PistenBully: Precision on Customised AL-KO VT Axles
The PistenBully is a versatile precision system on tracks. Depending on the application scenario, the AL-KO Vehicle Technology Group (AL-KO VT) supplies specially adapted axles – precisely designed, manufactured and as robust as the rest of the Kässbohrer tracked vehicle.
The PistenBully: High-end Mobility with AL-KO VT Axles
Precision on tracks
Anyone who thinks a PistenBully is essentially just an oversized motorised snow plough might as well believe that Parship is all about clearing snow together outside your own front door.
PistenBully vehicles are high-precision machines – even though, fully equipped, they have a permissible gross weight of up to 14.5 tonnes. They measure snow depth and level even the most extreme terrain with utmost precision. At the same time, they provide operators in the climate-controlled high-tech cab with a driving experience reminiscent of a luxury saloon on fresh asphalt. And just like modern road saloons, PistenBully vehicles are available with various drive units: Alongside the diesel version, they can run on synthetic fuels or electricity, enabling climate-friendly operation in particularly sensitive areas.
Virtually Unlimited Areas of Application
Not Just for Snow
With a wide range of base vehicle variants and numerous attachment and superstructure options, PistenBully vehicles are not limited to working in ski resorts. Fitted with a shovel, crane, front mower or round baler, they are also ideal for agricultural use, for example. Travelling on soft and sensitive moorland is just as feasible as distributing and compacting chopped maize plants at harvest time. The extreme demands on the chassis remain the same. Snow, ice, moisture, dust, coarse dirt and a multitude of ground irregularities are constant challenges for any vehicle technology.
Axles for Extreme Demands from AL-KO VT
Industrial-scale Custom Production for Extreme Conditions
“For these high-end vehicles, which may be used around the clock at peak times, exceptionally robust axles are required – flexibly tailored to each application profile,” says Karlheinz Spägele, Vice President Sales for commercial trailers and light commercial vehicles. AL-KO VT is able to bring its full axle expertise to bear here.
Based on the standard types of rubber suspension axles and torsion beam axles from AL-KO VT, the specialists design the necessary variants according to Kässbohrer’s specifications. The final components are produced with the precision of a highly efficient, industrialised manufacturing process. Manfred Schmid from Business Development at AL-KO VT explains: “Special alloys are used here, as are multiple overlapping weld seams, which allows axle loads, axle widths, or the positions and lengths of suspension arms to be individually adjusted.”
Cross-site Collaboration Between Kässbohrer and AL-KO VT
From Simulation to Delivery
To seamlessly integrate the specialised axles into the overall PistenBully system, collaboration between Kässbohrer and AL-KO VT must work smoothly from the design phase onwards. “We pass on the model values calculated from the initial specifications to Kässbohrer, which is responsible for the overall simulation of the vehicle,” explains Manfred Schmid, describing the process. “Then, through intensive dialogue, we approach the ideal values, which we then implement in production.”
During production, the rubber-suspended half axles for the independent wheel suspension are supplied by the production team in Kötz, Germany. The continuous torsion beam axles are produced at the Louhans site in France and in Paderborn, Germany. When completely new system developments are required, specialists from both companies and all sites like to come together in person – to ensure the project is set on the right course from the outset. Schmid comments: “The collaboration works. And so does the result.”
