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Wagons Trail Straight With Beeliner
After James Barnett found a way to take the sway out of trailing wagons, his son Chris started selling the solution. The elder Barnett got the idea after tiring of fishtailing grain wagons.
"Dad came up with the idea of adapting friction sway bars to use on wagons. He put them on mine when I wasn't looking," says the younger Barnett. "He said they would work, and I quickly became a believer. We'd take loads to the elevator, and people would be intrigued with how they worked."
After refining the idea through four prototypes, the Barnetts displayed the fifth generation design at the recent Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa. "We were overwhelmed with the interest and response," says Chris. "The wives who haul grain at harvest especially wanted them."
What they wanted was a very simple system that worked. The Beeliner is easy to install and adapts commercial sway bars to a wagon axle. The brackets are bolted to the tongue and front axle with the sway bars secured with cotter pins. Install multiple brackets, and you can move a set of bars from one trailer to another just by pulling four pins.
The Barnetts designed the kits so the brackets can be purchased separately for $60 per set. A kit that includes a set of brackets and sway bars sells for $175.
The Beeliner is designed for wagons 10 ton and under, notes Chris. He points out that wheels need to be in alignment and the wagon shouldn't be overloaded. The largest wagon they have tried the system on had a 360 bu. capacity.
"We had 330 bu. of wheat on it and pulled it down the road at 45 mph," recalls Chris. "It was just like pulling a camping trailer."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, The Beeliner, Chris Barnett, 936 Township Road 16, Marengo, Ohio 43334 (ph 419 768-3464; cbarnett6984@embarqmail.com; www. beelinertowing.com).


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2008 - Volume #32, Issue #6