Just outside of Traverse City, Bellaire, Michigan, isn't quite the North Pole-it's colder! Lake-effect snow caused by freezing temperatures and high winds blowing over Lake Michigan means it can-and often does-snow every day, which is perfect for snowmobiling, snow days off from school, and snowplow testing.
Ever since the redesigned '05 Super Duty was released to the public, we've been talking with Ford engineers about tagging along with them on their next snowplow development drive. We know a lot of you diesel truck owners use your personal vehicles for work, as well as plowing snow, so we wanted to see how the OEMs built these trucks to take the abuse.
Ford engineers Harry Rawlins, Scott Anderson, and Dax Sparks were gracious enough to let us tag along for a two-day tour of duty with them in the white stuff this past February. Rawlins rounded up three '06 Super Dutys for us to drive: a gasoline V-10 F-250 Super Cab, a diesel F-250 King Ranch crew cab, and a diesel F-550 crew cab that was fitted with a full dump body. We'd never really plowed snow with a gas truck before, but we wanted to see how they compared with the diesel trucks we know and love. It turns out Ford does a lot more development work than we imagined with these trucks. We came home to Southern California with a new appreciation for what these rigs (and engineers) go through. Rawlins' guys even hung around an extra day in Traverse City, after our flight was canceled due to 14 inches of freshly fallen snow, just so we could get some seat time. The weather sure was awful. And that was just perfect for us.
Building The Perfect Plow Truck
Alright, we'll admit the King Ranch edition spoiled us rotten. For a snowplow truck, it's probably too nice. But, we learned a lot from it that we think will help you when you're finding your own truck. Here's our list of options we'd check off for our dream (Snow Fighter) plow truck, including some that don't exist-yet!
*1-ton single rear-wheel pickup
*Regular cab for visibility, load capacity, and wheelbase
*Diesel engine for power and fuel economy
*Automatic transmission for easy of operation
*Heated leather seats
*Vinyl floor
*Transmission temperature gauge
*Dual alternators
*Dual batteries
*No tailgate (better visibility)
*Global positioning system (GPS)
*Limited-slip rear differential
Options We'd Like To See:
*Full-time four-wheel drive transfer case (better steering) with lockable center differential
*F-550 Super 60 front axle (more strength and tighter turning radius)
*Strobe lights (safety)
*Dual fuel tanks
*Heated 2-gallon windshield washer reservoir
Snowplow-Prepping Your Own Truck
If your '05-'06 Super Duty wasn't equipped with the snowplow prep package (option 86M) from the factory, you'll need to add the following hardware. Primarily, you need to upgrade the front coil springs to increase the front gross axle weight rating (FGWAR). Your truck can be updated using the following information:
Front Springs:
FGAWR (lb)-Part #
4,000-5C34-5310-AHB
4,400-5C34-5310-AGB
4,800-5C34-5310-AFB
5,200-5C34-5310-AEB
5,600-5C34-5310-ADB
6,000-5C34-5310-ACB
6,500-5C34-5310-ABB
7,000-5C34-5310-AAB
To determine what springs are on the truck, look at the door sticker for the FGAWR rating of the truck. The snowplow package is a 1-up spring,which means if a non-snowplow-equipped truck was built with 5,200-pounds FGAWR, and it needs to have a snowplow installed, the 5,600-pound springs (-ADB) would be required. The 6,500- and 7,000-pound springs are used with the F-450 and F-550 trucks. The F-250 and F-350 axle is only rated to 6,000 pounds.
Additional Diesel Parts:
*High-output alternator (140 amp)* PN 6C3Z-10346-BA
* Not needed if already equipped with dual alternators
*Fan Clutch (PN 4C3Z-8A616-SA) required to prevent vehicle from overheating at highway speeds with plow installed.
For those interested in updating their early production '05 Super Duty, factory service action (FSA) 05B27 was established to replace the 5R110 automatic transmission low-reverse snap-ring for use with snowplow-equipped vehicles.This fix, currently in production for vehicles built after January, 14, 2005-January, 12, 2005 for diesels-was put in place to prevent low-reverse snap-ring failures due to the heavy Reverse-to-Drive transmission cycling exhibited during snow-plowing. Any customer considering these retrofits on a truck built between Job #1 and January, 14, 2005-January, 12, 2005 for diesels-should contact their dealer to schedule the fix. Total shop time is 5.4 to 7 hours before being used to plow snow but may escalate to 12.4 hours in the shop, minus a potentially lengthy parts acquisition duration, if ignored.
Also, the technical service bulletins (TSB) for the fan clutch and the alternator are 05-23-15 and 05-5-7, respectively.