If you go like hell you will break things. I have my own plowing business and had work for a village doing roads for 15 years. Only thing I have broken was 1 hose and broke off 2 cutting edge bolts when I caught a manhole cover. That is a Fisher.

 

You are 100% correct here. I will be checking mine out before next winter. I just installed it last weekend. I think there are three height holes on my Fisher MM II.

 

This is a bit like asking what kind of truck is best......
surf to www.letstalksnow.com and read there BEFORE you buy anything.

In the interim:

Where are you?
How much snow falls where you are?
What is the character of that snow (ie wet and heavy, or dry and fluffy)?
What will you be plowing? (ie parking lots, roads, driveways?)
What are you putting it on?
What is your budget?

You can plow snow with just about anything attached to the front of a truck. Some plows work better than others. Some plows have more features, more moving parts, more capabilities, and more cost. Some plows are heavier than others, both in duty and weight.

How handy are you?
What kind of shop do you have?
What kinds of dealers are around if you break something (which sooner or later you will)
You are wise to ask for opinions. Read them, study up on the various brands, as there are differences in features and performance among them just as there are differences among the various configurations of trucks.

 

That pretty much sums it all up. Up here in the NE we can have wet, dry, and sticky snow at any time of the season. Some times all in one storm. Or you may even get luckier and have rain before or after the storm which makes life really wonderful to be out playing in. The truck does matter also not just the plow. A truck with a LS rear end gives you three driven wheels versus one without LS. That is 50% more pushing power. Skinny tires work better in snow than big fat monster tires. I know many people who have tried those fat tires for plowing. A SWD will plow better than a DWD because there is more weight on the SWD tires in the rear. weight in the back helps. Too much weight destroys things. The list goes on and on. I'll have to look at the website you posted.

 

Another real good site to check out is www.plowsite.com

 

It's not as good. I would go to letstalksnow.com like Peter said.

-Matt

 

I think I need to fire all my employees and hire you guys because from what I have read here, plows cant fail unless drivers are abusive. I have seen bad welds fail,electric parts short out, poor design ideas from manufacturers causing both plow failure and even truck damage. We run close to 50 pieces of equipment plus subs and hand equipment every storm and keep constant maintanence as well as constant equipment updates and have at least 4 breakdowns per event. Some could be avoided but some happen even with the best most careful drivers.So my answer to the question is to look at what you are planning to do, check out dealer support in your area check with other fellow plower and see what they are using and see what combination will work the best for you and your truck and your wallet.

 

yea what he said...

 

If you're plowing for yourself, or just driveways, or just a couple accounts any of the above straight blades will work fine......BUT if you are plowing a lot of commercial accounts and want to make some $$$$$$$$$....a versatile plow such as the Blizzard 810 or 8611 is the only way to fly. They are extremly well built, and the extendable wings make a difference you literally have to experience to believe. I'm not familiar with the Wideout, but I'm sure it works as well. But I know the Blizzard products are worth every penny. I'm not trying to sound cocky or anything, but you put any straight blade in a lot with an 810, the 810 will run circles around you all day. trucks/drivers being equal of course. You wouldn't think it would make that much difference, but having used both I can say it DOES. As far as breakage goes, this is the 3rd winter on my current 810 on a 12-15 account, 6-8 hour commercial route, and I've never touched anything on it other than fluids and lubrications.

Check out www.letstalksnow.com for more info.

 

You have no control over bad welds and electrical shorts. I'm out in every storm and see guys plowing parking lots and driveways. It is nothing to see them slamming into old snowbankings and snow flying ten feet in the air. Or the guy who is just getting ready to blast into someone's driveway as he's coming down the road. He drops his blade and just slams right into two feet of already plowed snow that the town trucks have pushed off the road. Sometimes they will catch the edge of the curb and stop dead in their tracks. These are the types I speak of that damage plows and trucks. If you plow commercially, and do roads especially, you will have more damage occur as you blade is down much more than guys like me that do 5-20 driveways per storm. I have never even replaced a plow edge on a steel blade in all my years of plowing. I did replace two plastic edges on my 6 foot Fisher that I had on a 1988 S-10 Blazer and again on a 1995 S-10 Blazer that I plowed with. Then I needed to get back into a pickup for hauling reasons and moved back up to an 8 foot Fisher. There is one item that I have found that does break down on the Fisher Hydropac units. The upper pump bushing corrodes between the starter motor and pump. I pull mine off once a year to oil it up. I havent done my latest MM II yet and hope that Fisher has redesigned it from the system that I had on my S-10's. My 94 F250 was an under the hood motor driven pump that worked flawlessly.

 

my 44 year old Meyers C-8 plow has had two sets of hydraulic hoses replaced in 1975, and again 10 years ago, and one cutting edge replaced, 6 years ago.

i have used western pods on my plows since 1975. i used to use the Meyers shoes, but they only lasted 8-12 hours.
with the western pods, i get 9-10 years from a set.
and up till the past 3 years, i would average 120 to 150 hours plowing per truck per year on township streets.
these past 3 years, we have only been out on average 12-20 hours, so i have taken on some commercial accounts.
diners, strip malls, and bars.
the 2 other C-8 plows i have were bought at auction for $200 each, the 79 had a LT-7.5 on it when i bought it, and the 02 came with a LT-7.5

i keep the 7.5 plows for spares and run the C-8's on everything.

 

from my exp in commercial plowing, central hydrolics have way less problems (whether engine or trans mounted) than front electro hydrolic pumps do.And I personally think that the older convetional plows were built alot stonger and I had a lot less problems with the welds and truck mounts also.The newer plows seem to have less atachment points to the truck frame while putting more weight in front of the bumper.But they do work faster and it is nice to take all the equipment off the front of the truck and let it look like the truck we all love to look at when not plowing snow.On my personal truck,I've had the same unimount since 1996 and had to replace the a-frame in 98 and had 3 inches added to the top and all the welds reinfored along with some extra gussets an bracing.The only other repairs were a new cutting edge and a solinoid in 2006 .Change the fluid and filters every fall and it should last a long time.

 

Western Pro Series would be my pick. Quick lift and angle. Tall 8' moldboard. Add removable wings for lot plowing.