truck snow plow recommendation

[vpd66]

I have a 2000 GMC 1500 4x4 and I'm looking to put a snow plow on it. I will just be plowing my residential driveway. It is 300ft long with a 60'x150' area by my shop and house. I understand there are different levels of snow plows (light, medium, and heavy duty). I'm pretty sure I just need I light duty. I'm looking for recommendations and feedback on which is the best bang for the buck. I'd like to buy new, but if I can find a deal on a used one I could go that route too. I'm replacing my 1983 Ford F150 4x4 that had an old 6ft International snow plow on it. It was only hydraulic up and down and manual tilt side to side. With this setup it only took me about 45 minutes tops to clean my driveway and I averaged about 30 minutes.

 

[LD1]

About any name brand 7.5' light-medium duty plow will be a good match. Meyers, Boss, Western, curtis, blizzard, amoung others.

But if it were me, I'd be patient and browse c-list for an old meyers ST-90 or ST-7.5 plow. Preferable classic mount II. They are about the most popular 1/2 ton plow, and parts are readily available new AND used, and they are VERY simple to work on. The only issue is getting a mount for YOUR truck. Those mounts are usually ~$700 alone. BUT, if you find someone with a COMPLETE setup, pricetag is generally $1000-$1500. IF you have to put another $700 into a mount, you are still HALF the price of a new unit.

 

[crazyal]

A coworker bought a "snow dog" and has found it to be very difficult to use. He removes it so he can commute to work, maybe if he didn't it would be better. He tried selling it but had no luck so he just traded the plow and truck in. You get what you pay for. If you buy light duty make sure you are buying from a dealer that stands behind the product and has sold them for years. The Snow Dog was a new line for the dealer. The dealer was very good about fixing it each time he complained but lets face facts. If it's snowing out you want your plow to work.

 

[natem]

I would stick with either fisher or western. If they are a little more, it is worth it. Tried and tested. Do it once.

 

[camer]

Buy a boss poly plow. There the best plow made. Mine is 10 years old and never had a problem with it.

 

[case245]

you could buy a stainless steel plow i dont know what the extra cost is

 

[LD1]

Now we are going to get into the "typical" brand war.

"boss is best"......."no western is better"..........."no, Fisher is the best".......:laughing:

They are all good. They all do the job. They ALL require care. They ALL break down. They ALL cost alot.

Someone mentioned stainless plows. I know SnowDogg are one that makes them. They are a good plow also. Just not as well known as Meyer, Western, Boss, and Fisher. Curtis, Hiniker and Blizzard also make good plows as does the higher end snow-way's. They all offer some sort of unique feature in a specialty plow also. Like Downpressure, or trip-edge, or hinikers C plow, speedwing plows, etc.

 

[Lt CHEG]

Not unlike the purchase of a tractor, buying from a good dealer is probably more important than just what brand the plow is. I've got a Western on my plow truck and frankly I've had the best luck with Western plows and the worst luck with Fisher plows even though both are made by the same company - Douglas Dynamics and there are even a lot of the same parts between Western and Fisher. When I was still working in the engineering field I was in charge of all the infrastructure for a municipal water department except for the actual treatment plant. I supervised all the guys that worked on the road and we also plowed snow in the winter. We had mostly Meyer with some Fisher and some Western depending on what was on state contract the year they were purchased. We routinely got the best service from the dealer who took care of our Meyer and Western plows (they also sold Fisher but didn't sell them or service them on state contract). That dealer is also the dealer that I use for my personal equipment now because their service was so good.

Like anything else this will be a brand preference thing as nobody that makes a plow that truly stinks will stay in business for long. Based upon my experience though I will say that the Meyer plows were the overall most reliable even though they didn't clean as nicely or operate quite as smoothly as the Westerns and the Fishers. The Westerns were just about as reliable as the Meyers and actually did a nicer job and their hydraulics were smoother. We had the most problems with the Fishers although they were equal to the Western in hydraulic smoothness and probably did the nicest job of all of them by a small margin over the Western. I honestly think that the weight of the plow (heavier being better) affected the quality of the clearing job more than anything. I also came to prefer a full moldboard trip over a trip edge design. I found that the full board trip was less jarring to the plow frame and truck, and the extra wear and tear on the equipment could not be made up for by the increased speed of not having to go over an occasional windrow a second time because you lost some snow to a moldboard trip. My personal preference if I were buying new would likely be Western as my first choice by a large margin, followed by Boss moldboard trip, then SnoWay, then Meyer.

 

[KubotainNH]

Used big name power angle that is easy to remove. The cheapos don't seem to trip very well and are weak. I have an older 6.5' fisher on my Jeep and it has worked great and hasn't cost me much. The trip setup makes a big bang when tripped but sure does save the truck.

 

[snowjoker]

Do not put a used Meyer on it. them st series are flat out junk... the e47 pumps are junk too... i would suggest going to your closest dealer and see what he has to offer.. Boss probabbly is the best for the money I have never heard of a boss plow breaking down.. Western, Fisher, Snow-Way, im not sold on the snow dogg.. they arent built very heavy , and once you hit something that pretty stainless blade is damaged forever. you cannot pound the dent out of it.. Poly blades are actually heavier than steel blades because of all the extra bracing needed to keep the moldboard tough. Any more questions feel free to ask away