History
A typical drawbar test made before 1931.
Since 1920, more than 1750 models of tractors have been evaluated by Nebraska Tractor Test. This monumental achievement was prompted by concerns from farmers and manufacturers alike on the poor performance characteristics of farm tractors after the turn of the century. L. W. Chase called public attention in 1917 to the lack of standardization, deficiencies in service, shortage of replacement parts, and the need for improved dependability and durability of tractors. A bill passed by the Nebraska Legislature in 1919 was paramount to making tractors reliable for Nebraska farmers.
The poor performance of the Ford tractor led to the legislation that created the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory.

The bill provided that:

  • a stock tractor of each model sold in the state be tested and approved by a board of three engineers under State University management
  • each company, dealer, or individual offering a tractor for sale in Nebraska shall have a permit
  • a service station with a full supply of replacement parts for each model of tractor shall be maintained.

The testing job fell to the University's Department of Agricultural Engineering. Waterloo Boy, First Tractor Tested 1920. The first tractor test was completed in 1920. Chauncey Smith, a faculty member renowned in power and machinery is shown to the left with the first tractor tested, Waterloo Boy "N".

With some 160 tractor manufacturers at that time, the testing laboratory was extremely busy. In its first year, the laboratory tested 65 tractors. The first Board of Tractor Testing Engineers consisted of L. W. Chase, O. W. Sjogren, E. E. Brackett, and J. W. Haney of Mechanical Engineering. C. K. Shedd was the laboratory's first engineer-in-charge in 1920. F. R. Nohavec in 1920, E. E. Brackett from 1921-25, and Lew Wallace from 1926-30 also served as engineer-in-charge during the laboratory's first decade. A total of 172 tractors were evaluated by 1930. Carlton Zink, engineer-in-charge from 1930 to 1938, supervised the testing of 206 tractors.

Following World War II, Lester Larsen assumed the leadership of Tractor Test and by his retirement in 1975, 800 more tractors tests had been performed. Louis Leviticus became engineer-in-charge in 1975, testing an additional 500 tractors. Louis retired in 1997. Presently, Professor of Agricultural Engineering Leonard Bashford is engineer-in-charge.

 
This photo from 1949 shows the newly completed concrete test track.

In 1986, the Nebraska law was changed to allow a tractor to be sold in the state if it had been tested by a laboratory approved by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a multi-national group. Nebraska Tractor Test is one of the OECD sanctioned testing stations.

The original tractor test laboratory was used from 1920 until 1979. On May 2, 1998, the original laboratory was restored to 1920 conditions complete with the test equipment and tractors of that vintage. It was named the Lester F. Larsen Museum in honor of Lester Larsen's contributions to the Tractor Test Laboratory.

 
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