Plow Help

I’m trying to make a final decision .. here’s my situation. I have a 2013 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 4dr .. I live in northern New England and we get plenty of snow. My driveway is not big and I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for some new circumstances .. recently my in laws who live in the neighborhood are becoming older and unable to snowblow and maintain their driveway. They have a 2x2 drive under garage with a decline. My sister ALSO just moved to the neighborhood and she has a longer driveway with 2 car garage that needs to be plowed. We’ve discussed putting a plow on my truck(because I’m the only one with a truck) with everyone chipping in to pay for it... so here are my Q’s.. 1) Since buying a new bigger truck is not an option .. is putting a plow on the Tacoma really viable? 2) Will a plow on this vehicle be sufficient to handle the amount of plowing I’ll be looking to do ? We have sometime high volumes of heavy snow and I don’t want to damage the truck .. and I want the plow to be effective. 3) I’ll need to be backdragging out my in laws driveway .. it has a decline to it and I’m not sure how well this will work? 4)Lastly, I’ve considered adding a leveling kit and a front end timbren kit to reinforce the suspension .. anyone do this and is it worth it to protect the suspension of the truck and clearance ?

— thank you to any and all who wants to give their $.02!!

 

I’ll be honest this is my first post here .. hoping I didn’t commit some sort of faux pas .. if I started some age old debate again .. apologies

 

I would check with Fisher Plow to see if the 4dr cab can handle the play without any damage to the frame. Your truck is probably out of warranty so that will not be a problem. I live in New England and we have a 3/4 ton GMC that we use to plow our yard and driveway, and our driveway is so steep we need to chain all 4 wheels to get up and down to plow. Sometimes even with all 4 wheels chained in 4wd the GMC has slid off the side of the driveway and the Tacoma pulls it back on the drive in 4wd with 2 chains. The main thing to do is check with a plow manufacturer. We have used Fisher for 20 years and are very happy with their products

 

@smcgill does plenty of plowing with his

 

Hmmmmm 16" storm
400' plus driveway and a large parking area ..


Done next !
This is the system I'm using : www.snoproplows.com/sno-pro-snow-plows/

 

I have a boss 7 ft on my 14 double cab. Been pushing with it for 4 years ,20 + driveways never had any issues. The boss plow with the toyota pretty much bullet proof

 

If you get one of the lighter plows, they aren't very good at back dragging unless you get one that has hydraulic down pressure like the Snoway. I have a Western Suburbanite on my truck and it's a great tool but its not great at back dragging. It will do it, but it wont scrape clean when back dragging. I do mine and several neighbors, and I drive over to my parents house and clean them out too. My setup only weighs around 275 lbs, I don't have timbrens, but I do have billsteins set to 1.75 and it works for me.

 

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE ....I really was getting lots of negative feedback .. people saying don't do it, you'll kill your taco .. yada yada .. but I'm not rough on it either way and if I get a good plow and treat it decent .. I think I'll be ok ..thanks again

 

FYI : my Taco has over 330,000 miles

 

Awesome to hear ..thanks again .. I hadn't thought about really being ahead of the storm .. I'm sure it'll help ..thank you

 

paved or flat is easy, you get into inclines it gets dicey...may need chains in that case..I have a dedicated plow truck, chains on all 4. Boss, Western plows are good brands. But if you can or have the time plowing 2 times or more is easier than once in deep snow...I try to plow at 3inches. If it gets more it can be done just will take longer and more chance of getting stuck. Ive plowed and have to plow again the next day, still better than plowing once in deep snow.

 

Have you considered a ramp and snowblower? Sounds like you have confined spaces.

 

The decline drive under garage is a little tough.. because you can't really snowblow, up and over the retaining walls ..and time-wise .. it's just not feasible with the kids and everything to snowblow 4+ driveways

 

Does ANYONE have any issues with the push plates cutting down on a lot of your clearance ?

 

Ive been contemplating taking mine off...once the ground freezes its skids anyhow. Right now I have them on but the roads have thawed so any snow we get I have to be careful not to dig too deep or it tears up the road...

 

I like the dolly, may totally need to build myself one of those ... what brand of plow is that ? .. and what I think I meant was the push plates.. the add-ons to the truck side that attach to the plow .. it looks like the new Fisher HS plow , the push plates are really low and drastically cut into the clearance of the truck when the plow isn't attached. Some other folks had mentioned that if the push plates are too low, it'll effect my offroad clearance .. not that I go crazy .. but do like to get off the pavement to hunt and fish .. AND that if they're too low, it'll effect the ability to backdrag and make it more likely to get stuck.

 

My Driveway when I got home from work on Saturday after a storm dropped a foot or more of snow on us. The town plow trucks had left me with at least 2 feet of snow in the front.

 

Absolutely, I've had them all . Ford f250 ,Chevy 2500, toyota tundra, toyota tacoma, jeep wrangled. Let me tell you that the toyota were by far the best. Not ever one problem.