1/2 ton ford plow

[New2Plow]

Ok my name says it all. First plow and i only have a 1991 1/2 ton ford ext. cab long bed 4x4 at my disposal. I am kinda worried about the front suspension. I changed the coil springs from my truck to a 1996 bronco and gain roughly an inch height. My question is should i look for coil springs from a f250 or f350 2wd? Also if I do get the 3/4 or 1 ton springs any thing eslse i need to do or would some heavy duty air shocks work? just doing residental driveways. With the mount on now and no plow i get 7 inches clearance. with the plow on i get around 4 inches clearance. The 4 inch clearance scares me. I plan on getting a f250 or better but all i have for now is a f150. I read about some polyurethane spacers but i dont know if I trust them. I am working on a budget right now due the economy.

Second question is When i run my control cables for my joystick conventional plow is there a good way to run them for a floor mount between the seats? I plan on putting some sort of protective covering on them in the engine compartment.

This is my Belated dads old plow and wanna do it right. I have new control cables, new solenoid, I grounded the body frame and the plow(I had a bad ground but fixed that), New hydraulic hoses(the old ones were shot).
My headlights and turn signals couldnt get a good ground fron the mount. So i ground off one of the rivets off (the ground one) and put a bold through it and for each light and ran it the the pump ground and then siliconed the connections. I ran a double throw double power toggle for my headlights and plow lights. All is working like a charm. But havent hooked up the solenoid yet.

My next question is My joystick i took it apart to get the old cables off and i didnt look but after reassemble with no cables on it the the joystick will stay on the lower it doesnt want to return to neutral unless i move it there. Is this the way it is suppose to be?

The plow and controller has been sitting outside for round 3 years. I plan on fully draining the cylinders and valves and put in either western hydraulic fluid or power steering fluid run it for a while and then replace the fluid incase there is water or other elements in there that shouldnt be. And of course clean the screen off.

I read through the forums and if i missed any information that i am asking I apologize. If the questions all run together i am just typing as i think. I appreciate all the help in advance.

[Pickering Snow]

First Welcome to LTS

Next honeslty in the future the questions your asking in Aug are not considered urgent but since it your first will start here.

I have set up three 1/2 ton Fords of your vintage to plow first the front springs Moog makes springs for a F450 that will fitt thats all i used you have to drop your shock and Radias arm down but they will fitt and they will also settle out once the plows on.

Next the cables once removed from a Western box the piviot has no home it used the cables to center the pivot back to netural.

Flush the pump DONT use power steering Fluid use if anything Artic blue or meyer low temp blue Fluid. Western makes a floor pedestal for the controller or you can honeslty fab your own so it mountes between the seats personal opinion its about the worst place to mount the contoller.

Hoses dont by the cheap plastic coated or what ever the hell they are hoses i call them Blow in the night hoses. Head down to a parts store that owns a Weather Head machine and have the hoses made out of high grade hydro .

Back on the truck if its a 8fter or less if you go with the springs i suggested you dont need timbrens or spacers in the front, again i had 3 1/2 ton fords of your vintage plowing commerial routes its just not nessary. One thing i would suggest is timbrens in the rear so you can get decent ballest in the bed.

[New2Plow]

Ok thankyou I appreciate the help. I only posted here Because i wanted to get Information the quickest Since I have the truck still torn apart.

I also have a stick shift 5 speed ext. cab bucket seats. The floor inbetween them was the only place i found that was fisable for the floor mount. I already have the dash mount; but couldnt find a good place for it.

Thank you again

[Jerre Heyer]

I've got a couple of the center pedestal mounts if you want to cover shipping on one.
On the springs I know that Fred and I talked about this before. I went with E350 Van springs from a 2WD van and used a 2-4-6 lift kit from Rancho to get the drop radius arm brackets ( grind out or cut out old rivets and bolt new arms on) and drop brackets for the front axle sections. Drop them down bolt in the new and I added some weld for extra as I was off road a lot with the truck. Also if it's a conventional plow you're a little better off but you may want to look at boxing in the front frame rails if you are going to do any heavier plowing or pushing back piles alot.


Good job on paying attention to grounding. Make sure to run all the way from the plow motor to the negative on the battery though. IF you motor does not have a ground bolt or hole you can add one or go under the cap mounting bolts to insure a good ground and reduce amp draw.
Good luck and welcome to LTS

Jerre

[New2Plow]

Ty jerre. I do have a conventional plow. I have boxed in the middle space from the plow since it wasnt already done. Was bored and wanted to wels something. It just had the side wings on it for the front bumper. Far as the ground goes it goes to the frame and is tied into the wire that goes to my battery with double coppper loops. and siliconed over and then rubberized undercoating with the frame all nice and shinny there under the connections. That way i could still peal the silicone off if i needed to detach it.

The drop radius arm brackets is what i was worried about. I will be purchasing some f350 diesel front coil springs out of a 2wd dually today. I was worried if i had stiffer front springs if I would be riding on the outside of the tires more. My Uncle and i had this discussion. I was thinking that if u suspended the same amount of weight but with greater force up and down that sumthing had to give some where and that would be the angle of the tires.

I will hit ya up on the pedastool. Gonna go get those springs today. And install them. 40 bucks at the local Salvage yard. One mans scrap is another mans treasure.

After i get this done i need to figure out why when in 4-wheel drive when i turn left it feels like my front end wants to dig right even on snow and ice. I replaced the inner and outter wheel bearings, upper and lower ball joints, and the u-joints on the half shafts.