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I don't mind the snow, it's the salt the DOT spreads on the roads I really hate. Fact is though that I enjoy spending time in the truck; I've been know to plow for three or four hours at a clip. I sometimes go out of my way to look for people to plow out; but there are some days when even I say enough is enough. I especially hate when I finish plowing only to have to go back out later and start all over! It's not uncommon to have to plow twice a day several days over the season.
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I'm contracted to go out at 3". I'm plowing parking lots, and I spend an average of 8-10 hours per storm. I hate it too when you have to go out and do it again the very next day, or even worse while it's still coming down. You wind up plowing everything twice the same night, but if that's what they want to pay me to do....Oh well.
Dinosaurfan, where are you from?
Kenny

 

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You mean people actually get paid to do this? What a country!
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Whats more fun than going out on a Saturady night with a couple of beers and plowing snow (we have a mile and a half or so private gravel road). We meet up with a couple of our neighbors doing the same, nothing but the sound of crisp snowflakes hitting your head. Everything else is quiet....except that crappy ol' Ford and the sound of catching that rock that you forgot that you marked back in fall....then your butt is suddenly wet and smells like an old beer and the dog hit his head on the dash...and if you just taught the wife how to plow, its usually a bad thing when, on the next night, she asks "will you show me how to plow?" Dooahh!!

 

I really love my truck, but I wouldn't drive 9 - 10 hrs. to go nowhere, for nothing. I do take care of all the elderly and close neighbors for free on my way out though. I'm on the lowest end of the pay scale here at $45.00 per hour, and I'm covered under their insurance. Of course, gas, oil, taxes and repairs are up to me. I'm guessing they don't pay that much up by you where you get a lot of snow? I cleaned up during the blizzard of '96. I literally didn't sleep or shut my truck off for 3 days.

 

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There were guys making $50 per hour doing municipal work during one snow emergency a few years ago. The average plow job is $10 a shot; 2 blade pass for a driveway about 50'long. With so many people have plows here....let's just say that I don't plan on giving up the day job.
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Stockman, I hear ya on the day job. Not everyone has a plow here, so the pay is pretty good. The guy that I plow for is charging $75.00 for a pickup, so he's making $30.00 per hour off my head. Most of the parking lots here are done by the landscapers that care for the property through the year. On the lots that we do, the building owners are real particular. They want to see blacktop and curbs, and they want to see guys with their blades down driving around even if it is still accumulating. I'm constantly wearing out the pivot pins for the trip edge on the curbs. Each lot takes an average of 2 hrs. with 4 " of snow. Just curios, is your Fisher the electric set-up, or the type that runs off the pulley?
Kenny

 

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Hydraulic pump. I am using the Myers control valve with seperate levers under my dash. I have a Fisher valve with a joystick control that I picked up, but haven't decided if I want to change. I'm familiar with using a joystick from past experience, but the old girl wouldn't feel quite the same without these levers if you know what I mean.
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I know what you mean. Controls that feel different than what you're used to can definately mess up your "flow". I'm very happy with the pulley set up myself. A few hours into plowing, I gotta go around and jump start everyone because they're plowing with their lights on. The guy I'm plowing for has 15 company trucks (mostly Fords, but a couple of chevys) with all electric Meyers. He doesn't run dual batteries, and he don't take care of his equipment. His guys beat the hell out of them trucks.
Kenny

 

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My brother has a Western electric/hydraulic model. He likes it, but he was just mentioning getting a larger replacement alternator because the plow pump is a power hog. His old alternator just "####... the bed"
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Has anyone ever come up with any ideas or modifications to improve "back dragging"? I thought of welding a piece of angle iron to the back of the trip edge to keep the blade from riding up, but I thought maybe someone out there might have a better Idea.
I do have an idea for protecting the trip edge pivot pins from curbs. I was thinking of cutting a square hole in the side of the blade just above the trip edge, and installing a metal wheel or roller in there. What do you think?
Kenny

 

>I do have an idea for
>protecting the trip edge pivot
>pins from curbs. I was
>thinking of cutting a square
>hole in the side of
>the blade just above the
>trip edge, and installing a
>metal wheel or roller in
>there. What do you think?
>
>Kenny

Kenny, how about just installing a grade 2 bolt as a "rub block" and just replace it when it wears down too far. Gotta be cheaper$$

Nathan

 

Nathan, I've actually been using grade 2 bolts in place of the original pins since they first wore out. I even went to grade 8 figuring they might last a little longer, but I still gotta replace them every few storms. Thanks for the sugguestion. Maybe I can make new pins with rollers in the ends. Whatever I make won't cost me anything. I'm a supervisor/machinist in a manufacturing plant, and they don't mind "home projects". Thanks again,
Kenny

 

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Fresh out of ideas, but I thought I'd tell you I was green with envy on the "home project" privileges you get in the "shop". All I get is use of the lousy photo copier!
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Well, My days of making "Un-Genuine" Ford Parts after hours are numbered. We were bought out 2 years ago by our competitor who gave us a 5 year plan. Now they're moving the whole factory out to Provo, Utah. (We make industrial diamonds) I'm going to stay on until the end (sometime in January) At least after Jan., you'll still have the photocopier, he he.
Kenny