Smith Brothers Services - Why Buy a Snow Plow? Added 7- 9- 1. 3Why Do People Buy Snow Plows?
There are two main reasons people buy snow plows. The first is to make money.
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In figure 2-1 of the manual shows some sort of a control box on the plow. The plow I purchased does not have this control box between the 2 metal legs located in. Added 7-9-13. Why Do People Buy Snow Plows? There are two main reasons people buy snow plows. The first is to make money, by plowing commercially. Complete Hydraulic specializes in selling affordable automotive equipment. Including vehicle lifts, automotive lifts, 2 post lifts, 4 post lifts, scissor lifs.
The second is to save money, by not paying someone. Lets look at the second reason.
I am constantly faced with customers who say "I. What they are typically insinuating is that. What many fail to. What I am saying is don't focus on the cost of. There are many factors to consider including: 1. The cost of having someone else plow your property.
Putting up with the way that person clears your driveway (ignores your. Being at the mercy of the person you hired to plow your property. How you are currently clearing your own driveway with an ATV, tractor, or. If this year you are taking over the clearing of your property after. Your health, can YOU keep clearing the property the way you have done in the.
What I often hear is that the customer has been clearing their own property. ATV, tractor, or snow blower and they are tired of freezing while doing. They want a nice warm truck to sit in with a plow on the front. These. customers understand the benefits of clearing their own property, because they. I also hear the horror stories from customers that are tired of paying for a.
Some examples. are: While plowing the guy hit my oil tank fill, hit my well head, buried my oil. AM. so I can get to work and never did, put piles of snow where they melted and. I can't. see when trying to pull out, moved all of my gravel onto my lawn, blocked my. All of these events can be blamed on an inexperienced. Doing it yourself will allow YOU (the one who knows the property the best) to.
You know where the obstacles and dangers are. You will not be. in a hurry because you are behind schedule and have to get to the next property.
If the road gets plowed and there is a wall of snow across your. If there is a car parked in your driveway, you can. Lets look at the cost of having your property plowed. Maybe your driveway was. Maybe you paid $1. In some areas, that.
With that $2. 00. I listed above. Depending on how long your driveway is, or. Add in a very snowy winter, or a few 3.
I used. The savings of having your own plow can be. Plus, you have something to show for the. You get the benefit. You are at no one else's mercy. Obviously, if your health is a concern, then a plow is the best choice for. There is no more effort involved than driving the. Today, all plows easily mount and dismount from the vehicle.
IF it is. difficult to mount or remove a plow from a vehicle, you are doing something. You will have to think more than just driving, always being aware of. Most small tractors today cost almost as much as a plow. That would not include. If you can get year round use out of it, and you can. As far as ATVs, they too will cost as much as a new plow, and again, that. ATV. When it comes to snow.
Most. are very cheaply made. They just don't build them like they used to". DEFINITELY applies here.
Years ago it was not uncommon to get 1. Those days are gone. You will also have to deal.
I hope it starts" problem. This is usually not a problem if the. A couple of drops of water in the fuel tank will. When the friction disc drive gets wet, and slips, and the.
With the ATV or tractor plow, you will be limited in what you can do. Physics. decide how much snow you can move. Plain and simple, and you can't change that. There is only so much snow that can be moved at one time. While the same holds. ATV. What size vehicle plow do I want?
Well this is a somewhat tricky question. For some reason people have it in their. Sometimes there are, but for the most part, there. The biggest deciding factor as. Front Axle Weight Rating (FAWR). This. can be found on the decal on the drivers side door, or door jamb.
It may also. list Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) Front / Rear. This decal will also list. Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR), and Rear Axle Weight Rating (RAWR).
At. NO TIME should any of these ratings be exceeded. When you exceed any of these. FEDERAL LAW. These ratings take into consideration. How it will. brake (slow down) when fully loaded.
These ratings also dictate what tire. Yes, tires have weight ratings too. Especially true. with smaller vehicles (think Jeep Wrangler or Toyota Tacoma) the tires will. Naturally, when these smaller.
The tire weight rating will be right on the sidewall of the tire stating. In the above photo of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) decal. GVWR is 6,6. 00 lbs. This decal is on a 1. Dodge Ram 1. 50. 0. You might also notice that the GAWR (Gross Axle Weight Rating) Front, and Rear.
That means if you loaded the vehicle and drove JUST. The same holds true for the front. If you put a plow on the front of the. JUST the front tires onto a scale, the front weight would have. You might also notice if you add both the Front and Rear. This is NOT the weight rating.
The GVWR of. 6,6. All this means is that you can load the front and rear in any. GVW is under 6,6. God forbid you get into an. While I do not condone overloading a vehicle, I will say that times have.
Years ago, it was very common for a plow truck to be overloaded. They. also moved a lot slower than today. Most had manual transmissions, so in. They also had much lower axle gear ratios. You often hear about the.
Jeep, that was "unstoppable" when it came to. Yes, it had a heavy flathead engine over the front axle (most flat.
V- 8 engines). It had low axle gear ratios. Throw in a set of tire chains on all four wheels, and yes, they. Low Range. The old Jeep also had a top. Today, most people NEVER use 4wd low range when plowing.
The old Jeep if you let off the gas would almost come to a complete stop without. So you really can't compare older vehicles with plows.
Plow manufacturers painstakingly design plows for vehicles based on the FAWR. This usually involves lightening up the plow enough to not exceed the FAWR while. This is a delicate. Often in requires that the vehicle be loaded with ballast weight. Without rear ballast it.
It is generally a good idea to. There are far too many people out there plowing with no ballast in the rear. They are easy to spot driving down the road because the front of the truck looks. Plow manufacturers recommend their specific plows based on specific vehicle. FAWR. Often there is only one choice for a vehicle.
This is almost always true. Jeep Wrangler, Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger.
SUVs. Generally speaking the most a plow system for these vehicles can. This is usually taking into consideration that. The size of the plow for these vehicles is typically around 6' 8". When you get into the various 1. The most common size plow for a 1.
When. you get into the 2. It is not unusual for 3.
Staying under the FAWR is what decides the plow options for a specific vehicle. Generally, when you get into the size of vehicles used for commercial plowing. It is a common. misconception that "poly" plows (often called "plastic") are lighter plows. This. is NOT true. MOST poly plows weigh as much as 1. This is because the poly is just a skin, and not part of the structure.
Steel. plows use the steel moldboard skin as part of the structure, which adds strength. Poly plows need a much stronger frame because the poly is just. Now we go back to that "delicate balancing act" I mentioned above. We are going. to focus more on the smaller 6'8" plow that would be what most homeowners would. If the plow you choose is too light, it will ride up over the. Having. removed a plow that a customer bought elsewhere and used for a couple of years. He said it is like.
Meyer Drive Pro compared to the old plow he used for. His old plow weighed 2. His Meyer Drive. Pro 6'8" weighs around 4. Jeep Wrangler. His old plow was well built, and always worked, never let him down or left him. He would. have to go out with a shovel and scrape up what he could by hand after plowing. So with the balancing act in mind, it is better to lean towards a heavier plow. A Plow is a Tool.
A snow plow is just a tool. Every tool is designed with a purpose. No tool is. perfect for every job (OK maybe Vise Grips and Duct Tape come close) and a plow.
Focusing on a power angle straight plow on a vehicle, it is. You can also push straight, but snow is going to spill off. Most of your actual plowing will be moving the snow to. As long as the plow is wide enough at full left, or full. A plow that is too narrow at full angle will spill snow in front of the rear. MUCH harder to remove. The part of the plow that makes contact with the ground is called the cutting.
It is a straight steel edge. If the ground is uneven, if there is a high. This is very pronounced with an older paved driveway. Old paved driveways.
The center of the driveway becomes. NO plow that will clear. Think of how you measure a cup of flour using the back of a. The surface of the flour in.
Well unless your pavement is that flat, the cutting. The same holds true if. The plow will. leave snow in the middle. The snow plow cutting edge is designed at a specific angle.
This is called the. Angle of Attack" (AOA) and it is designed for peeling up snow as the plow moves. This is why plows do not scrape as well when being pulled backwards. When. going forward, if the plow strikes an immovable object, the plow will "trip". Either the whole moldboard will trip forward, or the cutting.
Some plows. are full trip, and some are trip edge. This is to protect the plow.
If the plow. can't trip, there is a good chance that something on the plow will break or. This is why here in my shop I would never recommend what is called a. While they may scrape better when backdragging, they also offer. I have not seen one yet that can trip.
There are three different materials used for cutting edges. Steel is the most. There are also rubber and urethane cutting edges. Believe it or not the. This is. because they also need a steel strip to hold them to the bottom of the plow.
Where a small plow will typically have a 3/8" thick steel edge, rubber and. They need to be that thick, to not fold.
Rubber edges tend to have a "memory" which means are much use.