Snow Plows.

It's winter. It's ski season, and with that comes the most important part of it all. Snow. Although all of us on here are generally stoked when we wake up to more snow on the ground, there are still many places where it just gets in the way in general. Snow plows paired with a 4 wheel drive vehicles make removing snow from your driveway a breeze, and there's something satisfying to me about pushing snow around.

My old PU truck was a 94 Chevy K2500, and it had a 2005 Blizzard 7'6" straight blade on it.  When it came time to part ways with the truck, I really wanted to keep the plow because the plow itself was very lightly used, and in great condition. Before selling it I removed the plow mount, the controller, and all the wiring. The problem was, Blizzard no longer makes this plow, and therefore I could not get my hands on a mounting kit, or a wiring harness to match this plow up with my new truck. It simply doesn't exist. I was told by 2 different fabricators, that it could not be done and I should buy a plow that was designed for the truck. A similar plow would cost me about $5000. That was enough information to convince me that it could in fact be done.

I measured the frame rails on the truck, and designed a simple but effective mounting bracket. I had a local welder build them for me, and the rest of the project was on me.



Then I installed them under the front end of the truck, utilizing the old push beam which got a fresh coat of paint. I removed the plastic chin spoiler and tow hooks while performing the work.



The fully assembled plow mount.



Put the chin spoiler back and cut a notch out of it. It almost looks stock.



Then came the wiring. The wiring for the plow itself is fairly simple. You basically have to pull power off the battery to run the hydraulics, install a contactor somewhere under the hood to turn the pump on and off on, and route the control wiring from the plow connection through the engine bay, under the dash, and then to the controller. Getting this thick harness of control wires through the firewall on these newer trucks is a PIA, so I routed it through the fender and directly into the side of the truck where the driver door attaches. This required temporarily removing the door, but is still way easier than cutting a hole in the firewall.



I organized all the wires neatly under the hood with cable ties, routed the plow plug through the grill, mounted the controller in the cab and then it was time to test my contraption. It picked up on the first try!



with all the snow we've been getting I've already used it 4 times.


Now the trick is to figure out the plow lights, so I can take this on the road legally and use it at night.

The old vehicle headlamp plugs are much different from the new ones, so I ordered stock headlamp pigtails for a 2016 Silverado and spliced them into the old headlamp adapters that plug into the original plow lighting relay harness. I haven't hooked that up yet, but I will be working on that soon. I really hope that works. It should automatically turn the truck lights off, and the plow lights on when the plow is turned on.



Anyone else on here have a plow, and what sort of setups do you have?

That's cool!
    Finally used the Massey to clean up some old frozen snow today. Usually we use the John Deere lawn tractor to plow. This last storm we borrowed a relatives Ford Ranger to plow 2 people. I think it's a Fisher control with a Snodogg plow? It has the fold out wings, but seemed to work better with them in. The headlights suck!

Nice work Ethan. It's very satisfying to make something work after being told "it can't be done". Good on ya.

My snow removal consists of a Ranger with a plow, my tractor with a FEL or a blower. I currently have the FEL on as it's nice to be able to move the piles around as needed. If I put the blower on I'll need to put the cab on my tractor otherwise I'll be covered.

Impressive Ethan.

My plow rig is limping into it’s 11th winter of use.


Of course I’m not a real plow guy.....I’m a skier! (Real plow guys trucks almost never make it into their second decade of plowing!) But I do maintain 7 driveways for work, as well as my own, my mother’s, and I help out friends and neighbors in need.

The 2007 F-150/HT plow is pushed to the max with the amount I put it through. Definitely will need larger truck next go around. Tractor with cab and blower would kick ass and do the job better, but would use up an entire day of my life with each 4” storm.

Can you plow with an ATV?

Harvey wrote

Can you plow with an ATV?

Yup.  Several of my neighbors have plows attached to theirs.

nepa wrote

Harvey wrote

Can you plow with an ATV?

Yup.  Several of my neighbors have plows attached to theirs.

+1

Harvey wrote

Can you plow with an ATV?

I will add one of my neighbors has a quad with a plow and it moves the snow pretty well.