GROOMING
The Ultimate Groomer with tilted side
rails to create strength throughout
the entire drag
Ultimate Groomer
Changes with the Times
After more than a decade this groomer still lives up to its name
By Pat Rediger
When something is referred to as “ultimate,”
you can be assured that it will stand the test
of time. Now more than a decade after its in-vention,
the Ultimate Groomer remains a fix-ture
in the marketplace as it has been designed to with-stand
the toughest of winter conditions and leave miles of
smooth snowmobile trails in its path.
The Ultimate Groomer Drag Line of equipment is owned
and manufactured by Universal Truck Equipment (UTE),
which sells heavy equipment up-fitters to municipalities
and owner/operators. UTE manufactures its own plows,
wings and scrapers in Galesville, Wis., where the equip-ment
is put to the test in the state’s winter conditions. UTE
purchased the Ultimate Groomer Drag Line in 2010, and
since then has been continuing to work on and improve
the product.
The Ultimate Groomer Drag is designed to be pulled be-hind
a tow unit to groom snow trails effectively. It comes
in several sizes ranging from eight-feet wide to 12-feet six-inches
wide in the base design that has a 20-foot long snow
processing area.
Greg Konkel, UTE sales representative, says the key to dif-ferentiating
themselves from the competition is by building
their drag with tilted side rails to create strength through-out
the entire drag. The company also uses an additional
internal tubing which provides extra strength.
“We have our cutting blades tilted back to create a smooth-er
pull without the blade chatter of others – this theory is rel-ative
to the design of a grader blade,” said Konkel.
The Ultimate Groomer Drag also offers a hydraulically
controlled ski to smooth out the ride of the drag and has the
ability to find and maintain your sweet spot throughout the
grooming process.
Ultimate Junior Groomer launched
With the evolution and success of the Ultimate Groomer,
UTE recently launched the Ultimate Junior Groomer Drag.
“This drag shares the same proven design of the original
Ultimate Groomer Drag while offering the versatility of a
self-contained power unit to be towed by any tow vehicle
with a receiver hitch,” said Konkel. “Its self-contained power
unit is housed in a high-quality lockable aluminum toolbox
which contains items such as a battery, trickle charger and
mounting for the antenna to work its wireless controller.”
Konkel said that the major benefit to using the Ultimate
Junior Groomer is its durability due to its additional tub-ing,
extra bracing at critical points and additional mounted
plates at the connection sites. Each unit is inspected and
tested to ensure it functions correctly once a customer
receives it.
The hydraulic ski has the ability to make “good opera-tors”
into “great operators” said Konkel. It is unique to the
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