Anyone plow snow with a dually pickup?

[Hay Dude]

Have only plowed with SRW pickups, tractors and large commercial dump trucks.
Have heard small duallies tend to slide or spin out and go sideways.

Chains are not an option here. Just want to know if anyone plows with a DRW pickup with standard all season or snow tires and what its’ been like.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

A friend who plows tells me his first plow truck was a duelly, and never again. Because you have twice the wheel to ground contact, the weight per wheel is 1/2 and tends to ride on top of the snow more often.
Made sense to me, as skinnier snow tires for me always had better traction because the can dig down through snow easier.

 

[Beaver Cove Deere]

They suck to plow with. Need at a minimum a 9’ plow for a standard cab and chassis. DRW float on top of the snow thus not getting the traction down to the ground. Drop a yard or two of salt and sand into the dump body was one way around it.
In the old days you would see one set of tires removed leaving only a single on each side.

 

[dodge man]

No experience plowing with one but I helped a guy try to get one out that was stuck in the snow in his driveway. Not good. We didn’t get it out.

 

[Hay Dude]

Thanks for the feedback-makes sense to me.
I thought of possibly buying & installing 6 studded snow tires on it for snow season, then putting normal tires on it for warm months.

I can get an exceptionally good deal on this truck, but 6 studded snows would add more to overall cost of truck.

 

[fatjay]

Generally speaking DRW are skinnier than SRW. I dont' have any experience personally, but logically, you are mostly plowing on paths that are already cleared of snow. Skinnier tires are better on snow. But I'm guessing for DRW, it's going to be a highway tire without aggressive tread.

 

[JJT]

Step father plowed with a one ton 4wd dually dump truck for years. Nothing but headaches, even with snow tires and chains on the duals and thousands of pounds of sand in the back. He went through 2 transmissions before the truck saw 10K miles. He'd get stuck bad at least twice a season, where it took a payloader or backhoe to dig him out before he could be towed out. Every few snow storms he'd get stuck enough he'd have to shovel snow, throw sand and spin like heck to get unstuck.

He thought he'd get rich plowing driveways, it didn't work out.

 

[Hay Dude]

Step father plowed with a one ton 4wd dually dump truck for years. Nothing but headaches, even with snow tires and chains on the duals and thousands of pounds of sand in the back. He went through 2 transmissions before the truck saw 10K miles. He'd get stuck bad at least twice a season, where it took a payloader or backhoe to dig him out before he could be towed out. Every few snow storms he'd get stuck enough he'd have to shovel snow, throw sand and spin like heck to get unstuck.

He thought he'd get rich plowing driveways, it didn't work out.

Yeah, I’m not worried about the financial end. I’ve been plowing snow 35 years now, so all good there.
Just want to know if a dually pickup would plow snow good. This truck is 4WD.

I have plowed with large 4x2 and 4x4 dump trucks, heavy enough to get good traction, but not a dually that was this light. Thought ass-end might slide around.

 

[Hay Dude]

Generally speaking DRW are skinnier than SRW. I dont' have any experience personally, but logically, you are mostly plowing on paths that are already cleared of snow. Skinnier tires are better on snow. But I'm guessing for DRW, it's going to be a highway tire without aggressive tread.

Truck I’m considering comes with 6 good all season type tires.
I was thinking I would buy 6 cheapie tires and stud them for snow season, then remove when warm weather comes.

 

[MossRoad]

Have only plowed with SRW pickups, tractors and large commercial dump trucks.
Have heard small duallies tend to slide or spin out and go sideways.

Chains are not an option here. Just want to know if anyone plows with a DRW pickup with standard all season or snow tires and what its’ been like.

Yes. Back in the 80's I worked at the local airport. One of my duties was plowing the ramps and taxiways between long rows of hangars, and car parking lots. We had a 1 ton Chevy dual rear wheel truck and 3/4 Dodge single rear wheel truck. Given the choice, all of us would pick the single rear wheel truck. It just had more traction. Our owners ended up building a 4' x 8' by 6" box in the bed of the dually and filled it with sand for added traction. Removed it every summer.

As others have mentioned, twice the tires = flotation, not traction.