plowing with a 1/2 ton truck?

[Memphis]

Looking for a truck to hang a 7.5 western on, truck will be an 88-98 chevy so it has torsion bars on the front. Is a half ton heavy enough to plow accounts for the winter or should I find a 3/4 ton?

[Plum Crazy]

1/2 ton would probably struggle with heavy snow, you get a decent 3/4 ton with nice gearing, plus the front suspension would take the weight better.

[Holeshot]

All our stuff is 3/4 ton or larger. We do have a T 10 Blazer with a 6 footer we use for sidewalks......

[PonyKiller87]

As long as your just running a straight blade you should be fine. If your worried, crank your t bars up a little for the weight. Over all its more about power and traction that if its a 1/2, 3/4 or 1 ton. The heavier the truck, the more weight you can all in the back to maintain traction when pushing alot of snow. If your just doing smaller lots and driveways, throw 500-1000 lbs in the bed and you should be good.

Make sure you have 3.73 or 4.10 and the engine is tuned up decent. a 1/2 ton with a 4.3 or 5.0 with 3.42 gears would suck ass for plowing

[Graystone]

you will be fine. As long as it is not a v plow those are tanks.

[Russ Jerome]

Its not going to matter given its an IFS Chevy, little to no difference between it and a 2500 or the one with the "HD" sticker. Tie rod ends, ball joints ect are interchangable between them. Jack up the frame before preloading the torsion bars. I've installed a quite a few Westerns on Chev's if you need any help, they tend to be a little soft up front for more than a light strait blade.

There was a great discussion on the subject last year, short story is an IFS truck lacks the unsprung mass and zero camber dig of a solid axle, just takes more/smaller pass' with an IFS to match the antique solid axle design.

[Anakonda69]

there is a nice chevy ext cab 1/2 ton with a blade for sale on north cape road just south of rawson for sale.

[Monstr913]

u could always go with a poly plow too to keep weight down...good tires and weight will help but as others said make sure its a good size motor...i've plowed with lots of trucks and nothing beats my diesel, just the weight and low end power...plus tow/haul helps to when pushing heavy snow....theres a reg cab short box half ton with blade for sale on racine ave in muskego about 4-5 miles south of I-43, not sure what hes asking but hes got several plow trucks....what are u looking to plow, personal accounts? sub-contractor?

[Memphis]

My dad has accounts and I may help him with those this winter. I have a blade and setup already thats why I'm looking at this body style truck. I have a 1/2 ton that needs a trans but is in decent shape and a 3/4 ton that needs manifolds installed and trans lines but the body is rough with no tailgate or rear bumper as my options right now, both about the same price.

[pOrk]

1/2 ton is more then enough, thats all my uncle and I have used to plow. My uncles 1/2 ton has over 70k miles of plow action on it with a 7ft western plow and never a single problem

[Jsho13]

We plow up north with a 99 F150 poly western plow and it does just fine. We have a 90 gallon fuel tank in the back for weight and for what we use it for, it does the job.

[UnderPSI]

Poly plows often weigh as much or more than regular plows due to the extra steel, they are just more "slippery" for the snow to slide off and don't rust.

As far as the truck. You can put in 3/4 ton front torsion bars. That's what the plow prep package is from the dealer. They swap out the half ton bars for 3/4 ton bars. I think I am going to do that to my truck and I don't plan on putting a plow on it.

[Russ Jerome]

Poly plows often weigh as much or more than regular plows due to the extra steel, they are just more "slippery" for the snow to slide off and don't rust.

.

Forget the difference but the poly is a lot heavier, when assembling them we would lay them flat by hand...surprisingly heavier!

[-stew-]

My dad plows with a 94 F150, mainly small lots and driveways; although he has done a few larger lots from time to time. That 1/2 pushes snow just fine, it's got a 7 1/2 foot Myer on it. I put airbags in the front coils and that help a lot. Doesn't some one make a rubber "helper spring" for trucks with torsion bars?

[Monstr913]

acutally if u look on western site the poly is almost always lighter but only by like 30lbs, even in the MVP series...but this is pointless to argue about anyway

[Russ Jerome]

No argument, a Poly chassis mount is lightest followed by a Poly-Pro, those are lighter than a steel Pro mount and then a Pro mount plus. You cant compare shipped pkg's because its not apples to apples, the blade alone on a poly-plus weighs more than a steel Pro blade alone.

[eyeball]

Doesn't some one make a rubber "helper spring" for trucks with torsion bars?

http://www.timbren.com/

[wrath]

A good locker (not a GrenadeLock or TrashLock) and a set of skinnies (like 235x85r16s) goes a long ways. Still better off with a SFA truck as you're not always fighting changing camber, a poor scrub radius, and a bad ackerman angle.