Somewhere around twenty one years ago my wife asked me if we could move from New Jersey to Maine. My first thought was, “Trout, perch, moose, deer, bear and striped bass. “What’s not to like?” I could have done some further thinking before I said, “yes,” but hey, once I committed, we went on a roll. Nine months later we were living here.
Our first Maine home was in a little town in Piscataquis county, in a neighborhood. The driveway was fifty feet long, with the garage six feet from the house. One of new neighbors suggested getting a walk behind snow blower, but to be certain that we bought one with enough horsepower to really throw the snow.
We ended up with a Husquavarna with an enormous engine and a huge auger. While at the time it may have seemed overkill, it most certainly threw snow. We lived in the neighborhood for about four years and decided to move to a much rural setting.
As fate would have it, we found a hunting camp on a tertiary road which met our needs. A one hundred fifty foot drive way and lot would need snow removal so after some searching we purchased a John Deere 1050, turbocharged, 4 wheel drive tractor, circa early 1980’s. The purchase of an Agro-Trend 2000 rear mounted snow blower competed the system. While this rig definitely moved snow, it was very costly. Thirteen thousand for the tractor and another twenty two hundred for the snow blower set us back some. The addition of tire chains, plus several five gallon jugs of diesel fuel, anti gel/anti algae added a few more hundred dollars to the cost.
Things went swimmingly well until about year eight. Electrical issues had the tractor not starting consistently. Numerous repairs limped it along, but tractor parts, especially for John Deere, are apparently made of the rare element, Unobtainium, with accompanying extortionist pricing!
By that juncture, age was starting to catch up with both tractor and me, and the engine cracked a head. A generous friend is an aircraft engineer, and offered to help. I limped the rig to his garage where we used the shop manual, his tools, and my cash (to purchase more extortionist parts) for the rebuild. Several weeks passed and the tractor ran beautifully, until a month later when we found water in the oil line again.
I sold the tractor “as is” and fully informed the buy of my concerns. Taking a 50% loss was a blow, but I was glad a much younger man who was a mechanic would own it and maybe set it right. I, however, was done with diesel tractors.
My thoughts turned that spring to alternatives. A walk-behind snowblower would not be large enough, so the only reasonable alternative left was a plow. Our only truck at the time was a Toyota Tacoma 2 wheel drive with just about two hundred thousand miles on it.
We liked the Tacoma, and so we stayed with the Toyota brand, purchasing a 2018 Tacoma Access Cab in a four wheel drive configuration. We purchased the truck in July of 2023 with just 17,000 miles on it, as it had been a lease to a Rhode Island company. Well cared for, it was pricey but worth it and needed.
A search for a plow, which I thought would be easy, revealed that the Tacoma was not rated for a regular plow. It was rated for what I would call a “junior plow.” The junior plows are called “homeowner models.” Most name brands have a model like this, and can cost anywhere from three to five thousand dollars new, and are able push about eight inches of snow. Not really enough for Maine!
I was pretty despondent, but my pastor had a Tacoma with a junior plow, and so did one of our choir members. Picking their brains resulted in a lot of relieving information. I might have to plow more frequently, but these smaller units were capable. Secondly, they mounted and disconnected very easily! I decided to investigate further as there are really only two seasons in Maine, winter, and getting ready for winter.
Looking more closely at the units from our friends at church, I noticed that their brands had connection gear that decreased ground clearance, almost to the point that the off-season clearance on their 4X4 Tacomas were reduced to almost a Corvette level in inches. I kept looking but it was fruitless, until a guy who serves on the church security team, which I head, asked me if I knew anyone looking for a snowplow.
I said I might and asked for details. It turned out he had a friend pass away who had hooked a brand new plow to his Tacoma and ran it one time and left it to my friend. I asked what year Tacoma, which turned out to be one generation shy of mine, his having been a 2015. Nonetheless, I rolled the dice and said yes. The plow cost me just eight hundred fifty dollars. The brand is a DK2 plow.
We got the dealer who sold us the truck to to do the installation. There was a problem in that we had to update the connector bracket, but that was relatively inexpensive. In the end, the total fell right on the eighteen hundred line, including the labor.
Several plowings revealed that this lightweight, all steel plow was VERY capable, and moved two feet of snow, with no undue difficulty, putting up five foot high snow banks with seeming ease. I can remove the plow in about 10 minutes. Installation takes fifteen minutes. Best of all, my clearance is right around stock vehicle height.
Again, I do not work for any company or product I recommend, nor have I received any payment or incentives for this information. The brand DK2 is available at Lowes, Costco, and many other locations, as well as online.
Having said this, there a few things you should know. The electrically operated hydraulic ram used to lift the plow has cheap electrical connectors on the wiring harness where the plow plugs meet near the front of the truck’s radiator. Secondly, the blade attack angle is manual. That means you get out of your nice, warm vehicle and tilt the locking mechanism by (gloved) hand. The manual operation is no big deal, but I will be buying a new plastic connector this spring, plus getting a spare. Also the height adjustment is done with a remote device, similar to a garage door opener. I will be wiring in a dash switch for that function during the upcoming off-season.
If you can accept the banked snow that a plow produces, fine. If you prefer the clean no-banks approach there are snowblower units that can attach to either small trucks or even ATVs. Plows are not, however, subject to broken shear pins (and it suuuucks to change them at 2 AM in a blizzard by flashlight). Rocks can get stuck in the auger or chute of a blower, and possibly cause major and costly damage. Rocks of the smaller type can magically find a windshield, picture window, a pet, or your spouse…all bad, sometimes actually fatal, and possibly for you if you nail the spouse.
There will be a learning curve with any new equipment. It was short for me, as I made a serious point of plowing every snow that fell, and learning the capabilities….and limitations, of my new addition. For example, all-season tires can do the job, but not great. I will be purchasing a full set of tires with a more aggressive tread, but will stop just shy of tires designed specifically for MOSTLY off road use. The Tacoma handles snow and plowing very very well. On one storm we had very wet snow just dump the mess like a three month old baby eating canned prunes. Not unlike diaper changing, I discovered you had to just make a commitment, and “dig in,” but not too aggressively. I just had to have faith in the equipment and let it do its job.
Adjustments were needed as the plow springs were not tight enough, and fortunately both were easily tightened in less than ten minutes each. The “shoes,” or ‘skids,’ keep the blade from digging into the dirt, and make plowing much safer and easier. Initially, they allowed the blade to drag a bit. Lowering them a tiny bit alleviated any further issues, and in fact once adjusted, I did not need to readjust them. Fortunately, the junior plow I have has a low enough profile that I do not need a headlight kit to illuminate while plowing at night. This saved me several hundred I am certain.
The take away for you is that if you own a smaller 4X4 pickup, do not despair! The DK2 or other junior plow can serve you quite well. Individual experiences may differ, so please do your own research. If possible, and you know someone with such a rig, go with them when they plow, or even ask to try your hand at operating the plow. I think you may be surprised and pleased.