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The Cutting Edge Episode 2, Winter Recap, Highs and Lows!
541 Plays8 days ago
Episode 2 of The Cutting Edge series powered by Boss Snowplow on The SnowJobs Podcast brings the guys back together with Katie Roell and Cory Jokela, and welcome to the show Ty Steinbrecher of Boss Tech Support, and Tyler Arsenault of Boondocker Equipment in Syracuse NY. The group sits down for a winter in review, what worked, what didnt, how new tech fared, and some "Dont be that guy" stories!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to The Snow Jobs Nation Podcast
00:00:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Here we go, Snow Jobs Nation. We are back again, bringing you episode two of the Cutting Edge on the Snow Jobs podcast, brought to you by Boss Snow Plow. As always, I'm Steve. You know who's with me.
00:00:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Rick James is in the house. What's up, buddy?
00:00:53
RICK JAMES
Hey, Steve-O.
00:00:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
How we doing?
00:00:54
RICK JAMES
Not a lot. Another day.
00:00:55
BOSS Snowplow
Thank you.
00:00:55
RICK JAMES
Another day. We're in spring here.
00:00:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Another day. Another another day. Spring is breaking through. No snow on the horizon in Fargo.
00:01:00
RICK JAMES
Yes, sir. God, no. We can be done.
00:01:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, good. I'm hoping we're done here too, but that's usually the kiss of death. So we want to won't go too in depth with
00:01:08
RICK JAMES
Yeah, same.
Meet the Boss Snow Plow Team
00:01:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
that.
00:01:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
But ah guys, we did say we are episode two of the cutting edge. You guys absolutely loved the first episode by the numbers we're seeing. So thank you for listening. We appreciate that.
00:01:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
And we appreciate boss help bring you the extra content. And if we're doing the cutting edge, as always, we're going to a team from boss with us to help us do that. And ah today with us, we have again, Katie Roll and we have Corey Jokula again with us. And we're also joined by Ty Steinbrecker and Tyler Osano.
00:01:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
So guys, how's it been? It's been a busy winter and ah you know, all around, I think for snow guys and snow products manufacturers as you guys are. um How, ah how's it gone for the, the team at boss?
00:01:54
BOSS Snowplow
Well, I think for all of us, we can say we're we're done with snow too. We just are coming off of a two foot snow storm last weekend.
00:01:58
RICK JAMES
Thank you.
00:02:01
BOSS Snowplow
um So had plenty of time to be testing products and ah running equipment here. Our friends in the Northeast saw plenty of snow. Steve Midwest saw snow.
00:02:12
BOSS Snowplow
Unfortunately, our our friends in the West didn't see as much snow as they wanted to see this year.
00:02:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:02:16
BOSS Snowplow
But with that comes our team backing up our customers and we have a great tech service and customer support team here. we were taking upwards of 400 calls a day, Ty, which is just insane with your team.
00:02:28
BOSS Snowplow
And it started early this year, too. Usually it seems like we kind of like taper into things, but this year it was, I mean, it was nuts out of the gate.
00:02:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:02:36
BOSS Snowplow
Usually we say if we get like an October or Halloween snowstorm, we're going sitting good. And we've got a little bit of snow up here in the UP, and then that storm came through the Midwest right around Thanksgiving, and that just lit a fire underneath everybody.
00:02:49
BOSS Snowplow
That first week of December was by far the busiest week I've ever seen. And we were taking we were pushing 400 calls a day, like Katie said.
00:02:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
I believe it.
00:02:57
BOSS Snowplow
think that one week we had like 1,800 phone calls, 1,900 in one single week just into my department. So it was a lot of lot of talking snowplows and spreaders that week.
00:03:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah believe it
00:03:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, everybody got snow that first week of December. The Northeast was kicking. The lake effect bands in Ohio and the and ah and Michigan were kicking. I know guys that we know were plowing, what, 14 days in a row, 15
Customer Service Stories During Snowstorms
00:03:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
days in a row?
00:03:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
it was ridiculous stretches of constant daily snow.
00:03:20
RICK JAMES
Thank whatever
00:03:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
So, yeah, I can't imagine. Your phone must have been extremely busy. Do they give you, like, four months off to rest and recuperate?
00:03:28
BOSS Snowplow
why Summertime is ah is a little bit of a lull, but...
00:03:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, good.
00:03:35
BOSS Snowplow
The guys on my team definitely earned it Well, you guys had what? There was two two big storms on the east that you guys were in the weekend in on the weekend for?
00:03:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Thank
00:03:43
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, that one big one that kind of like swung across the south and then up through the northeast there. We stopped Sunday that week. We knew kind of when ah when those east coast storms hit that we need a little more dealer assistance in that area. So think we ended up taking like 20, 30 phone calls in four hour period on a Sunday.
00:04:03
BOSS Snowplow
So super beneficial to have the team in and working that day and hats off to them and dedication to my guys, it really shows when they're coming in on a Sunday to to field some phone calls.
00:04:05
RICK JAMES
That's great.
00:04:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely. I love that.
00:04:16
BOSS Snowplow
I give your team a lot of credit too, because a lot of those guys are taking personal calls and you know I'm on social media all the time scrolling and like waiting to see like either what's going to happen with Boss Product during the middle of a snowstorm or what a customer is saying right now.
00:04:29
BOSS Snowplow
And a lot of times your guys are commenting personally from their pages too, like in their free time, like making sure guys have what they need and people will call and specifically ask for, you know Jamie's been here for how long. The experience on your team is pretty impressive. Yeah, it was just actually tallying it up this morning. we got time at boss between myself and my the five guys on my team.
00:04:51
BOSS Snowplow
We've got 107 years total, 67 of which are dedicated in tech service.
00:04:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, wow.
00:04:54
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:04:57
BOSS Snowplow
So a lot of longevity on the team.
00:04:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
So guys know what you're doing. Definitely.
00:05:00
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I know the product.
00:05:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:05:03
BOSS Snowplow
I've got the stories to go with that.
00:05:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's really cool. Absolutely. I bet. Would you, let me ask you a question. Cause do you feel that a lot of your customers know that the hotline is available to them, that they can call boss directly if they can't get ahold of their dealer at three in the morning or whatever?
00:05:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
All good.
00:05:17
BOSS Snowplow
Absolutely. and that was felt even more this year. Yeah.
00:05:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, because I've been telling people, like my local guys that use Boss, I've been telling them like, hey, if you can't get a hold of the dealer, like, because it's very difficult in this area to get a hold of the Boss dealer.
00:05:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
You got to go through an answering service. Then they got to call you back. I tell them, you know, they got a hotline, right? They they answer the hotline. like, what? I'm like, yeah, you can go direct to Boss.
00:05:38
BOSS Snowplow
dad We wish all our dealers were like Tyler, taking phone calls you know all weekend long and at night and answering social media at night, everything like he does. But yeah, there's definitely a lot of end users or end customers that get directly to my guys.
00:05:54
BOSS Snowplow
Makes things interesting, that's for sure.
00:05:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, I'm sorry if I added to your workload. I apologize.
00:06:00
Tyler Arsenault
Thank you.
00:06:00
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:06:03
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:06:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good dealers are key, though. Good dealers a key. And that's that's why there's different levels of dealers out there. you Everybody kind of knows what dealer you can count on you know during the snow event, on a weekend, three in the morning, and what what dealers are not going to be there for you.
00:06:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
So that's awesome. Good for you guys.
00:06:19
BOSS Snowplow
think you feel those high volume call days to just throughout the entire boss team, because, you know, we do have engineers who ah are taking calls, like if it gets elevated to a certain point, like engineers will help out or, um you know, years ago when I started, there was a team of marketing that was on the phones as well. And now we have a customer support team that is there to help out. So like you feel those high, busy snowstorm days in the entire boss office and the team.
00:06:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very good.
00:06:49
BOSS Snowplow
Which is why we're, you know, that's our tagline.
00:06:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
00:06:51
BOSS Snowplow
We're there to back you up. We've got chat, you've got email, you can reach any one of us. It comes at us from all directions, like you said, too.
00:06:56
RICK JAMES
great.
00:06:58
BOSS Snowplow
It's pretty, pretty frequent that he's texting Ty or I at six, seven o'clock at night on the side about something new that he saw in a shipment. So it comes at us from every direction.
00:07:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
So with 400 calls plus a day that you guys are fielding, you got to have some some stories from the season that stand out, right?
00:07:15
RICK JAMES
Good stories, yeah.
00:07:17
BOSS Snowplow
Hell yeah.
00:07:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
What do you got? I want to hear some.
00:07:19
BOSS Snowplow
oh man where do i start um i mean it's the guys that swear they never hit anything when the plow is laying off their truck um yeah yeah and and i swear half the time like just just be honest with me how fast are you actually going when you hit that because i might help you out of warranty here but We never want to promise anything, but we we do have a pretty lenient warranty program.
00:07:20
RICK JAMES
yeah ah
00:07:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, everybody.
00:07:29
RICK JAMES
What?
00:07:30
Tyler Arsenault
I didn't hit nothing.
00:07:30
RICK JAMES
I thought that was just my guys.
00:07:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
It just fell off the truck.
00:07:47
BOSS Snowplow
I don't want to throw it out there, but that's the way we've always been. and And Tyler's seen it firsthand, being a dealer of ours.
00:07:53
Tyler Arsenault
Oh yeah.
00:07:53
BOSS Snowplow
I mean, when he's calling me and and begging for warranty, usually, you know, it's a pretty good customer or something happened that they got a good story behind it. But I guess one that really stands out, though, is as we had guys, we had two separate cases this year.
00:08:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:08:08
BOSS Snowplow
with guys saying that they had basically premature wear on a cutting edge on a snow raider it's like well what are you plowing well we're doing straight sidewalks well how far did you go uh like seven or eight miles and never lifted the plow off the ground and they're wondering why they burned through a quarter inch cutting edge and they burn it so far that it goes all the way up into the mold board to the point where it gets to the carriage bolts and there's nothing to actually bolt the new cutting edge to anymore like
00:08:33
RICK JAMES
Oh wow.
00:08:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh.
00:08:33
BOSS Snowplow
half the Half of the carriage bolt gone, upper half of the cutting edge laying on the sidewalk behind him.
00:08:40
RICK JAMES
That is not good.
00:08:40
BOSS Snowplow
Plowing with the rest of the moldboard. Down pressure for seven miles isn't a good idea at all.
00:08:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
No.
00:08:44
RICK JAMES
Oh boy, that is not good.
00:08:45
BOSS Snowplow
We'll have to dig up a few of those pictures.
00:08:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Ay, ay, ay.
00:08:49
BOSS Snowplow
That was a good but yeah yeah You realize thing goes six, seven miles an hour.
00:08:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Jeez.
00:08:56
BOSS Snowplow
If you're on it for a 30, 40 hour storm, that is some mileage that adds up on that cutting edge. Yeah.
00:09:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely it is.
00:09:03
Tyler Arsenault
And this is where making a reliable product might be a bad thing because people aren't coming in and we can be like well, you're here for this, but you really need a cutting edge. Oh, I do? And then you can replace it before it's too late.
00:09:14
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:09:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
How far down do you guys recommend replacing that edge? Because that is a question that I've gotten, and I'm like, i just kind of eyeball it from time to time, but you guys have a set number?
00:09:22
BOSS Snowplow
Yes, on a Snow Raider itself, you're looking at probably about an inch full the cutting edge would be absolute max wear. Those cutting edges are reversible, so typically you can flip them over and wear the backside of them.
00:09:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:09:35
BOSS Snowplow
um On the plows, you look more at like on a factory like DXT, for example, you got that snowcatcher in the middle. When you wear it the bottom of that snowcatcher leg that comes out towards the side of the cutting edge, that's the absolute max where you should wear that thing for, put that new cutting edge over the top.
00:09:49
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:09:53
BOSS Snowplow
Trip edge V is kind of the same way. Wear up to the bottom that that center snowcatcher and that's time to replace it.
00:10:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:10:01
Tyler Arsenault
And the XT has that kind of step down in the middle of the center pin.
00:10:05
BOSS Snowplow
Yep.
00:10:05
Tyler Arsenault
That's what our key is with them.
00:10:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
00:10:08
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, it's where the actual like formation of the snowcatcher is. There's little jagged step in there. Once you hit the edge of that step, it's time to replace it.
00:10:15
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah.
00:10:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha. So that's that's your best ah snow raider original Snow Raider story for the year?
00:10:22
BOSS Snowplow
OG Snow Raider, yeah.
00:10:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay. what about it What about a mag story? I'm sure you got no shortage of mag stories this year.
00:10:27
BOSS Snowplow
Oh, gosh. We'll jump right into a ah customer that everybody knows, Mr. Patty Salmon himself.
00:10:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:10:33
RICK JAMES
Oh boy.
00:10:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
We do know him. Yep.
00:10:35
RICK JAMES
Oh gosh.
00:10:35
BOSS Snowplow
um and Unfortunately, i mean we have we're well aware and we we'll be brutally honest that there were several pitfalls Snow Raider mags. um With Sam and his mag,
00:10:48
BOSS Snowplow
I'm trying to think of exactly what the cause was. I know he, I think he tossed a belt, which rendered that machine absolutely useless in the middle of a snowstorm, of course, his first time out with it.
00:11:00
BOSS Snowplow
And not only was it, you know, all pounce, nobody was literally crossing the road with it when it happened and when it died on him.
00:11:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh. Mm-hmm.
00:11:06
BOSS Snowplow
And he had no way to get it out of the way. He's like, I might as well just take this thing and push it off of the side of the road with my plow and just bury it till spring and come back for it then. And one thing about the hydraulics and the mag is you can't really just push it.
00:11:19
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, they're not that easy to get to.
00:11:20
Tyler Arsenault
Mm-hmm.
00:11:22
BOSS Snowplow
We're working on that part of it. To get to the release for the actual wheel motors or the traction pumps themselves. But Yeah, that was a an interesting conversation because that was when that big snowstorm came through on that Sunday. And it was like Sunday at 7 p.m. when he was calling me about that one. I'm like, this is not the call I want to be taking right now.
00:11:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
a
00:11:41
BOSS Snowplow
But we worked through it, got him back up and running. And I think he's he had pretty good success with that mag at the end of the year. so yeahs
00:11:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool. Very cool. Yeah, he's an acquaintance.
00:11:51
BOSS Snowplow
With mags and scouts this season, snow raiders, I mean, we were – essentially sold out across the country. And so we had, we were working phone calls with dealers, like
Challenges in Inventory and Supply Management
00:12:02
BOSS Snowplow
swapping inventory and who needs what, and I need this combination for the sidewalk customer.
00:12:08
BOSS Snowplow
i mean, Corey, you have a you a good one. Yeah, I know. I was just down at a dealer in Wisconsin putting actually, i was there i was there to put a field test auto spread module into his truck, in one of his customers' trucks, which is a whole other story for later on its own.
00:12:25
BOSS Snowplow
But while I was there, and a truck was a truck was showing up. Wisconsin hadn't gotten much snow, so he was offloading some of his inventory out to Ford's Outdoor Power on the East Coast, who was in desperate desperately looking for machines.
00:12:38
BOSS Snowplow
So he offloaded some of his inventory, and then i think it was four days later, we got this massive storm. And he could sold.
00:12:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sounds about right.
00:12:48
BOSS Snowplow
But yeah, that's way it goes.
00:12:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Did you guys sell out this year for all the sidewalk machines?
00:12:52
Tyler Arsenault
Thank you.
00:12:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:12:54
BOSS Snowplow
We were out of Scouts in the end of October, early November. Yeah. was And then Meg followed less than a month after that, I think.
00:12:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:13:03
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah. End of November, we were out of Meg's. And then early January, we sold out of every single Snorator we had.
00:13:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:13:09
BOSS Snowplow
We didn't have a single one left, which was incredible because the sell throughout the dealers then was probably 95% of that.
00:13:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:13:13
RICK JAMES
great
00:13:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah And that hasn't been the case the last couple winters, right?
00:13:20
BOSS Snowplow
No, not at all.
00:13:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
it's been It's been tough on snow product manufacturers the last couple winters. So that's You got a couple months to recuperate now.
00:13:26
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, this was a fun one, a fun winter. I mean, I know everyone's exhausted, but it's better to be in that position than to be quiet. and night And even on top of that, too, I mean, with so much of the country getting snow and nobody having snow for so long, spare parts inventories at the dealer level were getting pretty low.
00:13:40
Tyler Arsenault
yeah.
00:13:46
BOSS Snowplow
So that just spiked a bunch of spare parts orders. And Tyler, you can probably attest to it. It was times when a pretty common wear item was like a week or more on back order because it was such a demand for everything this winter. And and that dealer inventory, again, was so low. So put us in a tough spot, but we pushed through as much as we could for it.
00:14:05
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah, we weren't even putting things away. UPS would drop off a box. We would cut the box open wherever they put it and sell parts for the next two days wherever it sat until the box was empty and throw the box away.
00:14:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
I believe it. I believe it.
00:14:15
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:14:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Now, what kind of strain does that put on you as a dealer, Tyler, when they have every machine that they've earmarked for the year is all sold?
00:14:24
BOSS Snowplow
rather
00:14:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
There's more machines out there. You guys can only stock so many parts.
00:14:27
BOSS Snowplow
rock
00:14:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, how how does that make your life, like, harder? How do you roll with that?
00:14:32
Tyler Arsenault
We're coming up on it now for the preseason trying to guess what next year is going to do, but nobody knows.
00:14:34
BOSS Snowplow
that
00:14:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:14:37
Tyler Arsenault
So we have to kind of find a happy medium somewhere in the middle because if we get no snow at all, we don't want to be stuck with millions of dollars in parts and you're paying interest on it every month.
00:14:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
100%. Yeah.
00:14:45
Tyler Arsenault
But then on the flip side, you don't want to be caught with nothing. you know,
00:14:48
RICK JAMES
Right.
00:14:49
Tyler Arsenault
luckily with boss the way they've engineered like we don't do the snow raiders because we're so busy with the truck equipment but a lot of their parts for each of their plows is the same the wing return springs are the same so it's great we can just order a bunch and they don't expire so we're we're confident to order a lot but years like this past year even that we we just flew right through them and couldn't get them from boss for two weeks so it's it's been tough
00:15:11
BOSS Snowplow
And a big thing we found this year too is like there was a lot of items, we'll call them broken items rather worn items.
00:15:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:15:18
BOSS Snowplow
And we're trying to figure out like, all right, why are we breaking so much stuff? But we haven't seen a winter like this in so long that there's a lot of brand new operators that have never pushed ah a single flake.
00:15:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
um percent
00:15:25
RICK JAMES
Yes. yeah.
00:15:29
BOSS Snowplow
And they're out there not knowing what's going on. Early snow, ground is soft, like nothing's frozen yet. And it wreaked havoc on a lot of stuff. um And we've got...
00:15:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, in some areas, we're seeing triple the amount of hours that they've averaged for the last five winters. Like, you look at us, we average, like, I think on our machines, about around 80 hours for the previous.
00:15:45
BOSS Snowplow
Mm-hmm.
00:15:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Last year was a busy winter for us, too. But the previous five winters before that, we were averaging around 78 to 80 hours on the machines. This year, we're at 190. So like you were a lot more, you know, you had a lot more time under plow to, to unfortunately wear things down and break them.
00:15:59
BOSS Snowplow
cheese
00:16:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
And the conditions were not ideal. Like we are not normally in lockdown below freezing temperatures for, you know, weeks on end. And we were locked down below freezing for months.
00:16:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
tons and tons of days so i think that has a lot to do with it too like products are they're still products you know you're gonna break everything in snow at one time or another and ah the more you use it the more propensity you're gonna have to have it happen
00:16:30
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, and that was the thing too, like the your last Arctic episode there, the straight boys were talking about, yeah, we can test everything we want here. We can put it through its paces. Everything we think will break.
00:16:43
BOSS Snowplow
And until you get that product out to the end user, you're not going to see everything that breaks.
00:16:46
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:16:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:16:47
BOSS Snowplow
I mean, these guys will find the weakest point or the most obscure thing to break every single time.
00:16:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. 100% accurate.
00:16:55
RICK JAMES
Oh, God, yeah.
00:16:56
BOSS Snowplow
I think going into this winter too, we launched our brand new electrical system, Cold Front Technology. We had a new trip edge v-plow going into the market. And so to have a winter like that, to test those products and to know like there was a lot of positive comments and positive momentum around both the electrical system, the new SL4 headlights and TEV.
00:17:18
BOSS Snowplow
Like that makes a big difference coming off of winter where there's snow versus putting out a product and then having a light winter and then not seeing maybe issues or knowing positive or negative until you get a winter where there's a bunch of snow.
00:17:25
RICK JAMES
have Right, right.
00:17:31
BOSS Snowplow
i mean, we're testing those products on logging roads here in the UP where we see a lot of snow and they're rough conditions.
00:17:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely. don't.
00:17:37
BOSS Snowplow
But to Ty's point, you get those rodeo snowplow drivers and you never know what's going to happen. Yeah.
00:17:43
BOSS Snowplow
I mean, we were. We were were're talking like, you know, we had were confident. We were confident in CFT going into this year. It was a project that was five years in the making.
00:17:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
you don't
00:17:53
BOSS Snowplow
But anytime that you do something that big and make that big of a change, it's that impactful to our customers, our dealers, and our business.
Innovation in Snow Plow Technology
00:18:01
BOSS Snowplow
Like, and then all of a sudden it starts snowing in November.
00:18:04
BOSS Snowplow
We had weekly VOC meetings where we're all waiting for the hammer to drop. a Just, you know, just out of just general, you know, nervousness, right? And never did.
00:18:15
BOSS Snowplow
It was a great winter. It was a great winter for CFT. Ty is taking, like we said, 400 phone calls a day.
00:18:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:18:19
RICK JAMES
Right.
00:18:22
BOSS Snowplow
And the concerns about CFT were almost every discussion was positive. It was really, it was really exciting. Yeah.
00:18:30
BOSS Snowplow
tyler
00:18:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:18:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Because if you didn't hear about it this winter, I don't think you're going to hear about it.
00:18:34
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah.
00:18:35
RICK JAMES
right
00:18:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great.
00:18:37
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah. Tyler, from ah the dealer standpoint though, I mean, bringing on a whole new electrical system and doing installs and you're doing installs into the weekend, like how'd go with your customers?
00:18:48
Tyler Arsenault
ah With CFT, we've had tremendous success with it. The issues we've had, very small, maybe not even CFT related, like a rounded off motor spline, which isn't CFT related, but it's definitely taken some time to get the mechanics and techs confident in the new system, like I said, because they've been doing things the same for We've been open since 14 putting in boss stuff since then so they're used to the 13-ton system Now they're getting into this and it takes a little bit different approach, but once you get it done, you know the major three Ford Ram GM GM a little tough taking apart that steering column tapping into a wire like they get a little nervous with it But once you do it, it's not that hard And yeah, it's been great.
00:19:28
BOSS Snowplow
How
00:19:30
Tyler Arsenault
And people that have come back now, because we do rust protections now they're coming to get their truck sprayed. and And I've been asking, hey, you got a TV this year. How'd you like it? Oh, it was great. You know, they just absolutely love it.
00:19:41
Tyler Arsenault
They love the headlights. They love everything about it. So I think it's a a great product. And it's going to be very successful. Something we've been asking for for years. And we're so ecstatic it came out. 130.
00:19:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Awesome.
00:19:53
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:19:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great.
00:19:54
BOSS Snowplow
many TVs?
00:19:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
So, go ahead.
00:19:55
BOSS Snowplow
How many TVs did you sell this year?
00:19:57
Tyler Arsenault
one hundred and thirty
00:19:59
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:20:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:20:01
BOSS Snowplow
but
00:20:01
RICK JAMES
That's great. i've I've talked to a few guys that have them.
00:20:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:20:03
BOSS Snowplow
you Through one shot, right, Tyler?
00:20:04
RICK JAMES
They just love that that new style.
00:20:06
Tyler Arsenault
that's just That's just the TVs. you know, we still did, I don't know, maybe our DXTs kind of got cannibalized by it. The TV is definitely a replacement for the DXT in my opinion, especially with our heavy Northeast snow. Not having that full blade trip has been great. We sell tons of wing kits.
00:20:21
Tyler Arsenault
And this year, even people put, i don't should say this or not, but put the wing kits on the nine twos. You know, you're not supposed to. And it just been awesome.
00:20:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
They had permits.
00:20:28
BOSS Snowplow
Tyler..
00:20:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
They had the oversized plow permit.
00:20:30
RICK JAMES
yeah yeah permits Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:20:30
Tyler Arsenault
They don't say they have tournaments.
00:20:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:20:32
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:20:33
Tyler Arsenault
We got the orange triangle on the back, you know.
00:20:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
you know
00:20:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man.
00:20:38
Tyler Arsenault
But yeah, and you know, it's it's a ah scary change. So having Ty and his crew, when we get stomped to call, like they're always very informative. They don't just tell me, replace this part. They'll actually go into why you should replace it. You know, how does it work? Which helps me understand the product better and not have to give them so many phone calls.
00:20:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. Absolutely.
00:20:58
RICK JAMES
see.
00:20:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
So you you guys had a banger year. You sold out of all the products. You've you've had 400 calls a day on the service side. We have one of your best dealers here.
00:21:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
I need to know, like, what is the the ultimate stories that you've heard that don't be that guy? type thing like like he brings the plow and says I didn't hit anything and it just fell off the truck oh and by the way my front end and front axle are both broken as well you know uh everybody's got that story you gotta uh who's who wants to go first I want like a don't be that guy story
00:21:34
Tyler Arsenault
I guess um' well I can go with some.
00:21:34
BOSS Snowplow
Tyler?
00:21:36
Tyler Arsenault
So I had a guy call, you know, because I'm people's tech service when they know they can't call boss. And he calls and he chewed me out for an hour. This damn boss will not work. And, you know, he has new Chevy and the new Chevys, we've learned if you take the the key fob out of the truck, it kicks the controller out of float mode.
00:21:51
Tyler Arsenault
So I'm like, maybe that's it. Well, that wasn't it. And we're going through this whole thing. And at the end of it, what he did was he took the power cable from the plow and plugged it into the dust cap of the truck instead of actually plugging it into the power of the truck.
00:22:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
As one does.
00:22:04
Tyler Arsenault
So there was an hour of my life trying to figure that one out over the phone. That was interesting. But yeah, all kinds of stuff. We had a guy show up here.
00:22:15
Tyler Arsenault
There's a leak on my plow, not realizing that the passenger side pin had come undone and his plow was crooked on the front of his truck and he drove across town. So we fixed his leak, but now he needs a cutting edge because it's completely diagonal.
00:22:28
Tyler Arsenault
ah What else we got here? Oh, this was fun. Guy came in. He needed a new pump. And my my goofy tech guy, he's he's like, anyone got any marshmallows? We're like, marshmallows? What do you want marshmallows for? He goes, come over here. We go over in the passenger wheel well. And his manifold was just completely rotted away. You could see right into the engine. And blue flames are shooting out all over the upper control arm.
00:22:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, wow.
00:22:53
Tyler Arsenault
Guy had no idea. think I sent you that video, Ty. That was pretty insane. Yeah.
00:22:58
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, I remember that one.
00:23:00
RICK JAMES
wow
00:23:01
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah, let's see.
00:23:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow. Those are crazy.
00:23:04
Tyler Arsenault
Don't be that guy stories. oh
00:23:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
What?
00:23:07
Tyler Arsenault
you might This was pretty crazy. Guy showed up here and get us plow put on By the way, I think I hit something on the way here. And so he had pulled into a parking spot and walked through the back of the truck, never looked at the front of the truck. We pulled it in for a plow install and he hit an owl.
00:23:22
Tyler Arsenault
And yeah, so we pulled the owl out and it flew away.
00:23:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh.
00:23:31
RICK JAMES
a
00:23:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh my gosh.
00:23:32
RICK JAMES
oh That's pretty good.
00:23:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Jesus.
00:23:35
BOSS Snowplow
One of my better ones might've been one of a personal friend of mine. He yeah decided he wanted to get into the following game this year for his own personal property. He's been running a bobcat tractor for the last few years with pusher box on it.
00:23:47
Tyler Arsenault
Thank you.
00:23:47
BOSS Snowplow
And he lives up in the Keweenaw Peninsula, north of us. And this year, the Keweenaw got over 300 inches of snow. I think with this last couple of snows, they're over up to like 320, somewhere in that range.
00:23:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:23:54
RICK JAMES
Oh.
00:23:58
BOSS Snowplow
So it's basically snowing every day. Corey and I both went to college up there and we always joked in like October the permacub moves in and it doesn't get sunny out again until usually about April and it snows almost every single day.
00:24:12
BOSS Snowplow
So anyway, this guy decides, hey, i want to get new plow in my truck. He had a brand new super duty.
00:24:17
Tyler Arsenault
Thank you.
00:24:17
BOSS Snowplow
told him, I said bring it down. i'll I'll get one for you. And buy one from the the dealer here and we'll we'll put it on at my shop and put it on that night. Everything went smooth, brand new 9.2 XT with CFT. t He had it back home. It was about two hour drive and he was about 45 minutes from home and smoked a deer with the plow.
00:24:38
BOSS Snowplow
He said if it wasn't for the plow, he would have totaled the truck. But nothing was wrong with plow whatsoever. Just a little bit of blood from the deer on the plow that he could tell in the on the red paint. um Next day, he took his daughters to school, didn't take the plow off because he got home late that night and smoked a curb pulling into a parking lot because he's never driven a pilot or a truck with plow on it before.
00:25:00
BOSS Snowplow
um So then he decided to park away from the curb. Some old grandma pulled it next to him, scraped the whole side of her car along the side of the wing.
00:25:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh.
00:25:08
BOSS Snowplow
So in less than 24 hours, he hit a deer, hit a curb, old grandma hit him.
00:25:09
RICK JAMES
ho, ho.
00:25:15
BOSS Snowplow
First time out plowing, in the Keweenaw, you gotta to plow your entire front yard. You gotta to make room for an entire winter's worth of snow. So he's out plowing the front yard, used to a box plow with big shoes on it and everything.
00:25:27
BOSS Snowplow
Well, now he's going to a straight, flat cutting edge, and it was just nothing but beaver pelts across this whole front yard.
00:25:27
RICK JAMES
Oh, boy.
00:25:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hey.
00:25:32
BOSS Snowplow
And he's like, why why the hell did I get a plow this year?
00:25:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, jeez.
00:25:35
BOSS Snowplow
This is miserable. um I think this fourth time plowing, backed into a tree, and he's got a higher-end super duty, so was about a $2,500 taillight, promptly replaced with a $200 eBay taillight.
00:25:51
BOSS Snowplow
and But by the time late December rolled around, he goes, I don't know how I ever lived without plow. So he's still happy with his purchase, but ran into several hiccups along the way as ah as a new plow owner.
00:26:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh that is a positive human being right there
00:26:02
BOSS Snowplow
You're going to have to tell me about those trucks. Okay. Like who is this? so I don't get them. No, I'm kidding. Yeah. So that was a wild personal one that I remember.
00:26:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh my lord i'm impressed by his endurance after like the second sign i would have taken that plow off and been done with it nope no more good for him oh man what else anybody else got any good don't be that guy type stories
00:26:13
RICK JAMES
Jesus.
00:26:13
BOSS Snowplow
But honestly, there's so many.
00:26:16
RICK JAMES
Yeah. I'm
00:26:19
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah.
00:26:21
RICK JAMES
good.
00:26:23
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah.
00:26:28
BOSS Snowplow
I think from the,
00:26:28
Tyler Arsenault
um maybe a public announcement off of the Ford there because the Ford app you can set up auto start for the morning so when you drop your truck off for a snowplow please turn your auto start off so when we're working on it in the morning it doesn't start up in the garage
00:26:42
BOSS Snowplow
ah That's why you're supposed to disconnect the battery, man.
00:26:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh Oh, man. That's
00:26:48
Tyler Arsenault
I guess so that's our thing you know
00:26:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
funny.
00:26:50
BOSS Snowplow
Step one of the manual.
00:26:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, that's
00:26:52
Tyler Arsenault
yeah
00:26:52
BOSS Snowplow
Put the vehicle in park, wait for it to cool, and disconnect the battery. Yeah, these dealers never read the manuals, though.
00:26:56
Tyler Arsenault
Put the key in the the neighbor's mailbox, right?
00:26:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
great.
00:26:57
Tyler Arsenault
you know
00:27:00
BOSS Snowplow
That's a problem.
00:27:00
RICK JAMES
Yeah. You don't need to read a manual. That's silly.
00:27:06
BOSS Snowplow
think I think on the new product development side, i could probably be that guy for at least one of products.
00:27:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
great
00:27:14
BOSS Snowplow
um You know, we were, we just launched our auto spread, auto spread feature. It's a little module that goes, gets plugged into the OBD, OBD2 port on a truck, right? um So at the shop here at Boss, myself, the engineer that was working on it, we just, ah we outfit a whole bunch of trucks with it.
00:27:32
BOSS Snowplow
But both the only thing that we didn't do is we didn't do like 23 or newer GM. We were pretty confident in it. Had a dealer down in Wisconsin that had a brand new GM truck, brand new Chevy that we could plug into. Guy was all excited to be a field tester. It was later in the year, so we wanted to get down there.
00:27:54
BOSS Snowplow
think I left boss at like 4.45 in the morning to get there so I you know, do this whole rodeo for the dealer, the guy, the the plow business owner, a couple of his guys, one of his lead men Everybody was there at the shop, right?
00:28:09
BOSS Snowplow
good Mind you, this entire install takes about 10 minutes total. 10 minutes total.
00:28:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:28:14
BOSS Snowplow
Supposed to supposed to take 10 minutes total.
00:28:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
lot of prep
00:28:17
BOSS Snowplow
So i get there get there, plug it into the plug it into the Chevy OBD2 port, and immediately it's supposed to get power through OBD2 and the lights are supposed to come on, tell you that you're getting tell you that you're getting speed messages off the off the truck bus, and the lights did not come on. And I knew I was in for an absolute like product development embarrassment festival.
00:28:42
BOSS Snowplow
so
00:28:43
RICK JAMES
Oh.
00:28:44
BOSS Snowplow
on the phone on the phone with Ty, on the phone with our engineering team, pulling up OBD2 standard PIDs on my phone. Turns out Chevy now handles their VIN messages and speed messages a little bit differently than everybody else in the market.
00:29:02
BOSS Snowplow
So Brightside, we found that out the hard way, but we fixed it and got some good stuff out of it before we actually made it to production. so You had an audience watching Just had an audience.
00:29:17
BOSS Snowplow
About two hours of people breathing over my shoulder. All you have to is plug it into the OBDG sport. It's like six guys telling me how it should be done.
00:29:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
You had one job.
00:29:24
BOSS Snowplow
was fun. Unfortunately, the dealer he was at, too, Gary is one of our more vocal dealers, we'll call it. He definitely doesn't sugarcoat anything.
00:29:33
Tyler Arsenault
All right.
00:29:34
BOSS Snowplow
Tells it exactly how it is. and He'll tell you when you're wrong, what you're doing wrong in the process. Oh yeah. That was wrong.
00:29:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's funny.
00:29:45
RICK JAMES
Oh.
00:29:46
BOSS Snowplow
But we got it.
00:29:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's really funny.
00:29:49
BOSS Snowplow
guyss got some He's got some hours on that truck call.
00:29:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's all that matters if you got it in the end.
00:29:52
BOSS Snowplow
This is old, but we used to have a customer, Ty and I were talking before we even got on this episode, that we used to have his number on our phones, like on a piece of paper so that we would know if he was calling.
00:30:05
BOSS Snowplow
He would call us with invention ideas for boss products. He would call us with inventions for not boss products that he thought were great ideas that we should partner with him on.
00:30:18
BOSS Snowplow
Some days he would be a lawyer, some days he would be an airplane pilot, some days he would be a snow contractor.
00:30:21
Tyler Arsenault
Thank you.
00:30:25
BOSS Snowplow
You just never knew which one you were going to get that day. And he was legit. He actually got banned from one of our our dealerships because he he was just a he had, I don't know, multiple personality disorder.
00:30:38
BOSS Snowplow
He would call us with all these crazy stories all the time. and so yeah We would all like earmark his phone number, like, don't answer, or this is what you're getting.
00:30:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sounds like a snow guy.
00:30:46
BOSS Snowplow
Be prepared for this phone call to try to get off the phone with this guy.
00:30:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's funny. Oh my gosh.
00:30:53
BOSS Snowplow
What was one of his inventions? I feel like. time For those of you familiar with the Air Force aviation world, nowhere to go to a batth nowhere to go to the bathroom in fighter jet.
00:31:07
BOSS Snowplow
And this guy thought that the cockpit of a truck when you're out falling snow is similar to a fighter jet. So he wanted to basically develop a, we'll call it a catheter system for snowplow drivers.
00:31:19
RICK JAMES
Jesus Christ.
00:31:19
BOSS Snowplow
So you'd never have to smoke the gas station.
00:31:22
Tyler Arsenault
Thank you.
00:31:23
BOSS Snowplow
He wanted to boss Brandon. He wanted to boss Brandon.
00:31:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I'm going to get out of the truck.
00:31:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:31:26
BOSS Snowplow
but
00:31:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah No, thanks.
00:31:28
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:31:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm going to get out of the truck.
00:31:30
RICK JAMES
um I'm good. Yeah.
00:31:31
BOSS Snowplow
And he was 100% serious about this too. Like, he didn't tell us about it just once. It was many times he called back with that same pitch. I'm sure legal would love this right now. I'm not going write the instruction manual for that one. Okay.
00:31:45
RICK JAMES
ah
00:31:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's really good. Oh, my gosh. ah So a winter like this, you guys had ample, like you said, you had ample hours and ample opportunities out there to test new technology, new stuff that you're doing, existing products.
00:31:49
RICK JAMES
It's good stuff.
00:32:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
What were some of the big wins you guys got this year? What what what came out smelling like a rose?
00:32:09
BOSS Snowplow
think we touched on it a little bit already with CFT. I mean, just that whole electrical system, brand new SL4 headlights. um the The history of the SL3s, like those were good light, performed very well. They were benchmarked like a 2014 standard LED headlight.
00:32:25
BOSS Snowplow
um super bright when they came out, but they were just aging, getting the end of life and needed something new.
00:32:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:32:32
BOSS Snowplow
So development of the SL4s was, our benchmark was a 2023 Super Duty with LEDs. We had to either meet or exceed that expectation or that light output from that. We're successful in doing it, but honestly, on on my first my tech service team, were we we're skeptical of a change like that. We always are, because we get just like our dealers. We're so ingrained in a 13-pan with all the other lighting systems that big changes scare us from the service side. It's not the if it if a problem pops up, but when it's going to pop up. So we're just kind of gritting our teeth all winter, but...
00:33:04
BOSS Snowplow
um I can confidently say the other day that I sent back six total headlights to our vendor to get them looked at for any issues this year. And back in the six.
00:33:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Six.
00:33:14
BOSS Snowplow
Six.
00:33:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:33:15
BOSS Snowplow
Granted, there's a lot of warranty. Tyler, you're probably sitting on a stack of warranty papers you had to send back to me. But usually we get a lot of warranty that trickles in at the end of the year.
00:33:21
RICK JAMES
Wow, that's
00:33:23
BOSS Snowplow
But as of right now, we're at six total headlights, which is unbelievable.
00:33:27
RICK JAMES
impressive.
00:33:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's phenomenal.
00:33:28
Tyler Arsenault
None of them from me. They've been great.
00:33:29
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, nice.
00:33:30
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah.
00:33:31
BOSS Snowplow
And that's, we figured out, i think that's about 3,500 plows, 7,000 total headlights that are out in field right now.
00:33:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Six is not bad.
00:33:38
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, that's... doctor
00:33:40
RICK JAMES
Wow. i've heard ah I've heard great things about those headlights.
00:33:41
BOSS Snowplow
like that You know, it's one of those things too, those Like I said, we benchmarked really high quality headlights developing those SL4s, but it still flies under the radar that they're standard. And those SL4s are on every single CFT plow that we're selling now. Like it's not an add-on upgrade.
00:34:01
BOSS Snowplow
you buy a new plow You buy a new plow on the CFT electrical system from Boss. Every TripEdge V that we've ever made has had those lights on it. like The reception on those lights has been awesome, especially with our clear beam clear beam clear beam under and side lighting tech that we've got going on with it. yeah Integrated warning lights and it all comes standard. It's not an up upsell accessory. like That is just the standard. That's what you get when you buy a boss. yeah and then we're That clear beam light is something else.
00:34:29
BOSS Snowplow
I mean, your B pillar or your truck is your light cut off. It's not because the light is actually cutting off. You just can't see any further. So, like, your entire blind spot basically is lit up with those clear beam lights.
00:34:40
BOSS Snowplow
And parking lot, guys, it's it's incredible. It makes such a difference in...
00:34:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's what Jeremy said that that he was hearing a lot of the guys out there use boss and he was hearing a lot of good things about those new lights.
00:34:49
RICK JAMES
Yeah, those new lights are great.
00:34:50
Tyler Arsenault
The high beams almost melt the snow because of how bright they are. you don't even have to plow.
00:34:54
RICK JAMES
That's awesome.
00:34:54
Tyler Arsenault
You just turn the high beams on and all the snow melts away. Okay.
00:34:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:34:59
BOSS Snowplow
and we've been we've been talking right
00:35:00
RICK JAMES
We're big light guys. We like our lights.
00:35:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
You do.
00:35:03
BOSS Snowplow
<unk>ve been We've been talking too, like CFT was, you know, the origin was truck plows. but Really the first CFT product that we put out was and another year back was the VBX+.
00:35:16
BOSS Snowplow
So we haven't talked about it too much. We have, but... are VBX Plus and the truck plow. It's all on the same electrical system now. So there's one in cab harness.
00:35:27
BOSS Snowplow
So your electrical system on your truck plow is actually on the same system as your VBX Plus if you have your truck set up that way. So you can do some things like now this upcoming year, you'll be able to sync your warning lights.
00:35:42
BOSS Snowplow
So the warning lights that are on the SL4s are going to be synced with the warning lights on your VBX Plus.
00:35:43
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah.
00:35:48
BOSS Snowplow
So if you have that auxiliary button set up on your SmartTouch Plus controller, turn your warning lights on, the warning lights on everything comes on. Same with turning your spreader on and off from your SmartTouch Plus so you're not reaching around and fumbling for your VBX Plus display anymore.
00:36:05
BOSS Snowplow
The guys that have that set up or had that set up for this year, it's Starting to realize how powerful that can be for ah for a snowplow operator over hours of operation. You get so many times where you're plowing through a lot and you come up to the entryway of a building and you still got a lot of plowing to do, but you want to just salt real quick. So just you're just clicking that button on the on plow controller, salting for 30, 40 feet, shutting it off, and you continue plowing. You're plowing ground the whole time.
00:36:31
BOSS Snowplow
You don't have to hit that other controller.
00:36:31
RICK JAMES
That's pretty
00:36:32
BOSS Snowplow
So just ah honestly, it's a safety aspect, too. You don't have to look down for another controller. You just naturally, you know where those buttons are. You turn the things on and off.
00:36:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool. That's good, man. I'm glad you guys had a good winter with that. it's ah That's important. That's the next step. So good for you guys. So we heard about the good stuff. And one of the reasons why we like Boss is that you're not afraid to talk about the ah the not so great stuff. Did anything not perform? Any problems you guys found this this winter with products?
Improving Snow Equipment Reliability
00:37:04
BOSS Snowplow
We were still picking through the pain points of the mag. um
00:37:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:37:09
BOSS Snowplow
Starters was a huge thing.
00:37:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep, hear that.
00:37:11
BOSS Snowplow
Guys digging them out in the fall, things just wouldn't even start.
00:37:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:37:12
RICK JAMES
that.
00:37:14
BOSS Snowplow
A lot of corrosion issues, the the shaft on the Bendix of the starter was uncoated. So any little bit of surface rust on there, the starter would still engage. You'd hear it trying to turn, but the Bendix wouldn't come out and actually engage the flywheel on the engine. So...
00:37:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep
00:37:30
BOSS Snowplow
no starts is a huge thing i mean obviously there's no backup either there's no pull start on a mag so you're relying 100 on the letter that electric starter saw a fair amount of corrosion issues through the past several years doing a lot of stuff to address that but those again those things is that corrosion just plaguing all summer long Improper storage of them was a big proponent of that too. You guys that are putting them connex box or just tarping them outside and that moisture just just gets trapped in there and just heat soaked all summer long, 80, 90, 100 degree temps inside those boxes and just wreaks havoc on that entire system.
00:38:09
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, and it's you know that's that's a big that's a big frustration for a guy, right? like your one your snow starts to fly you go to start your machine and it doesn't start I guess the blood pressure up fast and that goes on the don't be that guy stories is people that wait until day or day out dig everything out
00:38:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah don't wait yeah come on be a professional start those things and every month you know and let them run that's you know that's just being a professional but what would you since we're talking about it and there's there are guys out there we've heard from them uh you know you guys have heard from that have had the mag problems how do you guys recommend storage for the summer what do you recommend they do at the end of the season anything special
00:38:26
RICK JAMES
yeah yeah yeah
00:38:29
BOSS Snowplow
ah
00:38:47
BOSS Snowplow
Step one is do not pressure wash them. Pressure washing just forces salt into every area that it absolutely should not be. um So the but best thing to do is blow them off that air compressor first, get all the loose debris and everything off, hand wash them, wash them with just a garden hose, low pressure, products like salt away to get all the salt and everything completely off of them.
00:38:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
and Okay.
00:39:08
RICK JAMES
Your eyes. Mm-hmm.
00:39:09
BOSS Snowplow
and then hitting them in some sort of rust protectant, whether it's fluid film. Tyler, he's a crown dealer, loves crown crown protection. Crown has been fantastic.
00:39:18
BOSS Snowplow
Just anything to basically coat the entire machine. It's a full stainless chassis, but there's still engine components and everything are our cast aluminum, things like that to just kind of just draw that corrosion right to them.
00:39:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay
00:39:30
BOSS Snowplow
So keeping them clean, keeping them lubricated.
00:39:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
00:39:32
Tyler Arsenault
So that's fun.
00:39:33
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah. i was One of the
00:39:35
Tyler Arsenault
So you said like salt away, like talk about like your pressure washing. Yeah, you're forcing that salt in deeper. So Crown has a product called salt eliminator. So you can just rinse it with a garden hose. And the the principle behind the salt eliminator is it breaks the bond between the salt and the metal.
00:39:47
Tyler Arsenault
You can just wash those salt crystals away in crystal form.
00:39:49
BOSS Snowplow
instagram
00:39:51
Tyler Arsenault
That's what's key to not damaging your equipment more than leaving it on.
00:39:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha. So that's like ah that's like a NutriWash or a Salpegon type deal?
00:39:59
BOSS Snowplow
a
00:39:59
Tyler Arsenault
They all have their different approaches, but this is how Crown one works.
00:40:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:40:01
Tyler Arsenault
Yep, by breaking that bond.
00:40:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:40:02
Tyler Arsenault
And it smells delicious.
00:40:03
RICK JAMES
Gotcha.
00:40:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. That's a plus.
00:40:05
RICK JAMES
That's
00:40:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
What? God.
00:40:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:40:10
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, you know what?
00:40:10
RICK JAMES
great.
00:40:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
what
00:40:13
BOSS Snowplow
We battled hydraulic leaks on on MAG especially this year too, right? So... Some of it, yeah, some of was like loose loose hoses coming from loose hoses coming from assembly.
00:40:27
BOSS Snowplow
Some of it too, like these some of these machines are getting hit hard. Like you're finding stuff under snow banks, you're stacking snow at the end of runs with it, dropping off of curbs. Like and end of the year, like if you guys get a wife get a warm day, like just take a look at your machine.
00:40:45
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, do the once over. Do the once over. Twice, three times over too. um
00:40:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep, makes sense.
00:40:50
RICK JAMES
Do you guys recommend Loctite in your hydraulics or no?
00:40:50
BOSS Snowplow
Yep.
00:40:54
RICK JAMES
On your stuff?
00:40:55
BOSS Snowplow
What's that?
00:40:56
RICK JAMES
Do you recommend Loctite in any of your hydraulic fittings? Like we've heard that a lot this year on some of the other hydraulic wells.
00:41:05
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, but a proper torque on a hydraulic fitting should be more than adequate. I mean, they're not really Loctite-ing anything in the in the heavy equipment world. so just proper torque of everything and just making sure that they're they're fully seated the way they should be.
00:41:15
RICK JAMES
You're
00:41:19
BOSS Snowplow
um Typically, they're going to have either Teflon coating or like a pipe dope something like that on the actual threads themselves too. And usually that's enough to to hold them where they should be.
00:41:30
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, there's not there's not a lot of, you know, what we've seen,
00:41:31
RICK JAMES
Gotcha. Oh, yeah. Yep.
00:41:34
BOSS Snowplow
um Where Loctite really shines on hydraulic fittings is NPT thread. And there's really only, i think on the i think on the three, the the Snow Raider, and the Mag across all those machines, I think there is one NPT fitting and it's only on the Snow Raider. So the rest of it's JIC, ORB, more modern hydraulic fitting standards than NPT that are little bit less, Loctite's little bit less useful on.
00:42:03
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:42:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha. Cool.
00:42:06
BOSS Snowplow
And with that though, I mean, there's a lot of changes we've made for the upcoming year for MAG to kind of address these issues from a more of a design standpoint, try to design out those failures that we're seeing.
00:42:18
BOSS Snowplow
So working with Kohler, we're moving to a 25 amp charging system. which eliminates a lot of the flywheel rust issues stator issues.
00:42:29
BOSS Snowplow
So 25 amp charging system is a different setup, different flywheel that doesn't have a stainless ring on the inside that is prone to that corrosion and and seizing to the actual stator itself.
00:42:41
BOSS Snowplow
Along with that Kohler is changing to a coated shaft on their starters as well. so that's going to a huge change on that, like just those two standpoints of alone. Yeah.
00:42:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:42:52
BOSS Snowplow
Steve, our engineers, made a lot of great changes, just chassis access, wire you're routing, things like that, just to kind of eliminate as as many of those pain points as possible yeah through design and design alone.
00:43:05
BOSS Snowplow
Hose routing improves improvements down to the hydraulic reservoir. um Move into a move into a poly fuel tank rather than a steel fuel tank. Just overall overall reliability assembly effort there. Right.
00:43:19
BOSS Snowplow
So there's a lot of there's a lot of changes happening on the mag that aren't
00:43:19
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:43:24
BOSS Snowplow
you know you're not gonna You're not gonna see in the brochure pictures, but it's going to make a meaningful, meaningful difference. Yeah, the big change from a visual standpoint is the the breather kit or the snorkel as we call it, that's pulling the air, the the cooling air for the engine that's actually coming from basically right above the engine air intake.
00:43:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:43:46
BOSS Snowplow
So we're pulling cool air from the back of the machine rather than the front. so we're trying to eliminate as much salt dust as possible. um
00:43:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay
00:43:53
BOSS Snowplow
We see a lot of salt ingress with guys running brooms, brooms and blowers. I mean, if you got any salt residue left on the sidewalk and you get snow on top and then you're just throwing that in the air, especially the broom, you're essentially atomizing it in the air.
00:43:59
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:44:07
BOSS Snowplow
And that that air is just getting sucked right back into the chassis and pulling right into the to the cooling fins or and right into the cooling fan on that on that engine. So, you By putting that fresh air snorkel on, they were pulling that clean air from the back of the machine.
00:44:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Makes sense. Cool.
00:44:21
BOSS Snowplow
And that was kind of a a warrant or we'll call it a a warrantyable kit in the in the past. And now that'll be standard on every single machine going forward. Then one of the one of the actual more fun more fun and less just general general warranty related improvements Guys with sharper eyes are going to notice a couple of extra fans on top of our on top of our pump covers.
00:44:45
BOSS Snowplow
um you know The mag is a smart enough engine vehicle package that we know hydraulic oil reservoir, we know engine oil temperature, so we can start to shut down things if they overheat.
00:44:48
Tyler Arsenault
to the ship. I'm going to be a person who's not
00:44:58
BOSS Snowplow
um And there's a lot of operators out there running the broom on the edge of the seasons. But adding a couple extra fans and you guys can use your common sense and intuition on where that's going.
00:45:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha. Cool.
00:45:12
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, running a mag right now with the broom when it's 70, 80 degrees out, I've done it before.
00:45:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's.
00:45:17
BOSS Snowplow
It's miserable.
00:45:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:45:18
BOSS Snowplow
It gets real hot. harry it'll It'll do it though. Yeah, it'll keep up with it and do it. just It's hot. One of the other products.
00:45:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, I mean, that's that's that's super that you guys said that you're actually with the broom, you're atomizing salt that's actually on the sidewalk. You wouldn't even think of that. You know, like I'm like, wow, that's a light bulb moment right there for me because I wouldn't have even thought of that, that I'm actually atomizing and sucking salt back into my machine.
00:45:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
But that makes so much sense.
00:45:46
BOSS Snowplow
yeah Yeah, you're essentially creating a brine mist and that brine mist just gets sucked in anywhere it can go.
00:45:51
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:45:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah It makes so much sense hearing it, but you'd never think of it like, wow, that's so simple.
00:45:55
BOSS Snowplow
um
00:45:59
BOSS Snowplow
Well, one of the things that came up, had I had a guy, he had issues with his mag. He was upset on the phone. kind of had He took the took the approach to I was like, how did you guys not see these issues coming in testing?
00:46:12
BOSS Snowplow
And like honest truth is we almost never shut our mags off here. like We had test units like at each other's houses. We had them at test facilities around the Midwest. We had them... Like we the machines that were here at the shop when we were developing the thing were ran multiple hours a day, almost every day, including weekends.
00:46:34
BOSS Snowplow
So, you know, then the reality is is that a snow and ice guy, you get a lull in an event, you might sit for three or four weeks.
00:46:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:46:43
BOSS Snowplow
And our machines just never as we were developing it just never, ever sat because someone was always doing something with it.
00:46:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:46:49
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah. i mean, the protocol.
00:46:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Makes sense.
00:46:51
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:46:52
BOSS Snowplow
I got one of the like the first revision prototypes in my house that has, think after the last one, 585 hours on it now.
00:47:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:47:01
BOSS Snowplow
and But that thing gets used all summer long. I i move trailers with it. I sweep the driveway with it. I latch the lawn with it with the broom.
00:47:07
Tyler Arsenault
Go get the mail.
00:47:09
BOSS Snowplow
i mean, yeah.
00:47:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's not voiding the warranty moving trailers around with it.
00:47:14
BOSS Snowplow
Oh, it's so out of warranty now. It doesn't matter.
00:47:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man. Well, that's great.
00:47:20
BOSS Snowplow
Tile approved is a warranty.
00:47:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Looking forward to seeing all the ah the changes on the mag because, yeah, they were there were guys definitely the starters. that That was our two main things that we heard from guys about the starter issues and then the the leaking hydraulics.
00:47:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
So that's cool that you guys are fixing those. Yeah. and uh getting them you know ever more reliable um the other thing we heard a lot you guys want to touch him on the uh the vbx plus the uh the spread pattern stuff because one of our one of our friends christian put out a video last week on his socials he's got a lot of followers and then almost immediately he followed up with well i got a call from boss and i feel so stupid like it's these bolts so like we want to talk about the vbx uh any issues you had with them this year
00:47:43
BOSS Snowplow
power
00:47:50
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
00:48:01
BOSS Snowplow
we've We've been pretty tight with the whole spread pattern thing since since year one. um Industry guy, Brian Fullerton, Brian's lawn maintenance, he was pretty vocal about it from the beginning. And Corey and I actually took a road trip down to his facility. Would have been like, what, December 24, January 25? And it took us less than two minutes to figure out, okay, where we just got to move the spinner around a little bit.
00:48:27
BOSS Snowplow
And when these get shipped from the factory for packaging constraints, it's actually a dealer installed item for basically the stainless piece that hooks onto the back of the spreader and then the plastic spinner housing itself. Those two components have to get bolted together.
00:48:41
BOSS Snowplow
And they're supposed to get set at a certain height. the The recommended height from the ground to the bottom of the rubber spinner disc is 18 and a half inches. um but there's not a whole lot of guidance for that, so they kind of get set all over the place of the dealer.
00:48:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:48:56
BOSS Snowplow
And we were seeing them typically super low, and when they were super low, they were throwing ah pretty heavy to the passenger side to the point, like Christian's, you were seeing it just packing right into the exhaust, essentially, just filling that whole area full.
00:49:11
BOSS Snowplow
So some minor tweaks and adjustments, and you can you can essentially air out the spread pattern. And when we did Fullerton's, we... Cory and I took pictures of it and it was super heavy to the right.
00:49:22
BOSS Snowplow
We adjusted that spinner height and got it almost dialed in perfect. And then there's a little plastic chute inside of there that you can move forward and back about an inch and a half. And that determines where the salt actually lands on the spinner disc, whether it's right at the center or further out on the fins.
00:49:39
BOSS Snowplow
And by adjusting that kind of happy medium in there, we got a almost perfectly uniform spread pattern. um
00:49:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, that's what Christian said. Yeah.
00:49:47
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, so with Christian Zen, as soon as I saw him complaining about it, like I just talked him last week about his trip edge V. I got to give him a call right away. It was like a Saturday morning or something that I jumped on and right away. i'm like, hey, you know, there's a fix for this, right?
00:50:00
BOSS Snowplow
You know, people call them up. So I sent him some screenshots, sent him some tips on where to move it.
00:50:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:50:06
BOSS Snowplow
He adjusted it. And I think within an hour, he was outspreading pretty, pretty perfect. So.
00:50:12
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:50:14
BOSS Snowplow
Tyler's got some more kind of dealer fixes for that, though, eh?
00:50:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, he's...
00:50:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, Tyler, what else what do you got on that? I heard you had some fixes.
00:50:19
Tyler Arsenault
um Yeah, so we went with a different approach. So the original VBX, everyone complained that they were spreading too heavy to the driver's side. and then the VBX Plus comes out and they said the opposite. Just like you said, it was filling people's exhausts full of salt. It was taking all the paint off their bumper.
00:50:33
Tyler Arsenault
And so after many phone calls, we decided to start doing some trial and error things with a couple of our closer customers that we knew wouldn't care if we went and tweaked some things and They knew we would fix them if we messed something up. And what we come up with is the spinner disc has six fins on it.
00:50:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:50:50
Tyler Arsenault
And we cut the curved part of the fin of every other fin off. So you have three straight ones and you have three curved ones. And then you take that chute that Ty was talking about and you turn it, you actually twist it so that it's actually directing salt towards the driver's side. And that sounds weird, but that's where it needs to be. And that combination, they spread phenomenally.
00:51:11
Tyler Arsenault
That's all it took.
00:51:11
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:51:11
Tyler Arsenault
And now we got to the point that we just actually just did it automatically right from the get go. We didn't even ask the customer, just we're gonna do it. New VBX plus install, do it, out the door it goes.
00:51:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
They don't know. They don't care. It spreads great right out the door.
00:51:23
Tyler Arsenault
Perfect.
00:51:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
So cool.
00:51:24
Tyler Arsenault
Right. Sometimes it's hard to get people to come back. You know, we we get our one chance with the truck.
00:51:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:51:28
Tyler Arsenault
We just wanna do it all right then and there and then off it goes.
00:51:31
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:51:31
BOSS Snowplow
And I've never warrantied a single spinner disc for boondocker equipment.
00:51:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go. And where Tyler, where is boondocker?
00:51:40
Tyler Arsenault
We're in Syracuse, New York.
00:51:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:51:42
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah, that's bad.
00:51:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
So you guys get a little snow up there. Nice.
00:51:45
Tyler Arsenault
We got 122 inches this year. We actually had our snowiest day on record, or recorded record.
00:51:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:51:49
Tyler Arsenault
We got 24.2 inches in 24 hours. And then just north of us, 55 minutes, got 430 inches in the Tug Hill Plateau.
00:51:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep tug's always big snow that's cool very cool syracuse nice any uh any other uh shop fixes that you guys have found from a dealership perspective on any of these products
00:52:02
Tyler Arsenault
Oh yeah. Yeah.
00:52:06
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah.
00:52:14
Tyler Arsenault
a
00:52:18
Tyler Arsenault
Hard to say without Ty here.
00:52:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's all good that's all good
00:52:21
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah.
00:52:21
BOSS Snowplow
I hear nothing. I hear nothing. I hear nothing.
00:52:24
Tyler Arsenault
like your hear attack
00:52:24
BOSS Snowplow
you're not
00:52:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Earmuffs.
00:52:26
BOSS Snowplow
it
00:52:27
RICK JAMES
ah
00:52:29
Tyler Arsenault
um
00:52:29
RICK JAMES
Yep. great.
00:52:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's all good.
00:52:30
Tyler Arsenault
yeah Now, what we believe is a quality installation will cover 90% of your breakdowns.
00:52:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
00:52:35
Tyler Arsenault
I looked up the other day.
00:52:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Generally does.
00:52:37
Tyler Arsenault
It was something like 60,000 zip ties we went through this year. Like, we used tons of zip ties because I don't want that wiring harness moving into something hot, sharp. You know, I want nice routing. It should look like it belongs, even though it wasn't meant to be there, like from the truck's standpoint.
00:52:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:52:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
100% Love it What else we got?
00:52:53
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah.
00:52:54
RICK JAMES
it
00:52:55
BOSS Snowplow
There's a lot. Okay.
00:52:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Anybody got anything else they want to go over?
00:53:00
BOSS Snowplow
Okay.
00:53:00
Tyler Arsenault
We didn't really get into the CFT truck part as much, you know how, why it's necessary, why it's great for the industry and how it doesn't need headlight adapters.
00:53:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay Okay
00:53:10
Tyler Arsenault
And that's been one of the biggest struggle with the 13 pin system is always making a new headlight adapter for the trucks.
00:53:11
RICK JAMES
yeah.
00:53:16
Tyler Arsenault
And I remember for an instance, like in 23, like nobody could get trucks, boss doesn't get access to trucks any quicker than we do as a public. So then the trucks come out and everyone want to plow for and there's no, there's no parts for them.
00:53:27
BOSS Snowplow
and I think that's a good time. I think that's a good time.
00:53:28
Tyler Arsenault
And they had kind of guessed on some electrical stuff and they needed to find someone with an LED truck and I happened to get one and they sent it to me.
00:53:28
BOSS Snowplow
I think that's a good time. I think that's a good time. I think that's a good time. I think that's a good time. I think that's a good time.
00:53:35
Tyler Arsenault
plugged it in and everything worked great and then they could release it and Like every year, it seems like the manufacturer changes something and doesn't tell us about it.
00:53:35
BOSS Snowplow
helpful
00:53:41
Tyler Arsenault
And then we get shocked.
00:53:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:53:43
Tyler Arsenault
So the cold front technology doesn't use headlight adapters.
00:53:43
BOSS Snowplow
people
00:53:46
Tyler Arsenault
It's really you just kind of you bring the power cable through the front of the truck, you hook it up to the battery, you go in through the firewall, hook it up to the controller, and you're pretty much done. And there's other brands out there that you're starting to see where they don't have a direct application.
00:54:00
Tyler Arsenault
They make you buy this universal wiring kit and you get this god awful ugly big high-view indicator thing that you have to stick to your dash or your $120,000 truck and control your lights manually.
00:54:12
Tyler Arsenault
So, no, the CFT stuff's been great for that. It's also going to cut down on people's costs as they transition from truck to truck because they're not having to buy these expensive headlight adapters either.
00:54:16
RICK JAMES
You're right.
00:54:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep, 100%.
00:54:24
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, that
00:54:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
There's way too much tech going into basic work trucks these days. it's just
00:54:28
BOSS Snowplow
was, yeah, the the shift to LED lighting and everything, the the body control module on the truck basically communicates to the headlights with either like the LIN bus or CAN bus communication.
00:54:28
Tyler Arsenault
Oh, yeah.
00:54:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's getting insane.
00:54:29
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah.
00:54:39
BOSS Snowplow
So our old 13 pin system was discrete 12 volt signals. High beams either on or off, 12 volts telling us that it's either on or off. We don't have that anymore. So we don't have a way to figure out, okay, is low beam on, is high beam on, or are we got turn signals going? Like there's two wires heading going to a headlight now, and that headlight has its own personal module.
00:54:58
BOSS Snowplow
We couldn't tie into that. So we had to figure out a workaround. And and by doing that, we made we designed that kind of that standalone system with CFT. and And it's it's our way of staying out of the truck as much as possible.
00:55:11
BOSS Snowplow
And as Tyler can attest, having to rip headlights out of a brand new truck is is not fun either.
00:55:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Love it.
00:55:16
BOSS Snowplow
When you rip it all a grill off of $110,000 Denali Ultimate is is not a good choice.
00:55:17
Tyler Arsenault
No.
00:55:17
RICK JAMES
no oh yeah
00:55:22
BOSS Snowplow
Not a good way to go.
00:55:22
Tyler Arsenault
No. I swear, some of the clips they use nowadays, they they're never meant to come out.
00:55:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
No. Yep.
00:55:27
Tyler Arsenault
they're meant to put this truck together, and that's it. So when we go to try to take something off, all the clips snap.
00:55:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
no
00:55:31
Tyler Arsenault
It's like, well, now what? we've got to order these replacement clips to put back in.
00:55:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep, 100%.
00:55:37
Tyler Arsenault
They don't think about us.
00:55:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Definitely. No, they definitely don't think about us.
00:55:39
RICK JAMES
no no no
00:55:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's for damn sure.
00:55:42
Tyler Arsenault
And then all these safety features that all these trucks have to have are just a nuisance when it comes to snow plows. Your front parking sensors, your forward collision assist.
00:55:49
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
00:55:49
Tyler Arsenault
You get all these error screens on the dash or in Toyota, like specifically Toyota Tundras, they let you go like 10 miles an hour with the plow on the front and then it slams on the brakes on you. It's like you have to go through and you have to turn off all these features every time you get into the truck.
00:56:02
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, and all those are key cycle related too.
00:56:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's crazy.
00:56:04
BOSS Snowplow
So every time you turn the key on, you got to go back into that infotainment center and select everything off.
00:56:04
Tyler Arsenault
Yep.
00:56:09
BOSS Snowplow
And it's just, it's a pain.
00:56:11
Tyler Arsenault
Yep.
00:56:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
and you would think like the manufacturers of the trucks, you'd think they they put a whole group together, snow plow prep group. They all have it. You would think there'd be like a switch on the up, an upfitter switch on the dash that allows you enable or disable, you know, those things that are going to, you know, affect the plow operation.
00:56:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
But no such luck.
00:56:29
BOSS Snowplow
Fortunately, RAM is kind of like that.
00:56:29
Tyler Arsenault
it Yeah, RAM.
00:56:31
BOSS Snowplow
And with our new CFT system, we got a feedback wire that as soon as you plug in the plow, there's a little snow plow symbol that shows up in the dash and knows that we're in snow plow mode.
00:56:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Ram is good.
00:56:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:56:40
RICK JAMES
Perry
00:56:41
BOSS Snowplow
And it shuts the lights off completely on the truck, sends everything out through their upfitter wire signals. and And we know now we're in snow plow mode. and they they change couple of things, couple of parameters in the truck for us. And it's convenient from that standpoint.
00:56:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, Ram has always been better with work trucks like that. because We were all Ram at one point, and we the last two we purchased were GMs, and we're going back to Ram. we just There's just nothing but problems with the GMs interfacing with plows and spreaders.
00:57:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
They don't like them.
00:57:11
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, unfortunately, Ram was the winner of that guy award in the release of 2025s.
00:57:18
Tyler Arsenault
of all.
00:57:19
BOSS Snowplow
They're upfitter wires. They always provided ground side signals for everything.
00:57:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:57:23
BOSS Snowplow
And they decided, oh, we're going to do the snowplow guys a favor. and We're going to change high beam, low beam, and park lights to a a positive side signal now. And that caught every single snowfall manufacturer off guard.
00:57:36
BOSS Snowplow
They didn't tell anybody about it until the truck was actually released.
00:57:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh. Oh. Oh.
00:57:39
BOSS Snowplow
And all of sudden high beams that aren't working on trucks. We're like, what in the hell is going on here? And then they're like go yeah, we changed that for you guys. yeah For who? Like literally every snowfall manufacturer, nobody asked for this and nobody knew was coming.
00:57:52
BOSS Snowplow
So that was one where we had to kind of scramble real quick and find ah a solution and a workaround to get back on doing installs of those.
00:58:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
See, no good deed goes unpunished. They were trying to be nice, and they get shit for it anyway.
00:58:05
BOSS Snowplow
well keyword try yeah it's something going great 10 years
00:58:08
Tyler Arsenault
And the boss guys can contest.
00:58:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it, try.
00:58:10
Tyler Arsenault
like it's The electrical system is like, you you make a change, it takes a while for it to actually come out to the market. So they were good enough to like send us like a rework instructions on how to make stuff that we already had in stock work so people could get out there and and use their plows.
00:58:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:58:25
Tyler Arsenault
But yeah, RAM, that wasn't good. and They had a ah foolproof design and messed it up. i mean, it's still good, but it just caused more parts, different system.
00:58:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:58:33
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah.
00:58:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, geez. well. What else we got? Anybody got anything else?
00:58:40
BOSS Snowplow
TripEdge V, we'll go back to that a little bit, just how well that took off this year. I mean, Tyler alone selling 130 of them in that market, kind of competing with a certain yellow plow out in that market. And took over a few of those, which was always awesome to see.
00:58:57
BOSS Snowplow
And just kind of the adoption of that thing. I mean, from warranty standpoint and everything and service side of things, very little phone calls on that thing and just overall positive feedback.
00:59:08
BOSS Snowplow
um again we'll we'll throw christian under the bus again from uh windwood there he said there was a there was a crack on his plow and he had everybody up in arms kind of looking at this crack that was on the plow it was actually where two pieces of steel kind of come together and they're welded everywhere else except for this one tiny little one inch long seam that he found and then it gets painted over so as soon as there's paint over the top of it it looks like a seamless plate
00:59:13
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah.
00:59:16
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah, I remember that one.
00:59:16
Tyler Arsenault
Oh.
00:59:34
BOSS Snowplow
but any sort of little bit of torsional movement inside that center section. And also that, that paint kind of pops from that area and it looks like a crack. He's like, my brand new plow is cracked. And I, that's when I, that was my first conversation with him.
00:59:46
BOSS Snowplow
It's like, Hey, just so you know, your plow is not cracked. It's perfectly good yet.
00:59:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's supposed to be like that.
00:59:52
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah. So that was a fun one.
00:59:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah He was really tired this winter, so he went through a lot.
00:59:56
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah. Oh man, he was going.
00:59:57
RICK JAMES
Yeah, he was. And he's not even mechanical.
00:59:59
BOSS Snowplow
god i don't know.
01:00:00
RICK JAMES
He's not even mechanical at all, Christian. I know that for a fact.
01:00:03
BOSS Snowplow
So we got I got a great relationship with his dealer too, though, newcomer Powell and Hitch, and those guys will take care of anything right out of the gate. And I called up Gary right away too. And I'm like, Gary, listen, you got to get Christian's Powell in there. We've got to adjust a few other things on it.
01:00:17
BOSS Snowplow
And while you're in there, make sure that that crack isn't actually a crack and point it out for him. So.
01:00:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great.
01:00:24
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, it was good to get that one cleaned up and let people know that it's supposed to be there. Started seeing TripEdge Vs in the Midwest too, right? Like that's a that's a northeast, east coast product. Like that was the intention of it.
01:00:38
BOSS Snowplow
But then started seeing guys adopting it in the Midwest. so Saw a couple running around the UP, northern Wisconsin, northern lower Michigan.
01:00:42
Tyler Arsenault
Thank you.
01:00:50
BOSS Snowplow
That's pretty cool to see. Yeah, it just
01:00:52
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:00:52
Tyler Arsenault
This might be a great time to bring up like the why there are different v plows. a lot of people don't know that and that's always our first conversation. You know, when someone calls up, I want a snow plow on a v plow. Okay, what are you plowing?
01:01:01
BOSS Snowplow
going to go ahead and get the data.
01:01:02
Tyler Arsenault
Are you plowing dirt? Are you plowing gravel? Are you plowing asphalt? And if they ever say gra mostly gravel, mostly dirt, XT all the way. You do not want a trip edge in soft materials. It's going to dig in, it's going to chatter, or it's going to drive you nuts.
01:01:14
Tyler Arsenault
But if you're doing all asphalt, that trip edge protection at the bottom is crucial, especially for people that are going to smack islands like your guy there and or cracks or manhole covers. Having the independent trip edges to relieve that pressure is crucial to the plow safety and the truck safety.
01:01:32
Tyler Arsenault
And the DXD has been great. It's just people want bigger plows now. Like I said, we saw a lot of the wing kits and having all that forward weight in the scoop mode, it just was making the full blade trips trip sooner than the trip edge.
01:01:44
Tyler Arsenault
And that's where the TEV has been awesome in our market.
01:01:47
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, TEV is an absolute stacking machine.
01:01:50
Tyler Arsenault
Yes.
01:01:51
BOSS Snowplow
The first year running around here, i don't know, like five years ago, and we had to... The first prototype, it's like, how are we getting banks so high this year? yeah And then all of a sudden you look and, oh there's a TripEdge just stacking in the moon with this thing.
01:02:02
Tyler Arsenault
interesting
01:02:03
BOSS Snowplow
yeah Just crazy how much snow you can carry with one of those.
01:02:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Interesting.
01:02:07
BOSS Snowplow
Ran into a guy up in Negaunee, Marquette, which is they 250 inches of snow. They're northern UP and he said the same thing. Just bought it specifically so he can actually put the snow somewhere.
01:02:21
BOSS Snowplow
Now, XT and DXT stack great too, but TripEdge V takes it to a whole whole whole new level.
01:02:22
RICK JAMES
its
01:02:26
Tyler Arsenault
Oh, yeah. I have ah a good friend that was prototyping the TEV and last winter he was pulling right into a driveway and somebody didn't see him and went to pass him on the right in shoulder and smacked his brand new GMC and hit the prototype TEV and he called me all upset. He's like, man, the TEV, it took a hit. He he was like all upset. i'm like, hey, how's the truck? He's like, don't care about the truck. The TEV took a hit. Like, what am I going to do without this? you know Luckily, it actually took it very well. We had to replace the angle ram on it that hyperextended and we put it on his other truck and used it the rest of the season. but
01:02:59
Tyler Arsenault
No, we love it.
01:03:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
01:03:02
RICK JAMES
I
01:03:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
01:03:02
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah.
01:03:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Glad that's going well for you. that's That's interesting to hear that the the trip V is a predominantly Northeast thing, that the Midwest doesn't use them a lot.
01:03:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
it's That's interesting.
01:03:13
BOSS Snowplow
I
01:03:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
I didn't know that.
01:03:17
RICK JAMES
don't know why you want to, don't know. We like our trip edges.
01:03:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't know why you wouldn't either.
01:03:24
BOSS Snowplow
think
01:03:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
You only
Adapting to Salt Shortages with Liquid Solutions
01:03:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
get stuck going up an incline once before you switch to a V and you don't look back.
01:03:25
BOSS Snowplow
yeah
01:03:29
Tyler Arsenault
Thank you.
01:03:30
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:03:30
BOSS Snowplow
i think probably the only thing that we didn't really touch on, but it was a big part of our first episode with you guys was just liquid adoption, right? Like that early, that early salt shortage, all the anxiety around the salt shortage, all of the prices on salt that went through the roof and didn't really come back down until later or at all in some regions.
01:03:41
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
01:03:52
BOSS Snowplow
Like, Brian, liquids, that was, it was like an exponential growth curve for it. It just took off. People that never expected to be interested in Brian were calling us, asking, how does Brian work?
01:04:06
BOSS Snowplow
How can I get into this? Where do I even start? So we had lot of really good conversations.
01:04:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, it's only going to get worse. it's only gonna I'm better.
01:04:13
Tyler Arsenault
Thank you.
01:04:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
it's only Brian is going to take off because the salt shortages ain't going away. They said this is the new normal. so
01:04:18
BOSS Snowplow
Well, and the other thing too is we we sold out of our our gateway drug there, Snow Raider.
01:04:18
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:04:23
BOSS Snowplow
mean, the thing comes standard with 20-gallon brine tank built right into it, and that's how a lot of guys get their entry into brine.
01:04:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
The gateway drug, I like that. True.
01:04:31
BOSS Snowplow
Mix it up in a 55-gallon drum, try it out on some sidewalks at a few key accounts, and then off to the races.
01:04:38
RICK JAMES
you go. You're hooked.
01:04:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, we had nothing but good things to say about the ones we had. we had them We had them when they had the Hondas, which was, you know, that was totally bulletproof. I haven't had the pleasure of the Kohler trying that out yet. But, well, we may go back to them now. we don't know what we're going to do. yeah No more 36-inch sidewalk machines. So going to be a little limited now.
01:05:02
BOSS Snowplow
Every machine is 36-inch sidewalk machine if try hard enough.
01:05:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, yeah.
01:05:06
RICK JAMES
ah
01:05:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Unfortunately for us, this was an anomaly year where we had frozen turf the whole time. Normally, where ah we're broom and plowing sidewalks and the ground's unfrozen, so you go an inch off and you're taking up turf.
01:05:20
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah. Yeah.
01:05:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh,
01:05:22
BOSS Snowplow
I've actually seen a fair amount of guys that'll take a, like a standard snow Raider and they'll cut the cutting edge down to 36 inches and then leave that, you know, it's a three inch gap at the edge of moldboard.
01:05:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay.
01:05:33
RICK JAMES
Oh.
01:05:34
BOSS Snowplow
Doesn't touch turf at all, but it's still plowing it away from the sidewalk. So the walk stays perfectly clear and you're windrowing back a little further too.
01:05:38
RICK JAMES
That's good idea.
01:05:41
BOSS Snowplow
Or guys will run like a wing extension the one side without the actual cutting edge on that wing extension too. Yeah.
01:05:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's interesting.
01:05:47
BOSS Snowplow
So yeah.
01:05:48
RICK JAMES
good idea.
01:05:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
01:05:48
RICK JAMES
never thought of that.
01:05:50
Tyler Arsenault
Creative.
01:05:51
BOSS Snowplow
The liquid front though, I mean, the events that we went to, trade shows we went to, like hearing so many more guys coming up and being like, this is my first year trying out liquids.
01:05:51
RICK JAMES
Snow guys.
01:05:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
or
01:05:59
BOSS Snowplow
Just last week at, we were at the NTA show not too long ago at the work truck show. And I had a guy come and telling me this was his first year because of the salt shortage. And he was like, I need to figure this out.
01:06:11
BOSS Snowplow
Started making brine and he was able to flip an account because it was, an account that was being serviced by someone who's using particulate salt and it was a high-end car dealership.
01:06:21
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah, I think I'll be up with the groundwork.
01:06:23
BOSS Snowplow
And so they had Lamborghinis and you know high-end cars in the lot and the car dealership didn't like the salt that was being put down in the parking lot and wanted something better. And so he was able to flip that account with a Genesis sprayer and that was his first. and he said this won't be the last i'll be getting more and it was his first first year in the liquid yeah and then the the established brine guys there's an outfit there's an outfit down in the fox valley appleton oshkosh region they were making at max capacity 45 000 gallons of brine a day on a leg on a vsi legacy brine maker
01:07:00
BOSS Snowplow
looking to make probably up to a million gallons of brine next year is their growth plan. So that is and that is a level of expansion that Brian is seeing.
01:07:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
You're going to see it. Yeah.
01:07:11
BOSS Snowplow
you know Shout out, like there's a couple of don't be that guys in there too. Like be that guy, shout out to Benninger's, best brine, John and Jared. When I was in their shop, all of their brine making equipment looked more like food service equipment. It was so clean. which that is a level of that is a level of cleanliness that I don't even know how you achieve that. But there was another guy down in down similar region in Wisconsin that they're at that was putting salt on top of a gravel pad and scooping gravel directly into the brine maker.
01:07:44
BOSS Snowplow
So maybe
Preparing for Snowplow Season
01:07:45
BOSS Snowplow
don't be that guy.
01:07:46
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:07:47
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, be the guy with the Find that happy medium.
01:07:47
RICK JAMES
Oh, don't do that.
01:07:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Grit. We're at it. Grit for the brine.
01:07:53
BOSS Snowplow
than Yeah, find that gravel.
01:07:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. Yeah. The brine's going to take off though. It definitely is. Cause the salt shortages are not going away. So it's, you're going to see more guys switching to that. Cause they don't want to be held hostage and they don't want to be, uh, you know, basically extorted by the salt industry anymore.
01:08:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
So using less is always better for on a lot of different levels. So I would make more, i would make more brine equipment this year.
01:08:18
BOSS Snowplow
A lot of eyes being opened this year the power of preach reading before the storm.
01:08:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
01:08:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, definitely. Cool. All right. Anybody got anything else?
01:08:33
BOSS Snowplow
was a lot. No, I think, yeah, we covered this winter. it was a big one. Yeah.
01:08:38
RICK JAMES
That was good.
01:08:38
Tyler Arsenault
I guess as a dealer, the last thing I would just like to like, you're ready is like, don't be that guy. Don't wait till October to come see us for a snowplow. We're not going be able to get you in by November 1st. Like you got to start thinking ahead of schedule. You know, every truck comes with a trailer hitch upgrade in the summer. You can tow your landscape trailer the next day.
01:08:53
Tyler Arsenault
But when it comes to snowplows, you trade that truck in October 20th, you might not get in until middle of December.
01:08:55
BOSS Snowplow
okay
01:09:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good point. Absolutely true.
01:09:01
Tyler Arsenault
Get ready sooner.
01:09:01
RICK JAMES
Yeah. definitely
01:09:02
Tyler Arsenault
Take advantage of those manufacturer rebates. I don't think Ford has any right now, but Ram and GM are offering some as long as you do it within 30 days of buying the truck.
01:09:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool. Very cool. Katie, anything from you guys?
01:09:15
BOSS Snowplow
Yeah, back on that, Tyler, we offer our preseason inspection rebate for boss owners.
01:09:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Parting shots?
01:09:19
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah.
01:09:20
BOSS Snowplow
You take it in and get a rebate from us to get it looked over before the season happens. So we try to force you to do that early, mid-August, like get in there and get your equipment checked out.
01:09:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
01:09:30
BOSS Snowplow
And that goes for all of our equipment across the line, not just truck plows, but snow readers get in there and we offer that boss rebate for boss owners group members.
01:09:34
Tyler Arsenault
Yep.
01:09:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome. I was not aware of that.
01:09:39
RICK JAMES
Oh, that's
01:09:40
Tyler Arsenault
Yep.
01:09:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
01:09:42
Tyler Arsenault
And maybe catch it before it needs that cutting edge, right Bring it in.
01:09:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes.
01:09:45
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah.
01:09:45
RICK JAMES
great.
01:09:45
BOSS Snowplow
There you go.
01:09:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, definitely.
01:09:45
RICK JAMES
Yeah, there
01:09:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, gang. We all good?
01:09:51
BOSS Snowplow
Good.
01:09:52
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah.
01:09:52
BOSS Snowplow
That was good catching up with you guys. Yep.
01:09:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
01:09:54
RICK JAMES
you Yeah, great catching up.
01:09:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely. We got to do episode three a little quicker. We got to move that one, move that one to the front of the line. Get that one done. We got winter was busy. You guys were swamped.
01:10:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm sure. i mean, 400 phone calls a day, just a tech service.
01:10:06
Tyler Arsenault
Yeah. Yeah.
01:10:08
BOSS Snowplow
plan
01:10:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Holy crap. That's not fun, but congratulations on coming through unscathed and, uh, And still willing to sit down with us and talk about it. So, but, uh, yeah, if that's a, if it nobody's got anything else, then we'll wrap, uh, the cutting edge episode two. Well, that'll do it guys. So thanks to boss. Thanks to our whole panel for coming on with us today. We appreciate all the insights. If you guys have any questions, again, you can call that tech service hotline anytime. And, you know, don't maybe give them a break for a month or two, but like, like maybe June ish, start calling them again. uh, Yeah, thank you to boss for being so candid about everything, and we appreciate the time. And we'll see you guys all again next month for episode three.
01:10:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it, gang. Keep pushing.