I have plowed with all of the major brands on my own trucks as well as some commercial trucks I plowed with for contractors. I have liked some things and disliked some things about each one but they all get it done.

After plowing with all of them I settled on a Boss for my newest truck. You can get a Boss with either style (trip edge or trip blade) and you can get straight or V-blades. The mounting system is one of the best, plus you dont have the irritation of a lifting chain. Boss plows have the hydraulic cylinder mounted directly from the head gear to the plow frame so you dont have a chain to slack up when you drive over big bumps or railroad tracks or whatever. I used to hate that with my other plows.... the plow come up, the chain slacks and then the plow drops back down tightening the chain back up and SLAAAAM!!! back down on the truck. :/

I also really like the speed and power of the Boss hydraulics. Again, they all get the job done.

 

Western now owns Fisher so there is not real differance between the two besides options now. I own a Western and its nice but I grew up on Boss. IMO they are the BEST out there. Heavy duty, fast and strong hydraulics. If your trying to push a good windrow with the boss slightly angled, it wont force itself all the way back like a Western or a Myer. The only down fall is when a hyd. line breaks, you cant short chain a boss up like you can the rest. And believe me, you will break a line eventually.

 

I've used both Boss and Western. The Western Ultra mount is awesome. The narrow mounting slot on the Boss is awful. I found mounting the Boss to be cumbersome. The pins need to be lined up or they don't slide in. Plus I had a 9.5ft Boss that was supposed to hook and unhook on its own with the hydraulics but it never worked. Could have been the installer but both Boss's were not as easy to use as the Western. When it's sleeting and the wind is blowing and I need to go and forgot to hook up before the precipitation started, dealing with the Boss was a hassel. And to get it lined up on a different truck that sits a little higher always requires a jack to get the plow up to the undercarriage. The Western can be angled into the mount and pulled on the truck etc etc blah blah. I vote for Western.

 

We had an 8' Fisher on our old 04... and the farking thing was damn near IMPOSSIBLE to line up properly (and we stored it in our garage).

 

IMO there is really no bad plow. The most important thing is to mantain them. I run a Meyer on my 99 and love it. I have used older Westerns and don't care for them. I have alot of Meyer parts in my garage and there are alot of auto parts stores that carry these parts.

 

In all honesty, I think this thread is almost like a "what tire is best" thread. I think in general (and just my opinion) that most folks will vote for whatever particular brand they are the most familiar with. Not that there is anything wrong with that, just human nature I think. Like my previous post, I vote for the Boss V, but thats just my opinion. I have always liked the speed and ease of hooking it up, rather than the Western I had on my '00 and '02. But, like I said, it's all personal preference.

I think the best advice I could give anyone looking to buy a plow is to ask your buddies that have plows if you can try theirs for a few minutes. Ask them to show you how it goes on and off, and see how it works in an open lot somewhere.

Good luck!

 

in my opion i would say western we have had two of them an they take the abuse an just put a new v plow on my fathers truck that was a western an he loves it GET A QUICK TATCH MODEL if you buy a plow for a truck u drive everyday

 

I have use several brands

I say BOSS for superduty because I have plow and it held like it good.


Meyer but have trouble with a frame snap from plow so it weld but it work ok


Western it work good expect mount on truck where plow hook to mount have problem with bolts shred it.

fisher I can't say never try.

To me that boss are good for superduty. i don't like V plow= you be replace ball joints more oftens due v plow are heavy than straight plow.

You see he try not push snowpile far because there are small curb under so tire would fall in that then it get stuck. He got stuck last year and call wrecker to pull it. it 2001 F250 5.4L 4wd with Boss 7'6

 

I personally dislike the boss, I have been stuck in parking lots, having to drop my blade inorder to get parts, where with meyer or western I can short chain them. I also do alot of hills, really steep hills, the chains work much better since they have far more articulation than the boss, which really has very little when moving downward. I really hate leaving 1-2 foot wide strips of snow because the blade cant touch the ground, and my customers feel the same.

I am currently running a Western Wide-out, and love the blade.

 

Like stated already, asking which plow is best is like asking which soft drink is best, it's a matter of opinion and what one person likes, another may hate. It really comes down to what you need a plow to do for you and what kind of dealer support that particular brand has in your area.

Around these parts, Western plows outnumber any other brand by a significant margin. They're good plows no doubt. Boss is a not too close second, but there are many complaints about boss's full trip v-plows and their lack of trip "ability" when scooped. Striking something when scooped with a boss vee can make for a long night.

I personally have owned Meyer, Fisher, Western, and Blizzard. The Meyer was junk, it spent more time in the shop than plowing. We had several Western uni-mounts that had quite a few pump problems. The newer ultra-mount designs are good plows, but you've gotta keep an eye on the base of the tower, they're known to crack and the tower falls back on the hood of the truck causing damage. 3 years ago I made the jump to a Blizzard. I will never go back. Before the blizzard I was running an 8.5 Western ProPlus with Western wings. I got tired of getting out to put the wings on and off, and wanted a wider plow.

I do all commercial plowing, and at 3am, time is money, so I wanted as much plow as my truck could handle. I went with a Blizzard 8611 LoPro, which is 8.5' wide and hydraulically expands to 11'. Many skeptics will tell you more moving parts means more maintenance. This is true to an extent, like anything, preventitive maintenance is key to any piece of equipment's longevity. Keeping things greased and dealing with rust reqularly is important, on any plow, but is more important on Blizzards as there's more places for water to sit and rot out the blade. However, Blizzard plows are just as reliable when it counts as any other plow. I will take a little more off-season maintenance in favor of more productivity any day.

IMO, Blizzard power plows are the best plows, but again, this is the best plow for the type of plowing I do, not necessarily the best for everyone.

 

Regarding the Boss.....you can "short chain" it using a ratchet strap to lift it.



I got the V to bust through drifts and the wet heavy snows, pretty versatile, IMO.

If they made an expandable V plow (combine the blizzard power plow and the Boss V) that would be awesome...

 

I had a Meyer on my '73 highboy and a Fisher on my '87 suburban. I was happy with both. I did driveways, etc. Nothing heavy duty. I'm getting my Western ProPlow 8'6" installed tomorrow, Monday. I've read that the lights suck but I can deal with that. What problem is there with the solenoids? Anything specific or that I should spec out differently when they do the install?
Cost was the main reason for the choice since I'm not doing anything heavy duty. Others were considerably more expensive except for the Fisher, who apparently is co-owned with Western anyway.
All input is greatly appreciated since it's a $4250 + tax investment.

Later...
Brewster...

 

Just had to give a thumbs up to DCSpecial. It is pretty easy to short chain a boss. Just use a good heavy ratchet strap (not a cheap skinny one), and crank it up. Thank the snow gods I have never had to do it, but I do know people that have, and it works just as well as the come-along or short chain method on most standard chain-hung blades.

 

My Western is 6 years old and has worked great since day 1. I treat it like poop and it sits outside year round. The elbow fittings will need changing after this season. Some WD-40 and a hose down after use is about all the maintenance I've done. It's 8.5ft standard duty.

I just can't see how the Boss users like the Boss mount. On my Boss mount, the bracket opening on the plow is very narrow. I've tried hitting that mark at 3am in a snow storm. Good luck.

My western mount is like trying to fit a pencil into the wide end of a trumpet. I can usually drive it right on, no way with the Boss.

 

By myself it takes me a couple of tries with the Boss. I usually have someone available to help me line it up. Not a big issue either way for me.
Although since it had been snowing so much I would just leave the plow on and leave the truck in the shop and drive the F-150 around....plow is still on it from when I first hooked it to start the snow season.



My last Western was a uni-mount so it was pretty similar with that.....I've never used the Ultra-mount.