CTD Snowplow Setup

[dPierce]

It's getting close to the plowing season around Chicago. In looking to make some extra $$, I'm thinkin' of throwing a plow on the CTD. Checking out the Western products, their pro series looks good, with the trip edge to minimize wear and tear on the truck.



Any thoughts on the best plow to go with? It looks like around $2,500 for the whole set-up, is that about right? How much do you guys generally charge per hour as a sub-contractor?



Thanks Again,



Pierce

 

[Trizae]

I'd Buy a Meyer Plow,,,,,,, as a matter of fact I Just did,,,,,, I'd buy a Meyer ST7. 5 with the MDII mounting System,,,,,,,, My dad bought on to put on his first new truck (78 Dodge W150) and it has held up great,,,,,,, in fact the plow has outlasted the truck. I have heard the a FISHER is the best plow you can buy,,,,,, but no body sells them in va,,,,,,,, I think the Meyer is better than the Western,,,,,,,, The fisher might be better,, dont know,,,,,,,, But what ever you buy,,,,, buy one you can get worked on if something breaks,,,,,,,,,,, I hope you Truck has AHD

 

[Turbo Tim 1]

There are piles of different plow companies out there but there are 4 major ones, Fisher, Western, meyers and Diamond (some part of Meyers). I have a 9 foot Fisher plow for my truck. Everyone has their own personal preference and for me it is Fisher, they are built in Maine a place that gets alot of wet heavy snow and they are built pretty tough. For me personally I wouldn't buy a meyers, they usually have weak spring set-ups and trip over real easy causing you to have to re-plow the area just done because they dump the snow, on the other hand they are one of the lightest plows and probably the easiest on a vehicle. Western use to make a pretty good plow, I haven't looked at one recently. I would suggest looking at the various makes and looking at the sub frame with the plow off of the truck, how low does it hang, will it hinder you in other things you do? Some of the plow frames hang really low and could be a real problem if you go off-road at all. Plows are tough on a truck, if you can't make enough money to pay the truck off in three years of plowing it's probably not worth it, plus the insurance is more expensive because you should have commercial insurance. My Fisher set-up was about $3500 installed. Smaller plows are quite a bit less. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Rosco]

dPierce



First off you need to decide if you want a "full trip" plow like a Myers, or a "trip edge" like Fisher or Diamond. In my area we have a lot of wet snow so a trip edge was needed. Another thing to consider is if you want a straight or vee plow. Personally, I used an 8' Fisher Minute Mount and even though I got out of the business this year I still swear by Fisher plows.



Also, like Turbo Tim said, insurance is a must. No matter how careful you are, when you plow snow for hours on end in treacherous conditions theres a high probability for damage.



Another thing to consider is if you are prepared to "beat the crap" out of your new truck. If you think you will plow "nice and easy" you are only fooling yourself. When the snow is coming down at 2'' an hour, it's the wet heavy crap, and you have X number of customers to plow you need to hustle, not baby your "pride and joy".



Finally, go to www.plowsite.com and register. The guy's over there are very knowledgeable about plowing and will answer any of your questions.

 

[CIverson]

I had a boss 8'2" v-plow on my 98 and when I got the 03 I went to a Snoway. www.snoway.com



They are a VERY nice plow. They look kinda chincy or cheap but they have a great warranty and the amount of engineering and testing that they have done on their plows is outstanding.



5 year warranty and I dropped about 150 lbs in weight going from an 8'2" to a 9'1".

 

[Scrappy]

Another snowplow possibility

Check out a blizzard plow. From what I have seen they are the heaviest plow made they are quick to remove and install and there isn't much left on the truck with the plow off. Of course I might be biased since I put them together and install them. IMHO.

 

[mrander]

I owned a meyers plow. It was extremely heavy duty. My guess is they make different grades. Mine was an 8' one, it had very stout springs, that almost never let the plow fold over. I think the only time I remember them giving was when I hit a manhole. The plow weighed close to 500 lbs.



If I was going to buy another one I would certainly look into the heavier duty meyers.



I had mine for 10yrs and didn't have a bit of trouble from it.

 

[CIverson]

Forgot to mention that when I was plowing for money I charged 45$ an hour. Also, if you are gonna try making money at it, I would definetally get a V-plow, I would never own a straight blade after having a V.

 

[TImler]

V-plows are extremely heavy on a front end that is already stressed because of the weight of the diesel engine. I'd stick with a 8 to 8 1/2 foot straight blade. I have both the Western which is made down the street from me and a Boss made in the U. P. of Michigan. I'd go with the Boss. If you're worried about wet heavy snow that you get alot in Illisois, I'd look at one of their poly plows. I also was charging $45/hr but that was about 2 years ago.

 

[dkosheba]

Western and Fisher are both owned by the same company. In fact if you buy the V-plow it will be the same product just painted differently.



My 01 is in the classifieds for sale and I have plowed three winters my personal driveway with a 7'6" Western std. Poly plow and loved it. Only problem is that the Unimount is not transferable to 04 Ram on order as they have a new mount called the Ultramount that is much better as far as ground clearance is concerned.



With gages on my truck, trans temp is a must. I have seen 240F on output line after 5 minutes of plowing from a cold start at 20F outside air temp. I have never seen above 190 towing a trailer with converter unlocked. All the low speed forward and reverse really heats up the truck.



One bonus, with 800 lbs. of ballast in bed of truck, I have found nothing that can stop the truck plowing. Be careful, you can plow more than just snow before you realize it.



Don



Grand Rapids, Michigan only has Western, and Fisher dealers so thats what I will look at. There are a lot of trucks in the area running BOSS plows, but not sure where to get one of those.

 

[CIverson]

I live an hour away from the boss factory, they are ok, but after looking into my new plow are lacking in alot of areas (I have a few rant's I could go on about).



I've done the homework on how much weight is left before I overload my front end. The boss I had would have put it VERY close to the limit, which is why I went w/ my snoway, which like I said above is about 150lbs lighter and is a bigger plow than the boss I had.

 

[Dean Upson]

Curtis makes a great plow, check out http://www.curtiscabs.com/snow_plows.html



Dean

 

[willyslover]

I have a Meyers, for many seasons now... however I have a dedicated plow rig for winter use only. . [a FJ40] and only use it on our private road 1 mile long very twisty and steep with off camber corners... . use the plow to stear the FJ40 on the deeper pushes . . anyhow it has never failed me [except it now has a hanging solinoid that I need to repair before winter ].

 

[mr plow]

first of all...

after having had both the western and the fisher v plows, there is a huge difference between the two. for starters, the a frame and headgear on a fisher is much heavier than western, and the mounting system is completely different. it is much easier to mount a fisher than a western, and the plugs are different too.



my . 02 is fisher all the way. it is the cadillac of plows.



trip edge is the way to go.



good luck.



also, i recommend using load helpers in the front, they fo in place of the existing stops. definitely worth the $$$

.



oren.

 

[scbrown]

I have been using a Fisher for the last 3 years and love it!

I also have many friends that use Western and also have no problems.

If you decide to go with a Meyer plow I do know the entry level plow is crap. I'm not sure of the heavy duty systems.

Fisher is very easy to hook up and has never let me down.

As stated above, plowing is very hard on the front end and trans.

I have replaced everything on the front and am now the proud owner of a new DTT trans. (Thanks Rob Thomas)

Insurance is a must, you will hit something sooner or later!

Watch out for those fuel tank lids if plowing gas stations they will get you.

And of course all of your local family members call you for a FREE driveway plow Its ok for awhile but its old fast after you have been at it for 14-15 hours and they call and say "Did you forget about me"

$45. 00 an hour is still the going rate around me.

$2,500 seems a little cheap. $3,000 to $3,500 will get you a nice plow.



Stan

 

[Rosco]

When I plowed, I did roughly 16-18 driveways and 2 church parking lots. During an average storm (5-7 inches) It took me about 6 hrs to do my route and I cleared about $600 a storm. Snowfalls exceeding the 5-7 inch's generally required 2 or 3 "pushes" and I charged accordingly.



For example, I had 4 driveways in one neighborhood and each driveway netted me thirty dollars. It took me about 25 minutes to do all four and I was $120 dollars richer. Thats way better than $45 per hour as a sub.



So, as you can see you make more $$$$ working for yourself as opposed to being a subcontractor.



However, one thing you need to consider is different regions of the country have different pricing criteria. So, my rates may not fly in Chicago.

 

[powerwagon]

western

i installed my western off of my 99 ram it works well but i dont like the ground clearance, i take the undercarriage off for the summer.

 

[Scrappy]

ground clearance

It is not an issue for me, I am going to be installing a set of Skyjacker D25's and A set of 35/ 12. 5r17 BFG MT's so I will be 4"-5" taller than I am now. Also I don't use my truck off road either

 

[dkosheba]

Western Ultramount

Looks like I will go with a Western Ultramount 7'6" Poly Pro on my yet to be delivered 04. Truck should show up at Dealer on 23-24th of December and I am purchasing plow in the next week.



Does anybody have pictures of the Ultramount on a third gen for me to view?



Should I pay $330 for the install, or do it myself?



I am getting a 3500 SRW with Cummings. Should I still put Timberens on the front of truck? I know that my 01 Ram 2500 would bottom out on a couple dips in the road if I took them too fast.



Don



What I meant earlier about Western and Fisher being the same has to do with the following on their site.



Western Products is a division of Douglas Dynamics L. L. C. Douglas Dynamics is owned by AK Steel, a leader serving the most demanding markets in the production of carbon cold-rolled, metallic coated and stainless steel products. Fisher is also a division of Douglas Dynamics L. L. C. and there are a lot of similarities in both plows. They use the same hand held remote for in cab control.



Thanks

 

[jeffg]

I do not have any pictures, but when I picked up my plow

(8 foot ultramount pro poly) for my 03 chev reg. cab 2500hd,

there was a silver 03 ctd 2500 cc shorty (identical to mine) with

the ultramount setup, and I can tell you that with the

receiver brackets off, the truckmount was almost invisible.

The valance was notched, and it only stuck out about an inch.

They said the install was a ***** because the intercooler got

in the way when taking out the bumper bolts. I am looking

to put a snoway on my dodge to use as a backup. I like

the snoway because it is so much lighter. I too want to see

how the mount looks on the truck, so if anyone has pics of

a snoway mount, please post pics!