To Buy or Not to Buy?

[Pinnacle]

Im about to make a deal on a new 9'2" poly v-plow from boss. Can anyone give me any advice on whether I should or shouldn't buy this model instead of another model like the 8'2" V or a steel XT. I've only used straight blades for the past 18 years. This plow would be going on a 2008 GMC 2500HD ext. that I picked up this week.

[04SUPERDUTY]

it depends on what you plow. is it mostly wide open lots or small resi's or a mix of the two.
personally i would go with the 9'2" XT, its not much more than the regular blade.
get some timbrens for that truck, that is alot of weight for the front to handle.

[ratlover]

Id buy steel as personnaly the advantages dont outweight the penalties. Depends on what you are doing with it as was said. I genneraly prefer the western and fisher V for the tripping(hate full trip V's) but otyher than that I like the boss for the most part. 9.2 isnt that big unless you are doing small stuff. When scooped or ved it isnt too hard to fit between things. Didnt have much issue with my fisher 9.5 and the boss will V a bit more sharp I believe. Or the 10' and our 8.5' boss seem to suck in closer anyway.

Or you can always try some coolaid :haha

[Pinnacle]

it depends on what you plow. is it mostly wide open lots or small resi's or a mix of the two.
personally i would go with the 9'2" XT, its not much more than the regular blade.
get some timbrens for that truck, that is alot of weight for the front to handle.

I plow about a 75% Residential and 25% commercial lots. The residentials are larger than average driveways.

As far as weight is concerned. my 02 has the timbrens and I'll be putting them on this truck as well. I'm also going to put leveling keys on to bring the front up. The new trucks (or cars) run very low up front. The torsion bars c ould be cranked, but I'd rather not crank them all the way just to hold the plow for 15-20 times a season.

[Earthscapes]

If your set on Boss, I gotta say go with the poly 9'2".
I have talked to a few XT owners and they are not impressed with the XT's. main reason being is; they allow you to build a bigger (taller) windrow of snow and most trucks are having a hard time moving the windrows without putting the truck sideways orther than that they say there is no difference between them, except the price. Also heard today that sales of them are not what was expected.

One other plow I would look at is the Western Wide-Out. It's actually my top choice as of now to upgrade my 4yr old Boss vee next season. Used one last week in one of my lots and it's way more productive than my Vee.

[ratlover]

Leveling keys acomplish the same thing as cranking the bars except cost $$$, they just index the bar different and you can pretty much do the same thing by cranking the bars. Id skip em IMO.

For mostly resi the boss should work OK I would guess. The SOB's are fast :cool:

Still prefer my :blizzard to the boss and western/fisher V's

[Pinnacle]

Phil, doesn't cranking the bars cause the vehicle to have a stiffer ride. Lets say for instance that I want the front to be 2" higher. I crank the bars up almost all the way. Wouldn't that then leave very little suspension left and more resistance? The thought with the keys would be to retain as comfortable ride as possible.

As far as the plow. I appreciate the comments. I am watching the wideout performance from the pioneers on this site. It is not that I'm stuck on BOSS. It is more that I am Brand loyal when I don't have any real reason to bail on them. I have had great luck with the 8' superdutys and my dealer is very responsive to my needs. Even if I only see him once a year or so. The western dealer in my town is not responsive and has many complaints. I have considered Blizzard, but only because of the rave reviews you all give it. In this area you will only find about 5% or less of the market share. That being said, Going to Jerres in not out of the question. My reservations is who is going fix it (even if it the most reliable plow out there) cause I work with a guy named MURPHY and his law rules.

I would love to hear from others on the poly vs steel. I think at this point, the XT is out. Even though it looks cool, I don't see it as much more productive. I only do one big parking area where it would help.

[Earthscapes]

Iv'e always cranked the bars and added timbrens. I always hear how it changes the ride, but I have never really noticed it in any of my trucks.
90' -3 turns-no timbrens-600# of sand bags
02' -4turns-timbrens-ez-dumper
06' -6turns-timbrens-either the salter or 800# of sand bags
I do take the turns out of the 06' for the summer.

BTW I had other trucks over the years; 02' ext. long box,03' ext. shortbox, 04' crew and 06' crew that were gas trucks. They all had 4turns and timbrens.

[CGSI]

The VXT will cast snow farther and windrow it higher (Take it from someone who owns 3) If you have truck enough to push it (we run all CTD's and one PSD F-550) The value for us doing private roads and large lots with a mix of driveways find it worth the money... Poly plows weigh more than steel because of the extra steel reinforcement. It just depends on what you want and what you can afford

[ice scream]

Just bought a 9'2" poly v, and I am impressed with it. I was going to get a 9' 2" XT but no one in my area can get them or the mounts for my truck. I might get rid of my blizzard for my main truck and get the XT with the wings next season.

[Jared in MT]

I have the 8'2 poly V & wish I had the 9'2. A lot of my customers live on the sides of mountains & in order to windrow the snow off the edge of the driveway I have to get way too close to the edge. A set of wings did help, but there went another $650

No probs with the plow though other than being a bit heavy.

[Pinnacle]

Thanks for the comments. I'll probably buy the 9'2" V poly. From what I'm hearing it will be the best choice for me at this time. Thank to all who gave their opinions.

[itsgottobegreen]

I am not real crazy about boss V plows. I have seen more bent wings on them, than I can count. I personally would get another western V plow, if you already have one. The trip edge design will trip in any postion.

[ice scream]

I am not real crazy about boss V plows. I have seen more bent wings on them, than I can count. I personally would get another western V plow, if you already have one. The trip edge design will trip in any postion.

I plow in a very rural area, I guess bending plows and serious problems like that are not really a problem for me. I have broke a few lines and cylinders, but thats about it. My wing on my blizzard bent, but thats because the dealer hooked up the hoses backwards, no relief... I know there are a quite afew people that plow that you cannot make any plow hold up. All of them break at some point, a hose or what ever. The only dealer that I have found to have good service is Boss and Snoway and I'm not a snoway fan... I do like the idea of trip edge just never had the chance.

[ice scream]

I am not real crazy about boss V plows. I have seen more bent wings on them, than I can count. I personally would get another western V plow, if you already have one. The trip edge design will trip in any postion.

I plow in a very rural area, I guess bending plows and serious problems like that are not really a problem for me. I have broke a few lines and cylinders, but thats about it. My wing on my blizzard bent, but thats because the dealer hooked up the hoses backwards, no relief... I know there are a quite afew people that plow that you cannot make any plow hold up. All of them break at some point, a hose or what ever. The only dealer that I have found to have good service is Boss and Snoway and I'm not a snoway fan... I do like the idea of trip edge just never had the chance.

[ratlover]

Phil, doesn't cranking the bars cause the vehicle to have a stiffer ride. Lets say for instance that I want the front to be 2" higher. I crank the bars up almost all the way. Wouldn't that then leave very little suspension left and more resistance? The thought with the keys would be to retain as comfortable ride as possible.



The keys are the little porkchop shaped thingy on the end of the T bar that the adjusting bolts crank on. All a different key is is one thats indexed a bit different on were the bolt touches in relation to the T bars position in the center of the key.

Weather you turn the bars up by cranking or by indexing em different(differnt keys) they are still getting rotated the same amount. The deal with the keys is that depending on the bars sometimes you just cant turn the bolts enough to get the lift you want. Ride will be the same for the amount of lift. I find that if you keep the lower a arms touching the factory bump stops the ride stays deccent. You can get 1.5"-2" and it will ride ok and not tear up parts too bad.

[ratlover]

I bought a blizzard even though there is no local support for it. The reason I bought it is I have a shop with a welder, tools, plasma, and all sorts of other stuff that I should be able to fix what breaks.

If you dont have the tools or tha ability to fix your own stuff then having good local support is very important IMO.

Like I said I dont like full trip V blades.....but other than the triping and the problems it can cause I like the boss blades. But if the western and fisher dealer sucks then that is a big mark against em.

[John DiMartino]

I had a 9'2" Boss steel V for 2 1/2 yrs.Bought it brand new.It moved a lot of snow,and it stacked like a loader.In scoop mode it was great for bulk pushing.However it didnt scrape very clean,the wings blew back easily when pushing hard,i tore 4 center wipers off in 2 season,ended up running a few storms without one,having to double plow to clean the missed spots,and in 2.5 seasons it was showing stress cracks,and bending .I switched to a blizzard 810 on that truck,and preffer it 100% over the boss V,it is much more productive ,does a better job,the lots are cleaner.I could never get all the snow with the V,it left a lot,the 810 i am able to do a better job for my customers.

[ratlover]

Only 4 in 2 seasons? Whats your secret for making em live so long?

Although knock on wood I think we have had 1 on 1 truck for this entire season so far(6 pushes or something like that) witch is pretty abnormal for us. Both in number of pushes and how long its lived :haha

Actually forgot about the "hoof eating" tendancy we have experienced.

[CGSI]

Only 4 in 2 seasons? Whats your secret for making em live so long?

Although knock on wood I think we have had 1 on 1 truck for this entire season so far(6 pushes or something like that) witch is pretty abnormal for us. Both in number of pushes and how long its lived :haha

Actually forgot about the "hoof eating" tendancy we have experienced.


Just a note guys.... No more hooves... The come standard now with a formed 2X wear resistand cutting bar and curb gards too boot. No more pucks. John... Sorry to hear you luck was not so good... We have been running them since 97 and no cracks, bent wings or any other failures except one spring. Your dealer should have reset the relief valve to the proper setting and the issues would have stopped with the wing fade. Also if you run ATF in them (especially when real cold) and not the premium fluids they will fade too. I had 2 guys bring theres to me and the relief pressure was right but they had red fluid (ATF). A full fluid change and the problem was gone. :D

[John DiMartino]

Just a note guys.... No more hooves... The come standard now with a formed 2X wear resistand cutting bar and curb gards too boot. No more pucks. John... Sorry to hear you luck was not so good... We have been running them since 97 and no cracks, bent wings or any other failures except one spring. Your dealer should have reset the relief valve to the proper setting and the issues would have stopped with the wing fade. Also if you run ATF in them (especially when real cold) and not the premium fluids they will fade too. I had 2 guys bring theres to me and the relief pressure was right but they had red fluid (ATF). A full fluid change and the problem was gone. :D

John, I didnt dislike the Boss, I am hard on a plow,I run at 12-13K all the time ,my fishers tore up faster than the Boss. I ran the synthetic fluid in it from day one.Also had dealer adjust wings for me. When i got rid of it the outer mounting ears were tearing thru the moldboard,I knew it was time to get a beefier plow.At Jerre's when he swapped out the boss mount,Pelican and I seen it was bowed in the middle.I never hit anything,just lots of hard pushing with a heavy truck.My blade was an 02 model,I think,it was RT 3.The Blizzard 810 is just a heavier constructed blade that works better for what I do.

[CGSI]

John, I didnt dislike the Boss, I am hard on a plow,I run at 12-13K all the time ,my fishers tore up faster than the Boss. I ran the synthetic fluid in it from day one.Also had dealer adjust wings for me. When i got rid of it the outer mounting ears were tearing thru the moldboard,I knew it was time to get a beefier plow.At Jerre's when he swapped out the boss mount,Pelican and I seen it was bowed in the middle.I never hit anything,just lots of hard pushing with a heavy truck.My blade was an 02 model,I think,it was RT 3.The Blizzard 810 is just a heavier constructed blade that works better for what I do.


John
I understand Bud... I did not think you were downing the Boss plows at all. I just wanted the guys to know some of those issues like the pucks were gone. I run mine in front of a heavy truck too and i understand the pressures that puts on any unit. Sorry they did not get your wings right for you. As far as the ATF goes you would not believe how many dealers install ATF in new units, :eek:

[Madmaxxxx]

I have a Boss 9'2" V Steel on my 2007.5 GMC 2500HD. I am unhappy at how close to the ground the wings are when it is vee'd. I cranked the bars and added timbrens. It has helped a bit, but the 9'2" is a big plow and it is heavy. When I drive down the road with the plow on, I have to straighten out the plow, or else I hit the pavement once in a while, especially entering a business entrance. The GMC isnt built like the Fords are, my sons F250 SD handles this plow better as I see it. I have owned GM for 20+ years and this wont change my mind. I thought I would share my experiece with it, thats all. All in all, I like the 9'2", but maybe I should have bought a 8'2" instead.

[CGSI]

I have a Boss 9'2" V Steel on my 2007.5 GMC 2500HD. I am unhappy at how close to the ground the wings are when it is vee'd. I cranked the bars and added timbrens. It has helped a bit, but the 9'2" is a big plow and it is heavy. When I drive down the road with the plow on, I have to straighten out the plow, or else I hit the pavement once in a while, especially entering a business entrance. The GMC isnt built like the Fords are, my sons F250 SD handles this plow better as I see it. I have owned GM for 20+ years and this wont change my mind. I thought I would share my experiece with it, thats all. All in all, I like the 9'2", but maybe I should have bought a 8'2" instead.

It would be the same if you ran a 9 foot straight plow angled fully in either direction. The IFS in the GM products do tend to run closer to the ground to begin with and the plow surely does not help. I would agree that the 8'2 would have helped reduce the dragging issue but for what its worth if you really do need the extra width plowing you can just bump the blada a bit to get them to miss in the spots you drag in.

[ratlover]

The boss V's angle in a good amount. Our 550 drags the corners if you angle it all way.

Add BALLAST to the truck. I ran a 9.5' fisher and run a blizzard 810 and my nose never draged the ground with the blade up. Dont even have timbrens on this truck.