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Snow Plow Guys - need some help..

Ron H

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I have a meyers e60 plow and the blade won't go down. All else works great. I put a new motor on last week as it was shot, and a new solenoid. Cleaned all the contacts and checked the button control pad with another. There's no click or voltage drop only on the down button unlike the up and side controls. I get no magnetism on the A solenoid on the plow; but since there's no action from the control (voltage drop) I'd assume the outer valves aren't the issue. After hunting down numerous posts on these plows with nothing describing what's going on with my problem, thought I'd toss this out to fellow members who might have tips. Thanks.
 
You said no voltage drop or did you mean no voltage at solenoid ?
When hitting the controls you hear a click from the solenoid and a heady drop in voltage while depressing the button (volt gauge in dash). None of this happens on the down control only. Kind of tells me there must not be any juice getting to the solenoid between it and the control pad. Thinking it might be the control pad, I swapped it out with my old one and the action is identical. I had swapped the old one out because the outer protective cover was worn out from use and if it got wet it was shorting out.
 
Check if solenoid A is magnetized
Check voltage at A solenoid
If both ok, check for clogged filter.
Is plow on truck? If so tap solenoid A while in float/down
Keep your feet clear.....
How's the fluid? Clear? Overfilled?

If all else fails, get a Fisher.....lol

 
Check if solenoid A is magnetized
Check voltage at A solenoid
If both ok, check for clogged filter.
Is plow on truck? If so tap solenoid A while in float/down
Keep your feet clear.....
How's the fluid? Clear? Overfilled?

If all else fails, get a Fisher.....lol
Lol! No mag at A solenoid (black wire I understand) when holding the D button. I just replaced an O-ring on the filter bolt as it was leaking like nuts. I pulled out the filters and cleaned those. I flushed out the fluid last spring having to do some resto welding work on the old gal anyway. New snow plow fluid. I refilled yesterday after the O-ring thing as it had lost a lot of fluid. I know it likely needs more filling but up and side action is great. Also took the hair dryer this morning to heat up the outer valves and did the tapping trick...nada!
 
Have you tried to put power to the solenoid manually? Jumper wire from battery.
 
Have you tried to put power to the solenoid manually? Jumper wire from battery.
Is this be from the batt to the A solenoid wire? Will try this - just locked in my head the gremlin is before this but certainly a good check!
 
I would crack the hydraulic line at the piston, with the plow hooked up and let the piston bleed down. As soon as it hits the ground, tighten the line. Fill with appropriate fluid then raise with the motor. If the plow still won't lower, jump the solenoid manually with a jumper wire. If the plow lowers, the problem is in your switch. You didn't mention, but I assume that you have the "new style" push buttons in the shape of arrows? The old joystick was a much more reliable system. You should be able to open that control up, and try cleaning the contacts behind the button. If still no luck, a replacement control may be in order.
 
Down does not produce a click anyway, it is just a release valve. Sometimes my e47 will just click and not do anything, but a few taps on the motor itself jostles the motor and it starts working.And yes, mine has a brand new motor and still does this. You can easily check the valves by removing them and putting the end of a pen cap into the end. If the valve is good, it will move in and out easily under spring tension, if it won’t move at all, the valve is frozen up and will need to be replaced. I’ll get out my book and check to see which coil does what and report back.
 
Ok...
“A” coil, black wire, down
“B” coil, red wire, up
“C” coil, green wire, angle right
Default of the plow angle left

so, I would suspect the A valve, which is under the A coil. Just remove the coil, take out the valve and check to see if the ball valve goes in and out with the pen trick outlined above. If it’s stuck, just buy a new valve, they’re not worth messing with. I keep at least one spare coil for each valve on hand, and the same for the valves. It takes about 5 minutes to change out a valve, which I highly suspect is the problem here.
 
I agree with cosgig , Meyers has a step by step diagnosing procedure on there web site that is very easy to follow , has help me in the past , good luck
 
Been Eons but I had this same set-up. The troubleshooting is reletively easy to follow, as others have described. I found that nine times out of ten tho, it was simply the plugs at the grille of the truck, usually the one with the smaller wires, not the big main one. Pull, wiggle and twist, and for Gods sake, don't do it while your foot is under the plow!
 
THANKS much gents for your tips! You've given me some things to check and will let ya know what I find. Yeah no feet under da blade! This old gal is ahh old...on a '91 Ram 2500 rusty with a manual trans but still runs strong. Plow was installed when my dear now departed father-in-law bought it new. I've done some things that were overdue last couple years: New lines, fittings, flush out, new control pad, new motor, new solenoid, new harness, and some welding work, new pivot pin...a lot of **** on the system but not anything done with the valves as I can recall.
 
Lots of good advice here. One mention of ground. At least 3 times I recall over the years my E47 setup acted up and gave me fits trying to figure out what the problem was, to finally check/clean/refasten the ground connections and have the problem go away.

One other thing to mention; in this bitter cold weather I've always put a small cap full of gas line anti-freeze in mine. Before that I'd have occasional problems with the thing freezing up.
 
Pulled the A coil and valve curious as I move the check valve it moves with some force required and moves just a little bit around 1/16" or so. Is the valve supposed to have better, longer, and free-er action than this? New valve is 75 bucks so didn't want to go buy one if this isn't the problem. Thanks
 
The ball should push right in and out with very little effort. It doesn’t need to go in very far, but if it hangs up at all it should probably be replaced. Go online and check out Angelos, they have a ton of plow stuff for about 1/2 of what you can buy it for from Meyers.
 
The fix was the 'A' coil valve. THANK YOU for taking your time out of your day to reply to help me out!
 
Good deal Ron H, you fixed it!
They still around $30 for the valve and $20 for the coil (solenoid)?
The A coil & valve gets the most use, so usually first to go.

Edit, saw it was $75, ouch
 
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