The other day, as we were trekking back from a holiday visit to relatives couldn't help but notice a new addition to a neighborhood near ours, a brand-new Ford pickup sitting out in front of a house with Fisher plow rig and sign advertising snow plowing.

Where we live in the Snow Belt, something like this certainly isn't a big deal it's part of life here, but I made a point a getting the address so I could make a visit the next day to check out his plow rig. I knocked on the door and the proud owner came out and showed me around, thinking, of course, I might be a customer for his service. I even had the chance to get in and look at the control set up and start-up the pickup and he let me drive it around a bit.

Whoa, has this guy made a big mistake!! First, notice it's the half-ton F-150, which might be up to plowing a nice, dry fluffy four inches of snow on a flat surface or a short drive, but, if it gets much deeper, he's in trouble because the truck is too light. He also purchased the lightest V-8 available to keep the cost down (Ford calls it a 5-, but it's really a 4.6-liter) that puts about 360-horsepower at 5500 rpm and 360 pounds-feet of torque at 4250 rpm. This is okay for everyday driving and light use, but it's just not up to snow-plowing.

I asked if he purchased the complete plow package – skid plate, bigger alternator and battery and the like, and he said, no because he didn't figure he needed it. He thought the rear-wheel-drive model, not 4X4, he purchased was heavy enough for any snowfall and the V-8 was big enough to handle anything the snow could throw at him. I wasn't about to criticize the proud new owner, but I have been more than a few Snow Belt winters and I know this truck just won't cut it.

It was especially evident to me after he let me drive it around his block a couple of times. There was too much axle tramp in the lightly loaded standard-bed pickup. This made the handling bad enough but when you added the unbalanced added weight of the plow rig (he though it looked better for advertising), this truck became an uncomfortable handful with very numb steering and response. I will give the engine high marks for its performance. It fired up and ran smoothly, as Ford V-8s always do, but that's all I'll give it.

This package should be exchanged post haste or more quickly because it is a rolling mistake. At a minimum, it should have been the F-250 three-quarter-ton with four-wheel-drive and traction control. It also needs the larger 6.2-liter engine – 411-horsepower at 5500 rpm and 411 pounds-feet of torque. And any frame beefing up available. I would add the self-locking or automatic 4X4 system, plus the rest of the kit – high-output alternator, skid plate, bigger cooling system, including transmission cooler, plus a bigger battery.

Here's what will likely happen when the first real heavy, wet snow hits and our snow-plowing entrepreneur sets out with his too light, rear-wheel-drive truck: he'll bend the frame on his first job. And, if the pickup escapes that fate, it will still have to contend with the fact there's no skid plate. That device protects the driveshaft, transmission and differential from things like rocks and curbs.

Finally, there's the matter of the rear wheel-drive which means – and I can almost guarantee it because I've seen it happen – that he will hang up his truck and need a tow. I can almost guarantee it.