Newbie Plows Driveway in 33 Seconds – Short Iron Fab BackBlade

Dan: What's up, you guys? Tools In Action. Yes, I'm alone today. Eric's not around. There's been some changes in the channel lately. You might see John Miller on here. Eric's still around, it's just he's got a lot of stuff going on his plate right now. You gotta get all the stuff together. He's in business mode, so he'll be in and out of these few videos coming up, but Stanley Dirt Monkey, he was out of here today you guys, and he showed us something cool. Everybody knows I love the Ventrac, and I plow all my neighbors out. It takes me roughly 10 to 15 minutes with the Ventrac to do my driveway. I think I have a 60 inch blade on it. Stanley came out here today with something from a company called Back Iron Industries I believe, and they're out of Michigan with another made in the USA tool. 

Dan: Now, I know when we're talking this heavy equipment stuff, made in the USA really means a lot you guys, because they're using better steel than you see on these oversea made factories. Maybe not Germany or whatever, but something coming from Asian countries, China, whatever it is. They seem to have a little flimsier steel, you know? The Ventrac, made in the USA, great quality product, but basically he told me and I'm not a plow driver. I've plowed before, but I'm nowhere near expert. I just did it for fun. He told me that I could plow my driveway in under a minute. So, we're gonna go through and we're gonna take a look at this thing and we're gonna plow a couple of driveways, let you know what we think. We did it in 33 seconds. I plowed a driveway in 33 seconds with Stanley's truck and this new back blade thing on the back, so let's go check it out.

Dan: You guys, what's up? We're out here with Stanley the Dirt Monkey. He paid a visit to us. He was on his way through town. This is his truck, GT Lawns, that's him. Then, he got this new ... what is it? 

Stanley: Short iron.

Dan: ... short iron back blades. Look at this thing man.

Stanley: 16 feet.

Dan: 16 feet?

Stanley: Yeah, it will spread out 16 feet. Now, this is a pickup truck can now keep up with a pay loader on a two to three inch [inaudible 00:02:12], maybe up to about five inches. This is fluffy snow. This'll cover as much ground as a pay loader with a pusher box on it.

Dan: Wow, it looks like it'd do my whole driveway in one swoop.

Stanley: Yeah, yeah. Probably will. Let's get it set up.

Dan: All right. That is cool. I'm gonna start my truck. Wow. Wow! Oh my God! 

Stanley: There you go! Yeah, so don't rip up your grass when you take off with it.

Dan: Oh, I probably will. So, when I pull out on the street, what do I do? Just take the corner?

Stanley: Just take the corner and lift up on the blade.

Dan: Okay. You guys, Stanley has no clue how bad I am with heavy equipment. This brand new, what is this? $6,000 blade is gonna be destroyed, hopefully.

Stanley: Hopefully.

Dan: Or hopefully not, but dude, Eric will take care of you. He's got the check. All right, so just to raise it is up and down middle button?

Stanley: Yeah, here. Dan's never seen this, so let's get him in the truck. So, here's the controller. You got the wings, the middle button will go up and down. It's pretty self explanatory, so ...

Dan: Wow. Now, is this quick disconnect or does it just go into a ...

Stanley: Actually, this is on a hitch.

Dan: What?

Stanley: So, this actually hooks up. They modify and they put a separate trailer here. If you look in the back of the truck here, Dan ...

Dan: Oh, you're all hitched.

Stanley: There's my old hitch, and the new hitch is the same as the old hitch except it's got two extra receiving points.

Dan: Oh, yeah. Wow. 

Stanley: So, when you look at that, you got just a simple two point connection to hook it up. This one, went by Short Iron Fab ... actually has, this is a little different. It's got a heavy duty car, track battery inside of it to run it. A lot of times ...

Dan: But your truck charges it?

Stanley: Your truck charges it, so you don't technically need it. Now, this one's made almost entirely in America but more importantly, it's sourced straight in Michigan too, so I think it's about 90% made in America.

Dan: I think something like this is just gonna totally change your, you're gonna be twice as faster out in the day now.

Stanley: So, you can do ... there was, he was telling us a story that he did 300 driveways and they were clover-leaf driveways, so they were a four prong driveway. It took him eight hours to do it. When he got one of these back trade blades and he got efficient with it, he cut that down to three hours.

Dan: What?

Stanley: That's ... so yeah. I mean, it's ...

Dan: All right, let's check it out.

Stanley: Yeah.

Dan: So, I raise the front blade though or are we just doing back? 

Stanley: I think the front blade is up, isn't it? Oh no, the front blade is down. You're right. I kinda forgot about that, so let's raise up the front blade. Hit the power button. Yep. 

Dan: Wow, this is cool, dude. I'm excited.

Stanley: So, just remember, you're 16 feet wide.

Dan: I know. If you start seeing grass ... it's all part of the tool's anatomy. It automatically floats, right?

Stanley: No, I've got it in down pressure.

Dan: Okay.

Stanley: So ... watch your mailbox over there. So, he just did his driveway in one swipe. He got the wings and everything.

Dan: That's pretty amazing, dude.

Stanley: That was your driveway in one swipe, Dan.

Dan: That was my driveway in one swipe. 

Stanley: Isn't that insane?

Dan: Dude, did you take a picture of that?

Stanley: Yeah.

Dan: Wow. I mean, literally all you gotta do is back up, drop and go.

Stanley: Yeah.

Dan: Wow.

Stanley: Yeah.

Dan: Hey, how much do you pay your drivers an hour? Maybe I should get ...

Stanley: Should we go do some of your neighbors'?

Dan: Yeah.

Stanley: All right.

Dan: So now, can I keep it boxed like that for driveways too?

Stanley: You can.

Dan: Okay.

Stanley: Yes, in fact box it for driving down the road. If you want to contain the snow, so you want to direct it to a certain area or place, you just keep it boxed. You got both wings in?

Dan: Yep, it's up. We're up.

Stanley: Okay. Now, you have a power button the controller.

Dan: I see that.

Stanley: When you're cruising down the road, so you don't accidentally drop your blade, just turn the power off.

Dan: Wow, this thing's wide. So, is this maximum vehicle width now? 80 something inches?

Stanley: You know, that's a great question I don't know.

Dan: All right, so let's do my neighbor. So, I'm just gonna back on in ... 

Stanley: Yep.

Dan: Oh my God, dude. Dude, this is so cool. All right, so ... my neighbor's gonna be like, who the hell is that? I'm sending them a bill. GT Lawns dude, that's us. My neighbor's got Hummer, Tesla ...

Stanley: Holy crap.

Dan: All right, so now I'm gonna take that wing out.

Stanley: Which wing you taking out?

Dan: The right one. Okay, so I'm gonna pop that one out. Are we good?

Stanley: Yep.

Dan: [inaudible 00:08:21] So when I go down with back pressure, how much back pressure do I give it? The whole way, or ...

Stanley: No, you don't need to lift the back end off the ground, because that's just too much back pressure.

Dan: So now ...

Stanley: Here, I'll get out, so I can take a pic of this.

Dan: Hey, if I hit something, just jump in. We're taking off.

Stanley: Okay. And that's where you would grab the front blade and finish pushing that up, so he's got the wings in, perfect. Hey Dan! That's where, now the front blade comes in.

Dan: Just to clean it up?

Stanley: Yep, so you don't want to leave a mess in the road, right?

Dan: Oh, yeah.

Stanley: So, what you do is you put the B plow into the scoop position and then you just push that off. One of the rules of snow plowing is you never push across the road.

Dan: Right, that's uncool.

Stanley: Yep, yep. You always self contain. You always keep it within your own property.

Dan: Except when it says GT Lawns on the side and I just don't care.

Stanley: Or that.

Dan: I'm slowly [inaudible 00:10:10]

Stanley: No, I'd push it into the neighbor's ... whoever you plowed, you push it into their property. It's their snow.

Dan: Got you. 

Stanley: You got another driveway to do?

Dan: Yeah, or we could do the golf course.

Stanley: Actually, I want to do a driveway.

Dan: Okay, get in.

Stanley: You got another neighbor's driveway?

Dan: Yeah, hop in. I mean dude, it's gonna take a lot. I can see how this is very efficient but man, it's gonna take a lot. Now, are you gonna perfectly mount these, or do you like them just hanging?

Stanley: I'm gonna mount them. I'm just gonna fabricate, put a cup holder underneath the bottom and fabricate it so it sits in my cup holder.

Dan: I mean dude, you are so fluent with this. You don't even need to look at it.

Stanley: Not that controller. You plow the golf course?

Dan: No, but I always go over there when I run out of snow.

Stanley: Oh, yeah?

Dan: Yeah, because they let me. The village does it. They don't do it till the last day, and these guys come in and out. It's good on big storms when you really wanna test something out.

Stanley: Yeah.

Dan: Yeah, wow. It's just getting hard, used to ... oh no dude. This thing's not that wide, because it's definitely within the lanes.

Stanley: Yep. Yeah, don't think it goes, that's a good question. I don't think it goes beyond ...

Dan: So, would you clean this up?

Stanley: Yeah, I wouldn't leave ... like this snow that's out in the middle of the road for sure. Because if a car comes whizzing by here at 50 miles an hour and hits a slick spot, that could be a problem.

Dan: Or a good YouTube video.

Stanley: Set up the camera, right?

Dan: Yeah, so now ... you know what? I'm just gonna plow it.

Stanley: Are you plowing this neighbor's driveway?

Dan: I do, but I won't right now. We're gonna do this next guy. I'll just do this guy and there's a guy on the corner, but we might not do the guy on the corner because he's got a Mercedes and they always sit in the driveway. I don't like getting close to them. It's not worth it. I mean, I plow them off ... wow, that plow works good.

Stanley: Yeah. The front plow? 

Dan: Yeah. So, I won't do this guy. So now hey, real fast. What should I do? Should I come out into the street and then start going or what? I mean, where should I raise it, like right here?

Stanley: If I was doing this, I would raise it right at the mailbox.

Dan: Oh, okay and then push it at the corner.

Stanley: And then fold your wings in, and you spin around and you just push it right over into the corner.

Dan: Okay.

Stanley: So, that's the way I'd do it. Ready when you are Dan the man!

Dan: Thanks for the job, Stan.

Stanley: You're welcome. 16 feet at a time. Just plowed a driveway out in under 20 seconds. Maybe 30 seconds.

Dan: That's pretty good.

Stanley: Dude, you did that driveway and ... by the time with back dragging and front pushing, it was 33 seconds.

Dan: Are you serious? I've never used this thing before.

Stanley: Exactly.

Dan: And I really had to look around with this.

Stanley: Yeah, you do. That's the one thing I don't like about that controller, is ...

Dan: Plowing's fun, I just feel like plowing's fun, but man you guys put in a lot of hours.

Stanley: Yeah.

Dan: You know? Man, I can see how you go crazy with this. I might recommend a camera up here.

Stanley: A back up camera?

Dan: Yeah, dude. It's hard to see with all the snow and everything going on, just to minimize damage, but you know what this would be really good for? Storage lot, storage locations.

Stanley: Yep.

Dan: All the metal buildings?

Stanley: Oh, yeah.

Dan: You can just run down, run with this like there's nothing.

Stanley: Yep.

Dan: All right, brother. So, this is the what now? The short iron fabrications power wing, right?

Stanley: Yes. It's pull blade.

Dan: Pull blade.

Stanley: Yep.

Dan: Yeah, this is what I like. American made, with really good quality. Saving you time and money. So the investment that you put into this, man I sound like a dirt monkey now. Right? The time and investment that you put into this is gonna pay off in one season, easily right? You said that guy, I mean you're doing ... 50% faster, at least.

Stanley: Yes. For driveways, you proved it Dan. You only plowed three driveways.

Dan: I'm an amateur, you guys. I just plow with the Ventrac, I'm in and out. This driveway right here usually takes me about 15 minutes with a Ventrac. Obviously, we didn't clean up the sides yet or anything, but if I just went and did one more pass with the front blade, we would clean it up. Man, that back blade is just huge, dude.

Stanley: It's insanely efficient.

Dan: Yeah.

Stanley: It really is.

Dan: I love it.

Stanley: Yeah.

Dan: Thanks, brother.

Stanley: Absolutely.

Dan: When do I get paid?

Stanley: Tomorrow.

Dan: All right, sweet. I'm excited.

Stanley: Second Tuesday of every week.

Dan: All right, dude. I love it. All right you guys, peace out. Tools Nation, don't forget to check out Stanley the Dirt Monkey University. If you're a contractor, if you own your own business, you definitely have to check these guys out. They're gonna make you make more money, and that's what it's all about. Not only that, you're gonna get the motivation. Trust me, I hate school, I hate school. I've seen some of Stanley's stuff, and it's just motivating, man. It just empowers you. Your brain starts clicking, like why have I been doing this wrong for 10 years when I could be doing it this way? So, the cool thing about Stanley that I like about you Stan is you're a contractor yourself, but you integrate and talk to all these other contractors who are always coming up with these ideas and just seeing how to be more efficient at a contractor and make more money.

Stanley: Yeah, everything I learned I learned from other contractors.

Dan: Yeah, that's crazy.

Stanley: That's the point. Everything that I've ever picked up wasn't because I created it and oh, I was the first person. So then, we got almost 400 contractors that help each other build their business, share their secrets, what works, what doesn't work. So, yeah. Thanks Dan, appreciate you having me on. Really appreciate it.

Dan: Yeah, no problem. Let's take it right over to Eric so we can tell him right quick, because this got me a job. Tools Nation, guys. Check it out.

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