Snowplows on the front of personal pickup trucks and commercial trucks are a common sight in parts of the country that have a lot of snow in the winter. The convenience of having a plow on your truck so you can plow your driveway can save a lot of time and trouble, but getting a plow that mounts easily and is not an eyesore throughout the rest of the year is something to consider when looking at options. 

Plow Mounting Systems

In the early days of personal plows, mounting a plow to your truck meant installing a push frame under the front of the truck, adding a lot of wiring, mounting a hydraulic pump on the engine, and then living with a push and lift frame assembly on the front of the truck all year long. While the frame was not a problem for most people, it could be in the way when you needed to perform basic service under the hood of the truck, and it added a lot of weight to the front suspension. 

More recently, plow manufacturers have improved the way the plow mounts to the truck, and systems like the Western Ultramount snowplow have appeared on the market. The Ultramount is a good example of a mount that is easy to use and requires two plates on the frame to attach to the plow frame. The push frame and lift assembly stay with the plow so that when you drop the plow assembly off the truck, there is nothing left on the front to get in the way. 

Choosing a Plow Style and Size

Modern plow mounting systems are improving, but so are the plows themselves. Many manufacturers are making plows that can bend in the middle in smaller sizes so homeowners can use them as well as contractors. The V-plow is popular because you can use it flat, invert the V to push a lot of snow into a pile, or turn the plow into a chisel shape to clear a lot of heavy snow off both sides of the plow as you move through it. 

The size ranges start around six and a half feet wide to well over ten feet wide, so talk to the dealer about your truck and how large a plow it can handle. Most of the time, the plow size corresponds to the horsepower rating of the truck, and putting too large a plow on your truck can damage it. The plow dealer or manufacturer can help you figure out what system is best for your situation, and as easy as plows are to mount these days, if you have been considering one for your truck then it's time to take a look at what is out there.