# Back into plowing this year - '12 Cummins Dually Flatbed



## captntim (Dec 12, 2002)

With a few properties to take care of I decided to get back into plowing - not for hire at this point just plowing my private road, camp road, apartment and boatyard

Truck is a 2012 Ram 3500 6 speed that pulls a hydraulic boat trailer in the summer. Installed a Boss DXT and a set of 6 Cooper M+S studded tires - truck is tank in the snow.

Not much winter this year but I'm very happy with the little bit I've used it. Tuck holds the plow great and I love plowing with the 6 speed manual - set up the controller on a RAM mount attached to the shifter & its the best plowing setup I've ever had.

Pics of the truck are at my boatyard - usually use a ballast box I built for counterweight but was headed up snowmobiling after cleaning up the yard so that worked well enough.


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## Sawboy (Dec 18, 2005)

Looks great.


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## 1olddogtwo (Aug 6, 2007)

That's a good looking setup.


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## GMCHD plower (Nov 27, 2009)

Pretty slick setup, whereabouts in Maine?


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## TJS (Oct 22, 2003)

Really nice.


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## redskinsfan34 (Jan 14, 2010)

Aren't you always hitting the plow controller when reaching to shift? Other than that, great idea.


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## allagashpm (Sep 29, 2012)

Awesome truck, you should get some wings for that. 
Check out the maine section under weather, good group of guys there


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## PlowMan03 (Dec 31, 2003)

Nice truck. If I'm not mistaken I believe I have seen this truck in Penobscot, correct me if I'm wrong.


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## Mark13 (Dec 3, 2006)

That's a pretty cool setup! 

I'd have a hard time driving that truck with reverse being left and down. I'd never be able to get my brain to agree that left and down is reverse and not low/1st. I'm used to reverse being left and up (semi's, ZF6 pickups,etc) or far right and down (older pickups or smaller cars).


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## Quality SR (Oct 25, 2006)

Nice truck and DXT!!


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## captntim (Dec 12, 2002)

Thanks for all the replies!

I thought originally the controller would get in the way for everyday driving, but its a non-issue after a little practice. In the spring I'll just remove the clamp and toss the whole thing in the console. It did take me a little while to get used to the reverse location but you get lots of practice while plowing & it's second nature now. Reverse is slow of course, but I don't do any large lots and I'm not in a rush plowing so this works great - can roll into a pile, clutch in and have it in reverse at the same time your stacking so I'm ready to back out for the next pass, hands never leave the steering wheel or shifter. 

I have a couple properties in Penobscot including my main shop on the western county road so yep - same truck. 

Thanks again for looking!


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## FF/P215 (Dec 5, 2012)

Nice set-up, what a miserable year.. Great idea with the controller!


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## FredG (Oct 15, 2012)

Awesome truck! Great idea with controller. Thumbs Up


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## JustJeff (Sep 9, 2009)

Nice truck. This is a pre "DEF" truck, correct?


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## cet (Oct 2, 2004)

Harleyjeff;2122148 said:


> Nice truck. This is a pre "DEF" truck, correct?


I believe Dodge has it on their C&C trucks in 2012. Could be wrong.


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## NHCraigT (Oct 21, 2008)

Impressive set up. Thanks for posting the v plow control picks too.


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## Whiffyspark (Dec 23, 2009)

Edit : never mind... Lol

How is the cummins holding up?


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## JustJeff (Sep 9, 2009)

cet;2122163 said:


> I believe Dodge has it on their C&C trucks in 2012. Could be wrong.


That's a converted pickup, isn't it? I thought cab and chassis had a longer wheelbase?


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## TJ2015 (Jan 5, 2016)

Awesome looking set up. When I had a manual plow truck, thats how I did my boss touchpad as well. Always in control of truck and plow at all times. I loved mine.


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## Snow Commandor (Jan 30, 2011)

Mark13;2120602 said:


> That's a pretty cool setup!
> 
> I'd have a hard time driving that truck with reverse being left and down. I'd never be able to get my brain to agree that left and down is reverse and not low/1st. I'm used to reverse being left and up (semi's, ZF6 pickups,etc) or far right and down (older pickups or smaller cars).


Ditto Mark. I for one, could never see myself being comfortable plowing with a stick shift period. I can drive my 5 speed dump & trailer all day but plowing is a whole nother ball game.


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## captntim (Dec 12, 2002)

Harleyjeff;2122235 said:


> That's a converted pickup, isn't it? I thought cab and chassis had a longer wheelbase?


Yes, its a regular 4 door dually pickup. I bought the truck with the bed on it - had just 6500 miles. Closer inspection after I bought it revealed the bed was only mounted to the factory bed mounts with gumpy studs welded to the frame of bed - the GN hitch plate was not attached to the frame of the truck at all! Had to remove the bed, make attachment plates and bolt it to the frame properly (hydraformed frame proved to have its own set of challenges for this) - its seriously a good thing no one ever towed anything with it the way it was. Makes me wonder how many other flatbed installs are like this?? Wish I had some pics of the way it was - totally unbelievable on a brand new $50K + truck


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## captntim (Dec 12, 2002)

Whiffyspark;2122231 said:


> Edit : never mind... Lol
> 
> How is the cummins holding up?


Just hit 40K & been deleted since 6500 miles - no problems at all so far. Great power & the Valair clutch holds everything I've put behind it


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## captntim (Dec 12, 2002)

Snow Commandor;2122284 said:


> Ditto Mark. I for one, could never see myself being comfortable plowing with a stick shift period. I can drive my 5 speed dump & trailer all day but plowing is a whole nother ball game.


I can understand your point - my perspective is the truck does a little plowing and a whole lot of everything else. I'd never give up the 6 speed for towing and everyday driving so the plowing is what it is - doesn't bother me in the slightest for what I have to do. If I had 50 accounts? Maybe a different story who knows.


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## JustJeff (Sep 9, 2009)

So, prior to deleting, was it a 'DEF" model or not? I think that started with the '13's, correct?


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## Ramitt (Mar 12, 2013)

Do you mind posting more pics of your controller set up? I plow with my 6 speed and I just grip the remote and shifter at the same time.. Gets to be a bit much after a little while.. As far as plowing with a manual.. I thought it would suck but after a few storms its almost 2nd nature to me.. My only complaint is my competition clutch.. Its too heavy for plowing.. Debating on swapping it out for a more streetable one.


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## captntim (Dec 12, 2002)

Harleyjeff;2122657 said:


> So, prior to deleting, was it a 'DEF" model or not? I think that started with the '13's, correct?


No DEF until '13 for a regular pickup - not sure about the C&C. When I bought this truck it was still impossible to delete the newest 4th gen DEF trucks & I really don't think it's worth it, anyway With the Selective Catalytic Reduction process of DEF. Using a 3rd fuel injection event in the power & exhaust stroke was notorious for fuel dilution issues on the '07.5 - '12 trucks & what caused many of the issues people had - mostly from trucks that were not run hard enough & idled a lot.


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## captntim (Dec 12, 2002)

Ramitt;2122734 said:


> Do you mind posting more pics of your controller set up? I plow with my 6 speed and I just grip the remote and shifter at the same time.. Gets to be a bit much after a little while.. As far as plowing with a manual.. I thought it would suck but after a few storms its almost 2nd nature to me.. My only complaint is my competition clutch.. Its too heavy for plowing.. Debating on swapping it out for a more streetable one.


What other angle would you like? The lighting is poor so I had trouble getting my phone to do much better than that. Here are the parts I used to make it mount:

1. Clamp and socket:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LFNC1FS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00

2. Base for controller:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009NRP2WW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00

The clamp is JUST small enough for the shifter. You might want to do a couple layers of black electrical tape to give it a little better traction. Mine works fine but can be bumped out of adjustment if you hit it hard enough as the clamp is nearly bottomed out. They don't make a smaller clamp that I found. Doesn't bother me at all - works great!

I just picked a RAM base with a dimension that fit the back of the controller. I took the handle off the controller and epoxied the RAM base to the back - you could also and screw the Ram base to the controller just make sure you take apart the controller so you know what you are screwing into! There isn't much extra room in the plastic controller case before you'd hit the circuit card.

I use RAM mounts all the time in the marine industry so that's where the idea came from. They have literally 1000s of applications and different mounts for anything. Wanted to be able to quickly unplug and unclamp the whole thing so it could be stashed in the console for the summer (or whenever)

Hope this helps


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## JustJeff (Sep 9, 2009)

captntim;2122797 said:


> No DEF until '13 for a regular pickup - not sure about the C&C. When I bought this truck it was still impossible to delete the newest 4th gen DEF trucks & I really don't think it's worth it, anyway With the Selective Catalytic Reduction process of DEF. Using a 3rd fuel injection event in the power & exhaust stroke was notorious for fuel dilution issues on the '07.5 - '12 trucks & what caused many of the issues people had - mostly from trucks that were not run hard enough & idled a lot.


That's what I thought, that my '13 was the first year for DEF. I did delete mine because I had HUGE problems with the system since brand new. Check engine light stayed on for 2 years, and the dealers couldn't fix it. They tried to get me to replace the entire exhaust system to the tune of 5,500 bucks (on my dime), because they supposedly found a foreign substance in the DEF tank, so they wouldn't warranty it. What foreign substance would I have put in my own truck???? Anyways, I deleted and tuned it about a year ago, and haven't had a single problem since. No check engine lights anymore, way more power, and better mileage as well. I guess this is all irrelevant to you since you haven't had to deal with it though. Anyways, nice truck and plow.


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## Ramitt (Mar 12, 2013)

captntim;2122801 said:


> What other angle would you like? The lighting is poor so I had trouble getting my phone to do much better than that. Here are the parts I used to make it mount:
> 
> 1. Clamp and socket:
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LFNC1FS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00
> ...


No that works I just wasn't sure how you mounted the controller to the mount that's all. But the links helped so no need for pics. Really like that setup! Saw one guy made a mount for on his door panel and it was removable. I really liked that idea but now that I've saw your idea I think that will be the route I'll go! Thank you very much!


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## captntim (Dec 12, 2002)

Ramitt;2123016 said:


> No that works I just wasn't sure how you mounted the controller to the mount that's all. But the links helped so no need for pics. Really like that setup! Saw one guy made a mount for on his door panel and it was removable. I really liked that idea but now that I've saw your idea I think that will be the route I'll go! Thank you very much!


Sure thing - I think you'll like it


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