Box plows, snow pushers, containment plows … whatever you call them, they have revolutionized the snow removal industry over the past 40 years.
They’ve come a long way from monstrosities built by creative snow contractors who torched and welded old fuel tanks or cobbled together a couple of highway plows to make their own snow pushers. Today, dozens of companies compete for the sale of their box plows to cutting edge (no pun intended) snow contractors.
With competition comes innovation. Most early units had fixed arms for the loader bucket to slide into, were chained to the machine’s bucket, had a rubber cutting edge, and fixed wear shoes that supported the weight of the unit. The design of the steel, the thickness of the rubber edge, the color of the paint, and the company’s reputation and service support were the only things that set the units apart. Perhaps this is where the idea that "all box plows are the same" came from.
The traditional snow pusher had several issues; today’s pushers have several innovations to alleviate the shortcomings of the early designs.
On traditional snow pushers, wear shoes were disposable and a major job to change. Since they could not be adjusted, the cutting edge needed periodic repositioning, but rusted bolts made adjusting the edge a major undertaking. Adjustable wear shoes changed all that. The cutting edge never needs adjusting, and the wear shoes can be adjusted by simply pulling one pin and reinserting it — all easily done by hand at the job site in just a few seconds. This feature alone is an incredible advancement in snow pusher technology.
On the early models, if the operator didn’t run the unit perfectly level, a set of $500 wear shoes could wear out in one snowstorm instead of the 80+ storms they should last. Many advanced snow pushers now come with self-leveling shoes as standard equipment. This feature more than pays for itself with longer cutting edge and wear shoe life.
The traditional rubber cutting edge could create a "squeegee effect" that left the parking lot covered by a very thin layer of slush that could quickly freeze, making the area slippery and unsafe. Contractors poured on as much salt as they wanted to compensate. Today, with high costs of salt and even higher concerns about its overuse and its effects on our environment, our industry has been tasked with finding a better way.
Sectional moldboard. These units are built with the entire plow moldboard and steel cutting edge on 30″ or 32″ wide sections that pivot up and down to adjust to the pavement contour. Each section is mounted on polyurethane blocks that can break if not treated with care. A lot of moving parts on these units can be damaged with rough treatment. A highly skilled operator is recommended for this type of snow pusher.
Fusion cutting edge. This is a special segmented rubber cutting edge with steel infused in the center. Segments are 2 feet long and work independently to adjust to the pavement or to trip over obstacles. The shorter sections allow the edge to adjust more precisely to the pavement. Fusion cutting edges are very durable and provide both the squeegee affect that rubber plows have as well as the scraping capability of a steel cutting edge.
Live edge. Spring-loaded steel carbide cutting edges move up and down to adjust to the pavement elevation at each section. These are actually sections within sections for superior pavement outcome. These segments are also about 2′ wide for precise adjustment to the pavement. These units provide exceptional scraping under most conditions.
On traditional pushers, due to the unit’s length, any imperfections in the pavement, grade changes or transitions would result in snow or ice being left behind. If the snow pusher was chained to the bucket too tightly, preventing the unit from flexing up and down when plowing over uneven pavement, the pusher would gouge the pavement and/or leave deposits of snow and ice uncleared.
Allowing the entire snow pusher the flexibility to adjust to the contour of the pavement has been a big improvement provided by floating couplers. A heavy-duty floating coupler helps create optimal surface contact with all parts of the snow pusher while maintaining durability.
Most early pushers had two metal bars that stuck out diagonally from the moldboard to support the sides or "wings" of the containment plow. These bars were prone to easy damage. When plowing wet heavy snow, the bars tended to collect snow, making the snow pusher heavier and then dropping clumps of snow on the clean portions of the parking lot as you backed up to make your next run.
To remove the diagonal bars of the traditional snow pushers, some manufacturers have engineered side plate gusset supports right into the sides of the containment wings of the snow pusher. These are very clean, don’t hold wet snow like the old bars did and they don’t rust nearly as easily since they are welded and painted right into the sides of the unit. More importantly, they are extremely durable and not prone to damage like the diagonal bars.
As snow pushers became the norm and were made larger to accommodate the powerful loaders available, they also became too wide to move from one site to another while still attached to the loader. This forced contractors to dedicate each snow pusher to a single site or maybe a few sites directly across the street from each other.
Some manufacturers have designed folding or adjustable width snow pushers. While these units are more expensive, they offer unique abilities that can’t be beat in the right application.
The folding snow pushers come in manual and hydraulic models. I highly recommend the hydraulic units since folding and unfolding the plow takes only seconds from inside the warm cab. These units are great for using one machine and pusher to do a bunch of medium-sized parking lots instead of sending out a fleet of plow trucks.
Adjustable-width snow pushers come in a variety of models. The best also offer the feature of being able to flip over and back-drag snow away from garage doors, curbs and other tight areas that traditional snow pushers can’t reach. This allows a machine with an adjustable snow pusher to do the entire job without sending a pickup truck to the same job sites to do the trim work.
The job of the modern snow pusher is to move enormous amounts of snow from point A to point B as fast as possible. While nearly every snow pusher on the market today will do that, the devil is in the details.
How well the unit clears the pavement, how long until the unit needs repair, the cost of annual maintenance and the difficulty of servicing the snow pusher are all factors that contribute to a contractor’s success. I have found that the lowest cost units are the most expensive in the long run. Paying more up front for features that do a better job – and that save time, money and salt – pay off big time for years to come.
The innovations detailed in this article have advanced the industry with consistent improvements; however, not all the changes have been home runs. Do your homework very carefully and consider all the pros and cons of each snow pusher on the market before making your buying decisions.
There is no such thing as the "perfect snow pusher." Every job site has different conditions, and it is up to the snow contractor to make the best choice for their specific set of circumstances.
Rick Kier, of Forge Ahead Consulting, was president and owner of Pro Scapes Inc. in Syracuse, NY, for 41 years before he sold the business. He is a founding board member of SIMA and now consults for snow and landscape companies across the United States and Canada. Contact him at rick@rickkier.com.