Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1303072
26 POTATO GROWER | NOVEMBER 2020 The benefits of Airdown's central tire inflation system on the farm Pressure Point Diggin' In Diggin' In EQUIPMENT | Industry Report When you're in the field, your time is precious. To stay on schedule, you need to keep moving. What if someone told you that you never need to worry about getting stuck in the field again? With the latest technologies provided by an Airdown Central Tire Inflation System, you can do just that, with ease. Scott McCauley and Robert Tomlinson are off-road traction experts with over 32 years of combined experience working with central tire inflation systems (CTIS). Having spent lots of time listening to customers' concerns, they decided to go out on their own and create what they believe is the best system on the market. Airdown was born, proudly manufacturing its system in the U.S. Trucks on potato farms are driving off the road 90 percent of the time, trying to go through mud, sand and loose soil and, as a result, often get stuck. With an Airdown system installed, just by adjusting the pressure, drivers and growers can eliminate the pull tractor they may have to use otherwise to get across the field. By eliminating the pull tractor, the Airdown system can potentially save farmers thousands of dollars. The reason trucks get stuck is that drivers are trying to take a 110- to 120- PSI tire through soft terrain. Sand, mud, soil or rock require a soft tire, rather than a hard tire that sinks in whatever it's trying to go across. By just touching the Airdown system's sand/mud button, within 75 seconds, air pressure in the tires is at 35 PSI instead of 110. This provides four times the amount of tread on the ground. Once the job in soft or rough terrain is finished, a simple touch of the highway button gets the truck back up to 110 PSI and ready to head home within just a few minutes. Potato farmers all across the U.S. are now using this technology because they know it works. In addition to potato farmers, Airdown has 400 cement trucks running its system, along with numerous utility trucks in Florida. Bucket trucks are using Airdown systems all across the U.S. to help them get where they need to be to keep the power on. McCauley and Tomlinson made Airdown's system future-proof,