Gearhead, you don't need a pump to let the vehicle down--you need the pump to raise it back up again
The bad thing about using a pto for power is that it is not independent of the transmission. If you push in the clutch, the PTO gears stop. You can have the PTO running in neutral, or running while the truck is moving, that is it. If, for instance, you had a snow blower hooked up to a pump run with a PTO, every time you stop, the snow blower stops. This would be a major pain. Most hydraulic applications like snow blowers are driven off a crankshaft driven closed center load sensed hydraulic pump.
