Farms & Farm Machinery #401
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Review<br />
A<br />
B<br />
C<br />
same material they used to make ice hockey rinks<br />
(hence they can withstand the impact of hockey<br />
pucks even while frozen).<br />
It’s notoriously tough and easily handles large<br />
loads being dumped on it. Another benefit is that<br />
it doesn’t wear, like plate off teel, allowing the<br />
machine to look smarter for longer. The rear floor is<br />
15mm thick and the cross-conveyor floor is 12mm.<br />
It’s all much thicker, more flexible, and less<br />
prone to banging, vibration, and fatigue in<br />
comparison to steel.<br />
LOADING AND HAULING<br />
As mentioned, the low loading height is a real sales<br />
point of the RX. Another handy feature when loading<br />
are the snazzy MiNT edition white mudguards.<br />
These are now sloped so that mud and acidic<br />
forage don’t sit on the mudguards causing them<br />
to prematurely rust out.<br />
The ground clearance has been increased<br />
(particularly the side elevator), proving great for<br />
over humps and hollows in paddocks, as well as<br />
making it a lot easier getting into gateways and<br />
over races with a large crown on them.<br />
A significant proportion of the large RXs are used<br />
on multiple blocks where carting silage (and a lot of<br />
it) on the road is one of the main prerequisites in the<br />
job description. To cater for this, the tridem axles<br />
on the RX218 are all sprung, braked, and with a rear<br />
steering axle.<br />
The RX218 is shod on 500/45 R22.5 wide, low<br />
profile tyres, which are great for reduced ground<br />
compaction in the wet, as well as added safety on<br />
hills and smooth riding on the road.<br />
A<br />
The FeedLink (scales) allows accurate<br />
weighing regardless of whether the<br />
machine is on a tractor or the jack stand<br />
B<br />
The tilting elevator allows for easy<br />
feeding, even over a temporary fence<br />
C<br />
Feeding into troughs is straightforward<br />
and accurate<br />
D<br />
Tridem springs are on the RX218 model,<br />
with a walking beam tandem on the<br />
RX148 and 178 models<br />
E<br />
The tridem axle travelled exceptionally<br />
well on and off the roa<br />
SCALES AND FEEDLINK<br />
All RX models come ‘scale ready’. The load cells<br />
themselves on these machines are 120,000kg<br />
rated, nearly two-and-a-half times stronger than<br />
on its predecessor. This combined with the<br />
integrated positioning of the scales means you<br />
can get away with fewer load cells but still achieve<br />
accurate weighing.<br />
The RX218 comes standard with four scales on<br />
the main bin (as it runs a twin chassis for the sprung<br />
axles), and two up the front on top of the drawbar –<br />
delivering accurate weight whether the machine<br />
is on a tractor or the jack stand.<br />
D<br />
E<br />
<strong><strong>Farm</strong>s</strong> & <strong>Farm</strong> <strong>Machinery</strong><br />
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