# Leaving a lot of snow on the ground



## Cuzscontracting (Jan 9, 2017)

hello all! Just joined the board. Love all the wonderful people on here! Great feedback.

I been plowing a couple years but it seems that I have been leaving a lot of packed snow on the ground. Was wondering if anyone sees a problem with this setup? I have a 98' F250 and a western plow.

I was thinking maybe my plow doesn't have enough angle and it trips a lot or my edge is worn and needs to be replaced?

Please help


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## seville009 (Sep 9, 2002)

Good old thread on plow angle....

http://www.plowsite.com/threads/plow-blade-angle-of-attack.54670/


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## Defcon 5 (Mar 20, 2014)

I'm old and my eye site is bad...Is that a Rubber edge over the Steel edge??...Also..Get the Aframe angle level


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## Randall Ave (Oct 29, 2014)

The edge doesn't look like it is tight. Can see a gap. You only have two springs. Put a third one on. As Defcon said the a frame should be level.


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## Cuzscontracting (Jan 9, 2017)

Defcon 5 said:


> I'm old and my eye site is bad...Is that a Rubber edge over the Steel edge??...Also..Get the Aframe angle level


That is a steel edge. The A frame is actually level.


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## Cuzscontracting (Jan 9, 2017)

Randall Ave said:


> The edge doesn't look like it is tight. Can see a gap. You only have two springs. Put a third one on. As Defcon said the a frame should be level.


I will make sure to bolt down the edge. Will figure out how to add a third spring.


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## Randall Ave (Oct 29, 2014)

Cuzscontracting said:


> I will make sure to bolt down the edge. Will figure out how to add a third spring.


If the bolts are rusty, replace with new. You drill a hole up top, and you weld a spring bracket on the quadrant. Not my best welding, but it will never break.


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## seville009 (Sep 9, 2002)

It looks like your lift ram is all the way down, but the chain looks like it's tight (so the blade may not really be floating on the ground). Lengthen the slack by a few links to see if that helps with the scraping


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## scottr (Oct 10, 2013)

Cuz. Another thing to add about how well your able to scrape. The weight of your blade is one part of this equation.. Your blade is pretty light, this along with things like a wet snowfall that may have been driven on adds up to make it hard to scrape down to gravel, ( or pavement )


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## JustJeff (Sep 9, 2009)

All good advice. Has the plow always had a difficult time getting down to the asphalt, or is this a new problem? Also, how much has the snow been driven on before you get to it?


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## Philbilly2 (Aug 25, 2007)

seville009 said:


> It looks like your lift ram is all the way down, but the chain looks like it's tight (so the blade may not really be floating on the ground). Lengthen the slack by a few links to see if that helps with the scraping


I think you are on to somthing here...


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## Dogplow Dodge (Jan 23, 2012)

Pretty much everyone has hit upon what's wrong.


It's too small of a plow for that size truck. Should be running a 3 or 4 spring 8 to 8.5' pro plow. Two spring plow blades were designed for small SUV's or light duty pickups.

The A-frame is backpitched towards the truck. This can be from either the installed adapter from Ultramount to unimount being too low, or the front springs in the F250 need to be made taller. You can try adjusting the mounting height if that adapter allows you to.

The lift chain has no play in it beyond it's existing location, which means if you travel over anything that is cupped or dished over what its present height is, the plow blade will be in the air when going over that surface
the cutting edge isn't mounted properly. No reason why that edge should be backpitched at the bottom.
Adding another spring to that blade won't necessarily fix your problem unless you address the issues the other members, have mentioned.

It might be more economical, and have better results if you pick up an ultramount plow blade that uses the truck side mounts directly, or buy a heavier "Pro Plow" series Unimount. I'd wait till late spring or early summer when the costs go down. In the meantime try addressing the issues stated by the others .


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## leolkfrm (Mar 11, 2010)

existing springs look loose, need to adjust so a dollar bill will just slide between the gaps in spring
as seville mentions, the plow is restricted by chain length


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## ktfbgb (Jan 31, 2016)

Dogplow Dodge said:


> Pretty much everyone has hit upon what's wrong.
> 
> 
> It's too small of a plow for that size truck. Should be running a 3 or 4 spring 8 to 8.5' pro plow. Two spring plow blades were designed for small SUV's or light duty pickups.
> ...


Nice write up!


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## leolkfrm (Mar 11, 2010)

ktfbgb said:


> Nice write up!


yup, took a lot of time

wonder if the op will return?? :hammerhead:


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## ktfbgb (Jan 31, 2016)

leolkfrm said:


> yup, took a lot of time
> 
> wonder if the op will return?? :hammerhead:


Well I hope so. He got some great advice to him squared away.


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## LapeerLandscape (Dec 29, 2012)

From the pic of the grill of the truck it looks like a F150.


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## scottr (Oct 10, 2013)

Ha, that's what I thought Lapeer, but didn't want to call him out on his own truck.


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## Philbilly2 (Aug 25, 2007)

They made some of those in that grill for a couple of years.

Want to say 97.5 and 98 were the only two years???

If I recall correct they had 7 lug wheels too...


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## RMGLawn (Jan 2, 2012)

Philbilly2 said:


> They made some of those in that grill for a couple of years.
> 
> Want to say 97.5 and 98 were the only two years???
> 
> If I recall correct they had 7 lug wheels too...


Yep correct.

Then In 99 or 2000 it went to a F150 7700


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

RMGLawn said:


> Yep correct.
> 
> Then In 99 or 2000 it went to a F150 7700


In 98 they went to a 7700 f250 or heavy half which was the 7 lug 250. Then in 99.5 they came out with the super duty 250.
So it's essentially a 150


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## 1olddogtwo (Aug 6, 2007)

dieselss said:


> In 98 they went to a 7700 f250 or heavy half which was the 7 lug 250. Then in 99.5 they came out with the super duty 250.
> So it's essentially a 150


Since we talking about history. My 99 F250 was built March 98.


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## Cuzscontracting (Jan 9, 2017)

Dogplow Dodge said:


> Pretty much everyone has hit upon what's wrong.
> 
> 
> It's too small of a plow for that size truck. Should be running a 3 or 4 spring 8 to 8.5' pro plow. Two spring plow blades were designed for small SUV's or light duty pickups.
> ...


Man... thanks for the write up! Perhaps this IS too small of a plow. Will look into that. The A frame is level with the ground. So I don't think that is the problem. 
Chain i will definetly fix. That's an easy one. 
Will need to fix the cutting edge too. Thanks for you write up!!!


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## Cuzscontracting (Jan 9, 2017)

LapeerLandscape said:


> From the pic of the grill of the truck it looks like a F150.


In the year of 97-98 they made the F250 light duty. It's like a beefed up 150. If you look up a 97F250 you will see my style and an old school boxy looking F250.


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## Cuzscontracting (Jan 9, 2017)

scottr said:


> Cuz. Another thing to add about how well your able to scrape. The weight of your blade is one part of this equation.. Your blade is pretty light, this along with things like a wet snowfall that may have been driven on adds up to make it hard to scrape down to gravel, ( or pavement )


Sometimes it's unable to scrape snow that has been driven on only a few times. I find that asphalt is easier than concrete.


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## 1olddogtwo (Aug 6, 2007)

The new cutting edge will help loft the aframe....You'll be happier


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## LapeerLandscape (Dec 29, 2012)

Cuzscontracting said:


> Sometimes it's unable to scrape snow that has been driven on only a few times. I find that asphalt is easier than concrete.


If you dont have any salt down and the lot is driven on before you can plow it the snow will almost glue itself to the lot. Even with a heavier plow its hard to scrape it up.


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## Cuzscontracting (Jan 9, 2017)

1olddogtwo said:


> The new cutting edge will help loft the aframe....You'll be happier


So you think I need a new cutting edge or readjust the exsisting one?


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## Cuzscontracting (Jan 9, 2017)

LapeerLandscape said:


> If you dont have any salt down and the lot is driven on before you can plow it the snow will almost glue itself to the lot. Even with a heavier plow its hard to scrape it up.


I will make the changes you and others suggested and see how it does. Thanks for the help!


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

Cuzscontracting said:


> So you think I need a new cutting edge or readjust the exsisting one?


Try to adjust yours. It's suposta lay flat against the mold board. Yours seems to angle out at the top


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## 1olddogtwo (Aug 6, 2007)

Least pull it and clean the crap that's stuck between board and edge.


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## Dogplow Dodge (Jan 23, 2012)

1olddogtwo said:


> Least pull it and clean the crap that's stuck between board and edge.


Really weird how that happened, eh ?

With further use, the cutting (edge) will wear itself correctly once you do this. Heck, you could even spin the edge around 180* (make the right side of the edge the left, and vice verse), and start from there with all that junk out of the back, it would probably scrape really good once it wore in a bit. Personally, I'd use new mounting bolts, or at least new nylock nuts when reinstalling the edge. Even though they're nylock nuts, they still can loosen up over a season or less. At the end of each season, you should tighten up all bolts, connections and grease any pivot points. At least the next year, you know you're not dealing with movement where it's not supposed to be.



Cuzscontracting said:


> Man... thanks for the write up! !!!


 Your welcome.

I just summarized what Diesels and Old dog and everyone else had already mentioned, plus added a few of my own observations. Those guys are real pros, and know ten fold of what I do.Thumbs Up


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