January 13, 2003
University of Nebraska Tractor Test Lab Gets New Test Car
LINCOLN, Neb. — After nearly 65 years, the University of Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory's silver test car will take its last jaunt around the university's East Campus test track this year.
The car will retire this fall when the lab starts using its new custom-built car. The new car, which arrived in December, features computers, sophisticated equipment and more power for testing today's larger, more complex tractors, said Leonard Bashford, tractor lab director.
Test lab staff will calibrate, test and become familiar with the new car before switching from the old standby.
"What we do won't be different, it's how we do it," he said.
The University of Nebraska Tractor Test Lab tests tractor performance, including things such as power and fuel consumption. It's the oldest and only tractor testing station in the United States and tests tractors according to internationally recognized standards.
The new test car was custom-built for the lab by Caterpillar in Peoria, Ill., for about $450,000.
"No tax money is involved," Bashford said. "The new car is privately funded from testing fees."
In addition to the much needed technological revamp, the new car will make testing faster and easier, he said.
"What this means for the manufacturers is they'll spend less time here," he said.
Computers on the new car will automate many functions adjusted manually in the old car, such as RPM, load, speed or resistance, Bashford said.
The new vehicle dwarfs its predecessor. It can provide six times more resistance than the old car to test modern tractors' pulling power. Today's larger tractors can offer up to 520 horsepower on the power take off. In the 1930s, most tractors offered less than 50 horsepower with only a few close to 100 horsepower.
Since 1937, the silver car has tested more than 1,500 tractors and logged about 150,000 miles around the one-third mile test track. Numerous additions and updates were made over the years with the car's current configuration coming in 1963. It has reached a point where parts are hard to come by if something breaks, Bashford said.
The old test car will be retired to the Lester Larsen Tractor Test Museum on East Campus.
1/13/03-SA
Leonard Bashford - Ph.D.
Biological Systems Engineering
Professor
(402)472-1627
Sandi Alswager Karstens IANR News and Photography (402) 472-3030
Department: Biological Systems Engineering
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