Preparing a municipal or commercial snow plow fleet for winter requires a complete audit of all ground-engaging components before the snow hits. While engine maintenance and hydraulic checks are standard routines, neglecting structural wear points on plow assemblies leads to severe breakdowns mid-storm. Today, we review pre-season fleet audit practices and explain how hardfacing overlays restore thinned steel parts ahead of the winter season.
Pre-Season Wear Inspection for Plow Attachments
Before mounting plows onto your trucks, inspect these high-stress steel zones:
- Cutting Edge Seating Pockets: Inspect the steel backing pockets holding your carbide inserts. Thin, eroded steel pockets fail to support carbide inserts under heavy impact.
- Moldboard Ribs and Lower Skins: Continuous friction from flying road grit erodes the lower steel skin of the moldboard, weakening structural rigidity.
- Plow Shoes and Caster Brackets: Check support shoes for bottom flat-spots and thinned mounting shanks.
Restoring Thinned Equipment with In-Shop Hardfacing Overlays
Throwing away an entire plow frame or shoe assembly simply because a few steel zones have thinned down wastes maintenance capital. In-shop hardfacing allows maintenance teams to rebuild worn steel parts at a fraction of replacement costs:
- Rebuilding Steel Edge Seats: Welding a layer of tungsten carbide hardfacing wire or chromium alloy along eroded edge pockets restores structural backing before mounting fresh carbide blades.
- Shielding Moldboard Lower Edges: Applying carbide grit hardfacing along the bottom moldboard lip creates an abrasion barrier against flying slush and sand.
- Hardfacing Shoes and Skids: Applying heavy hardfacing beads across shoe contact pads extends skid life through multiple winter storms.
Performing proactive hardfacing touch-ups during pre-season prep reinforces vulnerable steel parts, ensuring your fleet operates without mid-storm structural failures.
Prepare Your Snowplow with MCT Wear Solutions
Getting your equipment ready for severe winter storms requires quality replacement parts and dependable hardfacing supplies.
At MCT, we manufacture outperformed carbide snow plow blades alongside specialized tungsten carbide grits for hardfacing. Contact our technical team today to audit your fleet needs and get a pre-season quote!
