Snow Plow Questions

csheatz · December 9, 2009

I am looking for information for a buddy.....

He has a 2004 2500hd silverado eclb with the 8.1 and the allison. Running aftermarket wheels and 295/75/16 BFG all terrain.

He plows snow and this is the first year with this truck, he switched over to a chevy from a Ford F250, Just got his plow mounted last weekend and found out the front end is really low now. I think he has a Western Unimount plow, and he was told it is about 800lbs. They guy at the plow dealer cranked his T-bars all the way up (I told him not to go all the way!). He is still sitting really low in the front with the plow up and is close to or is draging the plow mound and hyd. cyl's going in and out or drives.

What can he do to restore his ride height with the plow? or at least stop front bottoming out? The only thing I could think of is to get new torsion keys, anything else I dont know what he can do. What do you guys think?

old dog · December 9, 2009

I am looking for information for a buddy.....

He has a 2004 2500hd silverado eclb with the 8.1 and the allison. Running aftermarket wheels and 295/75/16 BFG all terrain.

He plows snow and this is the first year with this truck, he switched over to a chevy from a Ford F250, Just got his plow mounted last weekend and found out the front end is really low now. I think he has a Western Unimount plow, and he was told it is about 800lbs. They guy at the plow dealer cranked his T-bars all the way up (I told him not to go all the way!). He is still sitting really low in the front with the plow up and is close to or is draging the plow mound and hyd. cyl's going in and out or drives.

What can he do to restore his ride height with the plow? or at least stop front bottoming out? The only thing I could think of is to get new torsion keys, anything else I dont know what he can do. What do you guys think?

first thing i would do is get some timbren load boosters for the front ,or buyer's products is now making the same thing for half the price ,they will keep the front end from dropping .next put about 4-500 lbs of ballast in the bed behind the rear wheels .

and i hope he had the front end aligned after they cranked the torsion bars ,or he will wear out the tire's .

csheatz · December 9, 2009

I am looking for information for a buddy.....

He has a 2004 2500hd silverado eclb with the 8.1 and the allison. Running aftermarket wheels and 295/75/16 BFG all terrain.

He plows snow and this is the first year with this truck, he switched over to a chevy from a Ford F250, Just got his plow mounted last weekend and found out the front end is really low now. I think he has a Western Unimount plow, and he was told it is about 800lbs. They guy at the plow dealer cranked his T-bars all the way up (I told him not to go all the way!). He is still sitting really low in the front with the plow up and is close to or is draging the plow mound and hyd. cyl's going in and out or drives.

What can he do to restore his ride height with the plow? or at least stop front bottoming out? The only thing I could think of is to get new torsion keys, anything else I dont know what he can do. What do you guys think?

first thing i would do is get some timbren load boosters for the front ,or buyer's products is now making the same thing for half the price ,they will keep the front end from dropping .next put about 4-500 lbs of ballast in the bed behind the rear wheels .

and i hope he had the front end aligned after they cranked the torsion bars ,or he will wear out the tire's .

Nope, the jerk that cranked them all the way told him it was not needed. I now have him believing otherwise!

cvandegna · December 9, 2009

Yeah -tell your buddy to take his truck back to that shop and have the tbars uncranked. I had a bad experience with a truck I did a mild crank on - at full droop the stock Bilstein shock was 1/2" too short and it tore the upper shock mount right off the frame. Go with the Timbrens or the Buyers mentioned in the first reply.

Also, warn your buddy that his dealer may not be too happy if they see that mount on the front for any warranty work. Have heard stories that if the truck doesn't have plow prep and they see a mount you could have issues.

csheatz · December 9, 2009

Yeah -tell your buddy to take his truck back to that shop and have the tbars uncranked. I had a bad experience with a truck I did a mild crank on - at full droop the stock Bilstein shock was 1/2" too short and it tore the upper shock mount right off the frame. Go with the Timbrens or the Buyers mentioned in the first reply.

Also, warn your buddy that his dealer may not be too happy if they see that mount on the front for any warranty work. Have heard stories that if the truck doesn't have plow prep and they see a mount you could have issues.

I think he is out of warranty, I personally didnt think the plow would have dropped the front end this much. I see a lot of 2500hd chevys with plows and they dont seem to ride this low, I wonder if its maybe the 8.1 that makes it that much heavier? or is this a common problem with these trucks?

old dog · December 9, 2009

Yeah -tell your buddy to take his truck back to that shop and have the tbars uncranked. I had a bad experience with a truck I did a mild crank on - at full droop the stock Bilstein shock was 1/2" too short and it tore the upper shock mount right off the frame. Go with the Timbrens or the Buyers mentioned in the first reply.

Also, warn your buddy that his dealer may not be too happy if they see that mount on the front for any warranty work. Have heard stories that if the truck doesn't have plow prep and they see a mount you could have issues.

I think he is out of warranty, I personally didnt think the plow would have dropped the front end this much. I see a lot of 2500hd chevys with plows and they dont seem to ride this low, I wonder if its maybe the 8.1 that makes it that much heavier? or is this a common problem with these trucks?

the 8.1 is a little bit heaver but not un manageable mine has a 6.0 ,is it a crew cab ? it will add more weight to the front end .typically you need a 4800 lb front gross Axel weight rating for snow plows or suspension aid's .here's mine " i dont have the 4800 lb frt end ,only about three crank's on the bar's and about 6 sand bag's .

cvandegna · December 9, 2009

I think it is that the Duramax is just a heavy SOB. Most of the plows (with the exception of the lightweight homeowner ones) all weigh in around 200# of each other complete.

The other thing to mention is your buddy should look at joining the PlowSite.com forum. There's alot of really good guys on there, and I think somebody prolly has the exact same truck as your friend and can give way more specific advice. I'm sure there's alot of overlap with the membership here too.

hockeypro1411 · December 9, 2009

Uncrank the bars before you do anything. Then throw in some Timbrens and you'll be amazed at what they do.

sonjaab · December 9, 2009

A low riding front end and bottoming out with a plow on is

normal on the GM trucks with IFS so its something you learn

to live with.

As far as cranking up the t-bars almost all the plow guys do it

(as do I) to gain ground clearance. Cranking them all the way

is to extreme IMO and could cause excessive front end part wear

down the road. Several turns is fine (as I do) and I haven't had

any excessive tire or front end wear.

The diesel trucks esp. with the VYU plow prep. have the highest

rated t-bars that GM makes for the IFS trucks so changing them

won't help.

Timbren load busters are ok but cause some strange driving experiences

when plow is not mounted. I had them once and was unhappy with them.

The BEST advise that has been listed here by Old Dog !

BALLAST, BALLAST, BALLAST...........is one of the cures for a low riding

front end ! A bit of weight on the tail will lift the front and add plenty of

traction!

Check out http://www.letstalksnow.com/forums

The old pros there will have the best advise !

hockeypro1411 · December 10, 2009

I thought you couldn't get the plow prep package with a diesel...?

sonjaab · December 10, 2009

VYU plow prep is/was only offered in certain GMT-800 models.

1/2 tons in std. cab only , certain year 1/2 ton HDs .

Also certain model diesels (std. cab only IIRC)

In Gasser 3/4-1 tons VYU was avail. in all models.

In the gmt-900s only in 1/2 ton std. cabs,

3/4-1 ton gassers all models, 3/4-1 ton diesel std. cab only

Kodiak450 · December 10, 2009

I'm thinking your friend got the 8.0 blade? Thats what I have on my truck. I never heard of front end sagging that bad with GM's, but then again your friend has the 8.1, not the 6.0 like me. Yes it was correct to crank up T-Bars, but not all the way up.. I cranked mine 3-4 times?? I run BFG 265 75 R16 and I measured from top of the wheel to bottom of fender 13 1/2" after crancked. And PS sits at 14". It is common for one side to be 1/2" lower due to extra weight on DS, so I was told. You MUST get an alignment after cranking the T-Bars, or your ride quality will be compromised and tires will prematurely wear down. Now if indeed that plow installer person cranked those bars up all the way, that is not good. He needs to find out exactly how many cranks he turned each torsion bar.

With my 8.0 western Uni mount, I was experiencing bottoming out when driving over hills or dips in the roads and would bottom out. I had to slow down considerably to avoid bottoming out. I installed timbren SES in the front a few months back, and couldn't be happier! They stopped all the bottoming out I had experienced, and allowed me to drive the speed limit while transporting the plow. At first, after install, the front end was up 3" additionaly, but after you put plow on, they will settle down. Bascially the timbrens give me 2" more when plow is on, and looks like my truck in the front is riding at normal height.

59ih340 · December 11, 2009

I have an '03 with a 6.0. I have a 7.5 Fisher (I have an 8' too,but I find it too heavy for what I do)and when I had 245 tires on it with no bar crank it would bottom out like crazy.Now with 2"(8 turns)lift and 285's it hardly ever bottoms out.They do plow MUCH better with some weight in the back. I don't know the #'s they reccomend off hand but if you go to the Fisher plow website the do have a reccomended ammount of ballast for each model.

*Actually I do know it's 540lbs.That's what Fisher specs for ballast on an 8' plow

bersh · December 11, 2009

I am looking for information for a buddy.....

He has a 2004 2500hd silverado eclb with the 8.1 and the allison. Running aftermarket wheels and 295/75/16 BFG all terrain.

He plows snow and this is the first year with this truck, he switched over to a chevy from a Ford F250, Just got his plow mounted last weekend and found out the front end is really low now. I think he has a Western Unimount plow, and he was told it is about 800lbs. They guy at the plow dealer cranked his T-bars all the way up (I told him not to go all the way!). He is still sitting really low in the front with the plow up and is close to or is draging the plow mound and hyd. cyl's going in and out or drives.

What can he do to restore his ride height with the plow? or at least stop front bottoming out? The only thing I could think of is to get new torsion keys, anything else I dont know what he can do. What do you guys think?

As mentioned above, crank the bars back down a few turns as he's going to be topping out his shocks too often and causing extra wear and tear on the front end. Timbrens or the new Buyers load helpers are the way to go. I had Timbrens on my old truck, and plan to get a set of the buyers for the current truck even though my 2500HD handles my 8' Fisher HD just fine.

He's also going to find that skinnier tires are much better for plowing than those meats he has on there.

Kodiak450 · December 12, 2009

I used to plow with the tall skinny 235 85R 16's, and even though they were great going through deep snow, the 265 75R 16's felt like they provided better handling. The first set of 235 85R 16's were a joke! They were like passenger car tires with 0 aggression and prone to hydro plaining when doing highway speeds and hitting a puddle. I upgraded to a much more aggressive tire, which limited the hydro plaining, but like running 265 75R 16's the best.