Rear mounted snow plow installed

[d7602002]

I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion so this is mine. Why does anyone care if the op does this. It's his truck, he is probably a grown boy and can make his own decisions. And if it wrecks his truck, who cares? It's not yours. Looks cool though!

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[dhaskit]

WOW.
A rear mounted snowplow. Nice. GO FOR IT!

Make sure you are hauling ass at about 25 mph so it flings the snow all the way off the road.

….please post pictures of the wreckage after you try it out.

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

What you said is the most important. The gas engine does NOT assist at all when in reverse. It ONLY uses the electric motor. This is a really, really dumb idea.

No. It will be fine.

Plowing is not about horsepower.
Plowing is all about traction.
You will lose traction WAY before running out of horsepower.

The eCVT is well suited for this task, maybe more-so than a traditional transmission.

The hybrid's electric motor is about 5x oversized for this task.

Just one trick of the trade. You can't push (or pull) from a dead stop. There is software to prevent a motor stall. You can't apply electrical power to a non-rotating electrical motor for greater than half, maybe one second.

But, creeping at just 0.5 MPH you have more torque at the wheels than the beloved F-150 at the same speed.

Do you have the traction to put that torque into the ground?

Pro-Tip: I'd also load up the bed with some additional dead weight.

 

[Little boy blue]

Thank you for that clarification, I was thinking it was used to clean out horse stalls

I think that we can sell it as a multipurpose tool and triple the price

 

[SuperK401]

Please, just go find a 20 year old $1000 beater truck that's rusty but running for plow duties.

Ding, ding, ding ding we have a winner!

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

No. It will be fine.

Plowing is not about horsepower.
Plowing is all about traction.
You will lose traction WAY before running out of horsepower.

The eCVT is well suited for this task, maybe more-so than a traditional transmission.

The hybrid's electric motor is about 5x oversized for this task.

Just one trick of the trade. You can't push (or pull) from a dead stop. There is software to prevent a motor stall. You can't apply electrical power to a non-rotating electrical motor for greater than half, maybe one second.

But, creeping at just 0.5 MPH you have more torque at the wheels than the beloved F-150 at the same speed.

Do you have the traction to put that torque into the ground?

Pro-Tip: I'd also load up the bed with some additional dead weight.

Agreed
I think Bob's full-time setup will serve him well

keeping the Maverick as a backup just in case.
Fact is. The OP is only clearing a residential driveway not a freaking parking lot.

 

[Phimosis]

Because the Maverick is unibody it cannot accept a front mounted plow. I now use a front mounted John Deere snowblower. But living up north I have always had a back up plan in case problems arose with the tractor.

I still have a homeowners plow that I used on my last two pick ups so I decided to mount it to the receiver at the rear of the Maverick. It raises and lowers with a winch and an arm is used to swing the blade left or right. Most homeowner Plows are less than 300 pounds, well within the 400 pound tongue weight rating for my all-wheel-drive hybrid. I wouldn’t want to rely on it for all my snow clearing but as a backup, I think it will work just fine for me.

As a bonus, the plow height is low enough so that it doesn’t interfere with the rear camera or backup lights, which will be helpful for night snow clearing.I upgraded the winch with an $80 2500 pound winch from Harbor freight that included a wireless remote.

I have a small toolbox that I use for the various items that came with the winch. I also have a lawn and garden battery in the toolbox that I use to operate the winch.

I didn’t want to fool around with making connections to the Mavericks battery so I will keep the winch battery on slow charge for the season. All I need to do is remove two wires from the winch and I can take my toolbox into the house when I am not using the plow.

I’m sorry you went through all this time and effort for us just to tell you not to do this, but please don’t do this.

Having a single mounting point for all of the weight and all of the impact loads, effectively makes your hitch receiver into a fulcrum. It will amplify the torque of asymmetric loads to the end of the blade, such as snagging a tree stump or rock and that torque amplification is going to bend your hitch mount and rear subframe like it’s made out of tin foil.

The only way you could get this to work would be to make a mounting system that bolted into each side of the sub frame.

Even mounting it to both sides of the subframe is still probably a bad idea, because it was never intended to absorb the kind of shock loads that frame mounted plows normally see during the course of operation.

 

[null98115]

Mad respect.

 

[Escapologist]

My feeling is that plow jockeys bend truck frames because however strong they make them, they'll try ramming speeds into compacted into ice berms, possibly reinforced with the wooden or concrete posts they're sitting on top of, at speeds they judge to be just under the limit of what the truck can cope with..... since they do this for a whole season, many times a day, the truck bends or some weld pops... so you'd never want to use a Maverick like that.

Back in the day I'd see Chevy trackers, Cherokees, Bronco IIs and all sorts of light and compact trucklets with plows on, typically "just for this lot" and they'd just take it easy and clear the lot in the time it took, not be trying to race off to another one to make more cash. I see no reason why you couldn't use a Mav like that.

OP's setup, I wouldn't recommend going up and down the highway with, between locations, if a relative wants you to plow them out, tell them to move to your street. The leverage would come into play at speed over bumps with a lot of forces involved. When towing the dynamic loads are five or ten times over the hitch ratings as you pound down the road, and that is allowed for. So just tootling up and down a driveway with it should be no biggie.

Otherwise I'd see it like, if a shitty little gator, ATV or lawn trac can clear your driveway, you damn well should be able to with any road vehicle. Just don't oversize the plow, or go too hard at it.

 

[Ryom]

Ding, ding, ding ding we have a winner!

I went ahead and looked around for a truck at or under $1,000. I found five of them in 30 minutes of searching. They are 20, 30, 40, and 50 years old with 250,000+ miles or MAJOR body damage and only 3 of the 5 are listed as in running condition. Reality is you're spending $3-5k if you want a used truck that won't get snatched up by a museum or give you tetanus opening the door and has something resembling a service life left.

I actually think the OPs plan will work if due care is exercised, I've certainly seen lesser vehicles tasked with greater feats.

 

[AutobahnSHO]

This thread is proof most people don't read for comprehension.

Or skip the irrelevant parts ("it's just my driveway", or "this isn't my primary") and understand "this is a very bad idea".

 

[AutobahnSHO]

The HYBRID Ford Maverick transmission can handle full throttle in reverse with zero harm. It is designed for it. It is NOTHING like any of your examples.

LOL I'm not going to go looking for the guy that said they went down a road they couldn't turn around and got stuck in sand and took a couple hours to get out because they could only rock it in reverse 10-15sec at a time before the system shut off for safety/ cooling.

The hybrid reverse is NOT designed for anything even above light duty.

That's besides the fact that the back end of the truck is a giant well-designed crumple zone. Even meant to pop the spare tire in an accident.....

 

[First Sergeant]

I’m sorry you went through all this time and effort for us just to tell you not to do this, but please don’t do this.

Having a single mounting point for all of the weight and all of the impact loads, effectively makes your hitch receiver into a fulcrum. It will amplify the torque of asymmetric loads to the end of the blade, such as snagging a tree stump or rock and that torque amplification is going to bend your hitch mount and rear subframe like it’s made out of tin foil.

The only way you could get this to work would be to make a mounting system that bolted into each side of the sub frame.

Even mounting it to both sides of the subframe is still probably a bad idea, because it was never intended to absorb the kind of shock loads that frame mounted plows normally see during the course of operation.

You nailed it with this: " Even mounting it to both sides of the subframe is still probably a bad idea, because it was never intended to absorb the kind of shock loads that frame mounted plows normally see during the course of operation." I tow may Mav behind the motorhome also and as we both know, can't backup while hooked up to tow. Will bend or break stuff, not good! I have "cheated" once or twice and backed up a foot or two, very slowly. But to your point, yes, that Maverick front end isn't designed to be pushed into, but can be pulled from.

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

It pains me to see where this thread has gone.

The OP does not need your permission.
The OP did not ask for your opinion (or mine).
The OP does not need your approval (or mine).

I don't think the OP asked a single question.

It was a truck accessory with photos.
Should have been end of story.

 

[ftastg]

That’s awesome. Hope it works good for ya! Looks like a heavy accessory!

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