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Anyone have a snow plow on their Ranger?


85_Ranger4x4

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Does the brochure have any images?
Yeah, it just shows a picture of a plow on a truck iirc.

Does any one have a picture of these air bags, I'm having a hard time picturing them.
Maybe it because I live in the south
Just a heavy rubber cylinder with a valve stem in the center of the coil bucket. That is what is in my parts truck anyway...
 


WNY964x4

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alot of different ones
I have a set out of our old 95 F-150 kicking around the garage somewhere.
 

Rangurr

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I wouldn't mind having one but I'm too afraid my truck will fold in half like an XJ with no doors when I hit a good mound of snow!
 

Schnot

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We have one on an 88 B2. I think it's a snow way brand. The thing about ours is that it's acrylic and not steel. Much lighter.


Sent from my iPhone.
 

Will

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I know that Will had a plow on his BII and ran air bags in the front coils.
Yep, still have it. But the ASV track loader I bought a couple of years ago came with one so I don't plow with the B2 anymore.

What I have is a huge, thick, steel plow about 7' wide. It has to be close to 500#. When it's off the truck, you can't budge it or even shift it by hand. I built the mount for it up high so I could still wheel the truck without removing the mount. I used the winch to pick it up like an ATV plow, and it has manual left-right swivel. I plowed the church parking lot and a few other rural drives like mine. You definitely need the bags because picking it up totally flattens the front suspension--especially considering how soft my springs are.

The only problem I had with this heavy as hell plow is that the front, left wheel nuts unscrewed themselves. I lost the front tire on the left side twice before I learned to jump out and tighten it after any length of a drive. With a lightweight plow, probably no problem. The light-weight plastic ones would be an ideal step up from a riding mower with a blade. What I like, though, is a snow blower. I used my dad's once and it was lovely. One thing a plow sucks at is that it pushes the snow up, but doesn't send it away. If you plow very much, or do the same drive on several snows without any melt, you need a loader to stack the snow. A blower sends it all into the neighbors yard where you don't have to worry about it anymore.

With gravel, a snow blower is the best. You might machine gun some gravel, but with a blade you end up pushing it off the drive. I've used a garden tractor, a truck, a wheeled Bobcat and a track loader and they all share the same imprecise feel for the gravel. I only plow if we can't make it. Before that, I run over the driveway a bunch of times with the track loader to pack the snow so it doesn't hit the bottom of the car. I'm the same with mowing anymore. I don't keep up with the Jones. I'm not after pretty.
 

85_Ranger4x4

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With gravel, a snow blower is the best. You might machine gun some gravel, but with a blade you end up pushing it off the drive. I've used a garden tractor, a truck, a wheeled Bobcat and a track loader and they all share the same imprecise feel for the gravel. I only plow if we can't make it. Before that, I run over the driveway a bunch of times with the track loader to pack the snow so it doesn't hit the bottom of the car. I'm the same with mowing anymore. I don't keep up with the Jones. I'm not after pretty.
When I push snow I have blade leaned ahead just right so it doesn't want to cut the gravel off. You still get some but planning where you put the piles minimizes the damage and unlike a truck I can see if I am cutting too deep. I don't know if you can adjust that on a truck but it is easy with the centerlink on a tractor.

I don't worry about keeping it spotless but my driveway faces south, a warm day and packed snow can turn it to ice. Then you get more snow on top of that and it gets uglier. It is easier to push it when it is fluffy than when it is all hard, packed and refrozen.

Back when tractor mounted snow blowers first came out the local IH dealer at the time thought it would be nice to blow off the lanes around his new equipment. He blew out the cab windows on a row of new tractors with gravel...

I have enough driveway I would be out there for days with a little walk behind snow blower... screw that. An hour on my tractor and I can get my 4x4 wherever I want and the mailman can get his little FWD car to the mailbox.
 
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Diesel_brad

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I put a Western 6.5 SUV blade from a 94 on my 04. had to widen the frame by ONE inch. The harness was all plug in. I was sick of plowing with the 4 wheeler and Constantly having to get one and off to angle the blade. I am more than pleased with how the ranger plows(this is my 3rd with a plow). I will say my torsion bars do not like it though(even have the #1 torsion bars in) and I have Timbrens too. Now I know why they only sell the plastic plows for the 98+ trucks.

I am in the process of putting in the coilovers and debating on doing the 4" super lift.

I also added some custom wings to make my plow 7.5'





 

Will

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When I push snow I have blade leaned ahead just right so it doesn't want to cut the gravel off. You still get some but planning where you put the piles minimizes the damage and unlike a truck I can see if I am cutting too deep. I don't know if you can adjust that on a truck but it is easy with the centerlink on a tractor.
You know more about it than me. I left Iowa in the mid 80's and only go back for funerals. Last year, there were only 3 days during the winter that I couldn't ride my motorcycle. Plowing is something all the guys that mow during the summer look forward too--they already have their plows on--but it doesn't happen very much in southern Indiana. Our 17" of snow was 10 years ago. We had about 8" one time last year but it was gone in 2 days. I'll try more forward tilt in the future.
 

Mark_88

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My credo
Love Thy Neighbor
When I was growing up my Brother-in-law had one similar to this...

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5264/5671345996_0c05ecbb45.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.flickriver.com/groups/584024@N25/pool/interesting/&h=281&w=500&sz=159&tbnid=LEdtMbAqKqXa-M:&tbnh=90&tbnw=160&zoom=1&usg=__ZnMXSh0be12lJYPa2DOQwE9zP-A=&docid=igOl51cGbwwW7M&sa=X&ei=QhNZUs6aLqugyAHX1oCIBg&ved=0CE0Q9QEwBA

He used it to plow out his mile long driveway (or so it seemed) and other farming needs never had a problem other than getting to the tractor from the outer end if snow fell while he was out...

When the estate he worked for sold off a bunch of stuff he "inherited" it but had to sell it because he didn't need it anymore...never seen a man so happy when he got it...and sad when he had to sell it...
 

85_Ranger4x4

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Will used to have one like that.

They look like a lot of fun to play with but those old crawlers are known to beat the tar out of the operator.
 

Will

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I'll tell you, that was a bad ass machine. With gears and clutches and steel tracks, it was monstrous. It has heavy and ugly and ancient and I was always afraid it would break in a way I couldn't fix it. So I sold it to a guy that wanted to restore it.

I really need tracks on something because I have boggy areas where tires get stuck. I bought a track loader before I sold the old crawler. It has rubber tracks and is much faster, but it is hydrostatic drive and is lighter. It doesn't pull as hard and has less grip. The old crawler was suitable for working a mud bog competition pulling out stuck trucks. The track loader gets around everywhere on it's own but it doesn't have that invincible feel to it that the crawler had. the hydrostatic drive will open a relief valve and stop the tracks where as the old crawler and its clutch would keep churning.

No, it wasn't rough. There's no suspension on it but the seat was on a leaf spring it was okay. I didn't use it all day for farming, but it was acceptable for a few hours of grading or skidding logs.

My track loader is an ASV (now Terex) and it has suspension. You can haul ass at top speed through the woods, over logs and ditches and float over the wet parts of the field and it's all smooth. It just doesn't have the weight and mechanical drive feel of the old crawler.
 

Diesel_brad

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Anyone looking for a plow? My buddy just bought a broncoII with a 7' meyers hard mount and he don't need it. PM me if interested $400 in Mt Bethal PA
 

a31ford

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For what it's worth (Note that it's STILL dirty from fall........)







NOTE the two electrical connectors..... the Semi 7 pin version is Low, High, Running, Left & Right, plus Ground.

On the far side is a 4 pin version (2 each tied together for the winch.

I used metal cover connectors for a reason.... plastic ones get so cold they break ! (found that out the hard way the first year...)

Greg
 

Druski

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Western suburbanite

I've had great luck with my Western Suburbanite Ultramount, it's 7 foot 4 and weighs under 295 pounds. The full hydraulics is great, I plow residential drives for extra money every time it snows and make $300+ In a day. I have been slowly fortifying my front end, heavy duty bearings, tie rods, moot ball joints are next. Since this pic I have cranked the t bar 1.5 inches and got just under 33 inch tires and he no problems. It hardly weighs the front down due to its poly material and also proper counter balance behind the back axle (300lbs of salt).


I got lucky this came with my truck. Here's apic when I bought it.
 

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