Tractor or Truck for plowing?

[LD1]

LD-I have a unique situation where being smaller and maneuverable helps. Contrary to belief Utvs like mine are not that light. My gator ballasted, with spreader, blade, etc. Weighs 2500 pounds. That is more than enough weight with aggressive tires and true four wheel drive and low gearing to plow well. Not only that but weight I have found does not always have direct impact on plowing success. I have plowed extensively with my previous john Deere 4520 with a 7' boom blade and six foot box blade on back for ballast. Though a fantastic machine it would not hold a candle to my current gator plowing snow. I do see your point. In large areas with open turns and long runs a truck would be faster--by a little bit. On my drive and service road no way, no how.

John M

On a small drive, where manuveribility and visibility means everything, I can see the gator being faster.

But when I am in plow "trim", ballasted and plow up front, I am weighing ~7500lbs. And allthough I dont have TRUE 4wd, I do have 3wd with the limited slip. And their have been times when I have had a full blade of wet/heavy snow that I had trouble moving it. There is NO WAY a gator, with a 7.5' blade and wings like my truck could move it.

But for how small they are, no doubt they are impressive.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Years ago when I asked my parents to sign for a new vehicle for me it was for a new puck up with a plow. Back then the whole set up was 5K , about the same price as a new corvette.

As a kid I promised to pay them back. Man I can't believe they signed for that truck for a kid.

It was almost Christmas and not a snow flake on the ground. Payments rolling in and my parents wondering if they made a huge mistake.

Then it snowed and snowed and snowed. I didn't sleep for three days except for nodding off with my head on the wheel and the engine running in the middle of the shopping center I was plowing.

After 3 days I had cash in every pocket i had. I remember they were having coffee on the third day and I unloaded all that cash on the breakfast table.

More money than my Dad made in a year as a welder at $2.35 and hour working for GM.

Yep for a lot of plowing a truck is the only way to go.

I miss that old Dodge Power Wagon. That thing was a beast, she never let me down once and I beat her up pretty good.

 

[jcmseven]

Regardless of size, they are impressive. I might not be so convinced about that snow pile. Mine pulled out a UPS truck when my neighbor's 2008 F150 could not.

John M

 

[Piston]

Weight is definitely a factor. I think the argument about the rtv and plow truck is valid both ways. It's certainly true that there is no way you could plow as good with an rtv up north with the heavy wet snow amounts we get. But in NC I'm sure your not dealing with 1-2 foot storms every other week and the snow probably melts much quicker, so a lighter weight vehicle I can see working fine. You won't see one pushing the amount of snow a heavy 1ton diesel could push though.
With my f350 and 9' blade on the front I couldn't be happier. That thing is a beast in the snow.

I've never plowed with an rtv though so this is just my opinion and worth all you paid for it :laughing: I would LOVE to try one of those out though, they look like a lot of fun and for just driveways and a little snow I think the fun factor would outweigh the loss of productivity. I drool over those things

That's a cool story about buying the new truck and dumping the money on the table :thumbsup: You can make some serious cash in a hurry on one good storm, this winter has been great so far for us.....too bad my father uses my truck for plowing and reeps all the profit benefits hahah

 

[KubotainNH]

Here's the list of snow moving equipment shared between my FIL and myself. Our houses are right next to each other. In the order of most used.

1)Jeep with 6.5' fisher: great maneuverability, tunes, warm, dry and fast plus I can have the plow on when I go to work and plow as soon as I get home. This is my daily driver and only I drive it.
2)Snowblower on Craftsman ride-on mower: used mainly in my FIL's yard and does a great job but not great for my tree lined gravel drive. Kinda slow and cold.
3)2 walk behind blowers: same as #2 except for my walkways
4)B6100 with FEL and snowpusher that attaches to front: great for moving/pushing back snow banks and for fooling around...cold seat & a bit slow.
5)Honda Fourtrax with blade: kids fool with this when it's running, I need to work on that one

Everything has it's place and it's good to have backups.

 

[tulenutn2o]

Here's the list of snow moving equipment shared between my FIL and myself. Our houses are right next to each other. In the order of most used.

1)Jeep with 6.5' fisher: great maneuverability, tunes, warm, dry and fast plus I can have the plow on when I go to work and plow as soon as I get home. This is my daily driver and only I drive it.
2)Snowblower on Craftsman ride-on mower: used mainly in my FIL's yard and does a great job but not great for my tree lined gravel drive. Kinda slow and cold.
3)2 walk behind blowers: same as #2 except for my walkways
4)B6100 with FEL and snowpusher that attaches to front: great for moving/pushing back snow banks and for fooling around...cold seat & a bit slow.
5)Honda Fourtrax with blade: kids fool with this when it's running, I need to work on that one

Everything has it's place and it's good to have backups.

Iagree on having multiple back-ups for everything.

 

[RoyJackson]

I love plowing snow!!!!!!

That said, I do not do it commercially. If I did, or had a very long drive, I'd have a truck mounted plow.
So, for my drive, I use a tractor and loader combination. It's not the quickest, but does a fine job doing something I enjoy.

 

[jcmseven]

Piston, thanks for your reply. I agree, our snow melts here most times fairly fast, but between three snows we have had at my place over the past two weeks we received 26" of snow, and I had about 20" on my driveway the other day before plowing. No matter where you live, that is a lot of snow but the UTV did just fine. At the top of our mountain (I live about halfway up the road to the top at 4000 feet) at 6100 feet, there was 34" of snow. Two feet of that are still left, and it is wet and plenty heavy. I mention to folks there are areas of NC that receive similar snow amounts to New England, and I live in one of them.

John M

 

[Piston]

John, I have to admit I'm jealous of that setup, I would really love to own one of those someday as well. I had a hard time not buying a side by side for a while just out of the sheer fun factor. I believe the RTV has a cab and heat as well and that would be the ultimate. I hope I didn't sound like I was 'putting down' the ole rtv, that wasn't my intention. :thumbsup:

 

[Piston]

SATAN,
How bout a few more pics of that snowblower setup you have?

 

[jcmseven]

Piston,

Not at all, and not all side by sides are equal in this task area. I make specific mention of the John Deere and the Kubota, for good reason. I think they are the best in this area. I have owned a Polaris Ranger. I really liked it (it was the 800-pretty fun) but in no way shape or form would it plow remotely as well as my current Gator XUV. The RTV is like a truck with heated cab, etc. My John Deere has an available cab and heater, but I do not mind being outside so I just have installed the full front windshield with wiper. If we get much more snow I am going to invest in the cab setup.

I would say I interjected this opinion into the mix to provide an alternative for discussion. When these truck v. tractor plowing threads pop up, it is interesting to note that there now is an effective third option, the UTV. There are enough big name plow companies out there like Boss and Meyer who are making plows for these machines that they apparently realize the same potential of these vehicles. I totally agree a pickup mounted plow is the best choice for wide open areas that are flat and fast, none of which I have here. I do plow large volume though; including about three miles of service road to my house (interestingly with two areas so steep our plow guy with his Dodge 3500 will not plow it). Tractors plow OK but not nearly as fast as a high-end UTV like I mention and I have used both (well, maybe a 9620 John Deere would plow faster but it also would not fit on most of what I do). The advantage of my XUV UTV is that it can plow our service roads as fast or faster than a truck can, it can plow steep drives and side roads that one would not even attempt with a truck mounted plow, it can get into areas not accessible by truck and plow sidewalks, parking lots, alleyways and areas too tight or delicate to plow by truck. Most times it gets to the pavement when plowing and does so for a fraction of the fuel cost. In between jobs, I just drive it around and when the weather and roads are really bad, my Gator with a 45 MPH top speed will get to site quicker than a truck. I think we all like what we have to plow, and I would not have any interest in talking someone out of his truck-mounted plow for a UTV mounted one, but I can see having used a UTV plow set up extensively that such a machine would make a nice addition to a plow operation. I cannot tell you the number of times I have heard chuckles from those folks looking for a plow set up alternative to their tractors when I tell them to look at a UTV, only to see them come back amazed at what these machines will do with snow.

John M

 

[Johnbro]

I used to plow our road with my L2250 with rear blade and FEL to push it off the side.

Then we got this:

Of course, this is for commercial plowing, but what a difference! I can plow that road in 10 minutes where it used to take an hour. And I'm nice and warm and dry.

 

[Piston]

Nice Setup :thumbsup:

 

[BeeferMan]

I used to plow with the tractor, slow to plow, slow to and from the drives and barns that needed cleaning up, great for pushing back bankings. No cab on our tractors though, so that got old after a while. Used to plow snow with the pu back in the days when I worked for a excavation company, but hadn't had a plow on my 4wd pu for awhile. Bit the bullet and added one. Wouldn't go back to the tractor unless it had a cab. Maybe if I needed a blower I would, but the truck does a fine job during the storm.

It's real easy to break a truck plowing. It's also real easy to NOT break a truck plowing. I don't beat it up, I'll make a pass through everything when it gets 10-12 inches deep. Never had a plow related problem except maybe u-joints. Can't say for sure the plowing caused that, but it it did, so what? Plowing works a truck, yes, but that's what a truck is for. If you keep your truck in the garage and only take it out when the sun is shining and never put a load in it it'll last forever - but that's not why I have a truck.

I plow with the truck while it's storming and/or night time, if the banks need to be moved back I'll do it later when the sun is shining. I like my heat and the radio and my coffee. And I like plowing in a t-shirt. Truck for me, thanks...

 

[Duffster]

"Tractor or Truck for plowing?"

Tractor! :thumbsup:

YouTube - Pushing Snow with a Case MX 255

 

[LD1]

"Tractor or Truck for plowing?"

Tracotor! :thumbsup:

YouTube - Pushing Snow with a Case MX 255

Yea, but for the cost of ONE of those, you could buy AT LEAST 8 brand new plow trucks.

Will that out work 8 trucks??? And hows the manuverabillity:laughing:

 

[Duffster]

Yea, but for the cost of ONE of those, you could buy AT LEAST 8 brand new plow trucks.

Will that out work 8 trucks??? And hows the manuverabillity:laughing:

I would say closer to the price of 4.

It would easily out work 8 trucks, with ONE man. Maneuverability would be just as good as an extended/crew cab truck.

 

[LD1]

I would say closer to the price of 4.

It would easily out work 8 trucks, with ONE man. Maneuverability would be just as good as an extended/crew cab truck.

Well, how much would you figure that set-up to be??

I am figuring about $30k per NEW plow truck. That is about what they cost for just a basic stripped down 3/4 ton truck/plow combo.

And by manuveribility I am meaning the ability to get into tight spots. Like back-dragging between a couple of parked cars. That 14-16' box just wouldn't fit.

 

[LD1]

I will also add that two trucks with wings can push almost as much snow as that 1 push box on that tractor. Provided the operators are experienced.

We had an opportunity to do so thursday night into yesterday. Was out for 14 hours plowing some of the Columbus schools.

Two trucks with wings, angle the blades toward eachother, and lock wings. It is like a big 15' V-plow. Very nice when in a lot that requires the snow to be moved all the way to one end. Windrow everything into big runs and then lock plows and make a big push. Then windrow the trail-offs back up and repete.

Two plows plowing in conjuction like this can easily moove 4-5 times more snow than just a single truck with a V-plow or winged plow. We do it quite often. And it's a lot of fun:thumbsup: Just dont do it with a rookie. Cause it is easy for one truck to loose traction and slide into eachother.

 

[dave1949]

As to auto transmissions on pickups and plowing, one idea explained to me was that they are damaged when the driver shifts from forward to reverse without giving the truck time to come to a stop. According to this person, that causes very high pressures inside the auto trans.

I have no idea, but if that's so it could explain why some go through a transmission in a couple years and others don't ever need a rebuild.
Dave.