Pick Up Truck + Snow Plow Gear Fi ?

Do you have plans for use of the pick-up truck in the non-winter season? Also, are you planning on only getting it to do your own driveway or several driveways. If your driveway is large, but not very large, your only planning on doing yours during the winter and don't have use for the pick-up other than for this task, I'd consider looking at an ATV/4X4 with winch and plow. Even new, the entire setup could be cheaper than the pickup truck. I just bought a used '06 Honda Rancher 350 with electronic shift and a winch and plow installed and it makes quick work of my parents driveway (even considering that reverse gear doesn't work and you have to shift into neutral and push it to reverse it). All in all, the entire package cost me about $4000, and saves us a lot of time being outside, especially when it really starts to get cold.

Ah...then you'll definitely want the pickup then :)

Personally, not too well versed in pickup trucks but what I do know:

1). The vehicle fleet operators where I work (Prudhoe Bay, Alaska) all seem to claim that Diesel trucks work better in the frigid cold and can be pushed harder than gasoline trucks. Fairbanks (where I live) has very similar weather but I see plenty of gasoline trucks here. I think I've also heard a couple of people say that diesel vehicles can sit around doing nothing longer with less issues cranking the engine back up when needed. We're pretty brutal on trucks up at work (In winter, for about 3-4 months straight, the weather is so bad and so cold that we'll usually have all the vehicles that are in operation running 24-7 and with that kind of wear, the diesels seem to do very well.)

2). Personally, I've had better luck with the Chevy fleets at work than I have with the Fords. The new '09 and '10 Ford F-250 diesels that our company uses seem to break down every couple of weeks while the Chevys our client uses seem to keep on keeping-on. That's a matter of personal experience for me though.

3). Can't really say much about the equipment except for I stand by Warn winches. I have a Warn winch on the plow on my ATV and plan on installing one on my Jeep and several of my friends use Warn winches and I've never had a problem with them yet.