Farms & Farm Machinery #401

Review
Rear steering makes for a highly
manoeuvrable machine
Pluses
The rear pusher is a game changer for root crops such as
fodder beet. The soil and stones simply get pushed, so no
more chains and sprockets getting a hiding
Rear steering makes it very manoeuvrable for a large
machine
Spung axles mean it follows contours and travels well
on the road
Large load capacity
Smart looking, well-built machine
Feedlink is practical but also gives great flexibility
Two-mode joystick with a pause button is awesome
Front mesh and low loading height allow from the tractor
cab excellent visibility of exactly what’s going on inside
the wagon
Level floor means feed transitions onto the cross floor well
Puck board floor is durable and easy to replace if need be
Minuses
I’m impatient and I think the rear pusher should move
faster. Having said that because you can move the pusher
back (but can’t take the feed with it), you don’t want to get
too greedy
In certain situations on feedpads where the elevator can’t
be tilted right down, a little bit of feed dropped off the
elevator bars. On other pads, it performed flawlessly
Hustler Combi RX218
Round bales 10 per layer
Medium square bales 10–14
Large square bales (8ft long) 10–14
Loose silage (load level) 21.4 cubic metres
Loose silage (heaped load) 26 cubic metres
Maximum load 17,000kg
Overall width 3,035mm
Overall length 9,180mm
Overall height 2,650mm
Standard tyres 500/45R22.5 flotation grip
tread
Axle Tridem steering suspension
axle
Brakes Six-wheel braking
Weigh scales Feedlink weighing and feed
management system
Floors (bed floor/cross floor) 15mm HD Puck board/12mm
HD Puck board
Chains (bed/cross floor/ Twin 12,000lb roller chains
elevator)
Feed bars (bed/ cross floor/
elevator)
62 Farms & Farm Machinery
Twin hydraulic rams/ 65 x 35
RHS/40 x 40 RHS
Joystick In-cab electric control w/
Bale and Silage modes
Hydraulics required Three pair double-acting
plus brake coupling
Elevator 1,645mm-wide chain/slat
Jack 80mm two-speed screw,
with quick adjustment,
designed to be used as
quick hitch stand
Neatly stowed above the drawbar is the ‘brains
of the operation’ – connecting to the tech-savvy
Feedlink. This app-based system is compatible with
Apple iPhones and iPads. Feedlink gives a live reading
of how much is in the wagon, and it also allows
for herd feed management.
As an example: say you had 10 tonnes in the wagon,
and you want to feed this out to three different
mobs. Mob one in paddock 6 gets four tonnes. Mob
two in paddock 17 gets 3.5 tonnes, and Mob three
gets 2.5 tonnes in paddock 54. This system is great,
as it allows the driver to know exactly what to feed.
An audible alarm will sound and the weight flashes
red once the target is hit. Once in Wi-Fi or hotspot
range, this can be sent for traceability back to
management. It also runs a cumulative total, which
allows you to see how much forage has been to each
mob over a period (a month, or a season, etc).
IN-CAB OPERATION
The feed controller (separate from Feedlink) has also
been upgraded with a new in-cab monitor. This has
a switch at the bottom for either Bale mode or Silage
mode. Bale mode allows you to control everything
independently. The elevator needs to be engaged
through one of the spools on the tractor, and this
needs to be constantly pumping. You can then move
the rear pusher door backwards or forward, and
move the cross floor left or ight.
My favourite feature of the whole wagon is a
button on the end of the joystick, which pauses
everything. This is outstanding for feeding bales.
10 silage bales are a doddle.
15 per load is easily achievable
As bales tend to behave badly when being fed out
(on any machine), the ability to let the core roll back
into the wagon is epic.
Alternatively, if you can see a large lump going
over the elevator, you can pause it, let some drop;
then let the pause button out for a second so a little
bit more drops and so on. This is also handy when
feeding on a feed pad for the same reason.
Silage mode is more automated. The rear pusher
is still operated manually (and the pause button
can still be used), but the cross feed and the elevator
work in unison based on clever load sensing valves.
SUMMARY
In general, I think the majority of people were
staggered when Hustler announced that it was going
to drive a Valtra T174 and theRX218 wagon all the way
from Invercargill to Whangarei. To put it bluntly, they
thought we were crazy.
As the man behind the wheel, the driving wasn’t
that bad; the stops meant you saw a different part of
the country every day. The scenery was amazing,
thanks to sitting higher and going slower than a
car, and it allowed plenty of opportunities to take
in the views. The people we met along the way
were topnotch Kiwis, and overall, the farmers
were impressed.
The RX performed flawlessly and so I guess that
deems the whole venture a success. I was certainly
impressed at the variety of feed we used and how
well the machine handled it. It truly is the ultimate
all-rounder.