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Snow plow correction to sit level. Snow plow guys, chime in!!!

Vombrown

Vombrown

Mountain Man
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ok I know the season is just ending for some but for me it is time to start thinking about next years plowing. I have had a CUCV (k-30) 1008 set aside for this for about a year. My question is this...
The front springs on my CUCV are already deflected with the weight of the 6.2 diesel. The snow plow that I am installing weighs roughly 1k pounds. It's a large hydraulic commercial setup. Here is A list of some of the options I was thinking.

Front 2" lift springs
Front easy inch and add a leaf spring
Beefing up the front spring pack with an overload and rear spring leaf from the back of my parts suburban.

What have you guys done?
 
Is this a plow only truck? Or will it be used for daily driving also?

I added a set of air shocks to the front of a blazer so the guy could run stock springs the rest of the year.
 
Sounds like a plan. My only concern would be if you plan to use this truck year round it might be really stiff in the front with the plow off.

I wonder if anyone has ran air shocks up front? At least you could adjust them throughout the year.

I know Firestone and bilstein make a air over shock but I believe it's only for newer style trucks and not really cheap either
 
ktmoutfront said:
Is this a plow only truck? Or will it be used for daily driving also?

I added a set of air shocks to the front of a blazer so the guy could run stock springs the rest of the year.
Click to expand...
Beat me too it! Guys are on the ball today
 
sounds like someone has a old school fisher plow . . .

I am super happy with empty or plow on ride with my tuff country hd fronts . I did 3" for a few reasons . but for you 2" should do you just fine . then maybe a zero rate in the rear for level out .

if you have extra stock fronts just add the leafs in your o.e.m pack .

don't do add-a-leafs there stiff as a b!tch . . . any I have put in people hate them in a few days . . .

mix-n-match is o.k. if you don't mix-n-match leaf styles . o.e.m fronts are tapered leaf design and not like rear or aftermarket style . best not to mix them up .

firestone has a air bag kit for the front of our old trucks . if you wana spend that kind of money .

my plow is a old fisher speedcast 8fthd blade . and I have a 9ft version also . so I have real world feedback for you . and my truck is a k30 .
 
This is a boss v plow with the hydraulic wings. Commercial version that a guy had to do parking lots and driveways when it snowed. It's a really nice plow but it's heavy. Only reason I know the weight is three men couldn't load it and we had to get a backhoe to lift it. I took it by and weighed it. 1,000 pounds. It has hydraulic props to position it for unhooking or I wouldn't be able to do it alone. Drive up, hook up the connections and level it out. Hook up and drive off. Love it.
 
I've had 3 GM plow trucks,first one was a '71 K10,second was a '77 K2500,and my current one I've had since 2003 is the '82 K2500 in my avatar...all of them had Fisher plows,one 8 footer and two were 7-1/2 footers...all were heavy,especially the 8 foot..
I also have a Diamond brand plow on an '85 K10 Suburban that is an ingot,much heavier than any of the Fishers--that truck has its original 2 leaf front springs..I added some coil over shocks to it and they did help a lot..

On all of those trucks I just ran the stock front springs..the '71 and my '82 both had only the 2 leaf front springs,I bought a pair of the heavier duty 3 leaf ones for the '77 K2500 because it had a cobbed lift kit with springs off some other brand of truck that did not fit and rubbed the frame at the shackle end..I put the suspension back to stock and removed all the lift garbage..

The stock springs never gave me any grief,they would bottom out on the rubber bump stops often on potholes,etc,which was a bit aggravating,but not enough to make me feel replacing them was a must..
My '82 is starting to get on my nerves though,the 6.2 must have sagged the springs along with the many years of plowing..but I would like to try adding a pair of Timbrem "rubber springs" or longer bump stops rather than replace the springs--I have ridden in and driven a similar truck to mine with Timbrens up front with a plow like mine and the ride quality was much improved compared to my truck..
 
I run a Boss Vxt on my duramax. I put 800 pounds of sand and rock in the back of the truck during winter. If I don't run the ballast I can hop the rear tires off the ground and cant think about backing up the slightest incline in 2wd. But you already know the weight of the plow.

I'd start adding leaves like a mofo. You'll need em. Then ballast. Then hope the frame doesn't break from the rear ballast and front weight which is what is happening with all the new diesels and these plows. Its a crapload of weight on the front of a truck. Just throwing the wings is violent. But its very nice that they are that fast.

The nice thing about running some sort of adjustable height setup (air shocks, bags, whatever) is that with a Vplow its critical for level. So as your cutting edge wears you can adjust. You can also adjust that with ballast though.
 
I agree about adding ballast to the bed,preferably close to the cab so the load is not all on the rear ,but enough to improve traction and keep the rear tires planted..
My '77 GMC K2500 had a 454 in it when I got it,without any weight in the back crossing a intersection when it was rainy or slick was dangerous,the rear tires would spin so easy in 2wd you'd sit there spinning and risk getting T-boned...you could get the rear wheels to hop off the ground when you rammed snow into a pile too..

I would not trust air shocks up front--I know a few guys who used them on various straight axled 4x4's and one of them who had an IHC pickup ,3/4 ton,had the air shock hose either come off or get cut,burnt on the exhaust or something--while driving..

He had the plow on it,the truck took a sudden nosedive to the side the air shock that lost its pressure was on (he plumbed them separately),and he came close to crashing the truck when the corner of the plow dug into the asphalt and spun the truck around..
Also the shock mounts on square bodys are a weak point to begin with,seen many frames crack in half at the upper shock mount hole,or the hole gets egged out or torn..
 
I would run a set of air bags.
You can get bags pretty cheap if you look for a bit.
 
We. Repaired the frame on a friends 82 k30 that had cracked right at the front cab mount. He is the guy I bought the plow from. He had a large commercial sander in the bed with at least a ton of sand. Had it set up that way for about two seasons. Went up a really bad road to plow driveways and hit a pot hole doing about 35. Cracked it along the side and wrinkled the frame. Too much weight on the front and back and that created a cantilever effect front to back. We repaired it with a 1/2" rib along the top of the frame, skinned the frame with 1/4" plate on both sides. It has held up pretty well.
 
Its pretty much common with alot of the plow rigs. All makes and models. None can take that much weight on both ends for very long.

The great thing about the Boss setup is how fast and easy it is to take the plow on and off. I almost think its a must to save wear and tear on the frames.
 
Tnsejed said:
I run a Boss Vxt on my duramax. I put 800 pounds of sand and rock in the back of the truck during winter. If I don't run the ballast I can hop the rear tires off the ground and cant think about backing up the slightest incline in 2wd. But you already know the weight of the plow.

I'd start adding leaves like a mofo. You'll need em. Then ballast. Then hope the frame doesn't break from the rear ballast and front weight which is what is happening with all the new diesels and these plows. Its a crapload of weight on the front of a truck. Just throwing the wings is violent. But its very nice that they are that fast.

The nice thing about running some sort of adjustable height setup (air shocks, bags, whatever) is that with a Vplow its critical for level. So as your cutting edge wears you can adjust. You can also adjust that with ballast though.
Click to expand...

I plan to leave this truck setup to plow full time. I wonder if adding gussets to the sides of the frame, ala 1/4" skins on the sides, would help in the longevity of the frame. The weak point seems to be the front cab mount section where the frame angles in for the motor mounts. It would be fairly easy to box it there on the inside and then skin the outside, tying it together with rosette welds to the frame side. I like to do things the right way, once. If possible.
 
I would gusset the hell out of the frame. I did on my Dmax. The nnbs trucks like to crack at the a-arm hydroform section. There's a TSB I think, and GM did do a retrofit gusset. So I gusseted that entire section. I did not plate though. But if the truck every gets stripped down I will.

With the Squares they of course break around the steering box, which a plow will increase that potential for breakage partly due to plowing force but also the extra weight will increase steering resistance. As well as the body mount section. I'd be ORD-steeringbox-plating, boxing, gusseting, and plating that whole area If I was going to stick a boss V on a square.
 
All of my plow trucks except my '82 had Fisher plow frames and they must beef up the frame pretty good,because none of them had any cracks at the steering box area that is common on the square bodies and the '71 style frames...
I was expecting to see some when I removed the plow frames and sold or scrapped the trucks,but none had any..

My '77 K2500 had a lot of sheared crossmember rivets due to the cobbed lift kit and huge tires a previous owner had on it--they welded the crossmembers to the frame and I had to drill out the rivets and put bolts in their place,but somehow the frame at the steering box was fine...

My '82 has a "home brewed" plow push frame,basically all they did was box in the frame rails up front for about 6" and welded up their own push bar and upright supports,and used the top part of the Fisher plow lift..whoever did it was a good welder,I have put the plow thru a lot of abuse and the frame and push bar have not shown any signs of cracks or bends..(yet! :blush: )..
As every year passes the frame gets thinner though,and eventually it'll give way somewhere probably..
 
Huh,never saw those before!..:eek:..
But I have seen 8 foot lengths of 4" channel iron bolted across the flat part of the frame rails a few times to beef it up more than once!..
 
My old '79 F150 had coil front springs. When I put the big front bumper and PTO winch on it, it caused problems. I was able to find some rear air shocks that would fit the front. Monroes.
I bought the Monroe remote air kit also.
Bought a set of Gabriel rear air shocks.
I wish I had pictures of the final setup. I built a small stainless steel panel, with two air gauges, a raise and lower button, and a switchover valve.
I could monitor the front and rear pressure in real time, and adjust either on the fly.

Worked fine for a while. But I started hearing a strange rattle, clunking noise. Nothing I did while it was sitting still made the noise, but it was quite loud when hitting bumps.
Finally discovered my radius arm bushing were worn completely out where the arms were mounted to the frame. They looked fine, but the arms had worn completely through them on the bottom.

I put two floor jacks under the arms, unbolted the nuts, blocked the front bumper, ran the winch cable out front, through a pulley block, and back to the axle. Slowly pulled the axle forward until the arms cleared the bracket. Replaced the rubber bushing, with some of the aftermarket plastic ones. Let it ease back.

The new ones wore out in about 3 months!

As I was replacing those, I suddenly realized what was wearing them out so fast. On that model truck, the springs sit on the radius arm clamps directly on top of the axles.
But, the shocks mount on the radius arm about 3 or 4 inches behind the axle. Which means that the entire excess weight that the shocks were supporting were being transferred to the radius arm which is only designed to handle front to back loads, not down.
So, examine your shock mounts and mounting points before asking them to handle the excess plow load.

When I ordered my '89 F250, I ordered it with the snow plow option. I have often wondered if anyone saw that it was going to Fl. and wondered. But it handled the big 4 inch channel iron and 12,000 rated PTO winch combo with no problem.

No idea if any of the trucks you are working with had a snow plow option or not, but it they did, and you could find out what it consisted of, you get some ideas of what to use.
 
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