who here plows with there f150? can you plz post pics. a friend of mine pretty much is giving me a westen plow 7 6' and im worried that my truck cant handle it. my truck is the 07 f150 supercab with the 6 and half foot bed, 5.4 liter. any input would really help. i see trucks just like mine with plows on it.

 

I would think the truck can handle it. My cousin plows with a big Western plow on a little V6 Dodge Dakota. I think our trucks are more capable than his. Here is his set up.

 

Theres several F150's with plows around here. Just make sure you have a transmission cooler.

 

I would bet I have one of the only Ford sanctioned F150 plow trucks on this forum.

Are there people who slap plows on them, sure there are.

There is a reason Ford built a whole separate frame and drive train for the plow prep trucks, and that was because they were not confident the standard F150 would hold up to the abuse.

the 507A and 8200 pound GVWR packages are mandatory. That gets the truck built with a heavier frame, heavier axles, 4.10 gears, etc etc etc. Oh ya a real plow truck has 7 lug wheels. There is a limit to the extra weight the front end will take, even with the heavier springs and frame IIRC it is somewhere around 700 pounds. With the 4.10 gears it will push and stack snow, and if I blow it up, Ford can't void my warranty!








note the tow hooks have to come off for the truckside gear to mount to the frame. Also note the 7 lug wheels... Centerline Wilderness wheel blanks custom machined for the 7 lug pattern unique to the F150 8200 pound GVWR trucks

 

PS Ford has such little faith in the newer F150's you can't even get a plow prep option anymore and Fisher isn't even making a truck side setup for it.

THe Eco Boost can't handle the load

 

The EcoBoost has absolutely nothing to do with it. The engine is more powerful than most of the plow trucks Ford has ever built. The issue lies in the frame/suspension and the poor reasoning for offering a plow option on an F-50 in general. That is what the SD's are for, so why offer a plow option that very rarely gets ordered (which you must keep supplies on hand for) when you can just delete the option from the F-150 lineup and keep it solely for the F-250/350's? It's just smarter to relegate the duties of a work truck with heavy loads on the front/rear to a truck better suitable for it.

 

Thats a misconception! The newer F-150's have electric fans & power steering which does not make them favorable for plow hookup! Ford is missing the boat by not offering a plow package in a 1/2 ton truck! Many people just want to clean out their driveways & have no use for a SuperDuty like me!.....

 

Those people who just need to clear their driveway can probably just use a showblower/shovel. I highly doubt Ford is losing sales due to the select few people who want to store a giant plow blade for 10 months of the year just so they can plow their driveway. You'd get more use out of a compact tractor or bucket loader if you want something to clear some snow, plus they are useful for tons of other projects.

 

My plow was 4 grand, a compact tractor or bobcat is a lot more than 4 grand, plus trailering it 30 miles to Mom's house in the snow across state lines is not my idea of fun.

There are snow storms I get frequently that you can not clear with a snow blower. You know that 31 degrees out snow that is nice and heavy, and probably full of water from rain mixing in.... no snow blower is going to move that, besides I don't have 2 hours to do my driveway with a snow blower, It takes 20 minutes with the plow and I stay nice and warm.

 

there are also many folks who live in the boonies and have driveways 100's of yards long that would not be getting done with a blower.

my boss has a driveway 300yrds long and he has a plow on a older explorer that does what it needs for him.

while you could also argue that a ATV with a blade will do the same thing, like Neggy said, u stay warm and dry.

then u factor in clearing your parents/in-laws driveway when they come to be older and can no longer push a shovel or pull over a blower.

and who wants to trailer a quad around to clear out driveways?

while i do agree with u that plows should stay on the SD trucks and that 1/2 tons are not designed for them u do have the exceptions like Neggy who ordered it from the factory.

long story short, you can put a plow on anything if you use it lightly and for personal use.

 

@OP, if your doing your driveway on occasion and being easy with it I wouldn't worry too much. If your planning on supplemental income from plowing (commercially) I'd consider a different truck.

 

You guys misunderstand my point. It wasn't that the F150 can't be used with a plow, especially for light/occassional use. My point was simply that it makes no sense for Ford to offer it as a package being as though they'd rarely sell one with that package installed. Hence why Neggy's truck is so rare in that regard. You can buy an 70/80's compact tractor for $4K (4WD with loader or blade) all day long on eBay or craiglist. Sure it's not ideal for trailering around, but my point was that it's more useful the rest of the year than a snow plow blade taking up space with no other use. I'm not discounting those who want to put a plow on their truck in any way, but it's silly to think that Ford is in the wrong for not offering the package any more for the .05% of truck buyers who want to attach a blade to it.

 

You miss the point entirely! I have a driveway that is over 1/10 of a mile long that faces a three car garage with a parking lot in front of the garage! I already have a Deere X-595 Diesel with a hydraulic bucket! I use that piece of equipment to clear it, however for $18K I still freeze by butt off since it takes me at least an hour to clear in a heavy storm! I would rather have a plow on a F-150 that would cut my time in 1/2 & stay warm & dry doing so! I don't need nor want a SuperDuty! I just want a capable 1/2 ton for occasonal use! Ford has missed the boat on the newer F-150's! I will always stick with the 04-08 models! At least they are trucks!

 

Whatever, riseup. Again, because you are part of the miniscule number of people who want to attach a plow to a 1/2 ton, Ford is missing out? Yeah, the extra $5K they get from you buying the plow package makes up for the extra stock they have to carry of replacement and manufacturing parts, as well as the reduced efficiency of the production line due to make what amounts to a one-off job. You don't understand that it probably costs Ford more money to keep the option for the 500 F-150s a year they built with a plow package as opposed to just forfeiting the sales in lieu of not having the package altogether. YOU have a use for the package, 99+% of the people who buy an F150 probably don't have use for it. Should they make a Fifth wheel package as well for the F-150? There are a few hundred people who want to tow a Fifth wheel with an F150 too, but it's probably not going to be an option from Ford at the factory.

 

The truth is that in the pickup truck market, plows are actually hung off of a very small percentage of the total production volume – less than 5% in fact. When you look at the cost of building something into a half ton truck either as something that goes into every one or an option package, the economics just don’t make sense. And look at all of the things that were different in the 7700 / 8200 F150 – for next to nothing in total sales. Economically, it just no longer made sense.

Now add to this the fact that the plow manufacturers have been changing their products pretty drastically in the past few years for performance and legal reasons. The results have been heavier plows with much heavier electrical draws. (In fact you ought to see some of the peak amperage numbers.) When Ford went to Electrical Power Steering (to increase mileage) in the F-150 recently, think of what the effect would be of a huge draw on the same system that assists your steering. And which call are you going to answer first, higher government CAFÉ numbers or a few plow truck owners? So the only thing left to economically handle the demands of plowing is a Super Duty.

The sad truth is that the days of plowing with (any) half ton truck are probably numbered. I drive an F-150, but plow with an F-350. And the SD is an infinitely superior plow truck in all respects. So is Ford (and everybody else) walking away from a portion of the market? Yes, but it’s just not an economically feasible portion of the market.