bluAM2

Looking for ways to make this thing as useful as possible. anyone on here ever install a plow on your rig? if so, what brands should i be looking at? I wouldn't be opposed to a custom build either. any recommendations?

eighty5yota

its gonna have to be frame mounted and adjustable from the cab..

bluAM2

i was planning on those. front mounted hitch with in-cab controlls. i'd thought of a custom hitch that i could 'hide.' but that would involve some modification to the plow. that's why i was thinking totally custom, minus the plow.

eighty5yota

if you had an addicted offroad bumper or something with a front receiver .. then you can mount your plow/actuator on a hitch and take it off..


something has to raise and lower the plow.. im thinking linear actuator.. or maybe you can rig it to an existing winch to raise and lower.. but that method would have it skipping over things.. not plowing them..

the plow is the easy part.. gettin it dialed for your application is the hard part..

bluAM2

i agree. i was thinking a couple linear actuators for up and down and directional control. i don't have to get crazy with it, but the brain likes to. it is just a 3.0l with a blown head gasket at the moment

eighty5yota

sounds like you have bigger fish to fry than a snow plow!!!

bluAM2

yep! it's currently frying actually. only the block is left in the truck. waiting on a bit of clean up to put it back together. then plugs, wires, oil and antifreeze and i'll hopefully fire it up. it's my first rebuild on something that's not a 454 chevy. got any recommendations for oil/antifreeze?

eighty5yota

for antifreeze and stuff would be like PEAK 50/50 diluted or some other brand.. make sure its made of ethylene glycol ... ive also seen propylene glycol .. but thats just another extra molecule thats ineffective and used as a stabilizer .. they add it, call it a new name and give er the old mark up..

as far as oil.. its either dino oil or synthetic. if the motor started out on dino oil.. stick with it. cause sometimes rubber parts and seals are conditioned a certain way.. if you switch to syn.. you might develop small leaks.. if you go from syn to dino.. i dont see any reason to worry..

natural oils molecules are much bigger than syn so you shouldnt have new leaks..

limon32

I'd find a $1000 chevy with one of those 454s and put a plow on that. Probably cheaper than custom fitting a plow to a truck thats too light. Just my opinion of course.

Skoalbandit

Look for a fisher 6.5' chances are it's going to have to be conventional though, the new minute mount setups don't have push plates (the truck side) that would fit our rigs unless you bought taco ones and modified the heck out of them. The conventional plows generally run with a hydro pump mounted to the motor, you run a bigger belt, and it's all ran with a valve body, no electric/hydraulic system there although i have seen guys with older yotas rig up the electric/hydraulic setup on theres. the conventional takes a toll on the motor running the pump all the time, also you would have the headgear for the plow on the truck at all times... just some food for thought.

also, you may be able to find a new fisher light duty 6.5 i believe they call in the homesteader now... definitely do some research, as well as keep it as simple as possible. a complicated homemade rig could make it twice as hard to fix in a blizzard as something that has been engineered for decades is a little simpler to fix. just my 2cents.

Ezrider_92356

depending on what you have to plow you could look into snow sport plows, biggest down side to them is you cant back drag. other than that they are lightweight and as simple as you can get and iv seen some people use them they plow fresh snow real well

jason191918

6 foot 6 western. i have no complaints

bluAM2

again, i'm with you on the too light thing. but i love these trucks and it wouldn't be too bad for clearing small amounts of snow. i wouldn't be clearing highways by anymeans, but i've always wanted to take a Pickup and have it be able to answer the question "can it ____?" with the word "yes."

bluAM2

jason, nice truck. what types of controls do you have for your plow? in-cab pitch/height control? and how does the western mount to the truck? everything running off engine power?

vermontoyota

Sticking my neck out here and resurrecting this thread!!!!

Anyone run a Fisher Minute Mount on your yota? Just got a new beater with an automatic and it'd be much more comfortable to plow with than my 4 Wheeler.

Saw some 6.5' MM's on craigslist for $500 and they look like they bolt right up! Maybe HD shox and Tbars would be in order...

Any thoughts?

2003mikem

iTrader: (1)

i have a 6.5 western on my 85 4runner

Resto-noob

iTrader: (3)

I'm running an older Fisher on my Yota. Actually, I can't figure out which beater it's going on next, but that's beside the point. If you had a minute mount and just did your driveway, I don't see the need for upgraded front end parts. Those are so easy to mount that you could leave the blade in the yard and attach the plow only when you need it.

Edit: where are you in VT? I'm just across the river from Cattle-I mean Brattleboro.

If you plan on driving a lot with the blade attached, you may want to do something with the torsion bars then. Hitting frost heaves at 45 with a blade attached is probably murder on your front end.

warpigg

what ever you do dont get blizzard they are terrible, the whole system sucks. my dad has one on his taco and ive used it before, just awful.

vermontoyota

Hahaha- easy, I grew up there. And Hindsdale's no better! If you're from Chesterfield I'll cut you some slack. I live in Washington County now though off rt.100.

I'm looking mostly at Fisher MM's so good advice. I've seen working packages as low as $500 on c-list. Definitely excited to push some snow with the new beater this winter.

wildfire124

Ive been running plows on Toyota trucks for years now. Meyer has/had a TM6.5 plow made for pre 95 4runners and trucks. I have that setup on a 92 4runner. Its a good plow but small and light weight. My 94 has a a modified Meyer 7.5 commercial plow. I can plow just as good as the Ford250 guys. Plus its easyer to get unstuck.