By Mike Osenga

The concept of an original equipment manufacturer taking its vertically integrated and/or out-sourced components and offering those products to other manufacturers is not a new concept. There are a number of these programs in place and doing quite well in the off-highway, marine and on-highway mobile (and stationary) equipment markets.

What strikes you about the newly formed OEM Division of Harlan Corp. isn't just an OEM taking components to market, it's the sheer volume of components being offered through this new program.

Harlan Tractor Corp is an established manufacturer of aviation ground support equipment for military and commercial use. As such, it makes a number of its own components, axles, complete chassis  adaptors, and welded frames. All of which incidentally, meet military specification Mi1-I-45208, and which Harlan claims can deliver cost savings of 20 percent with "one stop shopping".

 Over the years, Harlan has contracted with a large number of overseas suppliers, many in the Far East, to make components to Harlan specifications, for use in Harlan equipment.

  Now, the Kansas City, Kansas, manufacturer has married the two component sources, outside suppliers from 15 different countries, and in-house capabilities. Harlan is offering its own components to other original equipment manufacturers, as well as representing many of their offshore suppliers in the U.S. market, all under the Harlan OEM banner.

A listing of the Harlan product portfolio reads like a "who's who" of driveline components and leaves few areas of engine-powered equipment design untouched. For example. Harlan OEM is the exclusive distributor (outside South America) for Piumetto, an Argentine wheel manufacturer. In the U.S., Harlan is a manufacturer's rep for Unlimited Services, a manufacturer of wiring harnesses, and Westland Steel Products, a Canadian manufacturer of grade 5 and 8 special bolts.

And according to Norton Wheeler, managing director of Harlan OEM, that's exactly the idea. "Finding vendors for the range of products that go into mobile equipment can be expensive, time consuming and sometimes frustrating. When we looked at what we make ourselves and what we sourced from other manufacturers for our equipment, we realized we had a pretty complete list of products that we could take to market. So we decided to do exactly that."  

.Starting with the power train, Harlan builds its own steer and drive axles for off-highway vehicles up to 7.5 ton gvw. Beyond that, Harlan offers: transfer cases; wheels, axle shafts; oil seals; pins and bushings; steering gears and parts; brake assemblies, shoes and cylinders; adaptors for Perkins diesels to Ford C6 transmissions; flywheels and flywheel ring gears; many different types of gears themselves; hydraulic packing; differentials with ring gears up to 15 in.; and spindles.

In the electronic area, Harlan offers electrical gauges, switches and senders; wiring harnesses; and a number of different cable types.

In the accessory area there's: radiators and caps; bearings; fuel tanks; wiper motors; arms and blades; flameproof fuel caps; and mounts, hoses and other rubber parts.
Under the machined parts banner Harlan offers: machined castings in steel, ductile iron and gray iron; steel parts that require cutting, bending, machining, and/or welding; small stampings and parts made from stampings; and forging and investment castings.  

Throw in the fact that Harlan has built complete, private-labeled tractors, and that covers just about the entire power system, as well as almost all the product groups surrounding the power system.

While an in depth look at all of these products would take a book, a glimpse at some of the more major components provides an idea of the type of products Harlan is offering to the OEM market.
Harlan's drive axles offer a six gear differential with a two piece differential housing that allows the use of lockable thrust washers to eliminate any relative motion between the housing and other moving parts re-suiting in longer housing life.

The ends are bolted, not welded, allowing the user to replace only the axle ends, not the entire axle. The housings are made of 4140 steel and have heavier centerpiece and housing ends for more stiffness and increased capacity on the axle. The axles also have the provision for dual disc brakes.

Harlan also offers a range of steer axles with forged knuckles, steering arm and axle center ends. The company's standard heavy-duty front steer axle uses 1-1/8 in. king pins.

The radiator product family features all copper tubing, heavy-duty coils and double soldered construction with brass tanks. The instrumentation line offered includes temperature, oil pressure and fuel gauges as well as an ammeter and hour meter. All gauges are metal with universal markings, lighted gauge face and a ceramic resistor.

And as the list above illustrates, there's plenty more. In a way, it's not surprising that such a broad range of products have been packaged together from one source; the industry has been moving in that direction for a number of years. However, the Harlan OEM program is about the most extensive we've seen to date, and being a new program for the heavy-duty industry we'll be interested in following its progress.