Hello everyone, I recently purchased a '94 Suzuki Carry DD51T with low miles and in excellent condition. Will likely use it to plow our driveway in the winter and have fun with it when its nice weather. Plans to do some mild custom touches to make it my own.
Welcome Ed, Thanks for posting your Signature in your Profile! Can't wait to hear about, and see pic's on your improvements! Limestone
Welcome, always good to have new members. On plowing, if you can afford it, get one with down pressure, and controls you can run from inside the cab. I got my Hijet, because one of the places I worked had Grizzly that they plowed with. They had a winch operated plow on it, and it would just rise up and over even a bit of compacted snow. Something with some down force works lots better.. I bought one of the Blackline electro hydraulic units, and it has worked well. I’ve made a few changes. End of the first season, I was inspecting it before I put it away for the summer, and found wear on a couple of bolts which are used as pivot points. They were grade 5s, I replaced them with some grade 8s. Haven’t seen any wear in the last two seasons. Somehow one of the hydraulic hoses got rubbed and I have a whole new set on order, should be here next week. I called Blackline last week to order the new hoses, because they didn’t list hem in their parts page. Talked to one of the new owners. They are making a few changes. I sent him a list of things I might change if I were making them, and asked about a radio remote control, as opposed to the wired unit they have now. Hopefully they will offer the radio unit soon.
Jigs, Just a tip to consider. We would use a Black, Kevlar woven hose wrap on our hydraulic hoses, that would eliminate a lot of unwanted wear on the hose hoses! Saved us a lot of money, running several pieces in the field! Limestone
ed, Jigs is correct on the plow's down pressure! If the plow is too light, especially on these smaller vehicles, the plow tends to float on top of the snow, at aggravating times! With that in mind, too heavy, adds other difficulties when lifting up the plow! Making suppliers like Black line a great choice! A lot has to do with how much plowing you plan on doing, how far you plan on traveling with your plow in the air, and so on! I've plowed with about as many things that you can imagine! Limestone
ed, I like the way you think! Your smart for going over it and upgrading the unit, eliminating potential future problems! Are you gonna add some cheap windshield washer fluid to that weight bag so it doesn't freeze and break? Good Luck! Can't wait to see pics! Limestone
Jigs, I am supposed to receive my new Blackline plow today. I previously read somewhere that you had increased the CCA of your battery. When I searched I can't find out how. Did you add a 2 nd battery or just a single larger one? I am just forward thinking about how to accomplish the wiring for the plow. Got any suggestions? I'll let you know what kind of controller it came with. Do I need a second or a dedicated terminal box for the positive wires? I also see a 50 amp alternator on Ebay that I thought about buying . I have A/C so I likely have a 35 amp alternator as standard equip , but maybe 50 amps isn't enough if I also have to eventually install some plow lights...? I have an alternator shop nearby so I might just yank it our to see if they can do some mods to make it produce more power. I work at an aerospace company that also has a hose shop so I may likely just upgrade the pivoting hardware as you suggested and also add some additional sheathing to the hoses to prevent any rub wear. Now that I/ve invested in the plow it won't snow any more !
Electrical Mods: My current battery is a 35/75-2 Diehard. On my Hijet, it fits the width of the factory tray into is a couple of inches deeper. I had to fabricate a hold down, and some mounts for the stock battery cover. My alternator is a mini Denso 90-amp unit. I’m not sure what alternator the Carry has. It may be harder to find a higher output unit for them. The mini-Denso is used on a lot of vehicles, and is also used on race cars because it is relatively light. I ran a #6 lead direct to the battery from the alternator, in parallel with the stock wire, which goes down to the starter and then to the battery. The one I bought is the three wire plug, plus the main wire to the battery. The stock alternator is the 2-wire plug style one form the ignition hot to turn the alternator on, and one for the idiot light. The three wire plug adds a voltage sensor wire which goes to the battery and senses the control voltage there, instead of at the alternator. My truck is the pick/tipper, and I have a plate under the bed on which I mounted a pair of electrical junctions which have 4-gauge wire to the battery, and I hook things to them. I bought a set of 6-gauge jumper cables and cut the clamps off of them, and ran that to the front bumper, and installed a quick disconnect plug to the plow wiring.
Jigs, I finally received the new Blackline plow. I am curious where and how you mounted the controller. Here is a pic of my new Controller. It doesn't look like it lights up but I will temporarily hook it up tonight to make sure the hydraulics operate correctly. There isn't much room on the dash but I might make up a mounting plate to go into that empty cubbyhole under the radio, and then velcro the control box to that plate so that it is removable for summer driving. My other choice is to buy some kind of goose neck type device that mounts to the floor in front of the engine bulkhead. This would position the control box in front of the shifter. Also, this controller has about 2 ft wire lead with a 1 inch wide connector on the end to hook up to an extension wire, which eventually goes to the plow. I hate to have to drill a larger than 1 inch hole somewhere to get this connector through something sheet metal so I am just curious if you had some other cleaner way to route the wire.
