"Power Tooth" Sprocket Reduces Chain Wear

"Power Tooth" Sprocket Reduces Chain Wear FARM SHOP Miscellaneous 33-2-20 The busy harvest season is not a good time for a chain to break on a live-bottom trailer or spreader. But with today's larger equipment, broken chains are more and more common. Loyd Fery, of D & L Chain Inc., Aumsville, Oregon, recognized that the problem was with the sprockets, and not the chains. He worked with machinists to "let in, take out and add here and there" to a standard ANSI sprocket and create what he calls a Power Tooth Sprocket. "It's set up so that more of the teeth are engaged at the same time," Fery says. For example, on a 7-tooth sprocket, 4 1/2 teeth are engaged at once. Standard sprockets only have one tooth engaged at a time, leading to slipping, sliding and jumping, which causes chain wear. Fery's sprockets have wider spaces between the sprocket teeth, which also avoids problems in dirty conditions. There's more give, and the materials don't tie up the way they do with precision sprockets. The patent-pending Power Tooth Sprocket has been tested on various pieces of equipment for a year with no problems. "A man is running 110,000 lbs. at a time in Michigan, with no down time," Fery says. "He's hauling sugar beet siftings, dirt, and other things on 53-ft. trailers with 36 wheels on the ground." Another driver on the West Coast hauls sweet corn and other vegetables and grain crops up to 300 miles and is able to unload quickly without problems. In Wisconsin, the sprockets are on spreaders moving manure and haylage. The heat-treatable, high-quality steel sprocket blanks are made at a U.S. steel company, and Fery processes them for different equipment. Sprockets come in 6 to 12-teeth sizes and cost $45 to $120 apiece. Fery sells to individuals, repair shops and to OEMs, such as a Nebraska trailer manufacturer. D & L Chain specializes in chains, bearings, sprockets, pulleys and cable for agriculture and industry. The business was established in 1980 on the Ferys' farm, which also raises corn and beans and 6 to 8 acres of produce. "This is something we've been playing with for a lot of years," Fery says. "It's going to change industry standards." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, D & L Chain, Inc., 11022 Rainwater Lane S.E., Aumsville, Oregon 97325 (ph 800 772-7992; dlchain@wvi.com; www.dlchain.com).

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