A FINAL year engineer from the Vale of Evesham at Harper Adams University College in Shropshire is hoping to help farmers maximise the potential of their machines by eliminating power hop.

Power hop is an instability found in mechanical front-wheel drive and articulated tractors and results from towing an implement on the drawbar on cultivated soil. This causes the tractor to bounce and lose traction, making it difficult for the driver to maintain control.

Luke Ward, aged 21, from Evesham, chose to investigate this phenomenon due to an interest in achieving the maximum potential out of tractors and hopes that by correcting the ballast and tyre pressure he can help eliminate it.

He explained: “Many smaller machines are fitted with front suspension which eliminates power hop, whereas articulated tractors that are found in East Anglia and America aren’t.”

By achieving the correct ballast and tyre pressure, he said, farmers would be able to control power hop.

Mr Ward, who is studying an FdSc agricultural engineering degree, has been conducting a series of tests and trials in the soil hall at Harper Adams and will be comparing the results to previously conducted research.

He said: “Doing both the maths and the hands-on research is brilliant and will hopefully prepare me well for gaining a graduate level job.

“I would like a career in the cultivation equipment industry, selling and demonstrating machines.”