Snowplow on a Tacoma

I use Toyo Open Country ATII tires on my truck. They are an all season tire and seem to work fine for me in the snow. I am sure there may be better options, but that is what I use on my truck.

 

Hey JimROCDS,
Once you have the Fisher HT installed, please post some pictures. I'm considering the same plow for my 2012.
Thanks,
Rob

 

I'm scheduled to have the plow installed next Tuesday, the 12th.

My family and friends are thanking me because I'm getting a snow plow, it's not going to snow this winter.

Jim

 

Fisher must have set you back some coin. Hopefully you don't get all the snow in one weekend!

 

Very nice! Thanks for the photo.

 

Well, less than I expected, $4225, installed and guaranteed.

The Jon Deere Tractor I considered, $15,000.

The only thing I backed off on, was trying to convince my wife to let me but a new truck with the plow already on it.


Accidently deleted the pic at the url.

Jim

 

Got a photo with the plow lifted? How much does she drag the nose down on the Taco?
That was one of the deterrents for me (the primary one being the $4500 quote I got) for installing a plow on my Tacoma when I bought it, was that weight on the front suspension.


So, I feel as though I should mention a caveat of owning an older plow truck instead of a more modern one...
This past spring I was pushing back snow banks after a fairly large storm that dropped 16-18 inches of wet, heavy snow and popped the straps on my rear universal joint. Turns out they popped because the spring perches had rusted badly enough that they collapsed under torque and the axle spun.
BUT; even though this was a fairly in-depth repair, I was able to fix it completely for under $100 in parts and a weekend's worth of time (Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning).

 

Stretched the U-bolts on the front side, and wrapped the axle about 20-25 degrees.
Diff cover is supposed to be vertical.


Thank god for real bumpers...







So that's something to keep in mind with the older full-sized plow trucks; you can work them harder, but they're not invincible. The advantage is that they're less expensive to fix if you can do the work yourself.

 

I've had a Snowbear plow for 14 years (was on a another truck first). It is absolutely a lightweight homeowners plow, but I have pushed a lot of snow off my 400' drive (and a few neighbours and friends). No down pressure, very little back dragging, but most situations for me doesn't matter. It's hung off the frame with a winch (the newer models look a little different now). I jump on the snow fall before it's anymore than 6-8" especially if it's wet. It is lightweight but works for me.
www.snowbear.com

 

I don't have the plow mounted right now so I don't have a photo of it.

However, I did drive home with the plow on the truck, with no weight in the back.

It was fine, but I kept under 45mph. It was mostly back roads anyway.

As far as plowing, those with experience have told me that over 8" of snow is too much, even for a full size plow.

They recommend as others have in this thread, to plow with the storm.

Anyway, I also took my Tacoma in for the recall two years ago.

They replaced the entire frame, struts and springs.

It's essentially like new.

Jim

 

Winter is just around the corner ...

 

I do love october/november, with those cold nights and warm sunny days.

But then...BRING ON THE SNOW!!
If I had my way we wouldn't see bare ground between Thanksgiving and April Fool's.

 

OK, I just found out that the woman across the street from me, is looking for someone to plow her out this winter. The guy she use to hire, is no longer doing it.

So, I told my wife and she said I have to be careful about liability issues before plowing another driveway.

So, I figured I'd check with guys who plow and charge for their service.

Is there liability that I need to inform my insurance company about ?

I haven't said anything to the woman, and figured I'd just let it go for now. I wasn't going to charge her, being the job would be very small.

Thanks in Advance
Jim

 

Can be tricky, depending on your relationship with the neighbor, the size of the job, etc.
I plow a co-worker's driveway during heavy storms and he throws me $20 in return, but I do it as a favor to him and not as a business. Same thing with my neighbor; I'll give his driveway a quick sweep after a storm to make sure he can get out, just to be neighborly. I haven't told my insurance company about it because I consider it 'personal use' since I'm not doing it as a side job/second job, or to make money at it. If I were to start plowing a bunch of other people's driveways every time it snowed, or advertising my services, I'd consider it a side gig and tell my insurance company about it, for the sake of my own liability.

As long as it's just her driveway, I'd still consider that to be personal use, but maybe your insurance company wouldn't. Call them up and see. Tell them that you do it as a favor for a neighbor and I doubt they'll see it as a commercial operation that needs different insurance, lol.

 

Yeah I'll take a gigantic pass on that. Can shovel by hand for that kind of coin. Or get a used snow blower for a couple hundred lol.

 

All well and good if you've got a short driveway, but if you're clearing 200 feet or more shoveling or replacing snowblower parts gets old in a hurry.

 

My gravel driveway is over 400' , snow blower will eat rocks /sheer pins.

 

Exactly.

 

Yeah the relationship is very cordial, like we wave hello when she drives by. Pretty much it.

My wife says, no-way. So, I'm not going to offer.

Funny thing is, because it's a plow on a truck, there are insurance issues.

If I went over with my snow-blower, not a problem.

Also, here in MA, if I were to get paid and the RMV learned of it, I would have to register my truck as a commercial vehicle. Currently it's registered as a passenger vehicle.

So, I'm just doing my drive way and perhaps my daughter's, but her's a long gravel driveway and her husband and sons have to get rid of the large stones sticking up.

Thanks for the advice

Jim

 

4WD.

Not hurting my truck and blowing that coin on a plow.