Follow These Basic Tips and Best Practices When Plowing Snow

There is something about watching snow fall from the safety of your home! Unfortunately, it doesn’t last long before you have to go out to remove the snow from your driveway and sidewalks.

Most homeowners use a snow shovel or snow blower to remove small to medium sized areas covered in snow. But, a snow plow on a truck or ATV is the best way to quickly remove large volumes of snow. However, there are a few things to keep in mind when plowing snow.

How To
We suggest you mark any objects with a flag, such as hydrants, large rocks, and pipes. You should also line the edges of your driveway with flags.

Useful tips on driving a snow plow truck or ATV:

• Practice moving the blades around before tackling your first snow pile.
• Angle the plow to one side to push snow off in that direction. Approach the pile so now more than three-fourths of the blade is covered in snow.
• Use the “backdrag” technique to remove snow piled against a structure.

Things Not to Do

• Pile now on someone else’s property
• Pile snow on a street or sidewalks
• Pile snow by mailboxes, dumpsters, water drains, or fire hydrants

Straight Blade Plowing Tips
Straight blades are built with an optimized blade curl that allows snow to roll off the plow.

• Angle Position: In this position, the blade is angled either to the left or right side of the vehicle. Use this position to widen after the first pass.
• Straight Position: In this position, the blade is positioned directly in front of the vehicle. Use this position for back dragging, removing a large windrow, or cleaning up at the end of the job.
• Deep Snow: In deep snow, raise the plow several inches off the ground to shear off the top layer. If you have a Power-V Plow, use the V-position for the first pass. Then change to the Scoop or Angle-position to widen things out.

V-Plowing Tips
V-snowplows are a multi-positioned plow that lets you choose from a variety of blade positions.

• V Position: In this position the blades are retracted toward the truck. This position is normally used for making the first pass.
• Scoop Position: This position is used for carrying or controlling the snow- with the blades pushed out to form an inverted V shape. It’s most useful for cleaning parking lots or other large areas where snow must be pushed straight ahead- and not to the side.