Plowing with a Truck Issues / Effect on Truck's Value

[LD1]

Yup, and while plowing you are getting 10mpg, an indication of how hard you are working the truck. Which is why plow trucks have lower resale value....

Just because the MPG is less dont mean the truck is working harder.

Miles is a relative term that has nothing to do with how hard an engine is working. Do you gauge how hard you are using your tractor in terms of MPG? or GPH?

What if I am just sitting idling for 10 hours. My MPG would be ZERO. Is that working harder than running 60MPH down the road and getting 20MPG?

Trust me, plowing is NOT working my truck very hard. I hardly give any pedal at all. About how you would accelarate once the light turns green but 100yds up is another read. I have to give more "pedal" just to maintain 60MPH on the road than I do while plowing 90% of the time.

So I just dont see how low speeds, and not much fuel consumption per hour equate to working the truck hard. Sure, its alot of stop and go and turning, which wears out tires , steering components, u-joints, etc. But not my definition of "working hard"

I gan get 10 mpg towing a 15k load at 60 MPH. THAT is working ALOT harder than 10 MPG plowing.

 

[brown40]

I think the issue is useful life... the number of turns, the number of transmission shifts, the number of times braking, the extra draw on the electrical system... a commuter truck or hauler will have less events per hour (or second) than the plow man has, even if they're carried out gently. It takes a toll on them. Engine-wise I don't think plowing is so bad as hauling heavy and getting hot, but as far as the wear items go, and especially for thousands of extra transmission shifts and wheel slips... someone looking to buy a vehicle is oftentimes trying to get away from the nickel & diming the soft parts take for time and money on their used vehicle, and hope to upgrade. All things equal, wear items on an unworked truck are less worn for the time.

 

[dave1949]

I've been told that what ruins automatic transmissions while plowing is not coming to a full stop when shifting between forward and reverse, creates very high fluid pressures inside the transmission.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Depends on who is fixing it and what you are plowing. If you are the one fixing and paying the bills you will figure out what to do and not to do. If you are plowing a long straight driveway, it isn't going to hurt anything. If you are doing large parking lots, back and forth lifting the plow, charging system doesn't like and same for the brakes. If you are plowing small residential drives hitting stuff seems to be the big issue. there is no trip when you back blade. On the large parking lots the guys that don't push the snow back enough the first snow then end up trying to stack, that does a lot of damage. that is where you damage the frame!

 

[4570Man]

For the mpg to mean anything you would have to plow a roadway. Around here we don't plow much, but most of the highway plows are dump trucks. You would need to know the mpg running on clear roads with a load of salt. Then the mpg running with with a load of salt and plowing. Around here the road department uses everything they have. They use graders pretty often, and in extreme cases backhoes. I would guess plowing is easy work for a tandem axel dump truck.

 

[Jstpssng]

I've been told that what ruins automatic transmissions while plowing is not coming to a full stop when shifting between forward and reverse, creates very high fluid pressures inside the transmission.

That hurts any transmission.

 

[dave1949]

That hurts any transmission.

That's true but plowing, and maybe while hurrying a bit too, involves a lot of back and forth opportunities to not be patient enough.

 

[Sodo]

I am curious what impacts plowing with a truck has on a truck's mechanicals and resale value. Alignment? Tire wear? Frame? ...?

Of course it's a continuum, there are mechanical limits to everything, dependent on conditions, and dependent on the user, and how many tons of snow it plowed.

Having a tool on-hand and NOT getting your work done will reduce the value that you receive from a tool. The question is; did you receive the value to offset the lesser resale? Would be good to look at the cost of plowing otherwise and compare the cost & convenience to your resale loss.

 

[aczlan]

Depends on who is fixing it and what you are plowing. If you are the one fixing and paying the bills you will figure out what to do and not to do. If you are plowing a long straight driveway, it isn't going to hurt anything. If you are doing large parking lots, back and forth lifting the plow, charging system doesn't like and same for the brakes. If you are plowing small residential drives hitting stuff seems to be the big issue. there is no trip when you back blade. On the large parking lots the guys that don't push the snow back enough the first snow then end up trying to stack, that does a lot of damage. that is where you damage the frame!

Also, its not uncommon for plowing to mess up the frame of the truck (especially on early to mid 2000s Chevy/GMC pickups, see Broken Frame, 2003 Chevy 3500, 4x4 - Snow Plow Forum - Let's Talk Snow Discussion Forums ).
Suffice it to say that I would not buy a used plow truck without knowing the driver and how its been treated).

Aaron Z

 

[forgeblast]

Buy some fluid film to coat the truck to prevent salt damage. I was going to get a plow, didn't have the plow package and it would void my warranty if I plow with out the upgraded package.