[AT] Import tractors

[Stephen Offiler]

Come on, Jim, need I remind you of the Ural sidecar?  We've talked about
them in the past.  They are terrible machines in every possible respect.
Expensive, important things break constantly.  And once they break they are
frustrating to repair because parts are not easily accessed.  Materials are
substandard.  Paint peels, steel rusts, rubber falls apart.  These are
well-known, well-documented, common complaints on brand-new machines.
Sure, a small contingent of Ural enthusiasts does exist in the USA, but to
be one of them you have to make the Ural your life's work. They take
brand-new machines and revise, rebuild, refurbish long lists of known
problems so that they can actually go out and have some fun with them.

SO


On Fri, Jan 6, 2017 at 10:53 AM, Dennis Johnson <moscowengnr at outlook.com>
wrote:

> Jim,
>
> The quality of Ural trucks is shit!!!  The design may be OK if you can get
> one and totally rebuild it yourself. Kamaz has similar 6x6 designs and much
> better quality. There factory dealer "Riat" fitted some of these for
> international off-road truck racing and did well with them.
>
> I was building Oilfield Equipment on some of these. We had one that broke
> down 3 times between the plant and Moscow. That was typical. Company I was
> working for tried to stop using these.
>
> I went through the Ural factory and watched as transmissions were being
> assembled. Someone was trying to put sealant on a transmission cover. They
> got it on about 3/4 of the surface and the put it together missing sealant
> on 1/4 of the surface. Typical issues for these trucks.
>
> Ural did a JV with Iveco trucks,  and then JV trucks were better quality.
> These were basically Iveco sub assemblies put together in a Ural plant.
>
> Thanks
> Dennis
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On Jan 6, 2017, at 9:30 AM, James Thomson <macowboy at comcast.net> wrote:
> >
> >   Cecil,
> >   Keep us posted on your progress. We used to have a Belarus dealer
> >   nearby and there were a bunch in use. I still see  a smaller one in use
> >   at a tree farm. I would love to get Ural 6x6 truck. The Russian trucks
> >   are made to withstand conscript use and a very rugged. I suspect their
> >   tractors will be the same.
> >   Jim Thomson
> >   Macowboy at comcast.net
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