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I have a very long driveway and have been using a 42 blower on my John Deere for the last 15 years. It's fine for mid season snow but not for the heavy wet stuff that we usually get early and late in the season. This season it's been like that every single snowfall and it's not been fun.
I'd been looking at plows for a couple of years and figured it was time to invest. I always expected I'd go for a Fisher as there are so many inexpensive used ones around but the extra cost of truck-side wiring, controller and push plates was making it less attractive. Also, running a 1/2 ton I was considering less heavy-duty setups.
I then stumbled on a Hiniker (never heard of them before) setup for $900 with wiring and controller. Although the mount wasn't for my truck, I figured I could refabricate something out of the quick-hitch and the previously fabricated metalwork that came with it. In the end, I just stumped up the extra $900 for the factory mount and hitch to fit my truck. One of the other reasons it made sense was that it's a lighter poly moldboard with the whole thing weighing around 460lb. The quick-hitch and mounting hardware add another 70lb to that. Got everything mounted and wired over the weekend in time for an incoming storm later this week so I guess we'll see how it (and I) perform. I started to make a video once I discovered that the instruction weren't strictly accurate for my truck...
Hardware installation and mounting
As well as the weight, it was great to see how easy this setup is to mount and demount. Literally no more than 2 minutes on or off. The electrical circuits are in the manual and are incredibly straightforward. No black boxes with hidden magic, just switches, relays and solenoids, so easy to troubleshoot. Only time will tell if this has been a good move but so far it's been a promising start.
I'd been looking at plows for a couple of years and figured it was time to invest. I always expected I'd go for a Fisher as there are so many inexpensive used ones around but the extra cost of truck-side wiring, controller and push plates was making it less attractive. Also, running a 1/2 ton I was considering less heavy-duty setups.
I then stumbled on a Hiniker (never heard of them before) setup for $900 with wiring and controller. Although the mount wasn't for my truck, I figured I could refabricate something out of the quick-hitch and the previously fabricated metalwork that came with it. In the end, I just stumped up the extra $900 for the factory mount and hitch to fit my truck. One of the other reasons it made sense was that it's a lighter poly moldboard with the whole thing weighing around 460lb. The quick-hitch and mounting hardware add another 70lb to that. Got everything mounted and wired over the weekend in time for an incoming storm later this week so I guess we'll see how it (and I) perform. I started to make a video once I discovered that the instruction weren't strictly accurate for my truck...
Hardware installation and mounting
As well as the weight, it was great to see how easy this setup is to mount and demount. Literally no more than 2 minutes on or off. The electrical circuits are in the manual and are incredibly straightforward. No black boxes with hidden magic, just switches, relays and solenoids, so easy to troubleshoot. Only time will tell if this has been a good move but so far it's been a promising start.
