Watching snowflakes fall as the ground slowly changes color to white is quite a wonderful experience. Once this wintry precipitation starts to add up to several inches, it can also become a source of frustration.  When the flakes start to fly and drifts start to form, it’s almost impossible to do anything outdoors including driving.

Any large amount of wintry accumulation can make the roads unsafe to a point that it becomes impossible to drive and motorists are urged to stay off the roads for their own safety. One of the winter service vehicles that helps keep our roads usable and safe to drive during the winter months is the snowplow.

Most Used Winter Service Vehicle

Among all the winter service vehicles, snowplows are undoubtedly the most common piece of equipment used for freeing roads from a thick blanket of this wintry accumulation. They can move the accumulation from a blizzard quicker than any other winter service vehicle. It can remove any wintry accumulation from the roads and highways while driving a pretty decent average driving speed. For this reason, it is often used for clearing on major roads since it can move it quickly and allow traffic to flow again once the storm has abated

Features

A snowplow either refers to a specialized market-built truck with a hydraulically adjustable earth-moving device on the front end along with other deterrent features on board or it can also be an individual after-market detachable version that can be installed into the front end of many trucks. Most after-market snowplow attachments don’t adjust automatically, so it has to be adjusted manually every time the level of the terrain changes.

The snowplow is concave in shape, and it extends the entire width of the vehicle on which it is placed. It is often constructed from steel to withstand the weight of the frozen precipitation during the moving process, although there are also smaller versions made from rigid plastic that are designed to be lightweight for mid-size truck use.

Works like a Tractor

Snowplows used as winter service vehicles work similarly to the work done by a tractor. The device is slightly angled like a wedge, which is rammed head on toward the drifted accumulation. The wheels provide the force required to move the mounds which are then funneled to one side of the device due to its’ angle.

Installed on Dump Trucks

Snowplows are most commonly installed on dump trucks since it has the right weight, power and rigidity required to move away tons of this wintry precipitation. In fact, manufacturers use the same chassis and engine used by dump trucks to assemble specialized snowplow vehicles. The only difference is that these trucks when designed by a manufacturer are equipped with corrosion resistant parts such as aluminum and fiber glass to prevent corrosion caused by salt and other deterrent chemicals.

Modified for Other Trucks

Mid-size vehicles can be modified to be a snowplow as well. As long as the vehicle is four-wheel drive, is equipped with wide all-weather tires, and has a strong engine, it can be outfitted with a snowplow mounted to the front end of the vehicle. It can be used to clear wide pathways and driveways and save a lot of time and grueling effort shoveling by hand.

Snowplows are the real ‘work horse’ of the winter service vehicles and undoubtedly the most commonly seen vehicle used when winter storms threaten. Don’t risk injury to yourself – let snowplows push your problems away!