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y Ashley Washburn, '02
Farm equipment has changed dramatically
since the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Tractor Test Laboratory poured its first
concrete track in 1956. That one replaced the
original track made of compacted soil.
In the summer of 2007, the aging track was
demolished and replaced with a new one that can
better accommodate modern tractors, which are
wider, heavier and faster than their predecessors.
The new track is made from a special concrete
blend that is 12 percent stronger than the concrete
used for airport runways, said Roger Hoy,
professor of agricultural engineering and director
of the lab.
14. Spring20.0.8
The track also is wider and thicker than the
original 22 feet wide, compared to 15, and nine
inches thick instead of seven. The new track also
features banked edges that will allow the lab to test
tractors that travel at higher speeds.
These advancements will make it possible for the
lab to test a wider variety of tractors. For example,
Hoy said, his staff was able to test a Case IH
tractor that would have been too wide and heavy
to fit on the old track. In the past, the team would
have tested that machine at the
Lincoln Airport.
Construction on the track began
shortly after Memorial Day and
concluded in August. HWS
Consulting Group, the Lincoln
engineering firm that designed
the original track, also designed
the new one. Another Lincoln
company, TCW Construction, built the new track.
Hoy said he hoped the track would last another
50 years.
“We tried to anticipate what needs we would have
in the future,” he said.
UNL is the only university in the United States to
have a tractor test lab, which was formed because a
state senator purchased a tractor and was unhappy
with its performance. Wilmot Crozier introduced
a bill in the 1918 Legislature requiring any
tractor sold in Nebraska to be tested to ensure it
performed as the manufacturer claimed. Thus, the
Tractor Test Lab opened in 1919.
Nebraska is still the only state to have such a law,
Hoy said, but almost all models are evaluated
at the lab anyway. The lab also
is the official U.S. testing site for
the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development,
which regulates tractor standards
worldwide.
On average, the lab tests 25 tractors
annually. The lab’s operation and
maintenance costs, including
construction of the new track, are funded through
manufacturers’ fees.
Ed Heys of the Association of Equipment
Manufacturers said the lab is one of the finest of its
kind in the world, and added; “Their future looks
bright—and busy.”