snow in one pass in my opinion. Also Vplows are generally heavier that straight blades ov equivelent size, my 8'6 Hiniker weighs 938# with out the mounts. But it cleans up just about any lot in one pass, scrapes very well.
AB,<br>For driveways, it's a no-brainer. Straight Plow/Rear Plow. V-Plows aren't really much of an advantage on residential. On commercial, they're really nice, but for residential, you need that pull plow.
Defitnately go with the v plow. But stay with a fisher or western. They have double acting cylinders that dont fold forward when backdragging.<br>John would love his v plow if he had listened to me.<br>We also use a urethene edge that backdrags better than plowing forward.<br>On driveways we make one pass in the v position and then clean up the end of the drive and make one push out and you are done. I find the v plow helps alot in drives.<br>And rather then have a pull plow in the rear, opt for the plow with a spreader in the rear, a must for servicing commercial properties.<br>We have also had this problem this year, since none of our snow banks have melted, we cant stack snow in our usual spots.(yes we did push as far back as possible)<br>So instead we have to push the oposite direction and carry the snow a ways before we can deposit it in an empty spot. Just imagine the problems and triple and 4x times the plowing I would need to do if I had a straight blade.<br>I will never have another straight blade again, trust me get the v plow. Even if you decide to get a rear plow later, you will still have the superior v plow up front. I am sure that Geoff will agree with me.<br>Again fisher and western have double acting cylinders that lock the wings. Very important feature.<br>Also go with the 3/4 or 1 ton p/u. The 1/2 ton wont be big enough for commercial lots. Think of the future needs also.<br>Dino <p>----------<br> Professional Ice and Snow Management <br>Products:Services:Equipment www.sima.org
V-Plows are great on parking lots and driveways, where snow must be carried. My v-plows use the scoop posistion more than any other setting on the plow. I have several small parking lots where the snow must be carried, the v-plow has cut the plowing time of these lots in half.<p>I do not have a v-plow working on a driveway yet. I bough 2 v-plows back in 97, and they do tight parking lots, and do a very good job. On my driveways, and some of my larger lots i am only useing streight blades. If you are going to plow commercial at all, even if it's only one job get a v-plow. If your only doing residental go with the pull plow/ streight blade. The reason i haven't bought more v-plows is a few reasons. First i think a v-plow in the scoop setting is only effective with a 1-ton truck. Second 8.5 feet isn't wide enough for a 1 ton truck. Third i hate the fisher minute mount, only that another story. I am waiting for Diamond to introduce a v-plow again. All my 3/4 ton trucks now use a 8.5' blade. I don't buy anything smaller than 8.5, because when a ford turns you need all 8.5.<p>Geoff
I agree with the blade not being wide enough. Rumor has it that fisher/western are looking to add a 9.5 v in the future. <br>My truck is a one ton and the tires do over run the plow width.<br>However the benifits far outweigh the drawbacks.<br>If you have large wide open lots a straight blade is ok, but even then I find the v plow faster. I windrow over till it gets high, and then scoop it to the end of the lot, and start over again. Even tho I am only 8.5' before angling, I can use a larger portion of the blade at each pass.'<br>With a straight blade as the winrow gets bigger, you can use less and less of the actual width. A 9' quickly becomes a 4.5' while the v plow still gives you 95% of its total width.<br>I have plowed a lot with my sub you has a 9' and we start from each and meet in the middle, well not really the middle, I usually get 2/3 done to his 1/3 because of the double plowing and overlap issues.<br>The boss 10-2" blade is a nice width on 450/550's, but the boss's trip action is hard on the truck.<br>I have to ask lazer why he wont buy anymore?? Is it the trip action on the boss?? I dont know just theroising.<br>Dino<br><p>----------<br> Professional Ice and Snow Management <br>Products:Services:Equipment www.sima.org
Dino,<p>The Boss trip action doesn't excite me. The biggest factor is we now plow all our commercials with loaders w/ ProTech or Daniels. We run 1 loader & 1 pick-up on a team. The pick-up really just does around the edges.<p>Anyway, I am a little sore right now because I've got a crack in my new Boss. (blame it on trip action.)<p>Also, my new fold-out rear plow work so slick that I'm going to buy a new straight plow and modify it to the same design. I'll need a trip-edge only plow, though. After hearing all you guys brag fisher, maybe I'll give them another try.<p>I've always loved Boss, but the new ones lift height is poor. Combine that with all the plowing were doing with loaders and my new straight blade modification, which will out-perform a v-plow and you have the reasons why I think my new v-plow days are over.<p>btw- the big Boss is 10' even. (my anal brain picking out the details, sorry) <p>Carl<br>
The last diamond I bought cost me over $3,000.00 but it's lasted 8 years perfectly. <p>Seriously, I don't think I've ever heard of a Diamond snowplow before this forum. I'm sure I saw them in a trade magazine, but I don't know anybody who has one.<p>Sound like they're good.
sounds like you have modified the plow to work like a box pusher. We have thought of that idea also, but make the wings removable in case you get in a tight area, or if you want to cast the snow aside. Also have you seen the avalanch plow. It has wings that make the plow go from 8-10 fet and angle forward for a box type design.<br>Also I have seen alot of guys go to a skid steer witha 8-10' protect for cleaning up the small stuff in large lots.<br>I am sure you will use a stout truck, hopefully with a manual trans to push all that weight. A good reason to use a skid steer.<br>Dino<p>----------<br> Professional Ice and Snow Management <br>Products:Services:Equipment www.sima.org
Dino,<br>The Avalanche?<br>I've seen the new Blizzard, which sounds like the same design. The guy used to work for Boss that built it and it is patent pending.<p>Anyway, my current rear plow is a box design that folds out to 14 1/2'. I want to have a front plow that does the same thing. (Out to 16') We don't need to move heavy snow w/ pick-ups anymore now that we've got the loaders.<p>I like the Blizzard design, but it has too many moving parts to only gain 2 feet of width.<br>
I am sorry , I was speaking of the blizzard, however avalanch makes box scrapers like protect, and they make a line for mounting on smaller trucks and I got the 2 confused.<br>Dino<p>----------<br> Professional Ice and Snow Management <br>Products:Services:Equipment www.sima.org
