Polish department of Top Agrar magazine initiated a contest in which the main prize is their new purchase, Ursus 1204 de luxe. Top Agrar contest is close to the finish, so this is the final whistle for applications. But before the legendary tractor will go to the luckiest contestant, the machine will go though the renovation process in which not only the organizers of the contest are involved but also range of companies with Pronar Wheels among them. We are responsible for the wheels which will drive the renovated machine. Thank you for the invitation.
Before we started the production of the wheels, our experts paid Mr. Paweł Twardowski a visit to take very detailed measurements of the old wheels and whole machine. Mr. Twardowski is a redactor of Top Agrar Polska and he is renovating the Ursus. The plan was to change the tires to much bigger ones so the bigger wheels were needed as well. That’s why detailed measurements were necessary. To make the wheels fit, the exact knowledge of the machine and it’s dimensions is very important as the inaccuracies could be visible in the future and they could result in imperfections in machine’s build and the work performed with the machine.
Together with the staff of Top Agrar we decided to apply adjustable lug wheels on the rear axle of the machine and fixed tractor wheels on the front axle. Front pair of wheels are 28″ in diameter and 13″ wide, while the rear wheels are 38″ in diameter and 20″ wide. What’s interesting, we decided to apply wheel contour W in front rims and rim profile DW in rear ones. Due to DW profile the rims of rear wheels are much more durable than those made in system W. New wheels are much larger than the previous ones – the engine of the renovated Ursus has been modified so that it will have more power than it originally had. Larger wheels will not be a problem for the machine as the engine got renovated and upgraded as well.
In the production of wheels, we always focus on precision, quality and ecology, therefore shot blasting was the logical choice of material cleansing.
The process in an innovative method based on cleaning the metallic surface with so called shots, that are usually made from glass balls or corundum. Why did we choose shot blasting over sanding? The process of shot blasting not only minimalizes the amount of waste but also requires specialistic rooms that are present at Pronar Wheels. Apart from that the shots used to carry out the process are recovered after it, what reduces the generation of waste produced during the cleaning. Materials used to perform shot blasting are harder than those used during sandblasting and thanks to that the final results are more precise and just better overall. Shot blasting not only cleanses and polishes the metallic surface before painting but also strengthens it.
The next step was cataphoresis which is the process of applying the paint coating to the metal using electrophoresis.
Electrophoresis relies on immersing metal in colloidal solution of paint and connecting it to the electricity using the electrodes. Thanks to the treatment of electrophoretic painting the paint reaches even hard to reach spots what makes the process of painting much more precise. The exposition of the material to this physicochemical conditions makes it more durable as the wheels gained resistance to weather conditions and corrosion. At the end the Ursus got pearly white coloured wheels. We paint our wheels in accordance to the RAL pallete and in this case we applied the RAL 9016 lacquer with glitter.
Thank you once again for inviting us to join the sponsors of the Top Agrar contest. We are glad that we could take part in such an interesting project, thanks to which the classic machine will gain a new life. The renovation of Ursus 1204 de luxe is also proof that modern technologies can fully cooperate with those that are already old. You can see a video of rims assembly below.
