50+ Years of Kelderman Innovation
Kelderman Manufacturing has been innovating in the agricultural and automotive industries for over five decades. Family-owned and operated, our commitment has remained the same: building the best products right in the heart of the Midwest.
Inventive Solutions, from Agriculture to Automobiles
Nestled in the quiet cornfields of central Iowa, Kelderman Manufacturing has been in business since 1970. Founder Gary Kelderman started his own small manufacturing company building new products for the agricultural market. Gary is renowned for his inventive work with rubber track systems, corn harvesting attachments, hay-raking equipment, and more. Kelderman existed only in the agricultural marketplace for roughly 20 years until Gary’s passion for cars and trucks led to the creation of the Kelderman Air Suspension.
The inspiration came when Gary made a common purchase and ended up with a common problem. In 1990, he bought a new Dodge Ram with a Cummins engine right off the showroom floor. He was so dissatisfied with the with the poor ride quality that he parked it to develop a solution. Several months of design and fabrication later, Gary emerged with the creation of the Kelderman 2-Stage Rear Air Suspension, which made the truck ride like he really wanted it to. The design is still in production today.
Over the next 30-plus years, Kelderman developed additional air suspension designs for pickup trucks, chassis cab trucks, RVs, trailers, and even full air suspension lift kits. Gary’s son, Jeff, now operates as President of Kelderman Manufacturing. What started as a small agricultural fab shop continues to move forward as a leading innovator in the agricultural and automotive industries.
Fun Fact: Gary has his pilot’s license and loves to spend time up in the sky with his personal gyrocopter!
Meet Gary Kelderman
Gary Kelderman, the founder of Kelderman Manufacturing, Inc., is well respected for his work in the agriculture industry. His journey began in 1970 with a small shop responsible for repair work and odd jobs for local farmers. Gary’s modest fabrication shop has evolved into a 100,000-plus square foot manufacturing facility with state-of-the-art laser cutters, metal benders, machining centers, and an in-house powder coat area. The growth of the company comes partially from his innovative designs. In the 1990s, Gary Kelderman developed the rubber track system that is used today on John Deere tractors and combines, along with many other now-patented products.
Gary designed the first Kelderman Air Suspension back in 1990 for his personal truck, which started a full line of air suspension systems for heavy-duty trucks. But the desire for building things from scratch didn’t stop there. Gary has continued to design products like the Kelderman-Freeman 1592 baler, a self-propelled square baler, or the Kelderman Six Shooter, the world’s largest bale picking truck. Gary’s decision to take his ideas one step further is something that continues to push Kelderman Manufacturing to create products that the agriculture industry has never seen before.
Fun Fact: Jeff spends a lot of his free time hunting anywhere he can. His office even features a stuffed bear that he hunted in Saskatchewan, Canada!
Meet Jeff Kelderman
From motorcycles to muscle cars and, of course, heavy-duty trucks, Jeff’s life revolves around the work he does at Kelderman. Jeff’s designs led to some of Kelderman’s most popular builds dating back to “Big Red,” a 2003 Ram 3500 Mega Cab Long Box creation with Kelderman’s first 8- to 10-inch 4-link air suspension lift kit. To top that, Jeff created a 2004 Ford F-250 Harley Davidson edition Powerstroke on an even bigger 12- to 14-inch 4-link air suspension lift kit. Most guys would have thought that was good enough for a product showcase, but Jeff took it one step further. Jeff designed a hydraulic bed lift system for the pickup box to sit flat on the ground for easy loading and unloading of cargo. How else do you expect someone to load a Harley in a Harley Davidson Ford?
Those were some of Kelderman’s most famous creations and how the company got its start in the custom truck scene. Kelderman Manufacturing continues to build world-class lifted trucks but also manufactures a full line of air suspension systems for non-lifted trucks, trailers, RVs, and more.