Snow Plow Mount

[justin572]

Goinmxin has a thread going about his very nice plow build. Myself and a few others are asking about how he did his mount, particularly how it hooks up to the front axle.

I found a few pictures of a truck that recently sold on the new surplus auction site with a plow mount on it. I'm posting them in a new thread because I don't want to hijack from Goinmxin.

It looks like the whole mount pivots on two pins, so the front axle can move some, as long as both sides move together. I'd really like to hear what others think of the setup.

 

[jatonka]

I have built snow plow mounts on 5 Tons and Deuces for several years, all successful. They don't look like this one. Upper mounts pin on inplace of bumper shackles. Lower mount push bar pins on to a plate on each side of the axle that bolts to the bottom of the 4 ubolts. The ability to move is unlimited and the direct push is about perfect. Don't ask for pictures, they are all gone. Just think about the simplicity and start building. JT

 

[justin572]

Like this
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?62982-JATONKA-s-winter-project-M35-dump-plow-truck

 

[plode]

I wish I had a snow plow setup on my M923. Could definitely make some money with that...in addition to plowing my own driveway that takes hours with a snow blower.
I think the fab work on the mount is a bit out of my welding abilities. Would want one that I can completely remove with pins.

 

[jatonka]

Thanks Justin572 for digging for that thread. But that plow frame was one Surfdog provided me to put on his truck. It's OK but not my style. All of mine pin on at the lift shackles and at the U-bolts at the front axle.. I surely appreciate you doing the search though, Happy Thanksgiving, JT

 

[Westech]

I remember that truck when I was stationed there.
RUSTY!!

 

[OilfieldRoughneck]

I have my local welder mounting a used commercial 10ft western snow plow this week. I dropped it off before I left town for work. When he is done I will post pictures for you guys who are interested. I'm not sure why it would be necessary to mount to the front axle?

 

[justin572]

The reason people like to use the axle to support the plow goes like this. The plow frame has to be parallel to the ground, or pretty close to parallel to push properly and not beat its self up. That means the mount has to be very low. No problem on a regular truck or probably even with one of these trucks if you used a small plow. With these trucks being so high off the ground, the low hanging mount gets a lot of leverage to bend the frame, so you go way back with the mount to get enough support to keep your frame straight when pushing all that snow. The easiest thing is just to go straight back to the axle because there is too much clutter around the frame to get back far enough that way.

 

[Jakelc15]

My plow is mounted pretty close to the same as the pictures above. I have pushed snow till it comes over the 42" tall blade. Dug into the ditch when the road disappears and pushed rolloff dumpsters without hurting the truck. I did bow a plow by getting into an embankment.
You want it to pin to the front bumper and the legs to extend under the front axle. The plow frame should not push against the front of the axle, it will break leaf springs.
Or just make the whole thing mount to the truck frame and leave the axle out of the equation.

 

[justin572]

So your plow goes under the axle and hooks up to the frame somewhere rearward? That sounds more like what I have in mind. How much clearance did you leave to the bottom of the axle?

I'm planning on using a similarly heavy plow. Here is a plan picture of the headgear and wing post.

 

[Jakelc15]

The mount pins to the front bumper and the legs of it go under the front axle. The legs have L shaped ears welded on the go over the axle.
The mount is a L. The only pivot is where it pins to the bumper. The plow pins to the corner of the L, which when plowing, the legs push up on the axle.
I'll get a pic of the mount. It's not on the truck right now but you'll see what I mean.

I have 10-20 wing plow trucks at work. The wings mounted to the front bumper are kinda hard on the truck. The wings mounted under the dump bodies with the stabilizer bar mounted back behind the rear axle seem to be a better design.
I don't think the wings are worth the hassle. A 8' wing clears less than 6' of snow.
Also on most trucks a 10' plow can't be angled all the way to the right. It will leave a strip of snow between the front plow and wing. We run 12' plows on our wing trucks.

Better start installing that mount, snow season is here!

 

[Jakelc15]

It's a storage rack for spare 5 ton rims right now!

 

[Jakelc15]

Front of mount

 

[Jakelc15]

Ran a one way plow before too. The butterfly plows really throw the snow.

 

[justin572]

Yeah! I would really appreciate a picture.

On my wing trucks I run a brace from the wing corner of the mount up to the frame and they hold up well. No broken frames yet. This truck will get a 14' one way and a 12' wing.

I always wondered about all the plow trucks I see online with no wings, now I know. Around here a plow with no wing is probably a pickup, and even a few of those have wings. We have to reach way off the road to get the snow back far enough to make room for the next snow, and even then by mid winter we are benching or blowing snow pretty much every storm. I've plowed roads without a wing before, but I find it really hard to stay out of the ditch in some places.

I'm actually gearing up for next year, so I'm not too worried about getting done in a hurry. I'm gathering all the parts up as I find them for the right price and I'll probably start building in the spring.

 

[Jakelc15]

Just saw your location. You definitely get more snow than we do down here. We have 2 10' wide snow blowers that mount to the front of loaders but some years we don't even use them. A wing is very useful for benching. There's so much traffic around here I'm just waiting for someone to run into a wing.
Some states require an over width permit to run a plow over 102"
I build the mounts for the contracted snow plow trucks at my shop. Let me know if I can help with anything.

 

[Goinmxn]

Sorry for the lack of response on my snow plow mount. I have been busting my but getting the rest of my equipment ready and have not had a early night in weeks. I have not been spending any time on my computer... My mount is exactly like Jakelc15's to a t. It cradles the axle with a c type bracket. I based the design on a guy in western Va who has 12 of these trucks on with VDOT in the mountains for 10 plus years. He has never had a problem related to the design of the plow mount. It allows enough movement to not hurt the axles or springs. I will find out this winter. I have been doing test pushes on my gravel at the shop watching for movement and no issues so far. Please let it snow, I would like some of my money back! I will do my best to get pics in the next couple days.

 

[Another Ahab]

Any inspiration from this?

 

[Jakelc15]

Looks more comfortable than my truck! The heat probably works better too!

 

[6wdcummins83]

How did the western plow turn out?