Use air-ride system to track weight, bushels

Do you have trouble deter-mining your truck's weight when loading grain in the field or when loading out grain for transport?

Denny Whalen of Austin, Minnesota, experienced those issues when working with a farmer. "I knew there had to be a better way of knowing how much the truck weighed and how many bushels were being loaded out," he says.

With a background in electronic controls, Whalen figured out a solution. After about four years of trial and error, he decided to use the air-ride system on the grain trailer along with the ride-height valve control to determine the weight. Whalen created a polycarbonate case to house the industrial controls to prevent problems from road salt. All that is needed for setup is to connect power and the air-ride lines to the case.

Whalen says his solution takes a great deal of guesswork out of the loading process and is easy to install.

Monitoring Weight/Bushels

By using the air-ride system on the grain trailer along with the ride-height valve control, Denny Whalen knows how much the truck weighs and how many bushels are being loaded.

Denny Whalen

Hobbies: Denny Whalen enjoys traveling, fishing, and camping.

Family: He has been married to his wife, Linda, for 50 years, and they have two children, Wendy and Lance.

Recent projects: Whalen is working on a remote indicator to either mount inside a truck cab or on the back of a livestock trailer to view the weight while loading.

Email: dfwhalen@charter.net

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