Snow Plow on a 6 volt CJ5

The wife and I have been searching the market for a country home and may be on the trail of what we're looking for, so now what do I do for snow removal? Our current home was just a pleasant shovel job each time it snowed, now I may have over 150 feet of driveway to clear. My '57 CJ5 is 6 volt and most plow set ups I see are 12 volt, I did a search here but didn't find any usable info. Does anybody here have some words of wisdom for me?

 

If your CJ-5 is nice, I'd just buy an old p/u already set up with a plow.... Plows are exceptionally hard on vehicles, especially older light duty rigs.

 

^^That.

Or, get a deep cycle (marine) battery at Walmart for $65 and run that independently to your plow. It will have plenty of charge to do a small- to medium-sized plow job. Just charge it back up when you're finished.

My alternator died beginning of last winter, and on a full charge, my battery had enough charge to plow 4 passes on our mile of dirt road, and 6 driveway plow-outs. It was fairly dead at the end, but it did it, and the jeep still ran.

 

Lots of old plow rigs ran on a belt drive pump, as well as the Hy-Lo. Some even adapted power steering pumps.

These older plows are available cheap or free, often with hardware for mounting on a Jeep frame. (A new full size plow these days can be $5000.)

I've plowed with a jeep on a 300' drive. The problem is when the snow gets deep or heavy/wet... Then the plow will force the Jeep into a sideways angle. Light snow is easily do-able.

 

Chains on all 4 tires help tremendously.

 

And weight in the back end.

 

You can find an old beater plow truck for 1-2,000. dont have to insure it or register it, just a lot truck. plow setups run about 5k+ I just put one on my dually.

 

I have plowed with a cj-5 for years,no wieght no chains and it works fine,it has the Hi-Low pump that clamps to the generator,nice and simple.I have worked on enough electric lift plows to appreciate the hydralic lift,no electric connections to corode and you won't run the battery down.....if it has oil it works.........Jim

 

All good info and good ideas, some I had even thought of already. I did have the separate 12 volt battery idea figuring it would last until I was done, I've also looked for a beater p/u with plow but haven't run across any, even a beater 4 wheeler would work. My jeep isn't pretty but it is a solid barn find, surface rust with no rust through and very minimal bubba mods. the names Monarch and Hy-Lo I didn't know so that will help me in my search. If anybody has one of these set ups laying around let me know, I manage a warehouse so getting one shipped and delivered to a commercial address can be very reasonable. One last piece of info, my Jeep has a front mounted PTO winch, how much will that complicate mounting a plow if I find one? Thanks for the ideas and keep 'em coming.

 

"...my Jeep has a front mounted PTO winch, how much will that complicate mounting a plow if I find one? "

Maybe somewhat. Each type of plow has a different way of mounting to the jeep frame, I've even got one that mounts with clamps on the leaf springs.

With the winch I imagine you may have to modify or move the mounts to get the lift frame and cylinder out in front of the winch, or above it, if the winch has extended the length of your front bumper.

 

Plus the added weight is going to be hell on your front end.

 

I'm really not that worried about wear and tear, even though you see I'm in Montana we don't get that much in this section, we're even nick named the banana belt. Our average snowfall is about 50-60" with having set a record of just over 100" a couple winters back. we're definitely not Buffalo, NY or Valdez, AK. This Jeep is just a putts around so it's not going to be bouncing around back roads with the plow attached.

 

A friend had one of those aluminium/plastic plows that slide into a reciever hitch mounted under the front bumper on his Jeep. He couldn't move a tremendous amount of snow at a time but would have to go out at intervals during the storm to scrape off what had fallen. His last pass was usually around 05:00 so his wife could get out to the hospital. When they sold that house, the buyer wanted the Jeep and plow. I suppose the tire chains were included too.
A friend has a house in Klamath Lake region. A neighbor has a D8 that comes around to clear roads and driveways.

 

The weight of the plow is not the problem, I think. Instead it's the load of the snow conducted to the frame - especially impact load - and any obstacles in the road that you hit with the plow. If you take it easy you should be ok. But plow duty is definitely tough on the equipment, regardless.

 

I always tried to reduce the impact forces on the drive train itself, for instance by putting down the clutch pedal and 'coasting' just before ramming the snow banks. But there are always those surprise obstacles that jar your teeth loose.

Also, plowing involves a lot of back and forth. It's a temptation to ride the clutch, and so on, and a concious effort can be made to avoid that.

The plow weight may be more of an issue if one is driving a lot of bumpy roads with the plow raised.

 

I have an ancient Monarch 101 belt driven pump with an old dog plow, (got it all from njranger on this site) on my '58. Works great every time but no side to side adjusters just up and down. Love it!! But as has been repeatedly suggested on this forum I am a little sick in my love For snow and plowing..., I am surprised noone wrote "just call matt."

 

Not sure if it helps but my granddad has a complete

 

Sorry new here! He has a complete plow on his 67 cj5 and may be persuaded to get rid of