Drawbar Parameters of Tractor with Prototypes of Driving Wheels and Standard Tyres

The paper presents the main drawbar parameters of tractor (drawbar pull, drawbar power and wheels slip) operating in a grass plot and evaluates the utilization of specially modified tyres with spikes. These prototypes of driving wheels were designed at the Department of Transport and Handling of the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra. The designed mechanism with spikes is mounted on standard tractor tyres, in which grooves were made. Spikes are hidden in grooves during transportation on a route. On the grassy landscape or soil, the spikes are ejected in order to improve the drawbar parameters. During operation, the drawbar pull and the rotation speeds of wheels were measured, whereupon the wheel slip was calculated. Results show the highest increase in tractor speed at the second gear and high load in utilized prototypes of the driving wheels (1.89 km·h^-1) in comparison to standard tyres (1.10 km·h^-1). Measurements also demonstrate the highest improvement of drawbar power under the aforementioned conditions in case of tractor with prototypes of driving wheels (1,719.87 W) in comparison with tractor using the standard tyres (1,061.57 W).