Well guys I just bought a house.... and it's got quite a driveway. It's too big for a four wheeler, or snow blower etc, so as much as I hate to, I'm looking into putting a blade on the old girl. I am looking at getting a used blade, probably a Western because they are very popular here.

The trouble here, is that I've put 2" drop hangers/shackles on it to pick the front end up, and I've got a set of 35's. If I run a plow, I'm gonna put a set of airbags on the front axle so that I can still turn. Will I be able to get my plow low enough? Will it mount up with my drop hangers?

Thanks!

 

What is your total height that you raised the truck ? Mine is raised 3" in the front, and I have no issues at all. I have a Unimount 3 spring pro plow with the isarmatic electric pump (not a cable controller), and it's fantastic. When the $$ allows, I'm buying a Boss DXT V-plow, but that's for another discussion.

My brackets are set to the LOWEST holes in the mount, as the blade works best if the lower carriage is near or close to level when the plow blade is down. Mine sits on a slight upwards rise, and it doesn't affect plowing at all, and I do a lot of plowing in good seasons.







Drop hangers shouldn't affect it, unless you modified the front where the plow brackets are mounted. The plow bracket sits on the end of the frame, and on my truck are not affected by the front spring brackets at all. The air bags might be a problem, but it depends on how they're mounted.

Personally, I wouldn't put a plow on our truck with a set of drop hangers, unless it was Jungles stuff. If your front springs are saggy, by putting another 700-800 lbs on the front end, you're asking for trouble, IMO. Pull the springs, and take them to a local spring shop. Have them rearched, and add a leaf or two to the pack. I put a single extra leaf in mine, but they also did the military upgrade to the eye end as seen here




When I put my plow on, the front end does almost no height change whatsoever. I don't need air bags, and neither will you if you do your springs right, so I suggest doing it without the bags, as you might find that the trailing bracket of the plow truck mount might be a problem installing them.... and you would lose your anti sway bar as well.

BTW,

Western Unimount with the Isarmatic pump system is one of the most reliable, trouble free units you can get. The cable operated systems are great too, but after nearly 30 years on the market, you're only going to find stuff that needs rebuilding. The isarmatic pump can be built in a couple of hours or so, even with little or no understanding of how the pump works, as Westerns website has "mechanic" manuals online that you can access for free. They give all the specs and with basic hand tools, can be done by just about anyone with two hands..

If you do get a unit from someone, make sure they've serviced it annually, as the fluid is BLUE in color from the factory, and a lot of guys used tranny fluid in theirs. Problem with tranny fluid is that it doesn't perform as good in extremely cold weather. If you need to rebuild it, buy all new internals, hoses and rams. Mixing new fluid in old parts just doesn't bring about reliability. I got lucky mine was fully operational when I rebuilt it, as I did it in the summer when I was bored...

 

Well thank you sir! I'm starting to think that it's going to be a lot cheaper just to pay someone to plow it for me, after I see what things are going to cost. I'm going to get a few quotes and go from there.

BTW, you'll love the BOSS plow! That's all we had when I used to plow for a landscaping company. Are you getting removable wings for yours!? You'll be able to move 3x the snow you are today!

 

Cheaper, and less stress on your ride...But not nearly as fun !


A used plow setup for your truck is in the $1500-$2000 range for a decent unit that was maintained pretty good. Then you have to install it. Generally it takes longer to wire it than install the truckside bracket, but I like to neverseize and clean everything, paint it black, etc. so it takes me a bit longer than the average monkey . Depending on where you live, you could recoup that money in one day of plowing, and be in the black, although Insurance will zing you, as I'm currently paying $2k for "SNOW REMOVAL" insurance only. The liability coverage is part of my auto policy, as I have the plow scheduled on the truck.

BTW.
Depending on your property layout, you might request a Cert of Insurance from the guy whom you choose to do your drive.

With reference to the boss plow, I don't do many large parking lots, so the wings won't do me any good. Most of my jobs are narrower roads and driveways. I'm just looking forwards to the functionality and versatility of a V plow....

 

Yeah you make a good point about the insurance. My new driveway is just big enough to require a plow, but not really big enough to justify buying one. It will depend on how much I'm going to have to pay to have it done. Thanks for your input though! Much appreciated!

 

Why not just buy a few thousand dollar plow truck or a old tractor?