"Dad grew up on a farm," is among the most frequent opening lines in many American success stories, and that's exactly how Jeff Kelderman begins when telling the tale of the family business he now runs.

Typical of families plowing the fields of Iowa and the Midwest, he says, "If you need something, you build it yourself." That's the sort of American ingenuity and know-how that gets things done, simply because things need getting done.

Jeff's father, Gary, started out with a small shop performing repair work and "mechanical stuff" for local farmers, says the younger Kelderman. Initially it was a matter of fixing a variety of agricultural equipment before evolving into the manufacturing end of things. Gary Kelderman became interested in drag racing during the 1960s, an era of sudden growth for motorsports and drag racing in particular. He started out making transmission parts to prevent powerful drivetrains from popping out of gear during a quarter-mile run.

With drag racing serving primarily as a hobby but adding to his mechanical experience and development, Gary founded Kelderman Manufacturing in 1970 to help the agriculture industry. However, interest in drag racing and tractor pulls meant the shop became active in truck and automotive activities.

Combining racing and agriculture equipment was a natural activity for Gary Kelderman. He built the "Baby Elephant," which led to three consecutive championship seasons in the Tri-State Truck Pullers Association Modified class. This Mopar-powered beast was so dominant in its first two years, the association outlawed it because it ran a Jeep body, says Jeff. Instead of quitting, Gary just replaced the Jeep sheetmetal with a Dodge pickup body and won again. The Baby Elephant was an innovative design, with such features as a narrow rear track to produce better traction by avoiding the ruts from other competitors. For the short pulls, Gary designed an engine cooling system that ran coolant through the chassis' tube frame.

Kelderman moved into the RV field when Gary saw a direct need for a specific innovation. Jeff tells the story of his father becoming excited when Dodge announced the Cummins Turbo Diesel engine for the Ram pickup. He went right down and was among the first to buy one. "When he drove it off the dealer's lot," says Jeff, "he thought he hit the curb, it bounced so much." After that, Jeff notes, he parked the brand-new truck for 60 days, because he didn't want to drive such a hard-riding truck. Suffering from back pains, Gary knew he would need to take action before that pickup truck would be able to be driven with any regularity.

To make the big Ram fit for duty, Gary Kelderman came up with an idea the company had been using on lime spreaders. "He just looked at the back end and figured out how to modify the rear suspension with some airbags. The two-bag rear was intended to let the leaves float," adds Jeff, which makes for a much softer ride without reducing load capacity. "We had it to market in about six to nine months." As for longevity, Jeff reports, "We still use that truck with bags from the early 1990s that we used to prototype. It easily has 250,000 miles on it."

That was the beginning of offering airbag suspensions for a variety of vehicles. But it's still just one product for Kelderman Manufacturing. Gary holds 25 patents, and Jeff is well on his way to add several under his own belt, including an air suspension developed 10 years ago for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Jeff joined the family business almost from birth: "We're out in the country, and I've been running around here since I was 3 or 4 years old riding dirt bikes." Working on mechanical devices from tractors to drag race cars just came with the territory.

Ideas at Kelderman most frequently result from specific needs. One of the first products was a folding kit for corn planters that would allow this large piece of farm equipment to be folded up. This made the planter narrow enough to be put on a trailer for towing down a normal road. Another invention is the Kelderman Corn Reel, an attachment for a harvesting combine. This came about when a storm came through the area and knocked down all the cornstalks just before harvest, a situation that generally made harvesting the corn take six or eight times as long, says Jeff. The Kelderman Corn Reel enabled the corn to be harvested from the now-horizontal position, saving farmers both time and crops.

"A lot of our stuff is driven by what people need," says Jeff Kelderman. Among the most popular items the company offers is the airbag suspension for the Ford F-53. This is among the most popular chassis used for Class A motor­homes, with close to half a million on the road. Although many diesel rigs have an air suspension, the gas engine coaches do not, and the Keldermans had no doubt owners of gasoline versions would want the same ride comfort as diesel owners. Thus a system was developed for both the front and rear of the chassis using airbags to soften the ride.

The front system incorporates a softer-rate front leaf spring along with a center-mounted airbag. The Keldermans say this results in a better ride that's not just more comfortable but will help the coach last longer. The front system even removes the jarring from the steering column. The leaf springs are left in place so in the unlikely event an airbag loses pressure, there is still support from the original or replacement springs. A harsh ride is ample evidence that the pressure needs to be checked.