Hey fellas, I'm lookin for some opinions and criticism here...don't be shy!
Lately I've noticed a lot of guys with their plow trucks towing equipment trailers with skid steers and tractors during the snow storms. I just don't like the idea...but I like the idea of using a loader for these snow banks! $50k rig that is a daily driver...ya know the F350 Lariat supercab/shortbed with heated seats. BLAH BLAH BLAH HAHAHA
So my mind has been in overdrive...
My truck is in great shape, so I think I could use it as the platform for a serious build. It's the long wheelbase model, and I've converted over to Single Rear Wheels. I've got an 11' flatbed right now and from research on Bobcat's website, the lower-level skid steers are about 10' long with a standard bucket and weigh around 5k pounds. Piece of cake for the truck.
It would be a home-brew setup whichever way I go. So do I go with a rollback tow truck type body, a roll-off like a switch-n-go, a sliding body like a rollback but doesn't dump/angle to the sky then having the tail hydraulically drop for a ramp, hooklift setup, or go with some type of seriously heavy duty ramps?
Ideally, I'd like the truck to be able to dump also...which kind of drops out the ramps and sliding body ideas. The rollback would be able to dump fine since the tail overhang wouldn't be there (11' body) so it could go right to the sky! Of course, when loading equipment I wouldn't send it that high.
When I was in this idea phase last winter, I contacted many hooklift manufactures and I was quoted basically $17k. No way! Switch-n-go quoted somewhere around $9k. No way either!
I'm leaning towards building a roll-off. Hydraulic scissor hoist to a sub-frame. Electric winch mounted up by the headboard, and the body cab slide on this sub-frame. This way, I can drop the body right flat on the ground. Load up the equipment, winch it on and go go go!
For the snow clean-ups, I'd drive up and pull off tot he side of the street. Unlock the body (However I end up designing those), raise the dump hoist, back off the winch. Set the body on the ground, unchain the skid steer or tractor, clean up all the snow. Load the tractor/skid steer, chain it down, winch the body back up, lower the dump, lock the body. On to the next driveway! This would REALLY beat this under powered snowblower and icy wood ramp bullcrap.

At the same time I've REALLY put some thought into a Dana 50 TTB swap into this 2wd rig. MAN, I mean how PATHETIC is it getting stuck in 1" of snow!? I'm not plannning on a snow plow, so I don't need a Dana 60.

4x4 Long wheelbase F350 SRW with a coil-sprung Dana 50 TTB front end with a custom roll-off setup...how's this all sound?

 

Here's the roll-off
IMG_3065 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

AND, I found this
Photos @ Synchro-Link.com
Except for that Dodge crap, that's the idea!

And a picture of a switch-n-go unit on a Cheby 4500 chassis.

 

That's really cool!

But I'd never do that to my truck.


Be cheaper/easier just to buy a trailer.

 

why not just get yourself an old 4x4 with a plow and go at.likely much cheaper and certainly safer.
you'd stop getting stuck,and be able to plow all at once.
run your good truck in the good weather.save it from the salt.
not that these are bad either lol.but certainly much lower $ than what your talking.check 'em out right next door to ya.
**1997 FORD F 250 HEAVY DUTY & PLOW
Ford F 250
plow truck 91 ford f350 dully 4x4 dump truck
1986 Ford f250 plow truck 9 foot plow

you don't need a D60 to push some white stuff around.
i'll let ya know how many good parts are left up front at the end of winter tho.

 

it posted twice.

 

But say if you didn't have a place to park a trailer...or would rather not tow in the snow storms...or couldn't get a trailer in some of the places a truck could go by itself (Like out in the woods getting firewood)...that's what I'm up against.
Driving this 2wd is hard enough in the snow...it won't move on it's own. Heck, I had to drag the sucker out of 1" of snow with the neighbor's farm tractor today...
I'm really leaning towards this roll-off idea, I think it would make the truck very useful and find myself doing a lot more than landscaping work. Could open up some doors for winter work, since I can't mow in winter LOL

 

For a truck like yours, I think that would be perfect.

 

Oops, we were typing at the same time!
Well the problem is I have accounts that are not plow-able. So I'm looking to use some type of loader rather than these stinkin' snow blowers. I also know a lot of guys who are running out of room to push snow, so they're hiring guys who own skid steers and tractors to go out to ther accounts and move the banks before the next storm...which is Friday. LOL I mean just today I get to the gas station to fill up and there's a guy leavng with his 1 or 2 year old F350 Lariat blah blah blah with a plow on front pulling a tandem axle equipment trailer with a track skid steer and a regular bucket. There's a guy at the pump next to me who is currently filled his skid steer with fuel, the 2010 F350 crew cab short bed with a plow pulling the equipment trailer. And as I was leaving, a guy with a Mid-2000's chevy suburban pulled in towing an equipment trailer with an 80's farm tractor with a loader on the front.
And they're all out pulling in the storm...I just don't think it's the safest thing in the world.
And thanks for the craigslist links, those are right in my neck of the woods...but I don't have room for another truck LOL
I think I will definetly spend more building a roll-off, but long term it'll pay for itself over and over again. With a second plow truck, that means another regstration and another stinking truck that's gonna break on me when I can't afford down time. Another truck to spend a week fixing it before inspection each year so it'll just barely sqeak by, blah blah blah.
How's your truck liking the snow plow this year F250!? I'm curious how the sag is, and your feelings/thoughts about the front end in general.

 

A 5000 pound skid steer is not going to move much snow very fast.

Figure the cost of the bed, hydraulics and skid steer, you could buy several of those trucks.

Getting the skid steer loaded on your truck in the snow, not exactly safe if you are alone just in case something happens.
Then figure the higher center of gravity you would have while driving with it loaded.

Safety, as 4x4 pulling a good trailer with brakes and your truck hauling the skid steer, probably about even.

That 4x4 pulling the trailer is going to go when you can't if it is loaded right.
Stopping, more tires mean more traction when they all have weight on them.
And getting the skid steer on a low trailer versus up on your truck, I would go with the trailer.

 

there is absolutely nothing wrong with pulling a trailer in a snow storm or any other kind of storm especially a loaded one.... anyone pulling the kind of stuff your talking about should have trailer brakes.....

so breaks on both axles of the truck and then a massive amount of weight over top of 1 2 or 3 axles with brakes yea seems good to me. ive done it several times

 

id just hang a plow on it mysely. plowing with a skidsteer isnt very fun. unless you drop a load of cash ans spring for a big bobcat with a heated cab and the high flow hydros. however if you wanted to id build a tilt bed with a small dovetail. you just gotta becareful loading skidsteers. they get kinda tipsy as far as swapping a 50 in front skip it. you have to remember that the payload is split between the front and rear axle. so depending on how you load it, youll be transfering weight between both axles. and haveing a 5-6000 pound payload id skip the 50 and go to the 60. the other thing youll have to worry about is how top heavy the truck will be. youll have alot of weight off the ground moveing the center of gravity of the truck up alot. haveing an IFS, id think that would add alot of body roll to your truck. just something to think about.

 

i would build a set-up like they use to haul trash dumpsters. it would be top heavy,but the forestry service around here hauls d-4 sized dozers on the back of their trucks, and they have to get off-road. could be done with lots of planning and help.

 

The problem I have is that I don't have a place to push the snow with a plow, where a loader could pick it up and shove it all back. I borrowed my neighbors farm tractor and pushed back the banks at my house and was surprised how the little ol' Ford pushed and piled it back.
For example, one account has 3' retaining walls on both sides of the driveway all the way from the road to the garage. The only place for the snow to go is up and over the wall. With the snowblower, it throws it pretty good...but when the snow is heavy it just doesn't make it over the wall everytime LOL. My first winter out of school, I've been getting a lot of calls to take care of driveways that everybody with a plow has said no because there's nowhere to put the snow.
With a loader I could push the snow like a plow, but then pick it up and shove it over the wall. And with a mid-level machine, I could mount a snowblower on it...without cost/price as consideration!
High center of gravity, it would be tall and since I'm SRW now I've lost the width factor.
But this load was about 5k pounds also, and I had absolutely no issues. Sway wasn't hardly noticable, and I've now got front and rear sway bars that came off the parts truck.

There's a guy in the next town over with a Pete S/A hook lift that puts his skid steer in his dumpster body and goes all over with it. Yes, I know it's nothing to compare to...but it's a neat setup also.

 

First off, that pic above will not be 5000 lbs....more like 2-3K. Second....do you have a skid or loader yet? If not, worry about it when you do.....personally, I'm thinking of a 'roll-off' type build for a future truck, but not for the same reasons, more so for easy body swaps for handling different stuff.

If you have a 3' retaining wall along a driveway, the blower is really the only way to go. A skid doesn't have the reach to push it back very far, so you'll run out of room pretty quick with it too. If it's narrow, a loader will have turning issues. Proper planning would be better, get a yearly contract with them for the snow, then use things like snow fence to minimize the snow going in, and deal with the rest.

With a proper contract, factor in salt, and use that when you can, melt snow of less than an inch or so, rather than removing it.

 

I don't know why I have 5k stuck in my head...I remember putting the numbers into one of those online wood weight calculator things. It's all green, cut that day. Oak, Maple, and Yellow Birch...man that was heavy loading it all by hand.

For the roll-off, it would be sweet to have just 1 truck rather than 2 or 3 dedicted rigs. I figure an enclosed body to keep all my mowers and work season junk inside, another flatbed body with my liquid sprayer crap mounted on it, and another straight flatbed for random stuff.
I'm curious on your own uses grey, aren't you into consrucion and site work?

I hadn't fuly considered the skid steer running out of room pushing the banks back. After thought, it sure makes sense though...guess I'm stuck with a blower.