My Plow Truck

[ak diesel driver]

Yes that's how this is. I looked at doing the angle iron but am not real thrilled with the round inside corner against the square edge of the bed plus it doesn't come in a size I like. I'd like 1 1/2x3 1/2

 

[Big T]

So, we now have a place up at Stevensville, Montana which is in the Bitterroot Valley. We get snow, but not horrible amounts. We have a long asphalt driveway. My wife insists on shoveling snow. I got her an Ariens Self Propelled 2 phase snow blower for our Big Bear home, but she complained that it was too much for her to handle when it came to turning it. She’s retired and plans on being up here every month of the year. I’m still working and probably have 7 years to go. I need a snow removal solution for my wife that she can handle herself.

I think the snow blower is too much for her handle and too small for our long driveway.

A plow blade on a truck would be nice, but I don’t plan to leave my Suburban up here and I think that my wife would be physically challenged installing it. It would clear the drive quite efficiently.

I am thinking that a compact 4wd tractor like a Kubota with PTO attachments for a plow blade would work. We could also use a finish mower and wood chipper on it. I cloud leave the plow blade on it for winters up here. I believe she would be capable of operating it. What do ya think.

 

[Jaryd]

The tractor would probably be y’alls best bet for how simple it is to hook stuff up to the front or back.

 

[snarl95]

How about an atv with a plow?

 

[MrMarty51]

Tell You what I think, That's a beautiful place You have there. LOL
Yup, a four wheeler with a plow`d prolly be good, or a old tractor with a drag behind blade on a three point. Keep it plugged in and never remove the plow.

 

[Twisted Steel Performance]

With most any smaller tractor you could do most all you need winter & summer, plow, cut grass haul mulch, ride around looking at stuff and smile at folks..

 

[Jaryd]

With most any smaller tractor you could do most all you need winter & summer, plow, cut grass haul mulch, ride around looking at stuff and smile at folks..

That’s what I was thinking too when I said the tractor. Get a small one with the belly mower with front end loader and 3 point hitch. Could do anything she needed it to all year long.

 

[Will L.]

small tractor/ mower?!?
She needs a hmmwv. Leave the plow on all the time, it makes a good bumper.
Or just a hmmwv then you dont need to move the snow out of the way, she can just go through it.

 

[Big T]

I liked the easy install of this blade onto the front loader:

And in action, though we wouldn’t have a fence keeping us from pushing it off and probably would never see that much snow:

 

[Big T]

How about an atv with a plow?

The husband of our RE Broker uses a blade on a Yamaha 400 Quad Runner. He said it would do the job.

 

[ak diesel driver]

The tractor would certainly be more versatile albeit more expensive

 

[Big T]

The tractor would certainly be more versatile albeit more expensive

You’re not factoring in the cost of truck and she would not be able to install the blade on the truck.

 

[ak diesel driver]

Have you priced those Kubota tractors? Doesn't need to be a new truck just dependable

 

[BIGR]

I run a blade on the front of my ATV and it was no problem clearing 8 inches of wet snow off of my steep gravel driveway a few weeks ago. I put 50 pounds of corn on the back rack for extra weight and traction. The back end gets a little lite when I raise the blade. I even went to my parents place and cleared their paved driveway, that was a breeze. Make sure it's a 4 wheel drive liquid cooled if you buy one.

 

[ak diesel driver]

So I got my vinyl floor in. Watched a video from LMC truck about installing it. They said it was only a couple hour job. Yeah right. Probably took 2 hours just to get the interior out. It would have been nice to have a warmer shop as it was pretty stiff. There was lots of trimming to do. Thing was probably 6" long in all directions. Anyways got it in also welded up one of the rear plastic panels. Also oiled and silicone the joint where the floor and outside meet the rubbery membrane had come apart.
Got the seats back in before calling it a day.

 

[Big T]

Have you priced those Kubota tractors? Doesn't need to be a new truck just dependable

Yes, pricing used on the sub compact size BX and can find ones for $12K with 300 hours on them. With all the attachments we can use, it’s worth it versus having a dedicated plow truck hanging around.

 

[ak diesel driver]

That's about 1/2 price from around here

 

[ak diesel driver]

So the interior is pretty much back together. Ended up having to rework some of the door lock wiring. Turns out there's quite a bit of difference in the door wiring between the suburban/crewcabs and a 2 door pickup. But now I have power heated mirrors and I really disliked the window switches being in the vertical position all together with the door lock switch. Never could find the right one in the dark, which is most of the time I use it. Fixed the interior lights while I was at it. Seems really freshened up now. Oh if anyone has or comes across the suburban switch panel that is in blue and in really good shape I'd be interested.

 

[Will L.]

There is that specific SEM interior paint that all the hummer guys are reporting excellent results from.
http://www.hummernetworkforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=246938

You’d have to figure the right color of course...

 

[ak diesel driver]

What I'd really like is the switch setup out of a Tahoe so I wouldn't have 2 extra switches. In one of the pics you can see the passenger side is broken or both would already be painted.