Farms & Farm Machinery #401

Review
A
B
C
same material they used to make ice hockey rinks
(hence they can withstand the impact of hockey
pucks even while frozen).
It’s notoriously tough and easily handles large
loads being dumped on it. Another benefit is that
it doesn’t wear, like plate off teel, allowing the
machine to look smarter for longer. The rear floor is
15mm thick and the cross-conveyor floor is 12mm.
It’s all much thicker, more flexible, and less
prone to banging, vibration, and fatigue in
comparison to steel.
LOADING AND HAULING
As mentioned, the low loading height is a real sales
point of the RX. Another handy feature when loading
are the snazzy MiNT edition white mudguards.
These are now sloped so that mud and acidic
forage don’t sit on the mudguards causing them
to prematurely rust out.
The ground clearance has been increased
(particularly the side elevator), proving great for
over humps and hollows in paddocks, as well as
making it a lot easier getting into gateways and
over races with a large crown on them.
A significant proportion of the large RXs are used
on multiple blocks where carting silage (and a lot of
it) on the road is one of the main prerequisites in the
job description. To cater for this, the tridem axles
on the RX218 are all sprung, braked, and with a rear
steering axle.
The RX218 is shod on 500/45 R22.5 wide, low
profile tyres, which are great for reduced ground
compaction in the wet, as well as added safety on
hills and smooth riding on the road.
A
The FeedLink (scales) allows accurate
weighing regardless of whether the
machine is on a tractor or the jack stand
B
The tilting elevator allows for easy
feeding, even over a temporary fence
C
Feeding into troughs is straightforward
and accurate
D
Tridem springs are on the RX218 model,
with a walking beam tandem on the
RX148 and 178 models
E
The tridem axle travelled exceptionally
well on and off the roa
SCALES AND FEEDLINK
All RX models come ‘scale ready’. The load cells
themselves on these machines are 120,000kg
rated, nearly two-and-a-half times stronger than
on its predecessor. This combined with the
integrated positioning of the scales means you
can get away with fewer load cells but still achieve
accurate weighing.
The RX218 comes standard with four scales on
the main bin (as it runs a twin chassis for the sprung
axles), and two up the front on top of the drawbar –
delivering accurate weight whether the machine
is on a tractor or the jack stand.
D
E
Farms & Farm Machinery
61