Hey everyone i live in CT and i have a 2000 ford ranger and well we got some snow today and after shoveling the driveway to my house i was thinking about getting a plow for my truck. Anybody know were i can get one for a ranger?

 

cant truck is to small i recommend getting a 1/2 or more for a plow the truck would become VERY nose heavy...

 

People do it. I wouldn't.

 

its been done before and like said above its not recommended.

 

I've done it, It is fine. Will it put extra strain on your front end? Yes? is it going to destroy your truck any more than doing things like off-roading? No. My Friend Jesse has a 1993 (yes a different suspension style) ranger that has 220K miles and it has had a sno-way plow on it for the entire time. It is his best plow truck for driveways and sidewalks (he runs a plowing business). He only uses his 3/4 ton Dodges for big parking lots. I personally think they make great little plow rigs. If your only going to plow your driveway and maybe a friends, I see no issue other than the sticker shock ( a western suburbanite plow for a ranger was $3500 last time i looked inot a new one). I will post pics when I get home of some plowing rangers.

The plow I had was a 6.5' westin STEEL blade unimount and I got it off of a 1995 explorer my Friend bought from the U of M. It was used soley for plowing sidewalks on campus and it had 30K miles with the plow never removed and the only thing wrong with the explorer was the shifter was loose from constantly being jammed from forward to reverse buy uncaring drivers.

~HJ

 

I'm on my second season with my current 87 Toyota PU Plow truck (4 cyl). Had an 85 for one year before the current one. Same size and possible lighter than a ranger. I have no problems. It's not street legal this year but last year with it's wooden bed and no weight in the rear was a little sketchy driving down snowy roads in 2wd. 4wd made it feel a lot easier to drive. I do get it stuck on steep inclines but I also have all terrain 31" mud tires.

I just priced out a plow setup for the Ranger today when the Toyota would not start. I was quoted $3600 installed. Forget the model but I think it was a Fisher and plow/head unit only weight 240-260 pounds. In the 300 pound range with the sub frame.

 

Don't get a Fisher, IMO they are junk. I would go with a Western (I like them cause I have the most experience with them) or a sno-way. Sno-ways have a power down feature which is pretty cool for back dragging.



^ My explorer with the a steel western Uni-mount off of a 95 explorer.


^ I saw this yesterday, It is an 01 ranger just like my 01 ranger (I love Bright Island Blue)

Now I will tell you, if you plow like some of the idiots that work for my Friend Jesse you will tear your ranger up. No slamming into a snowbank and 30 MPH, and take it easy on the equipment and you will be fine. I will tell you plowing is fun and I like it a hell of a lot better than snow blowing. These new plows are so easy to hook up to the truck compared to the ones I have had too.

~HJ

 

I've see Rangers with 3 diffrent plows Western, Fisher and Curtis. All made the front end drop

 

^^ well of course there going to make the front end drop. its an extra 300 lbs. like said above if you are easy on your equipment your truck will last a long time. put some weight in the bed to help with traction.

 

Maybe I'm the only one that noticed....but how did this go from shoveling a driveway all the way to putting a plow on a ranger? Maybe I don't understand the logic?


I'm not hating in any way. I don't have any plow experience or advice or anything other than putting #1 bars on the truck.

 

Are you feeling alright today Shane ?
The OP is tired of manual snow removal and wants to get lazy.

 

Merry Christmas!

BTW, Craigslist is nice for finding a used one, but if you had a full size you'd have more luck. But if you find a 6'5" plow for anything light duty that isn't a ranger, you might be able to buy just a mount for your ranger new and use the used plow. You will need at least a headlight wiring harness that is correct for you truck if you want the headlights to work liek designed, or else you can use any harness and just wire the headlights up to a seperate switch and only run your parking lights on the truck when the plow is on.

 

Someone wants to put a snow plow on their truck or clear the snow off their driveway? That's what I got out of all this.


Unless there's a possible business opportunity, I can see it being worthwhile. But....sole reason being a DRIVEWAY!?!?

 

Maybe he has a 5 block long driveway . . .

In all seriousness, I think a decent width snowblower (or tractor + blower) would not only cost 1/3 the price, but not take much longer + be cheaper to operate.

 

LOL, I see I misunderstood you. I'm on the same page now. It all depends on your money and what you want to do with it. I paid $300 for my plow and a crappy snowblower was at least that (I did end up buying a buddies old explorer cause It was cheap and then I could leave it one all the time (I Daily drove my Level II back then so I would have to take it on and off all the time) and how long your driveway is. Back then I had a LOOOOOONg driveway, snow blowing it took 2 and a half hours, I did it in less than 20 with the plow. Plus I had heat and a radio, with the snow blower, I was cold and miserable.

I more than likely will have a plow on the Dodge before I am done with it.

~HJ

 

Maybe its a long driveway? I have a quarter mile driveway from the street to my house, and its very common around here to have long driveways.

 

Makes sense. I'm glad ya'll understand my logic here. lol. But the plow idea does makes sense.

 

well my drive way is long and very steep i do have snow blowers but it still takes too long to do and its not the thing i want to be doing at 4 am to get ready to leave for work at 7 lol. To me a plow would take half hour at the most and im givving myself extra time. it could make me money if i really felt i needed to but i have a job thats in high demand in the cold, im a heating techinicain so snow plowing as a side job might be out for me lol

 

I have actually considered doing this myself with my truck. However unless I can get the whole ball of wax super cheap with quick disconnects I wont bother. Besides it would be alot of work for me to get my truck ready to plow... Id hafta like disassemble all my goodies - front skid plate waag bar, KC lights...

my driveway is 12ft wide x 100ft long and 5 parking spots in the rear... plus 150ft of side walk...

 

yes it is possible to put a plow on ur truck, like others have said take it easy on it and it will be fine, dont be hauling *** in a snow bank.. haha.. if your only doing your driveway its probably not worth putting a plow on your truck. but if you plan to also do other plowing to make money than it would be worth it.

our driveway is fair size.. we plow about 20ft wide and the length of the driveway (duh haha) plus the back yard and some paths to the barn. it takes me about 3-4 hours to snowblow everything. we can fit probably at least a dozen vehicle in the driveway not including the back yard and fields.

here's some pics. driveway also goes along side the house to the left of the pic.


back yard, i snowblow from the little cement fire pit to the shop, and over to the fence where the truck is, then along side the shop to the fence to the back field, do some plowing paths in the field also.


more back yard, the section of grass. snowblow the cement walkway, and across the grass from the barn to the little ramp to get to the lower part of the yard.

 

there is a 92-95 exploder that has a plow on the front of it here in my city. the thing has been sitting forever. if i was hard up for cash, i'd buy it and mount the thing to my truck.

 

One thing I Discovered with my Explorer plow. The 1991-94 Explorer frame is skinnier than a 95+ Explorer frame. My western unimount was off a 95 explorer and I had to use spacers to make it work on a 91 explorer. So I do not think you can go the other way.

~HJ

 

Personal Snowplows - Truck/SUV - SnowBear Ltd.

^ I was over at a friends house when I noticed his neighbor had one of these on his 97-98 F-150. I went over and looked at it and it was about the same quality as an ATV plow. Good enough for most people to do there driveway with. It is an electric winch, no heavy hydraulic pumps and cylinders. I went on the website and I found that they are cheap too. around $1000. Might be a good option for some people here. This is better looking than the sno-sport crap that mounts in you reciever hitch with manual raise and lower.

The one down side I see is manual rotation. I am constanly flipping the plow from side to side and I just don't have the desire to jump out of the truck every time.

~HJ