m1008 plow set-up

[customfitch]

Just pulled a newbie move and posted this in the "Forum tips and Tricks" section. I'll do it here instead:

Just purchased an '86 m1008 primarily as a property maintenance vehicle. I am impressed as hell by the all around balls of the truck but I am starting to realize that there will be some projects involved with owning it, which I am looking forward to.
I am in the process now of assembling plow parts for it; I was able to find a Western unimount mount for it, but it seems pretty obvious that the truck's torsion bar will interfere with the mount's thrust arms. I am starting to realize that I likely have the wrong mount, or some sort of fab is going to have to be made to make this mount work. I have western mount assembly 61770:
http://www.westernplows.com/pdf/13596_103103.pdf

So, my questions are, if anyone has the answers,
1) What western mount and harness kit is designed for this vehicle, if any?
2) What plows "bolt on" to the truck as is, if not the western?
3) What wiring issues arise due to the nature of this vehicle?
4) What other issues with this matter should I be aware of?

My driveway is about 800 ft long; I don't want to have to snowblow this thing when the ****/snow starts flying, so any help would be greatly appreciated. This site has already been a great help to me, one more time would be cool.

 

[dstang97]

Check out plowsite.com Those guys would know better. If all else fails i have a 8ft fisher for sale in ct. pm me if interested

 

[customfitch]

Will do, thanks.

 

[sdb3023]

there is an m1009 for sale in the rochester area with a plow on it already, might be worth callin the guy to see what info he has on it if you are stuck in a dead end. 83 chevy 4wd military blazer

 

[rlwm211]

I bought a myers 7-1/2' 4 way plow and frame for $200. This included the harness which I did not use. I went online and looked up the style plow I had and vehicle type like mine at Myers's site and downloaded the installation instructions.
I fabricated the adapters to mount the hoist on my frame and slightly reworked the pushbar supports and everything BOLTED ON. I did have to remove my bumper and I elected not to adapt it back on afterwards. I spent about 45$ for some heavy 3x3 angle, and some 2 inch bar stock for the ties that connect the push bar to the hoist and I also needed a piece of 4 inch flat stock to hang the push bar. It took me less than 8 hours to fab up all of this and it works great. I can take it off for the summer and put it back on in about an hour each way.
My advice on your truck is to get an 8 foot plow as you have the muscle and weight to push it. I wished I had one many times plowing a parking lot I did. It does not seem like much but that extra few inches keeps your tires out of the windrows when you are plowing and makes for better traction and less packed snow in the driveway by your truck.
The electrical on a myers is an easy system to wire and I made my own harness. I did not tie the plow lights into the truck and ran them on a separate switch and only connected the markers and turn signals to the vehicle harness. As I recall, your truck is 24 volt starting and 12 volt operating so an electric pump system would be the simplest way to go. You could go the engine mounted pump route and that will take the right adapters to mount a pump and also the pump and control equipment too.
Let me know if you need any help finding the right drawings if you decide to go this route. It does not matter which brand you get as pretty much all of the manufacturers have their tech stuff online. (In a previous life I was an automotive information specialist)
Good luck

 

[customfitch]

Thanks for the ideas; I was thinking that the custom route might be the way to go. I was thinking that a western unimount would be the easiest way to go, as I heard that I would not have to remove the bumper or the grille guard, but I will eventually do what I have to do to make this work.
I will check out the meyers site as well.

 

[sweetk30]

you got pics of your problem ?

those trucks dont have a torsion bar in them. you mixing up the swap bar in your thinking ?

and good plow site is www.letsplow.com free and nice people.

my rig is a 79k30 with a fisher speedcaster 8ft and 9ft blades.

 

[customfitch]

Yes, not a torsion bar but a sway bar. Might have simplified the issue if I'd proofread before submitting.
I've been told that the thrust arms need to route inside of the sway bar and onto the outer faces of the frame, but it seems like a damn tight fit. I didn't have a chance to try the fit today, I will do so tomorrow, and hopefully solve my problem.

 

[nhdiesel]

If all else fails, do away with the sway bar. With suspension as heavy as those, it doesn't amount to much (if anything) anyway. Most lifts for those trucks do away with them as well. You have a truck, not a sports car. On that body style truck they weren't available from the factory all years anyway, if that helps make you feel any better.

Jim

 

[rlwm211]

On my Suburban which has the same frame setup essentially as the CUCV I simply ran the push bar support on the outside of the frame. If you measure the width of a push bar for most of the plow setups you will find the width of the push bar is about the same, or just a little bit less or more. I ran the supports for the push bar from the frame straight down inside the front springs (it was a tight fit) to the push bar to hold it up, and then forward on an angle to the hoist base to provide the brace for the pushing forces. I had looked for the complicated MYERS mounts that fit under the frame and ran along the frame and spring and they were about 150$ for each side and had to be ordered. Then I spoke with a guy who had been plowing commercially and he showed two of his trucks done this way and I got to thinking that the front end does 90% of the work plowing, and the front spring hanger is the "stationary" mount so I figured I would try it. It works great and I had 9 accounts I plowed every storm including a private road that always was a mess when I got to it and it worked great. I have included a jpeg of how I attached the frame to my truck. The vertical supports use the outer bumper brace holes so I did not have to make any modifications to my frame. I am not saying that this is the sme, or absolutely as strong as running a push bar support back to the rear hanger and the main frame, but when you look at the amount of metal support on the frame in the engine area, I believe running back is overkill. Obviously, if you are a kamikaze plow operator, you can bend stuff up no matter how well it is engineered. This is just my solution to the problem.

 

[customfitch]

If all else fails, do away with the sway bar. With suspension as heavy as those, it doesn't amount to much (if anything) anyway. Most lifts for those trucks do away with them as well. You have a truck, not a sports car. On that body style truck they weren't available from the factory all years anyway, if that helps make you feel any better.

Jim

Exactly what I was thinking, thought the sway bar was overkill to begin with. I'm not doing a whole lot of high speed cornering in this truck.

This f'er will be mounted by the end of the weekend. Thanks for all the help from everyone.

 

[scottodog]

Just put the 61770 on my m1008. The arms just clear the sway bar . The right side arm has two holes that can be drilled it was the lower one on mine the upper hole has a fuel line behind it. You have to remove the front bumper to slide it in and its a tight fit because of the tow hook brackets. I had to hit the plow mount with a hammer to taper the leading edge enough to get the bracket started between the frame rails and then hammer the bracket into place. You will need to get longer grade 8 bolts than comes with the bracket because the tow hook bracket makes it wider to go through the frame and bracket. If the arms dont go back to the bump stops like the directions say use a ratchet strap to pull the plow bracket to the back of the truck before you drill the frame holes. Scott