Old love doesn't rust if the paintwork is in order. And it's the Ford blue color of the slurry tanker that Service Manager Flemming Tind at Samson Agrolize remembers when he assembled it as a young journeyman in 1993 at Maskinfabrikken SAMSON in Tange.

A custom-painted Ford blue slurry tanker with a snake boom at a staggering 12 meters wide. - No more than a single section on our hose booms today, says Service Manager Flemming Tind, Samson Agrolize. This is what it looked like when it was new and delivered to a Northwest Jutland contracting company in 1993.

Service Manager Flemming Tind at Samson Agrolize has a warm phone number when he finds himself at the center of the questions users need answered as hundreds of SAMSON slurry trailers wake up from their winter hibernation and the slurry season begins.

- There are some things that can be done over the phone, but otherwise we make sure we send an engineer out to help so that everything works," he says from his warm chair at Samson Agrolize in Viborg.

Flemming Tind also has a warm heart, which was given an extra boost this spring when a replacement sludge extractor arrived at the site in Viborg.

- I know that wagon, I helped put it together as a young agricultural mechanic in 1993.

Special paint finishes

The sludge extractor in question was the biggest and best that Maskinfabrikken SAMSON could deliver in 1993. At that time, production took place at the factory in Tange, where the approximately 50 employees produced virtually every single component of what was then the latest generation of sludge extractors themselves.

- I remember it especially because it was sold to a contracting company in Northwest Jutland, where they used Ford tractors. For the same reason, the truck had to be painted in the special Ford blue color to match the contractor's tractors. At the time, SAMSON trucks were painted red-brown as standard, says Flemming Tind.

After his apprenticeship and a few other jobs, the then 25-year-old Flemming Tind was employed at Maskinfabrikken SAMSON in January 1990 in what was called final assembly. Typically, the trucks were already sold before they were fully assembled, which was also the case with the now almost 30-year-old blue slurry tanker.

Swivel boogie

The brand new feature of the 15,000 liter two-axle trailer, which was the flagship of Maskinfabrikken SAMSON in those years, was the swivel boogie. A principle that naturally followed on the three-axle trucks with 20,000 liter tanks that followed a few years later.

- A pump tower and vacuum pump were used to fill the trailer. For the same reason, the tanks had to be welded by people with welding certificates, and before the truck could be delivered, the tank had to be pressure tested by a publicly recognized authority, Flemming Tind recalls.

The blue slurry tanker was delivered with a 12 meter boom and tow hoses. However, the snake boom in particular has been replaced for a reason.

Automatic dosing

- As I recall, it had not yet become a legal requirement for slurry to be applied with drag hoses. And to be honest, the first hose booms didn't have much capacity, so it took a while to get the slurry out. This is probably the reason why a newer hose boom was installed on the truck, because when it comes to accuracy, they were just fine," says Flemming Tind.

The SAMSON machine factory took an interest in precision very early on.

- The wagon was equipped with a dry matter meter, which even then could dose the slurry according to dry matter content. It was called automatic dosing and was possible because the dosage was continuously determined by the current viscosity of the slurry, according to the technical explanation.

Well-maintained trolley

According to Flemming Tind, the Ford blue slurry tanker now at Samson Agrolize in Viborg is surprisingly well maintained.

- It has been traded once over the years, but is certainly in good condition considering its age and will be useful for many years to come. Today, however, centrifugal pumps are used, which are far more efficient for slurry, but I could easily imagine a contractor using it to move water via the still-functioning vacuum/pressure system.

- Once we know its future, we'll make it fit for purpose. It has held up well and the blue Ford color is still as it should be, says Flemming Tind and lovingly pats his old friend.

- As with all the newer generations of SAMSON trolleys, I can say specifically about this one that I know every nut, even though it's been a few years since I tightened the bolts here," he says.

- An old friend has returned. Service Manager at Samson Agrolize, Flemming Tind, has been a Samson man since 1990. In 1993 he was in final assembly at Maskinfabrikken SAMSON in Tange and he clearly remembers when, as a young journeyman, he was responsible for assembling this unique sludge extractor, which has now returned and is in the second-hand warehouse at Samson Agrolize.