What would be the best residential driveway setup?

[AB Lawn Care]

I got thinking.What type of truck or jeep..whatever would be the best for doing residential driveways????I am thinking most likely a 3/4 ton with 7-8 foot plow and a rear plow setup.That way you just back in the drive way drive out.Or is there a better setup???What do you think is the best setup for that kind of work?????

[Chuck Smith]

This was addressed in the past. I think it was last year, and at the old forum URL. I think it was a toss up between a Jeep CJ, and a full size Blazer or Bronco.

~Chuck

[OBRYANMAINT]

my vote goes with full size blazer w/ front and rear plow
it will have the weight and capacity to plow all kinds and depths of snow and still be more maneauverable than a regular pickup

you know a shortbed would'nt be so bad either

[cat320]

Everyone is right a smaller wheel base truck would be better than a long for driveways unless they are all long and all you have to do is push straight ahead.

[JCurtis]

I agree, Unless a residential drive is long and straight, a short wheel base vehicle is better. I have used short bed pickups,and full size Blazers and Full size trucks.

If its a circular drive, the shorter the Wheel base the better.

[GeoffDiamond]

I plow drives with 3/4 or 1 ton picks up. Now most of the drives i plow are large, most 250 feet plus. For my condo projects with small drives, skid steers are the way to go.

Geoff

[diggerman]

I did this for my snow shovelers with a junk blazer but if the truck had a decent running gear it would be great. What I did is took off the rusted out body and put a better pickup cab on the frame and built a flat bed on the back. The pickup cab bolted right on and the wheel base is about eight inches shorter.You could mount a rear blade to the frame and be able to see real well,put on some wheel fenders on, some side boxes and a weight right behind the cab,put a plow on front if you wanted.Then dress it up so as not to be mistaken for a scab and go to work.It seems that full size blazers are fairly cheap in an 80's vintage.

[JCurtis]

Digger,

Interesting concept, Why didn't I think of that!

Got any pics, You can email me. I have an idea , just wanna see what yours looks like.

JC

[AB Lawn Care]

I too would be interested in looking at any pictures,if you have any!One of my clients owns a auto dissmantling yard and I would have no problem finding a cab or anything of that nature!

[diggerman]

Ill try and get some pics.

[AB Lawn Care]

That would be great!How hard/easy was it to takw off the body,and put on the cab?????

[diggerman]

Easy the wiring harness just unplugs,unhook steering colum , foot pedals,shifter. Other than that its just bolts and a loader or hoists.The other cool thing is that I used a 1974 blazer and put a 1986 front clip,moved up 12 years for $800 plus labor.

[iowastorm]

Digger; 2 questions: What kind of paint do you use and where do you put those stickers on that unit?

[diggerman]

It was white but I found some black paint that was left over from the SR71 spy plane project and will be using that,the only problem is the paint needs to be kiln dried so I am looking for an oven big enough to get my truck into so I can get its temp up to 1200 degrees so the paint will cure.Not sure what kind of effect this will have on the interior but you never know until you try,I am checking to see if the sticker are heat sensative.My have the logo etched in a ceramic material.

[iowastorm]

Digger: Just a little advice: That X17JKSTO paint is okay, but if you lube down the surface with 3.14 quarts of quaker state at a 2:1 ratio with prestone, you'll have a much smoother and slicker surface. The STO Ops Manual suggests 13 minutes, 4 seconds of buffing with a rubberized buffing agent, a product most commonly found in the Firestone Wilderness ATV tires. In fact, the SIMA OPS manual, page 512, section 3 states that it will increase the life of the bumper sticker by 74.3%.

[plowking35]

I have a friend with a wood drying kiln. Drive on up, and we can load the truck right in. Make sure to add the stickers later, ans the high temps will peal the adhesive from any metal or glass surface.
In fact if you e mail me the engine specs, I will engineer the proper tolerance for the crank bearings so you can run the truck on soy bean oil.
There you go Alan the answer to your fuel probelm.
Dino

[John Allin]

I must be tired.
This all made sense to me.

[iowastorm]

Don't feel bad, John. I just got home from the bar . . . it make sense to me too and I'm reading it in Japanese. . .

[diggerman]

I was wondering about some of these posts from Storm now after looking at the time they were posted and the whole bar thing I'm getting a clearer picture.Is PWI(P osting)a criminal offense?

[John Allin]

He must have a DSL to his headboard. Or one of those new Palm's that has wireless access to the net.

Doesn't matter what time it is, there's no lag time in his response....

Kinda makes one wonder how he plows or works, what with all the time spent on this forum.....