# Plowing with a lifted truck?



## dobronos (Jan 23, 2013)

I know this has been talked about in the past. I'm looking for a more recent response to my question. I have a 1999 Chevy 1500 3" body lift, 4" suspension lift, 35's on it with 5.3 v8. I believe the truck has the power to plow, I'm just worried that the plow wont be able put enough force to the ground to scrape? What do you guys think? - Mike


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## mulcahy mowing (Jan 16, 2006)

It shouldn't matter you set the plow frame at the same height as you would a truck that wasn't lifted. That is the only way to get the right angle of attack. You should have no problems if installed correctly


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## blizzardsnow (Feb 3, 2009)

Watch your tranny temp, lugging the bigger tires and pushing wet snow can be a problem.


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## gtmustang00 (Feb 23, 2010)

I plow with a lifted truck and have for years. I have a fisher straight blade and modified the mounting ears. Works great. Switching to a 9'6 v soon.


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## Snowzilla (Oct 24, 2009)

It would be more work to make it work right than a stock truck. But anything is possible with fabrication skills or access to a decent welding shop. Like another said, the bracket height has to be mounted within the plow's recommended specs. to make it plow correctly as well as to be able to mount & dismount. Frame brackets vary from brand to brand. Some, like Boss allow some adjustment. But probably not the 4"-6" you may need. Roughly, you can plan on lowering the mount the same amount of inches you have in lift/tires.


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## gtmustang00 (Feb 23, 2010)

I would rather modify the plow than the truck mount for when the plow isn't mounted. Would rather not have a low mount.


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## bigdeezle442 (Nov 20, 2008)

you shouldn't have to modify much of anything, i had a chevy 2500 hd with a 6 inch lift and 35s and made it work with the adjustment that the plow had. It really wasn't that much different in height than my ford f550


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## racer47 (Feb 24, 2011)

i got a pair of custom 6 or 8 inch drops made for Meyers e-z mount classic they are made to fit in stock mount with pins and they drop down and you plow pins to them they worked great for me on a lifted Chevy. very heavy duty custom fab no junk I'm in Ohio 45601 740 649 8015 this way your truck mount is up where its needs to be ussmileyflag


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## CAT 245ME (Sep 10, 2006)

gtmustang00;1573765 said:


> I plow with a lifted truck and have for years. I have a fisher straight blade and modified the mounting ears. Works great. Switching to a 9'6 v soon.


The Fisher's are easy to modify for a lifted truck, I did the same thing with the mounting ears for my 85 K20 with 4" lift & 35's.

I removed my A frame from the plow and took it to a welder, it cost me $30 and took maybe 20 minutes to do.


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## gtmustang00 (Feb 23, 2010)

CAT 245ME;1574106 said:


> The Fisher's are easy to modify for a lifted truck, I did the same thing with the mounting ears for my 85 K20 with 4" lift & 35's.
> 
> I removed my A frame from the plow and took it to a welder, it cost me $30 and took maybe 20 minutes to do.


Yea. A couple pieces of metal, 2 new holes, some welding and bang, level again!


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## jasonv (Nov 2, 2012)

dobronos;1573644 said:


> I know this has been talked about in the past. I'm looking for a more recent response to my question. I have a 1999 Chevy 1500 3" body lift, 4" suspension lift, 35's on it with 5.3 v8. I believe the truck has the power to plow, I'm just worried that the plow wont be able put enough force to the ground to scrape? What do you guys think? - Mike


Body lift can be ignored altogether, it has no effect.
Suspension lift + increase in tire RADIUS. This is how far you need to adjust down the mount points.

Also note that the higher your truck is, the harder it will be to see anything in front of you.

As mentioned, if you are running factory gearing, you may have trouble turning the bigger wheels. You can either gear it down (if not already done), or only plow in LOW RANGE.


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## gtmustang00 (Feb 23, 2010)

What plow are you using?


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## dobronos (Jan 23, 2013)

thanks for the replies guys! I really don't know which plow I want to go with.. I have most of the major plow dealers around me.. What would you guys recommend to go with in my situation? I'll mostly be plowing small residential driveways. - Mike


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## allagashpm (Sep 29, 2012)

I have a buddy with a cummins, 6 inch lift and 37s...he has a 8'6 fisher v plow. He doesn't have any problems but I don't know how he can even see anything.


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## yardguy28 (Jan 23, 2012)

dobronos;1574318 said:


> thanks for the replies guys! I really don't know which plow I want to go with.. I have most of the major plow dealers around me.. What would you guys recommend to go with in my situation? I'll mostly be plowing small residential driveways. - Mike


my recommendation would be a boss blade.

I do mostly small residential driveways. I have a super duty 8' straight blade.

I'm actually in search of a standard 7'6" v blade around my area I can either trade or if I can sell my blade for around what I would need to pay for what I'm looking for I'd do that as well.

I feel I'd do less back dragging on shorter driveways with a v blade as I can just pull right in and push most of the snow to the left and right.


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## dobronos (Jan 23, 2013)

Thanks guys, I just talked to my local scag dealer who also does Boss plows. They said there will no problem and they will be able to adjust/modify the mount. Thanks for all the help. - Mike


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## CAT 245ME (Sep 10, 2006)

jasonv;1574289 said:


> Also note that the higher your truck is, the harder it will be to see anything in front of you.


I don't have that problem, as long as you can see your blade guides he'll be fine.


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## nighthawk117 (Nov 29, 2008)

CAT 245ME;1574673 said:


> I don't have that problem, as long as you can see your blade guides he'll be fine.


Quote:
Originally Posted by jasonv 
Also note that the higher your truck is, the harder it will be to see anything in front of you.

Been plowing with a lifted S.D. / Boss v-plow for many years now and the visibility is far better than a stock truck !! I have never had a single problem with the truck or the plow/mount, it now has 170k miles on it.


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## djr623 (Oct 20, 2011)

racer47;1573823 said:


> i got a pair of custom 6 or 8 inch drops made for Meyers e-z mount classic they are made to fit in stock mount with pins and they drop down and you plow pins to them they worked great for me on a lifted Chevy. very heavy duty custom fab no junk I'm in Ohio 45601 740 649 8015 this way your truck mount is up where its needs to be ussmileyflag[/QUOTE
> 
> How about a picture of these brackets? I don't need that big of a drop but I am curious if your brackets work.


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## Mike N (Dec 21, 2008)

I plowed for years with a 79 K20 that had 10" of lift and 36" Buckshot Radial Mudders. I had a modified plow frame with a Meyers E47 pump and a 7' 6" Western blade.


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## scottydosnntkno (Jan 4, 2010)

Heres my pics of how i modified my Hiniker mount. Stock the drop sides were 3/8" steel held on with Grade bolts, we went with 1/2" steel and grade 8 bolts to make up for the extra moment forces being dropped down.

I believe we put a 5" drop on it wich puts the bottom of the brackets right at 9-3/4" which is within the Hiniker specs of 8.5"-11"

Stock:









Modified:









Modified from the front:









My truck has a 4.5" suspension lift on 37's


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## gtmustang00 (Feb 23, 2010)

Looks good but damn does it hang down low.


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## jasonv (Nov 2, 2012)

nighthawk117;1574691 said:


> Quote:
> Originally Posted by jasonv
> Also note that the higher your truck is, the harder it will be to see anything in front of you.
> 
> Been plowing with a lifted S.D. / Boss v-plow for many years now and the visibility is far better than a stock truck !! I have never had a single problem with the truck or the plow/mount, it now has 170k miles on it.


Last I checked, truck hoods are OPAQUE. You can't see through it, and lifted, its a HUGE block to sight. The more you lift the truck, the farther ahead of you things need to be in order to be seen. This is simple physics.

Get somebody to take a profile picture of your truck with you in it, and draw a line from your eyes, contacting the hood at the highest point, and to the ground. See all that stuff behind the point it contacts the ground? That's what you can't see. Now modify the picture to lower the truck, notice how that area gets smaller?


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## scottydosnntkno (Jan 4, 2010)

i have no issues seeing when plowing. thats what the stakes are for on the plow.

Plus, being up higher you can see OVER traffic and anticipate whats going to happen. Its so weird driving in my wifes jeep afterwards or riding in a friends car, it feels like you're in a go kart and can't see anything.


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