# Me likey SnowBear



## dryice (Mar 10, 2007)

I've been snorking around plowsite for awhile now reading peoples experiences with the SnowBear plow, and thought I'd take the plunge as well. And I couldn't be happier!
I bought it off eBay for $400 bucks, drove across PA and stuffed it inside the Jeep to bring home (it's a 1997 Jeep Cherokee, 4.0L, with awesome dark green paint which boosts horsepower by at least 30%, and was the lucky vehicle that received the plow). Got the mounts in four days, installed them ( to my surprise, only two bolts go through the Jeeps "frame"). 
Then I hit the jackpot and got 8" of snow the very same day I installed the plow. So I spent all day Wednesday plowing. I love this thing! Doing what used to take hours in just a few minutes is awesome. Very impressed with it. I thoroughly enjoyed the neighbors gawking at the Jeep while they shoveled as I watched them while drinking cocoa. 
It was my first time plowing, and I think I did alright. Just gotta get used to the noise the blade makes. I spent a lot of time leaving the plow hang an inch or so off the ground so it stayed quiet. I was just being cautious. The manual angle isn't a big deal, but I am playing around with the idea of making it power angle. Hopefully I can post some pics, I didn't take any during plowing though, I was having too much fun. 
I'm looking forward to being a part of the plowsite community and I am sure I will gain valuable knowledge for snow plowing and the like. Thank You.

Ben


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## icebladez (Aug 26, 2005)

Excellent!
I love hearing the pros on this 'underdog' of plows,have fun for me~


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## bdhunter (Dec 7, 2005)

Wow Ben, awesome news... not only does the dark green paint boost HP, but the snowbear adds another 50% while plowing! It's part of the cost effectiveness incentive plan for snow removal and HP enhancement! payup  

Keep us other snowbear pushers informed with your progress.


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## dryice (Mar 10, 2007)

Can do bdhunter! I'm going to get pics later, should have em up today. I'll also take the Jeep to the dyno to see just how big of a horsepower gain I get from the SnowBear. If only those rice burner guys knew about this... Honda Civic with a SnowBear anyone?


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## das fisch (Feb 9, 2007)

saw your note about making up a power angle feature for your snowbear. have you (or anyone else) done this yet? was thinking the same thing if i went the snowbear route.


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## groundbreakers (Jan 16, 2004)

i know someone who did it using electric actuators ... a lil costly but it worked


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## icebladez (Aug 26, 2005)

Here's how this topic from last year panned out..


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## AbsoluteH&L (Jan 5, 2006)

Very interesting. The cable pulls it one direction, what pulls it back the other?


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## das fisch (Feb 9, 2007)

i think he's got the cables wound in opposite directions on the same spool. so depending on which way he winds the winch it pulls in one direction or another. 
to help prevent the cables from binding maybe a seperator plate could be fixed to the middle of the spool essentially dividing it truly in half.


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## AbsoluteH&L (Jan 5, 2006)

Wow ! thats not half bad. That setup could work great on ATV plows too. There really isn't a lot of difference between the two. If you keep only a few loops of cable on the spool, don't clamp it down or separate it, it could slip if you hit something (think pressure relief valve on hydraulics). Just my .02 I really like that, impressive. 
HEY BDHUNTER I still want to know if you really stacked that snow that high. It must be the Jeep in us that let's us plow so well. IT"S Awesport JEEP THING


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## bdhunter (Dec 7, 2005)

AbsoluteH&L;387465 said:


> HEY BDHUNTER I still want to know if you really stacked that snow that high. It must be the Jeep in us that let's us plow so well. IT"S Awesport JEEP THING


Well, I can assure you that the pile in the pic was definitely not staged. It was a semi wet, semi "packy" snow, and was on a paved parking lot in Phila PA, with no where to put the snow but up (as you can see from the buildings in the lot). Since the Flexblade is pretty floppy and has no down pressure, you can pretty much keep stacking it higher with little concern that the mold board will dig in and leave you dangling.

I now limit the stacks to about 5' or so, since the Maine environment has more space to push it back, rather than worrying how high to stack it.

But now, the Flexblade's landing gear is down, and it's ready to roll into the basement for some touch up and clean up and wait till next season, assuming we don't have any more "plowable" events here this season.


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## das fisch (Feb 9, 2007)

how much stoke do you think would be needed if using an electric acuator or hydraulic cylinder to enable angle control from inside the cab?


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