snow plow weight

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lenny

Guest
Howdy folks, I'm going to be purchasing a plow real soon for my 2001 Ram 2500, club cab, 138" WB. I'm curious what the proper way to figure out how heavy of a plow my truck can handle safely and legally. I don't want to make any assumptions because there has to be a formula.
 
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Mike wagner

Member
Need to find out the weight of the front axle. If it's a gasser you should be okay with about anything. A Cummins and you will have to figure things out if you want to be "legal". I had an 01' standard cab long bed and I had a hiniker 9.5' v-plow on the front of mine but had a heavy axle. It should tell you the front weight on the door sticker.
 
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mrbb

Well-known member
my 2 cents and NO I don't know the formula.
is a simple way is go to a good plow brand's site , type in your trucks info and it will recommend the plows that will fit for you.
NEXT if you want to go BIGGER, there are ways you can set your truck up to handle bigger, first will be air bags to help HOLD the load, at some point you will be in need of some ballast to counter the weight of the plow
bigger also will be more wear and tear on the whole truck, more front end, but whole truck .
I personally wouldn't go larger than a 9 ft blade and even that can be hard on a truck, pending design of it and weights
is your truck a GAS< or a diesel?
as that factors into the big picture on weights


here is a decent read for you, has some sort of a formula in it as well, but just good info , have a look


http://info.bossplow.com/Blog/bid/153972/Before-You-Buy-That-Diesel-Snowplow-Truck
 
L

lenny

Guest
Mike wagner said:
Need to find out the weight of the front axle. If it's a gasser you should be okay with about anything. A Cummins and you will have to figure things out if you want to be "legal". I had an 01' standard cab long bed and I had a hiniker 9.5' v-plow on the front of mine but had a heavy axle. It should tell you the front weight on the door sticker.
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I found a chart on line and for my specific model it says 4850# for front axle and the GVWR of 8800#
 
M

Mike wagner

Member
Cummins? I had a Cummins in mine. It was just at the weight limit for my plow. But I wasn't to worried about it. The poly hiniker 9.5 v plows weigh around 900lbs if I remember right.
 
L

lenny

Guest
plow

the plow that im interested in weighs in at 1025#,,,,seems like a huge load!
 
H

HardwaterHoosier

Member
You can hang a V off a 2500 easily, but you've got to have weight in the rear to push. I usually keep 1000 lbs minimum in the back on a real storm. 2-3" coatings and you don't need as much. if you're truck is getting tired, you might need a set of bags or timbrens to keep it up so the corners don't bottom out.
 
L

lenny

Guest
HardwaterHoosier said:
You can hang a V off a 2500 easily, but you've got to have weight in the rear to push. I usually keep 1000 lbs minimum in the back on a real storm. 2-3" coatings and you don't need as much. if you're truck is getting tired, you might need a set of bags or timbrens to keep it up so the corners don't bottom out.
Click to expand...
thanks man! Are there any plows you'd stay away from?
 
M

Mike wagner

Member
Without going into to much detail I really like hinikers. I've never had any problems with mine. Have had many plows and those seem to be the best.
 
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HardwaterHoosier

Member
I'm not a meyer fan, But that was 15yrs ago and it was worn-out when I got it. I've had good luck with two westerns, and my current boss.
The V is nice, but hardly used for my situations. The scoop is the time saver. My next plow, I'll probably really consider a wideout or similar extendable winged plow.
 
1

1fujifilm

Well-known member
mrbb said:
my 2 cents and NO I don't know the formula.
is a simple way is go to a good plow brand's site , type in your trucks info and it will recommend the plows that will fit for you.
NEXT if you want to go BIGGER, there are ways you can set your truck up to handle bigger, first will be air bags to help HOLD the load, at some point you will be in need of some ballast to counter the weight of the plow
bigger also will be more wear and tear on the whole truck, more front end, but whole truck .
I personally wouldn't go larger than a 9 ft blade and even that can be hard on a truck, pending design of it and weights
is your truck a GAS< or a diesel?
as that factors into the big picture on weights


here is a decent read for you, has some sort of a formula in it as well, but just good info , have a look


http://info.bossplow.com/Blog/bid/153972/Before-You-Buy-That-Diesel-Snowplow-Truck
Click to expand...

I agree, use the website of the plow you want and follow the recommendation.
 
S

Stack

New member
HardwaterHoosier said:
I'm not a meyer fan, But that was 15yrs ago and it was worn-out when I got it. I've had good luck with two westerns, and my current boss.
The V is nice, but hardly used for my situations. The scoop is the time saver. My next plow, I'll probably really consider a wideout or similar extendable winged plow.
Click to expand...

Boss! Just picked up a 9.2 Poly-V for one of our work trucks, very nice setup. There's a great dealer in Ishpeming too, he was great to work with on picking the right plow for our needs.

Stack
 
oldguy

oldguy

Member
If you have a lot of back blading I have a 7000 series Hiniker C-plow. It weighs about 750 pounds 8 feet wide. Purchased it used 4 years ago and no problems yet. It’s on a 2500 Suburban with a heavy 8/1 liter motor. Didn’t need to do anything to the suspension. If you have a large driveway or making new paths nothing beats a V-plow.
 
mezz

mezz

Well-known member
Check out BOSS, Western also a long time mfg, well made, another to consider, Snow Way. It's all going to depend on what size area(s) you are keeping clear not to mention having room enough to keep it clear all winter.-Mezz
 
W

warner

Active member
lenny
i bought a 2001 dodge 2500 quad cab long box cummins brand new in 01...hung a 8'6" western V plow on it and plowed commercially for 4 years with it and still use this setup today..
the western has never let me down,not once..900-1000 pounds in the bed and good tires that truck will push a monster amount of snow...would i ever buy a straight blade...ummmm NO
not for the drift busting capabilities of the V
 
W

Woodtic

Active member
Boss and Ram have there proving grounds just east of you Lenny. You see them refuel in Bruce in the winter. They like to run up and down M28 in the winter. Blacked out New Rams with 500lb weights in the back,with MFG plates. Some of them have Boss plows on them. Bet those boys could answer your questions.
 
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