Feeler: Plow for sale

Putting a feeler out to possibly sell my plow. It is a 6'8" Fisher HT Steel blade with polycarbonate cutting edge. This is NOT a cheap plastic blade that will break. The plow has been 100% reconditioned and converted from a three plug system to a two plug system with the FishStick in the cab.

This is the only Steel Fisher plow I have ever seen on a 2nd Gen. I had to custom fabricate the push plates and mounting system on the truck which is entirely a bolt on system. This plow set up will work on any Tacoma from 2005-2012.

The plow works very very well! I have taken care of a few driveways the past two winters and have never had any problems. It can get into tight places larger trucks and plows simply can't.

I have well over $3000 invested in this setup, not including all the design and fabrication time I spent to make this one of a kind. I will let it go for $2500.


I am located near Portland, Maine.

 

Everyone's thinking about boats, fishing and outdoor stuff now. The heck with anything to do with snow.
Good luck. Wait till fall!

 

Did you modify a 95-04 Fisher 7158 or 7166 25-5/8" center - center push plates, or did you use a Fisher 7185 push plate from the Tundra which uses the full size 29-1/8" center - center plates? I plowed with my 470# 6'9" LD Fisher steel plow for 2 years on m '01 Tacoma and it pushed snow great on rough dirt roads, etc. and I plowed my house, my 2 neighbors, and probably 500-600 foot of dirt road with it during out 150" winter of 14/15.

The 250# Homesteader on my newer '08 is a far inferior plow in many many ways. It works fine on paved driveways but trips over any rocks sticking up in a rough dirt one like i have. I'm researching the 7185 push plate option and was found your sale post... wondering if you had any guidance.

 

6'8" is just a little bit too short for a Tacoma. When fully angled, it will not clear the outside of the wheels. For a Tacoma, you really need to go up to a full 7 foot plow, this will get you just over one inch beyond the wheels at full angle.

Tacoma's TRACK width (centerline of wheel to centerline opposite side) is 63 inches. Add one tire width and you're at 74 inches on the outsides of the treads (not the actual outside of the tires). A 6'8" plow at full angle will get you 72 inches (one inch short on both sides). On top of that, when you're windrowing, you're going to have a little bit of spillback once the snow is no longer held up by the blade, so your actual clear ground will be a bit less than that. Figure on 70 inches. When you step up to a 7 foot (or more) plow, you're adding another 4+ inches, which brings you about 1+ inch clearance on both sides (starting from -1).

Also, be careful about generalising about the materials used for the plow. I'm referring to when you're talking about "cheap plastic blade". Poly blades are not "cheap". There are *some* cheap plastic blades, just as there are *some* cheap steel blades. For instance, a Western "Surburbanite" or Fisher "Homesteader" is a CHEAP plastic blade (same plow sold under 2 brands). A Meyer "HomePlow" is a CHEAP steel blade that attaches to the front of a truck using a single 2" receiver hitch -- imagine what would happen if you tapped a curb with one! However, take as a counter, an ARCTIC poly plow, these are a big sheet of poly bolted over a heavy duty steel frame. Poly is a very good material for a plow's surface -- stuff doesn't stick to it. It doesn't rust. Downsides? Well it takes a little bit heavier of a frame to support the poly, since the skin isn't structural on them as it is on an all-steel plow.

I think your asking is a bit too high for an *older* plow that isn't even wide enough for the truck. Remember that it isn't about how much money you put into it, its about what its actually worth. Plows really don't hold value.

 

Have you ever seen a plastic plow offered for a Tacoma that was NOT a cheap plastic plow? I don't think DOT plows are available for them so I think the OP's comment is incredibly valid

6'8" plows are all that Fisher will sell for the Tacoma. A 7.5' is far more appropriate but if you want a longer blade, you have to figure it out for yourself and adapt something over. Fisher doesn't make a 7' plow anymore (they used to, and it was available for Tacomas) but they make 6'8, 6'9, 7'4", and 7'6" ones. Every Tacoma with a plow around here (about 10% of all Tacoma's I see in the winter) have a 6'8" Fisher on them. I know you're wheels are in the snow when it's angled... it sucks... but we have to take that up with Fisher.

His price is not really that bad. It's in very good shape, it's very clean and presentable, and has been customized for the 2nd gen Tacos since they were not allowed to have the same plows the 1st gen Tacos had. I just sold my 6'9" Fisher MMI for a 95-04 Tacoma just like this and not NEARLY as clean for $1500 very quickly. We all dicker around here.... mine was posted for $2000 originally.

 

Yes I have, actually.
ARCTIC PLOW;
http://www.arcticsnowplows.com/home

They offer "light" and "standard" duty plows for Tacoma. The latter is an option that isn't advertised on their website, but is available upon request.

Actually, Fisher advertises only the homesteader nonsense plow for Tacoma and offers it in both 6'8 AND 7'4 **FOR TACOMA**. Try out their ematch site if you don't believe me.

So the baseline that you've got there actually ends up $1000 less than what he's asking. What you paid seems a lot more within reason.

But its still too short of a plow for the truck.

 

Artic Plows: I've honestly never heard of them. Checked website.... the reason why I've never heard of them is because they have no dealers in the US at least in New England and especially Maine where the OP is from and selling his plow. But since I am only 90 miles from New Brunswick I checked their Craigslist: 0 search results for Artic Plow. Nova Scotia: 0 results for Artic Plow. PEI: 0 results for Artic Plow. I didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings by re-enforcing the OP's stance on cheap plastic plows for a Tacoma... I didn't know an obscure company made one that may/may not be up to the task of plowing more than a paved driveway. For the mainstream manufacture's of plows for the Tacoma that you can find on the used marked (Fisher/Western, Boss, Curtis, Meyers) the plastic plows are the cheap entry level plow.

I sold mine for $1500, but had it listed for $2000. We dicker a lot around here (at least in Maine... they even made a show about it). I would assume if his plow is for sale for $2500 and someone offered $2000... he MIGHT take it. If you don't like the price.... don't buy it. It's this man's plow and he's listing it in the high range for what Tacoma plows are selling for around here in the used market, but his is also the most heavy duty and clean one I've seen on Craigslist, Uncle Henry's, and local Facebook swap sites. I see plenty for $2000 that are the cheap Homesteaders.

Fisher's E-Match site is a pain in the butt and inaccurate as all get out... it only tells you about current sold plows and won't list older plows. You have to look up the Mechanic's Guide for that year to find out what was available before 2010. I was referring to the steel plows like the OP has being listed as 6'9" only. Even though the steel 7.5 SD is only 30# heaver than the 6'9" (or 6'8") he has, they don't list it as being available for the older Tacoma's I'm assuming he retrofitted this off.

Anyway: Best of luck to the OP for selling his cool, unique plow set up that you can't buy anywhere else! It's too bad there is not a kit to put a nice steel plow on a 2nd gen Tacoma that has a trip edge instead of the whole moldboard flopping forward over every bump in the dooryard!

 

Not at all obscure. Here in Ontario (have you ever seen real snow?), about 3/4 of trucks you see on the road have arctic plows. They're everywhere.

And its not a "may or may not be up to the task". Its up to the task and then some. If you saw one in person, you'd understand.

Also one thing you may not be aware of is that most snow plow manufactures have moved to a universal mounting system. Not universal between manufacturers, but within the same brand, you can typically strap *any* plow onto any truck, as long as it has the standard truck side mount. Not to say that every truck is up to the weight of every plow, but just that the mount fits up. For example, THIS would slip right on to the front of my Tacoma; http://www.arcticsnowplows.com/snowplows/poly-snowplows/heavy-duty-trip-edge
Mind you, at 686 pounds, it might be just a little bit on the heavy side (its an extra 200 pounds over my plow). But at 90 inches (7'6"), its not too bad of a length.

Could you imagine seeing a Tacoma driving down the road with one of these on it?
http://www.arcticsnowplows.com/snowplows/poly-snowplows/heavy-duty-v-trip-edge


Even older plows had some degree of uniformity. For instance, the fisher that OP is selling -- the blade could be swapped out for the 7'6" in a bolt-off-bolt-on process. No customizations needed.

 

Real snow? We might not get as much as ON, but I pushed 12 feet of snow 2 winters ago with this same plow for my house, my neighbors, and our road in Bar Harbor. I wished the blade was wider, but it did fine. The little 'Yote moved plenty of snow that year and I even covered a driveway or 2 for the full size trucks when they had mechanical issues. It was heavy duty enough that you could actually carve away at quasi frozen snow banks (although a heavier truck would have been nice) and push back banks fairly well for a 4000 lb truck.
:

Yeah, Fisher also has a very standardized "Minute Mount" push plate (truck side) mounting system that you can mount almost any plow they make. They are standardized at 29-1/8" center to center on the push pins EXCEPT a very few small oddballs that are 25-5/8" center to center that they only put on Toyota Tacoma's (95-04), Ford Rangers, S-10/Canyons, and SOME Jeep Wranglers (Wranglers could get the regular full size push plates too for some reason). They look EXACTLY the same, but the spacing is different on these few models. The 25-5/8" plate from an older Tacoma really limits the headgear one can buy (although the plow BLADE can swap easily enough).

This is why I asked the OP what he used for push plates since I would like to see what he did if he got some 29-1/8" plates from a Tundra on there (it can be done quite easily I'm told, but I want to see what needs to be done). I could hook up my buddies 9.5' Vee plow if I wanted with 29-1/8" plates.... but at almost 900# I would only do it for a joke picture!

Typing "Fisher Plow" on my small local craigslist results in literally 545 results for me to choose from... probably 95% of them will mount right up to a 29-1/8" push plate with the other small % being the LD model steel plows I mentioned that use a 25-5/8" mount, and the Homesteaders.

The little Homesteaders have their OWN style mounting plates for some odd reason and are not compatible at all with all the other plows Fisher makes (wiring can be the same though). The Homesteader is fine for a tar driveway, but for longer dirt roads etc, you really need a trip edge style plow and not the flimsy light weight set up that the whole moldboard folds when hitting a bump.

 

I consider it a prerequisite for owning a plow, that you own a few metal working tools. Grinder, welder, B.F.Hammer, etc. If you have enough tools to *keep* a plow working, then you have enough tools to rig up whatever custom mount you need.

Most likely, they have a modified mount in order to keep someone from putting a halfway decent plow onto some crap like "S-10/Canyons". Had an S10, it was the zr2 version. Intended it for a plow, but at the time, nobody sold such flimsy plows as homesteaders that would easily self destruct instead of crumpling the frame. When you pushed the plow manufacturers, they came back with something along the lines of "can't, we tried it and twisted up the truck's frame". When that S10 was being readied for the wreckers, I took a careful look at its frame next to the Tacoma, and it was pretty obvious where the S10 would fail -- the section just ahead of the front cab body mounts that curves in and up. On the S10, that section of the frame was *TINY*, with the Tacoma comparatively built like a bulldozer.

And then, of course, you can't have your GM guys asking questions like "hey, why does a Toyota get a good plow and we get this pink barbie plow?" You going to tell them because their barbie trucks don't have half as much of a frame? So that becomes the "smaller truck" plow.


Not quite sure what you have against full trip plows... (though I do get what you're saying, obviously, about the flimsy plows) I've been doing long gravel roads for years, and if its digging in enough that its tripping out the whole way, you need to reconsider your approach, not just LET it trip by running a trip edge.
- you can take a first run with a little bit of "up" pressure to limit how hard it is digging in. This will actually give you a cleaner first run than a trip edge that is tripping the whole way.
- shoes on the plow.
- gravel pipe. This is a 2 inch steel pipe with a slit cut down its full length to fit over the edge, and having some flanges welded on to bolt it to the plow. It slightly reduces the pressure down in order to keep it from digging in enough to catch, while still doing a fair job of scraping.