Link Manufacturing’s two-hour installation means adding an extra weight bearing axle to your truck just got easier
Adding another weight bearing axle to your existing truck isn’t as easy as it sounds. However, the new Link Manufacturing self-steering suspension can be installed in about two hours. Scheduled to be introduced next week at the Work Truck Show in Indianapolis, the newly updated and improved 20K self-steer suspension incorporates proven technological and component […] Read more
Ron Lyseng
Stories by Ron Lyseng
Rules streamlined for super single semi tires
Governments establish national uniform weight limits for wide-base single tires, which is good news for trucking industry
Although wide-base super single semi tires are replacing duals in the United States, Canadian truckers and farmers have been reluctant to make the switch because of confusing federal and provincial regulations. However, there was a breakthrough last month when progress was made in allowing weight parity for the wide super single tires coast to coast. […] Read more
Shape changer challenges tires and tracks
This revolutionary design from Czechoslovakia attempts to turn round pneumatic tires into flat pneumatic rubber tracks
The unique shape-shifting Mitas PneuTrac, introduced in 2015 at Agritechnica, is coming to North America this spring. The revolutionary design attempts to turn round pneumatic tires into flat pneumatic rubber tracks. The PneuTrac may look like a round rubber tire from a distance, but upon closer inspection, the footprint looks more like a flat rubber […] Read moreSuper singles mean one less tire to check
Concern has been expressed about the safety of super single tires. The 17-inch wide flat surface looks fragile. What if a tire blows at speed on a two-lane highway? Most truckers say that if a tire on a dual-equipped rig blows, the mate will instantly have to carry the load of both tires. The mate […] Read more
Genuine inflatable rubber tracks are real
Farmers who’ve switched from tires to tracks all miss one thing: air. Tracks jolt, jive and torture man and machine. Tires let you ride on cushions of — well — air. The Trelleborg Mitas PneuTrac isn’t quite an inflatable track, but for now it’s the closest thing we have. In a perfect blue-sky world, farmers […] Read more
Plow stays centred, reduces fuel use, wear and tear
Hydraulic control on new Lemken Diamant 16 plow keeps plow torque line laterally behind tractor and in the groove
The new Lemken Diamant 16 plow is engineered with an OptiLine system that prevents lateral pull while in-furrow plowing. The unique system will reduce fuel consumption, machinery wear and operator stress. Lemken says OptiLine can yield a 10 percent saving in fuel consumption, depending on the type of tractor tire used and soil conditions. The […] Read more
Native plants one answer to low-value acres
Large monoculture fields often have isolated spots that don’t make farmers money, but the solution may be home grown
Large monoculture fields are the only efficient way to grow corn and soybeans, but one Iowa State University researcher thinks native prairie plants may have a fit in those fields. Most fields on the northern Great Plains have areas that just don’t produce a profit. It’s easier to just farm straight through them rather than […] Read more
Rules to ground cowboy pilots from air rodeo
The new drone pilot licensing system introduced by Transport Canada last month is designed to put better-trained pilots in control of the thousands of drones flying Canadian skies. The new system was developed jointly by the federal government and industry, represented by Unmanned Systems Canada (USC). Phillip Reece, founder and chief executive officer of InDro […] Read more
Ottawa unleashes the drones
Transport Canada streamlines the regulations and the sky is the limit for UAVs in ag, or 400 feet, whichever comes first
The potential agronomic value of ag drones is getting a boost from the federal government in the form of streamlined regulations that eliminate much of the existing cumbersome bureaucratic paperwork. Unmanned Systems Canada (USC), a national non-profit association representing public and private innovation in unmanned vehicle systems, applauded the move by Transport Canada. The sky […] Read more
C2 corridor makes drones possible
The new high-tech 4G smartphones may have more features, but many people living in rural Canada complain that cell coverage with their new phone is getting worse instead of better. The reason for the complaint is that coverage is, in fact, worse. Today’s high-speed data networks have increased bandwidth but smaller range. While the cell […] Read more
