Farmers with disabilities have a new tool to help them remain mobile and continue farming.
The Ajility lift, an updated version of the FreedomLift hydraulic arm, is designed to help disabled people get into farm implements, industrial equipment, aircraft and virtually any other raised vehicle or platform.
Dave Clark of Vulcan, Alta., has installed a FreedomLift on four trucks.
“It kept me farming. Simple as that.”
Gerry Owen of Maple Ridge, B.C., used his FreedomLift to access his forestry equipment. Now retired, he still uses the lift to work on his tractors, do gardening and other chores around the yard.
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“The lift has been a godsend for me. It gave me the freedom I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I wouldn’t be without it,” he said.
“But I’m due for a new one. This was made for prairie weather. Out here, it rains all the time so it’s started to rust out. It still works, but I need a new one.”
Atom Jet Industries of Brandon manufactures the updated version of the FreedomLift, which was invented and manufactured by Howard Derksen at Freedom Technologies of Saskatoon in the 1990s.
Derksen, an engineer by trade, worked with the Saskatchewan Abilities Council in the late 1980s to identify the needs of disabled farmers. He was perhaps more acutely aware of this need than many people because he had a daughter who was disabled and required lifting assistance.
Elevator style lifts on the market at the time were designed so one lift apparatus would be mounted to each farm implement.
If farmers installed it on the seeding tractor, it stayed on that tractor all season and endured all the dust, mud, vibration and abuse the tractor experienced.
The elevator received the same shake, rattle and roll on the sprayer, swather and combine.
While some farmers transferred their lift from one implement to the other during the growing year, others had three or four lifts on the farm and left them installed on each implement.
Another drawback was that the old style lifts only went up and down. There was no lateral reaching ability, which Derksen figured disabled farmers needed if they were to be more mobile.
But because the original FreedomLift and subsequently the Ajility are mounted on a pickup truck, a single hydraulic arm lift device can serve a number of implements. It’s tied to the pickup rather than the field implement.
Both versions offer lateral movement, as well as vertical lift.
The Ajility lift arm extends nearly 11 feet to the side and eight feet off the ground.
Freedom Technologies built only about two dozen of the specialized lift devices before they halted production in the late 1990s.
But the idea remained alive. When Atom Jet owner Craig Senchuk heard about the device and met with Derksen, they decided to work together.
Derksen provided a list of the original FreedomLift owners. Senchuk was able to contact more than 20 of them, and discovered that every one of those machines was still in use.
Some of the owners had used their lifts day in day out for more than 15 years, and were able to give Senchuk ideas for improvements.
Most units had been transferred from truck to truck a number of times over the years. For example, retired Melfort, Sask., farmer Phil Armbruster has put his FreedomLift on eight different pickups.
Many of the original FreedomLifts also went to the U.S.
In Williams, Minnesota, logger Gary Bailey uses his FreedomLift to get on and off his construction and forestry equipment.
The lift does double duty in his main business, which is building log homes. He said it’s also one of the best deer hunting stands he’s ever used.
Joe Fenoff put in many hours running equipment near his home farm at North Haverhill, New Jersey. In addition to farming, he also did logging and heavy construction.
In the 10 years he owned the FreedomLift, he reported loading up to 400 bales in a day and putting deer into the back of his pickup. He also used the lift to set himself on snowmobiles and other equipment he carried on the flatbed trailer behind his pickup.
After inspecting some of the original FreedomLift units, Atom Jet engineers were convinced that the basic machine was sound. The primary changes would be in the hydraulic and remote control systems, which had become outdated.
“Electronics is one of the biggest improvements. We’re installing a complete new remote control,” said Senchuk.
“The system has new relays and sensors. They’re much smoother, more precise and more reliable compared to what Howard had to work with 15 or 20 years ago.
“The operator brings the remote with him in the implement so he can position the platform exactly where he wants it when he comes back to the pickup.”
Senchuk said that once seated in the implement, most producers use the remote control to fold the arm into the pick-up box so it’s out of the way.
The hydraulic system uses a 12-volt electric-hydraulic pump similar to those on pick-up mounted snowplows.
Senchuk said the new lift does smiliar work to the previous version, but it’s smoother, more precise and quieter.
The Ajility will be available for standard boxes, as well as short boxes, extended cabs and crew cabs. Depending on box style, the weight ranges from 1,100 to 1,500 pounds.
The weight is perched in the left rear corner of the truck, behind the rear axle.
The platform pivots out 11 feet and rises eight feet, which many people might think would create a balance problem.
“I was reluctant until I tried it myself. But with the leg down firmly on the ground at the left rear of the truck, it’s really very stable,” said Senchuk.
“Most of the guys have added a leaf or two on the left side. Some guys put an airbag in the left rear. The nicest installation I saw was on a one ton dually. That was extremely stable.”
Some farmers who put on a lot of miles have had to replace the left rear axle bearings, said Senchuk, but the weight and wear problems are less a problem on three-quarter ton and one ton pickups, he said.
List price is $50,000 US.
For more information, contact Craig Senchuk at 800-573-5048 or visit www.atomjet.com.
