Two words - NO WAY.

 

Are you friggin' serious? What words in "DO NOT USE THIS VEHICLE FOR SNOW PLOW APPLICATIONS" do you NOT understand?

"well... it may void warranty if you plow for a living. I just do my 1/4 driveway."

Don't matter if you just have the plow on the front to just look pretty and NEVER use it. IT'S STILL ON THERE!

ANY dealer would use it to deny warranty work for just about anything they can relate to having a plow, right down to engine cooling.

Don't get me wrong, it's YOUR truck, and if you want a plow on it, go for it. Hell, I did a LOT of mods on my truck that I knew would kill most claims under my 7/70 Powertrain Warranty. Did it anyway cause it's my truck and I wanted it the way I wanted it.
But I ain't fool enough to think I'd still get away with claims if a mod I did effected the performance of my truck.

Have you your plow, use it as little or as much as you like. Just don't be bashing Dodge or your dealer when they refuse warranty service for something they can link to having the plow...

 

I would like to start by saying that I DO own my own plowing company. I have 70 residential contracts and a select few parking lot contracts. Also I have been plowing for 10 years in Rochester NY and we get some pretty nasty storms and overall accumulation around here. I have, and still do, run a few different trucks over the years, and this is my feeling on plowing with a 1500.

Depending upon the application, and the manufacturer of the plow you should have no problem plowing with a 1500. Certain Plows will not even offer mounts for trucks that cannot handle the weight or load of a plow on a given truck. You see people plowing all the time in s-10's, jeeps, and other small suv's. So why would you think that your 1500 couldn't handle plowing. As I stated it depends upon your application, and the amount of use, and abuse you intend to put on the truck. I will give you a few quick examples, I personally plowed with a 2000 Dakota quad cab 4.7 for 5 years (miss that truck) running it down 50 driveways every single storm. Never once, did I wish for a bigger truck. In fact, I had another guy driving my F250 for me, doing a few really large driveways and my lots. The smaller truck had better turning radius, and all the power and traction I ever needed to do driveways. I also would meet my other driver at the end of each route and we would finish one large lot together.
I have also seen guys running brand new 2500 Duramax Allison set-ups pop transmissions by not knowing how to plow, and using the engine and transmission to really move the snow rather than momentum and the weight of the truck.( 10 years, 6 trucks, never once popped a transmission). My point is the truck can handle it just fine if you know what you are doing.

If you do decide to put a plow on your 1500, I would suggest you look at Boss plows. They have 7' 7.5' & 8' ploy blades that do take a beating, and keep the weight down which will help with the wear on front end parts. Also look into Timbrens, these will help also
JMHO YMMV

ETA; My dodge dealer installed the Boss set-up on that Dakota, and will be installing one on my 09 1500 in a few years when I move this truck into the rotation.

Regards
RochesterRob

 

One last thing,

If I am correct, your airbag sensors are located underneath the bumper skins. The plow is attached to a lower frame, which is in turn bolted to the truck frame. Any "impact" from the plow is therefore absorbed by the trucks frame and does not contact the truck body, & will not affect the airbags. I could be wrong, but this is how my previous trucks have been.

 

The airbag sensors are pengulum spring type... so ther for, frame mounted plows vs bumper plows really dont make a huge amount of difference, its all about impact. You hit a hard packed snow pile hard enough, thats going to blow the airbags reguardless. The AB sensors are very sensitive, trust me, i know first hand.

Its not that these new dodges wont handle a snowplow package, they will, and very well. Heavier front wheel bearings than previous years, and stronger frames. Here is why they dont want you installing snowplow packages on the 1500...Dodge doesn`t want to be held liable for dumbass`s that like to hit snowpiles way harder than needed and then deploy an airbag. Thats why they have the statement written in the owners manuel. The 2500 series has different sensors, and has been compensated for plow packages

Go ahead and install plows on your 09/10/11 1500 4x4, but just becareful how hard you`re hitting them in hard packed snow conditions. Watch a GOOD professional snow plow person, and be thankful to pick up some good plowing hints/habits and you`ll be a happier person and so wont your truck. Treat your truck and plow with respect, it will do the same for you. If you cant move a pile of snow, then you`re probably asking to much of the truck to start with

 

My dad and I have been plowing a 200 foot long personal driveway and a smaller apartment building driveway that we own. We've been using a 95 Dodge dakota V6 with a 6 foot plow since 1995 when the truck was purchased. We've beat the hell out of this little truck with a minute mount fisher plow. 15 years later and no major services besides u joints, A 1500 will definately be able to plow a reasonable amount of snow. I wouldn't do it myself with my own 2010 sport crew because of the warranty issue, but after that runs out, I'll consider putting one on my truck easily. The momentum in plowing is what it's all about, I wouldn't expect to plow snow for the state going down the highway, but dropping the plow once your in motion and not over revving, I think you'd be good to go.

 

So if the 1500 has pendulum style sensors what do the 2500 and 3500's have that do not activate while slamming into snow banks? I had an F350 that I would plow huge parking lots with and it never deployed a bag after smacking walls of snow. When you order a truck with the plow package does that change the sensors?

 

I dont believe the sensors are different when ordering a plow package for the 2500/3500....BUT,
2500/3500 have a stiffer pengelum spring internally due to rougher riding scenerio with the heavier suspensions. They dont handle roughness as easy as a 1500 does, so they use heavier sensors because of the jolting when working the 2500/3500 truck harder. They can be set off quicker if they had the 1500 pengelums installed in the 2500/3500 truck. The factory knows the 2500/3500 is going to be used harder because thats what they were made to do. Those are more of a "work" minded truck than say the 1500 is. Most people buy a 1500 for occasional light truck use, and people buy the 2500/3500 for hard work use. This is what i was told by the factory. The sensor part numbers are also different between the 1/2 ton vs 3/4 ton trucks too. Makes me believe what they told me.

 

So maybe we could put the heavier sensors on the lighter trucks. Man what good is all this torque and and HP if ya can't use it. I am contemplating a plow my concern is not warranty it is insurance, Now that that there are so many yahoo's out there with shiny new truck and brand new plow giving prices that will surely lose them money, anyway they are hitting cars and knocking over fences and picking up parking stones. makes the parking lot look like a war zone after melting. So insurance companies and starting to put the prices out of reach for the average guy with one truck to make money.

 

Here's my 2010 Laramie with a full sized (7.5 foot) Western plow rig attached. I did add a 2" front leveling kit from ReadyLift.

Looks great and works great, too !