Solutions from AL-KO VT for agriculture and forestry
At AL-KO VT, we make your everyday life in forestry and agriculture easier – thanks to our broad product portfolio, from safety features and hydraulic applications through to servicing options.
Service, maintenance and repair at 7 customer centres across Europe
AL-KO VT is here for you!
All European AL-KO VT locations offer a wide range of repair and maintenance services for recreational vehicles and commercial trailers.
For customers in Austria, at the newly opened Ramsau Customer Centre, in addition to all services in the caravan sector, a comprehensive range of products and services is also available for agricultural car trailers – up to a permissible gross weight of 3.5 tonnes. In mountainous regions, trailer brake systems are faced with high demands, which are perfectly met with AL-KO VT products. All products are characterised by durability and optimal driving performance. These include overrun devices and axles for braked car trailers up to a permissible gross weight of 3.5 tonnes as well as various accessory products such as jockey wheels, cable winches and more.
“Especially here in our mountain regions, our agricultural customers need the optimum chassis and braking technology for their car trailers. Farmers are confronted with a wide range of transportation requirements to perform their daily work as effectively as possible. These range from transporting a variety of goods such as machinery or feed to the transport of animals to exhibitions, auctions or alpine pastures,” explains Vitus Gredler, Head of the Customer Centre in Ramsau. “The range of car trailers used by farmers extends from unbraked 750 kg trailers up to tandem trailers with a permissible gross weight of 3.5 tonnes.”
AL-KO VT products and services for agricultural trailers
Car trailers, horse and boat trailers & more
- Spare parts for AL-KO VT brake systems, e.g. brake shoes, brake drums, axle Bowden cables and overrun dampers
- Complete overrun devices and axles
- Brake maintenance
- Professional repair of AL-KO VT brake systems and chassis
- Preparation for the §57a inspection
- Installation of driving safety systems, for example stabiliser coupling AKS 3004, Automatic Trailer Control (ATC)
- Accessories such as jockey wheels, wheel chocks, anti-theft devices
- Retrofitting trailers with the self-adjusting premium wheel brake AAA
- Retrofitting trailers with axle shock absorbers
AL-KO VT Trailer Control (ATC) for commercial trailers
For stable driving behaviour
“The trailer tricks its farmer if it stops in the living room.” This cannot happen to AL-KO VT customers with ATC! The driving safety system AL-KO VT Trailer Control (ATC) especially for commercial trailers up to 3.5 tonnes works similarly to ESP (electronic stability programme) in a car. It constantly monitors the driving behaviour of the trailer, automatically initiates braking in the event of swaying movements, and then stabilises the vehicle. The trailer is gently braked immediately and without any driver intervention, allowing the vehicle combination to drive safely again.
How does the ATC driving safety system work?
Safe driving with commercial trailers thanks to sophisticated technology
When fitting the ATC, AL-KO VT professionals store the maximum permissible gross weight of the trailer in the system. The lateral movements of the trailer are continuously measured by a sensor during travel. If a threshold value is reached and exceeded, the system automatically activates the Bowden cables, and thus the wheel brakes. These controlled, gentle braking actions calm the vehicle combination down, so that the trailer gets back on track. The brake lights are not activated during this process.
In which situations does the ATC react?
- Evasive manoeuvres
- Lane changes
- Overtaking manoeuvres
- Gusts of wind
- Ruts
- Overloading
Important: Installing the ATC driving safety system never releases the driver from their duty of care. The system is neither able nor designed to compensate for grossly negligent driving or for unfavourable load conditions (such as a high centre of gravity on a narrow trailer) to the extent that accidents can always be completely prevented.
Regular brake maintenance for drum brakes
Getting the best from drum brakes
If customers fail their MOT with their trailer due to reference to defective overrun dampers on the brakes, it is not always the brakes themselves at fault. To prevent harsh overrun, the brakes often just need to be serviced and correctly adjusted. For commercial trailers fitted with drum brakes, regular, professional brake maintenance is extremely important! During this process, individual components are cleaned, brake dust is expertly vacuumed from the drum, moving parts are serviced, and, above all, the brakes are correctly adjusted.
EVUM aCar for agriculture and forestry
Electrically powered commercial vehicle
AL-KO VT supplies components for the aCar, the all-electric, all-wheel-drive utility vehicle from manufacturer EVUM – including the rear chassis and the drive-capable rubber suspension axle. The lightweight chassis is especially suitable for the aCar, as the variable concept allows for modular use of the battery packs and ensures maximum protection of the battery. Both the chassis and the axle are robust and durable as usual, and are also corrosion-protected by hot-dip galvanised steel. The drive-capable rubber suspension axle allows easy integration with EVUM’s e-drive and braking system.
“These are robust features which customers from EVUM – especially from the agricultural and forestry sector – really appreciate. The seats, the towbar and LED lamp carriers come from within the AL-KO Vehicle Technology Group from the companies Aguti and Sawiko,” says Manfred Schmid, Senior Business Development, Light Commercial Vehicles, at AL-KO Vehicle Technology. The aCar is produced sustainably – the manufacturer EVUM works exclusively with renowned European manufacturers. Serial production of the aCar has been underway since the end of 2020 in Bayerbach, Lower Bavaria.
AL-KO VT products for hydraulic brake systems
for heavy self-propelled vehicles and trailers
Whether tractors, harvesters, wheel loaders, sprayers or heavy trailers such as balers or mulchers: the subsidiary SAFIM supplies products for hydraulic brake systems for self-propelled and towed agricultural vehicles with a permissible gross weight of more than 3.5 tonnes. SAFIM, as a market leader, is a specialist in high-tech hydraulic brake system components for off-highway applications.
“We offer our customers the right hydraulics for their brake systems,” says Jörg Müller, Managing Director of SAFIM Germany. “We serve both the self-propelled vehicle market and the agricultural trailer market. The type and size of hydraulics is chosen individually for each type of vehicle or trailer, as the size of the vehicle and thus the axle size ultimately determines the size of the brake system.” SAFIM is headquartered in Modena, Italy, and supplies global manufacturers such as AGCO Fendt, John Deere, Caterpillar, Liebherr, Claas and Amazone.
As an expert for two-line hydraulics for trailer brakes, SAFIM alone holds more than 50 patents for its own products. A trailer brake system has been developed in which the two completely independent circuits (brake line and monitoring line) ensure that, if the brake circuit fails, the vehicle automatically comes to a standstill. SAFIM brake systems also offer a little extra comfort: “Our trailer brake systems only take up energy when a trailer is actually attached. The valves detect this and react intelligently,” explains Jörg Müller. “This protects the systems from unnecessary wear, which is an absolute plus in terms of safety. In addition, no unnecessary energy is consumed, which benefits both the environment and your wallet. With its great depth of production, SAFIM produces sustainably and energy-saving. SAFIM closely cooperates with the youngest subsidiary in the group, Fluid-Press. This company is also based in Italy and produces hydraulic valves and distributor blocks for agricultural vehicles.
PistenBully in agriculture
It can do much more than just drive on snow!
Thanks to the wide range of base vehicle variants and numerous add-on and superstructure options, PistenBullys are not just limited to working in ski resorts. Shovels, cranes, front mowers or round balers also make them suitable for agricultural use. Operations on soft and sensitive moorland are just as possible as distributing and compacting chopped maize plants during the harvest. The extreme demands on the chassis remain: snow, ice, wet, dust, heavy dirt and plenty of ground unevenness are always present, providing tough challenges for any vehicle technology.
“For these high-end vehicles, which are sometimes used around the clock during peak periods, exceptionally robust axles are required, flexibly tailored to the respective application profiles,” says Manfred Schmid from Business Development at AL-KO VT. Here, AL-KO VT can offer its complete axle expertise. Based on the basic types of rubber suspension and torsion bar axles from AL-KO VT, the specialists design the required variants according to Kässbohrer’s specifications. The final components are manufactured with the precision of highly efficient, industrial production. Schmid: “Special steels are used here, as well as multiple overlapping welds, to be able to vary axle loads, axle widths or the positions and lengths of swinging arms.”
