Yanky Snow Plows

Near the end of the "Museums" topic in General Talk several of you asked me to tell you about plowing snow up here in the States. As I said there, we are further north of the equator than you folks are south of it, although in Lang's topic of "Snowy River Shot" it is obvious you get some snow.
We have two distinctly different areas of snow fall: The western Rocky mountains with elevations from 6000 to 14,000 feet which trap the moisture off the Pacific ocean. Then the north eastern area where we get "Lake Effect" snow from the moisture drawn off the Great Lakes. As well as "Northeasters" which bring in the moisture from the Atlantic ocean. I am only familiar with the eastern side of the US, and have operated both 4X2 and 4X4 plows in Upstate New York.
The majority of the municipal snow removal equipment are 4X2 or 6X4 dump trucks (tippers) with a 10 to 12 foot one way blade on the front, and in rural areas a wing on the passenger side which extends out about 4 to 6 feet, both keeping the shoulder clear and pushing the accumulated snow back further. Originally it took a second man to operate the plow equipment, but with today's modern hydraulic controls the driver can do it all. As the snow accumulations become greater the one way is replaced by a "V" on the front of 4X4 and 6X6 vehicles and at times a second wing on the drivers side. In many municipalities the tipper bodies are removed and a salt/sand spreader installed so that both operations can happen at one time. Mostly in the western mountains there are Rotary (a/k/a Blowers) plows used to blow the snow further away from the roadway and lessen the amount of snow on the shoulders.
I am not good at transferring pictures so here is a link to many, divided by 4X4 manufactures:
forums.justoldtrucks.com/Old-Snow-Plow-Equipment

Brocky45,
Bloke running around on one of those Youtube offerings has one of those Oshkosh short wheel base 4X4's as a general purpose runabout.
Looks like he has taken the plough off the front and despite still having all the hydraulics situated behind the cabin, has this ridiculously short MANUAL tipper on it.
Looks like a 1920-30 era home made job, ingenious the way it works, geared wind up handle like an old tow truck lifts the empty body up one handed!
Must only be a one or two meter tipping body on it, crazy little jigger!
Dave_64

A lot of the 4X4 tipper boxes did not tip!!! Were just filled with ballast to put some weight on the rear axle. You can see the fenders (guards) on this one..

If you follow some of the You Tube links there are more..

How much snow is left o n the road surface after the plough has made its pass. Looks like about 2" thick.

cobbadog wrote:

How much snow is left o n the road surface after the plough has made its pass. Looks like about 2" thick.

It all depends on how the "Shoes" on the push arms under the "cutting edge" on the bottom of the plow are set and/or worn, usually about 1 inch or less on a one way which follows the V to clean up when pushing back (widening the shoulder). The eventual build up also depends on the amount of salt used to melt the residue. Today the modern motorist wants to see black pavement!!!! With the use of 100% salt or a liquid brine to melt the remaining snow. Airports use a powered rotary broom for final cleaning. 50 years ago on rural roads which used 80% sand / 20% salt to create a traction surface the build up could be as much as 3-4 inches thick!!

The salt must create havoc, corrosion wise.

Brocky, I might be wrong, (again), but that green plow looks to be only 4x2 and driving the front wheels with rear steer.

V8Ian wrote:

The salt must create havoc, corrosion wise.

This is why the northern area of the US is called the "Rust Belt"!!!

wee-allis wrote:

Brocky, I might be wrong, (again), but that green plow looks to be only 4x2 and driving the front wheels with rear steer.

Walter uses a "DeDion" differential system where it is mounted up in the frame or on the solid axle and have open drive shafts to the wheel with a gear on the end and the final reduction is a matching gear on the inside of the brake drum.
There are 3 "no-slip" units in their drive train so it is impossible to spin any less than 4 wheels. Go here for a better explanation:: www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/vintage-tru...-using-dedion-axles/ Also read some of the information in the Walter Truck section of the Just Old Trucks link in my first post.