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, just like today’s smartphones. That way, customers can continue to make improvements and innovations with simple downloads throughout the years they have the system, without equipment becoming obsolete.
Airdown’s 7-inch touchscreen is built with military specs with 1,000 nits providing good daylight readability and 16-bit color. It has a powerful 800 MHz processor, 512MB ram, 4GB storage, and a 2.0 USB port. Airdown stores all its warnings so users can access them at any time. The system is designed to be as user-friendly as possible.
A built-in, on-board diagnostic tool allows for troubleshooting in real time through a simple pass or fail system. The fleet manager has full control over pressure set points to enable the manager to find the sweet spot of traction for all their vehicles.
Mac Valves, which provides the system’s custom-built valves, offers a lifetime warranty on Airdown solenoids. These valves are optimized for the fastest air up- and downtimes in the industry. The valves are rated for negative -30 degrees Fahrenheit.
One-size-fits-all wheel valves on the Airdown system were designed by two NASA engineers, and are totally rebuildable and maintenance-friendly. They are adjustable for air flow cutoff to protect against flats.
When McCauley and Tomlinson started in the CTIS business, they found out that their customers wanted a camera but didn’t want another screen. So Airdown installed four 360-degree video cameras and incorporated a 360-degree video camera system right into their system.
Time is money for your business. McCauley and Tomlinson believe—and the evidence has borne out—that with their system installed, growers can have confidence that their trucks will get through the toughest terrain and outperform any four-wheel-drive.
Airdown headquarters and manufacturing are in Florida, but they travel anywhere in the U.S. to install.
For more information, including videos of the Airdown system in action, visit www.airdownyourtires.com or call (877) MAD-TIRE.