# 2001 Durango SLT 7.6 Fisher SD



## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

Norway Auto and Plow Newport NY


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## mega10cab (Dec 23, 2013)

Wow. Never seen a Durango with a plow. I have seen about anything else lol. Cool stuff


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

I plowed 17 driveways and one small lot two days ago and it only cost me 37 dollars in gas..lol Woop Woop..


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## NorwayAutoPlow (Sep 5, 2013)

Pleasure doing business with you! Enjoy the plow and we'll see you for the annual service.


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## bazjeepers (Nov 18, 2014)

Any updates on how the Durango is holding up this snow season? Not there is much snow now.


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

Man I wish there was some snow to plow lol..... The Durango so far has shown no signs of trouble other then a power issue when I turn the blower fan up the power temporarily flickers on the hand held control. I think the power issue might be just that the wires for the controler are routed over or near the fan motor wires and picking up some interference.I have done some more suspension upgrades like heavier duty ball joints and also replaced the front drive shaft prop joint. None of which were bad due to plow. I know this because the prop joint was already needing replacement but I held off as long as I dared. The upper ball joints were just bad due to the fact that the boots were worn off and grease would not stay in. I love the fact that it plows so effortlessly, yet I do dislike the visibility issues. I don't pln to use the Durango on a full time commercial basis so the Visibility is not a factor towards a new plow vehicle at this time.


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## bazjeepers (Nov 18, 2014)

Do you have additional pictures of the Durango with the snow plow? I am thinking of picking up a 2003 in the same body style as you got.


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

Let me take a few pics and post them up for ya in the next couple days. Thanks for the interest and I will get back to ya


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## bazjeepers (Nov 18, 2014)

Ended up picking up a 2003 Dodge Durango SLT. Leather is pristine condition. Waiting on dealer to fix a few things like check engine light and the 2nd and 3rd row HVAC since it was not blowing out hot air when I test drove it with my wife.


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

Bazjeepers sorry for the delay brother. here are a few pics just taken tonight. getting ready for the biggin' here in NY


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https://flic.kr/p/15753737484


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## bazjeepers (Nov 18, 2014)

What tires are you running? I ordered some Winterforce tires and waiting on tire dealer to have them in stock.


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

tried to get pics direct upload but photobucket is down.


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

Kenda Klever M/T 265/75/16's


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## ljbconst (Jun 24, 2012)

Did u do anything to the front suspension to support the weight of the plow? Crank the t-bars or helpers? how much counter weight do u use? Almost finished with my 99 Durango and tips would be appreciated , thanks


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

I cranked the torsion bars 8 turns each side for 2 inches of lift, then added Ranch RS500 shocks . I use approx 80-160 lbs of ballast just because but does great without. basically one huge bag or two of rock salt and your good. It plows like a beast and works great in tight spots.


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## ljbconst (Jun 24, 2012)

Awesome thanks for the reply ,your dodge looks great by the way


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

ljb did you look at the pics? It drops less then an inch from that side pic. I am still waiting on doing the rear shackles and Rancho RS5000's out back as well. After I do that I might add a spreader on the back for the small stuff.


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## ljbconst (Jun 24, 2012)

Nice , mine drops 2-3" when plow is raised, just painted the blade las night waiting for paint to dry , I adapted an old conventional Meyer st -78 with the e-47 pump , other than the fact had to remove the grill from the hood and bumper ( will have to adapt the grill to be stationary as won't clear the mount) it fits pretty Nicely , haven't cranked the t bars yet but with your suggestion I will crank them before putting the plow back on ,as yours is a 01 would assume u have the 4.7?


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## ljbconst (Jun 24, 2012)

Any alignment issues after cranking the bars?


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

Yup the 4.7 and it is plenty. No alignment issues after cranking the bars. I am running those tires since las Feb, and they are 50 plus % still there and wearing fine. No uneven wear or cupping what so ever. The Fisher being newer is designed for the Durango, and mine has the grill fixed to the hood factory. Jack the front end up so the tires are both off the ground at the same time it helps with cranking the bars. 8 full turns and stop drop compress front end and check ride height.


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

I replied in that other thread you posted in . Don't worry haters man they have no first hand experience and are only going on " I HEARD IT ON THE INTERNET SO IT'S TRUE " I found info from Dodge that said crank the bars and put the plow on no problem ..lol oh This is also my wifes daily driver so it gets about 20 k a year on top of the plowing I do now and hope to increase in the future.


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## ljbconst (Jun 24, 2012)

That's how I ended up using my dodge , my wife wanted bigger truck (we have 4 kids Durango was to small) went to trade my dodge all they wanted to give me was $700 , I said forget it , it's got a new trans with 12,000 miles on, new tires 8k on them, I replaced every hard and flex brake line front to rear, calipers ,master cyl both cv shafts and all ball joints with in the last 2yrs , truck only has 110,000 miles with the 5.9, and it has the bigger 46re Trans with the upgraded tow package ( larger trans cooler and heavier suspension ) I figured how could I go wrong , and as u can see nothing but flack from everyone


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## bazjeepers (Nov 18, 2014)

So I ended up going with a Western. Dealer wanted me to get the Western Midweight instead of the Western HTS. They had to order the Durango mount since the one he did have, he ended up selling it two weeks ago. Hour gets the mount in next Mon/Tues and hope to have it all set by end of next week.


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

Awesome baz, I was looking at the HTS also but did want to consider that it had almost 100lbs over the SD from Fisher. Plus guy had the mounts and all in stock. I got it for a stupid deal, like 4600 installed and two year warranty.. Brother we know the Durango's are not as formidable for say a 2ft storm as the larger counterparts, BUT and it's a BIG but they will hold their own in the industry. Plow easy with them and they will plow for years. I replaced all my ball joints, prop shaft joint on the transfer case side, both outer tie rods, the shock upgrades..... I am starting out with a sound plow vehicle. I do plan to post every breakdown when they come just to add to our support of the D's use for plowing.



Oh and the wife wants a Subaru so I might get to land some accts to plow other then the close to a dozen a storm I do now..lol

One more thing we need to take some videos of our D's plowing the snow and post them up. I need to get a mount for my camera, not a GoPro but she does ok.


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## bazjeepers (Nov 18, 2014)

asphaltwarrior1;1941523 said:


> Awesome baz, I was looking at the HTS also but did want to consider that it had almost 100lbs over the SD from Fisher. Plus guy had the mounts and all in stock. I got it for a stupid deal, like 4600 installed and two year warranty.. Brother we know the Durango's are not as formidable for say a 2ft storm as the larger counterparts, BUT and it's a BIG but they will hold their own in the industry. Plow easy with them and they will plow for years. I replaced all my ball joints, prop shaft joint on the transfer case side, both outer tie rods, the shock upgrades..... I am starting out with a sound plow vehicle. I do plan to post every breakdown when they come just to add to our support of the D's use for plowing.
> 
> Oh and the wife wants a Subaru so I might get to land some accts to plow other then the close to a dozen a storm I do now..lol
> 
> One more thing we need to take some videos of our D's plowing the snow and post them up. I need to get a mount for my camera, not a GoPro but she does ok.


My Western installer quoted $4630 for the Midweight and $4330 for the HTS. I can only tell the difference between a HTS and Midweight is that a Midweight has the mechanical chain and seems to have a thicker gauge steel moldboard. Includes lights and I am trying to see if he will throw in the snow deflector.

Anyhow ... the owner, Buddy Van Dines actually was surprised since he knew these trucks were sound but get very few installs for them. Most of the ones I see in his shops are 250/2500 series from Ford, Chevy/GMC and Dodge.

I will try to get pics soon. I do have to do some maintenance since I did buy this truck used at close tto 95,000 miles but I usually go slow till I get comfortable with how it behaves with a plow in the front of the Durango.


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

Cool man that's a good price. Of all the local shops here no one would touch the price I got , and I drove 160 miles to get it so to bad for my local fisher guy..lol Go over all the essentials upfront and you'll be fine. Service the front diff, the trans and transfer case, and the rear diff. You'll be fine. All my buddies use is the 2500's and they have a couple Super Duty fords and they could not believe how well the Durango plows snow.


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## bazjeepers (Nov 18, 2014)

asphaltwarrior1;1941593 said:


> Cool man that's a good price. Of all the local shops here no one would touch the price I got , and I drove 160 miles to get it so to bad for my local fisher guy..lol Go over all the essentials upfront and you'll be fine. Service the front diff, the trans and transfer case, and the rear diff. You'll be fine. All my buddies use is the 2500's and they have a couple Super Duty fords and they could not believe how well the Durango plows snow.


Finally got the Western Plow installed by Van Dine's but Buddy put a Western Standard 6.5 on the Durango instead of a Midweight or HTS.


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

Hey looks nice man. How's she plow? With the narrower plow watch the tight turns you will not quite clear all the snow in your rear tires path. Looks awesome and wish you luck with it.


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## bazjeepers (Nov 18, 2014)

Not enough snow this past weekend. Had to drive it to my regular 9-5 job today since my regular car was still out of commission. We'll see how the snow is tonight. I might ask for the larger blade but still undecided on it.

Here is the head-on pictures so you can see how wide the blade is relative to the front of the Durango.


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

Nice looking plow. It does appear to be close to the width of the truck. Might end up at full angle plowing snow and have the snow coming off the end of the plow and right under the rear tires. I would give them a call and ask why they didn't install what you was quoted.


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## bazjeepers (Nov 18, 2014)

Got to plow with it, it did pretty well with the snow from this past Sunday. I did lose the Durango for a week while the dealer covered a warranty repair for a bad top radiator hose and radiator cap that dried out.

So far so good.

To answer the question about the larger and wider blade option, I originally thought I should have gotten the larger size but after driving with it, I am kind of ok with the option I was provided now. Only issue is the mount is low where it will sometime scrap the bottom of the Ultramount at it's lowest point but putting some bags of salt in the back seem to have address this issue.


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## asphaltwarrior1 (Jan 27, 2014)

Cool man . Main thing is your happy with the plow. Just don't forget to crank the torsion bars up. That will eliminate the low clearance issue completely.


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