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Unimount Plow on a 2020 Ram

ToughBowtieTruck

Nothing like owning the same truck twice.
Joined
Aug 6, 2020
Member Number
2583
Messages
212
Loc
Michigan
This will be a "install/mod" thread of sorts that may never have anyone else look into it cuz 'buy new plow and be done' mentality.

So in previous dumb decisions buying new trucks, I bought trucks that didn't have plow prep. While I don't do any commercial plowing, I still didn't want to risk the truck warranty over a simple fact a plow bracket was installed.

Fast forward to new purchase #3, "leftover" 2020 Ram bought in early 2021. I decided it was now or never with the supply chain issues coming, however I made sure it was the truck I wanted, color, options (or lack thereof;) 5th prep and my favorite, the Snow Chief kit.

Fast forward to Sep/Oct. I told myself this year is the year I finally prep for winter before it gets cold, so I set about brainstorming ideas to put the plow on. My '77 K-20 is now in need of heavy rust repair once again after 13 years so it would be more cost effective to put the plow on the ram, plus the family can go since the K-20 is only a regular cab.

But what plow to use on it?
 
First order of business: what is my current setup worth? Consider the fact I have a Unimount. 2 88-98 GM plow mounts that were modified-1 on the K-20 and one on a 99-07 body. 2 88-98 harnesses, one modified for the K-20 (while keeping all original automatic light switching integration in place), and one modified for 99-07 (in which I cut the harness to run a 3 way toggle to independently run the headlights to avoid wiring costs. And the plow; a 7'6" Pro showing some age.

After considering that my current plow was worth less than $1000, I checked into buying a different plow. Prices ranged anywhere between $2,000-$4,000. However the big problem is used plows aren't going to have a 19-up Ram truck mount, nor wiring. My plow is fine besides some rust holes, so after much thought I decided to put the old plow on the new truck. Then it is still 100% compatible with the K-20 if need be.
 
This time around I wasn't interested in modifying a Unimount bracket for the new truck. I wanted this whole project to be as 'factory acceptable' as possible. So the money was going toward the brackets, in hopes I could wire it up myself without buying a harness.

Shout out to Stork's Plows in Pennsylvania, they had a deal on a truck side Ultramount with Unimount adapter. Perfect. Ordered Sunday night, was at my Michigan home Thursday morning. After watching their video on installing the brackets I had them installed in a few hours. Didn't even have to pull the grill or bumper off for once, thanks Ram and Western!
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And the Unimount adapter. Looks hideous, but 2 pins and ITS GONE.

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Then the wiring project . . .
 
Back to the Snow Chief package. I don't know if every Ram HD has this or just the ones with plow prep, (and Not Powerwagon) but Ram includes a built-in interface for plow lighting. It is located under the main fuse box. Popped the box up and I had the wires, thankfully my truck was built before the shortages got worse.

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Through watching the video from Ram trucks, and going to their upfitter website, I determined it may actually be possible to hook this old plow up to the truck interface with relays just like the original unimounts were. So for $15 I ordered a 6 pack of relays with pigtails from Amazon.

Quickly though I realized I had to have the plow hooked up so I could test the wiring as I hooked it all up, so

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Well those plow lights are a total joke now, the horror amplified by mounting the plw on a new truck. Plus I also realized the Ram operates the low beams with the high beams, so single lights wouldn't work unless I wired a relay to switch them off. Those lights suck anyhow so off to the auction site for some cheap aftermarkets, S.A.E approved at least to be legal.

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Behold! Some $150 halogens that may be replicas of another plow brand but fancy enough for me. So just unbolt the old ones and put the new ones on, right?

Of course not :laughing:
 
After 13 years of these lights being too low, I wanted to fix that problem as well. For $89 I could buy new tall light brackets online, or for the price of free I could use some angle iron I had. A little while later this was the result:

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Looks better to me.
 
I know nothing about plowing snow so please forgive me. Why would you put a plow on a brand new, nice rig, when an old beater would probably work just as well?
 
I know nothing about plowing snow so please forgive me. Why would you put a plow on a brand new, nice rig, when an old beater would probably work just as well?
Because now he can take his family plowing with him???

Also something about he does not do commercial plowing so best to use a brand new expensive for that as well, because you know he won't make any money from it to justify using a brand new truck.

Everything this guy does makes no sense.
 
I know nothing about plowing snow so please forgive me. Why would you put a plow on a brand new, nice rig, when an old beater would probably work just as well?
Because would you rather plow your driveway sitting in a cab or a 1982 cab?

If he's not plowing commercially and not crashing into to shit he's not gonna do enough wear and tear to matter.

Everything this guy does makes no sense.
Also this
 
I know nothing about plowing snow so please forgive me. Why would you put a plow on a brand new, nice rig, when an old beater would probably work just as well?
Because now he can take his family plowing with him???

Also something about he does not do commercial plowing so best to use a brand new expensive for that as well, because you know he won't make any money from it to justify using a brand new truck.

Everything this guy does makes no sense.
There has to be more to the story here.


Or; as he already admitted, he simply makes dumb decisions. 😶 🤯
 
I know nothing about plowing snow so please forgive me. Why would you put a plow on a brand new, nice rig, when an old beater would probably work just as well?
Don't think too much into it. He replaces his truck every other year when he finds "Something wrong with it." Seriously the guy has had at least 3 GM's and two dodges in the last 5 years if not more. Its comical.

That being said He probably put the lightest plow rig on the front of that truck. When I was looking at plows 5 years ago a uni-mount weighed only about 350lbs vs the 850lb monster Boss V plow I have on mine. I actually thought thru how to do this exact thing on mine, but went with a Boss instead because well I work within spitting distance of the plant.
 
Anyhow, the relays. Basically the Ram interface allows for one function per relay. So each turn signal needs a relay as well as low beams, high beams, and park lights. Having custom wired the Unimount twice before, I knew the truck harness "senses" the plow by completing a ground circuit to the relay to switch lights. So I did that as well, added a 6th relay to turn the Ram interface on. To initiate the interface and run turn signals I had to supply 12 volts to the truck plow harness through the relay. For Hi/Low beams and park light, I had to supply a ground to the truck harness. And to prevent it all from draining the battery I hooked the initiation relay to Aux 1 on the dash, programmed for ignition circuit with memory of last switch position. So the whole system is only wired through factory wiring without a single wire spliced into that wasn't intended by Ram.


Works pretty good.
 
Pretty sure you just described the setup I have on my Boss plow. Its not a pissing match between the two brands, but I'm suprised to see how simple the setups are when you get the wiring on paper.
 
Pretty sure you just described the setup I have on my Boss plow. Its not a pissing match between the two brands, but I'm suprised to see how simple the setups are when you get the wiring on paper.

I'm curious to think if some of these companies are just using an electronic board to do the same thing and charging money for unneeded modules. I guess to my knowledge only the Ram has it's own light module interface so other plow harness isolation modules may still be required for other brands.

I do enjoy the fact I got the Unimount harness upfitted to the Ram for about $20 and a few hours brainstorming, though.
 
I know when I had my sierra, there was a couple of extra grounds that needed to transferred up to the headlights to make a Western work vs what my dad's ford had. I know there was a 9 and 12 pin harness, and I would have had to upgrade his to the other harness to work. Now with a western you have to have retard boxes in the system to make a ultra-mount go up and down, but the wiring on either side of them is the same as a uni-mount. WTF?

That being said I'm kinda impressed by the Boss wiring because they took Forward and Backward compatibility to a rock solid standard. If I want to use a 1st gen switch system for my current gen V-plow all I need to do is plug and play. A RT1,RT2 and RT3 plow system are forward and backward compatible. Not like I would ever do that but its nice to know I can.
 
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Got a handheld because I wanted to try it out and be a bit more modern, and I really didn't want to put holes in the dash. Also finished my half ass paint, installed a new motor solenoid, new hoses/fluid, and am just waiting on snow.
 
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