Snowplow installation

Snowplow Installation

Most manufacturers offer a wide range of snowplows for many types of vehicles. Plows can start at widths of around six and a half feet and go up to large nine foot wide sizes.

Half ton trucks will have blades in the 7 to 7.5 foot range and three-quarter ton trucks and up use blades from 7.5 to 9 feet. Western and Sno-Way offer a straight plow that angles in the center, turning the plow into a V snowplow, similar to the industrial and commercial size plows. These V-blades can be angled to scoop and move snow around. Sno-Way offers an exclusive Down Pressure System that exerts downward force on the blade for extra heavy scraping and back-dragging.

Wrangler Tire & Tune can handle all snow plow installation, repairs, and services.

- for driveways or roadways. Meyer offers the widest selection of snow plows for whatever Mother Nature throws your way. We provide high performance plows designed for Personal, Contractors/Landscapers and Municipality use - Available in steel and polyethylene; with full-trip and bottom trip to cover a wide range of solutions. Whatever your application, Meyer has the best plow you can find.

has been an innovative manufacturer of plows and accessories for over 50 years. They have the most reliable plows and snow blowers, at a more competitive price, on the market today. Northman's pro-active approach to consumer and dealer needs will enable them to continue to lead the industry well into the future (according to Northman).

plows and spreaders have helped thousands of homeowners, small businesses, plowing contractors and municipalities remove snow and control ice for 3 decades. In addition to innovation, Sno-Way was the first snowplow manufacturer to offer a five-year structural plow warranty. They have dozens of patents on their products.

WESTERN snowplows have been the choice of the professional for over 55 years. With the latest, industry-leading additions to our product line – the all new MVP PLUS and the new NIGHTHAWK plow lights - that tradition is sure to continue.

Plowing advice

In hydraulic plows, the weight of the system helps to provide down force on the blade to keep the blade in contact with the ground. There is an optional hydraulic down-pressure system for some Sno-Way plow systems that adds additional down force to the plow blade which is useful for back-dragging.

There are two types of materials that snowplow blades are made. The most common is steel, painted or powder coated. Powder coated is much better as it offers a tougher finish. Care has to be taken with painted and powder coated finishes that they don't develop chips which can lead to rusting or sometimes in the case of powder coating, rust bubbles. The ultimate in finish is a two-part epoxy paint, baked on. You can also get plows with clear, plastic blades. Some of the models offer weight savings, but not all of the due to the added bracing for the plastic. Some of the advantages of plastic is that the snow rolls better off the plastic. By using a clear plastic, it can also be easier to see directly in front of the blade area.

There are two basic styles of snowplow blades (also called moldboards). The full tripping blade has been around the longest. When you strike an unseen obstacle in the snow like a curb, the whole blade will catch on the curb, bend forward and then hopefully bounce over the obstacle. Then the trip springs will snap the blade back into the normal plowing position. The other style of plow blade functions the same, but only the lower portion of the blade bends, the upper portion of the blade stays straight.

Mounting Systems

Most of the snowplows now sold come with much simpler to use mounting systems than in previous generations of snowplows. What this means is that there is a frame mounted under your truck that the plow hooks up to when you are using it. When you are done plowing, you pull a couple of pins and unplug some electrical connectors and the whole system is left at home, including the lights and the lift-pump. Western snowplows use a UniMount system which just leaves a rectangular mounting frame hanging down on the front of the truck after the plow is removed.

This is different from older plows in that the older style of plow had the lift-pump and the headlights on the front of the truck all year round. Most of the older systems also required removal of the front bumper with the bumper being re-installed in front of the light/pump frame after that was put on the truck. Most of these snowplows use hydraulics for power up/down and power side-to-side angling.

There are two type of hydraulic systems. One is a regular hydraulic system driven off of an engine mounted belt and the second is an electric/hydraulic system where the trucks electrical system drives a pump that runs the hydraulics. Of course, the all hydraulic system can require more room under the hood and is more expensive to install. Some of the lower end of the price range snowplows may use an electric cable reel system which is usually a power up/gravity down system. Most of the electric lift systems offer only manual blade angling. If you just have a small, simple driveway, a low end plow could be for you. If you want to clear parking lots or large driveways, think about full power systems.

If you use your truck for four-wheeling, you may want to look for the highest clearance mounting system you can find, such as the Northman plow mounts.