My neighbor, Bill, asked me what type of plow he should purchase.

Background:

Bill lives across the street and he started a landscaping business 2 years ago.  He started with a little Isuzu 4WD sport Utility and a trailer and he did a bunch of residential jobs. At the end of last season he took on some hardscaping jobs and did well.  This spring he did a bunch of research and settled on buying a Ford F550 with a nice dump body.  Bill spent this cool spring and hot, hot summer working almost every day and it looks like he will be paying off that truck already.

Back to the plow question:

Over the last 15+ years I worked at 2 snow plow manufacturers in various roles including sales, product development and company Vice President.  To keep the discussion open, we don't need to know who I worked for because the goal in helping Bill is to remain unbiased.

So, I asked Bill what he thought he needed and he told me he had done a bunch of looking around on the internet and last winter he paid attention to what everyone in the area was using and he thinks maybe he might want a Western Wide-Out plow.  When I asked him why, he stated, "I just need the plow to back drag and to scoop out the end of the driveways.  I will not be taking on large parking lots or apartment complexes."

To stay unbiased, I suggested Bill look at where he felt he could get the best service, what brand he thought was the most solid and I also suggested he look at differences in electrical systems, mount systems and hydraulic systems.

He is going to do some more research and I expect he will catch me tonight when I get home. 

A few days later....

So, Bill said the brands he was looking at were Western, Boss and Sno-Way because he saw the most of these in the area and he found there were some good servicing dealers to choose from.  Bill asked me how he should judge the differences between the brands.  I told him there were a few key areas to pay attention to that would determine the best fit for him.  All plow manufacturers do build good plows but the day-to-day operating items will determine the satisfaction level.  

First, a plow controller is the main interface for the operator.  Most companies offer a joystick or a handheld control. Sno-Way has a wireless controller. These controls all work about the same so the choice comes down to personal preference.  Bill said he had tendenitis in his right hand so he needed to run the plow with his left hand sometimes.  I always ran plows with the controller in my right hand and actually shifted the truck and held on to the wheel while still holding on to the controller. 

Wiring systems are sometime the item that frustrates plowers the most over time.   The brains for the Western electrical system are enclosed in a "black box" that is mounted under the hood.  While this is a nice system that eliminates the needs for wiring through a series of relays, it can be costly if it fails.  Boss uses the old standby system where a number of relays are utilized to switch the lighting system from the truck to the plow and sometimes they need to utilize in excess of 8 relays.  These relays can be one of the main reasons a plow will cease to operate when you most need it.  These are not expensive t o replace.  Sno-Way uses a system without relays or a black box that simply switches lighting control from the truck to the plow by disconnecting one harness and reconnecting another.  The Sno-Way system seems to be the simplest and leaves no exposed wiring or open connectors.

Hydraulics - Almost all hydraulic systems run about the same - Sno-Way has a unique system that develops a down force on the cutting edge.  Western makes most of their own hydraulics components - they actually make all of the Fisher, Blizzard and Western hydraulics in Milwaukee, WI. Both Boss and Sno-Way count on outside companies to build their hydraulics.  Since all of these manufacturers have great quality control programs, the main difference in the way they operate is the actual cost of the hydraulics.  The company that controls more of the entire process will realize better costing.  

Plow construction is all about the same for Western, Boss and Sno-Way.  Western has been building plows longer than most of the other brands - only Fisher and Meyer have been around longer.  All the plows are built to withstand the daily grind and will absorb the mass of the truck they are mounted to.  The difference comes when damage occurs.  All manufacturers handle their warranty claims in different ways and the dealer has influence on how damage is handled as well.

Mount systems can be the difference for many plowers.  Bill said he was looking for a system that was easy to use and stayed up as high as possible to the truck frame.  For the brands that he is looking at, the Boss and the Western have the longest current systems on the market and the Western sits the highest because you can take off the receivers of the UltraMount system during the off-season. 

Anyway, it was quite a long discussion and I left Bill with a few notes:  Look again at the dealers in the area and get information on their service department.  Talk to some operators that had plows like the ones he is looking at and do some more thinking about how he intends to use his plow and how long he thinks he will have it in operation.

A few more days go by:

So, Bill is still concerned about making the right decision because the plow brand he settles on will be the one he sticks with as he adds more trucks going forward.  His other big concern is that he wants to be sure the plow he chooses will not fail him during a snowstorm.  Again, I asked him about his research on dealers and he now had a local guy he met that he was very impressed with.  Randy is the parts manager that Bill met while doing research and Bill thinks Randy will take care of him.  The plows that Randy works on most of the time are Boss and Sno-Way so Bill was trying to figure which of these brands to go with.

While we were out in the driveway I stated that it would be nice if Bill owned a smaller truck to plow with because he would only be doing driveways this year.  Bill said it would be nice if his 2002 Isuzu could take a plow so he could just get through this year and then buy a larger plow for the F550 next year when he is ready to take on more commercial work.  I looked at the frame and suspension and GAWR of his truck and informed Bill that there would be no plow for his truck.  I suggested that maybe it was time for Bill to trade in this SUV for something more utilitarian for the business like a Ford Ranger.  I told him that one of the best small plow trucks I ever ran was an old Jeep Wrangler with a Sno-Way plow that had Down Pressure.  Bill was thinking about this as I left.

The next day:

Bill said he looked into a used Ford Ranger and he could get one for around $7,000 so then he would need to check plow prices.  Bill did look into a new truck and mentioned that incentives on new trucks are pretty nice as this is the last year for the Ranger nameplate. He also mentioned that his wife was not delighted with the idea of taking on yet another business expense so this idea was going to sit for a bit.

Two days later:

I ran into Bill on the way to work and he was still concerned about making the right decision.  He felt he was doing the right amount of research and talking to key people but he still felt unsettled in making a final decision.  I said to Bill, "Sometimes the right decision is the simplest decision so let's get back to making a simple decision."  We went back to talking about what to do with the F550 to make this a simple decision.  Bill then said something that took me off guard.  Bill asked, "who makes the plow with the simplest design?" 

I let Bill know that I had just finished a research project that now allowed me to really answer this question.  I looked at the designs of Western, Fisher, Boss, Meyer, Sno-Way, Hiniker, Blizzard and Curtis and found the company with the simplest design and the most consistent usage of the same components is Fisher.  After more research I found that they had not changed their Mount, A-Frame or Lift Mechanism components since 1992. The big downside for Fisher in our area is that there are no dealers within 40 minutes.  Bill shelved his thoughts on Fisher because he knew he wanted to stick with Randy for service. 

Before leaving, Bill wanted to know what I though about V-Plows.  They are flexible and allow a contractor to get into tight spaces and control the snow load.  We talked about the ability for a plow to back frag a driveway.  Again, the best would be a Sno-Way with the Down Pressure.  Some plow companies now have an accessory edge that attached to the back of the cutting edge which provided back-drag assistance but I did not know if there were any of these available for V-Plows.  Bill was going to research V-Plows.

The other thing that bothered him was color.  He has a green and white color scheme for the business and he wanted a plow that would look nice with this.  He hated that every plow he saw last year had rust on it and that was bad for image.  I suggested he look at a poly plow because they look good longer and snow will not stick to it.  Bill said the Boss had a really cool design for their V-Plow with a flared out wing but he didn't think it came in poly.  For the work Bill was going to be doing I didn't think a flared wing was necessary. He agreed and headed down the road. 

I'm sure I will talk to Bill more often as the season is soon approaching. At this point he just needs to make a decision and roll with it!