Smyth Trailers, imported by Toplink Machinery, is gaining a loyal following.
Set up in 1994, Smyth Trailers is located in County Carlow, Ireland, a country that’s a hotbed of trailer production. Promoting the line ‘built by contractors for contractors’, the company makes trailers for roots, grain, silage, hay and dumping, and offers a bespoke service to individual specifications.
One such unit, for Southern contractor Hayden McKenzie, made its debut at Waimumu in the shape of a FM 18 Super Cube unit with nominal volume of 50 cu.m. The 2.9m wide trailer has a sloping front headboard that helps increase overall capacity by 8 cu.m.
A heavy-duty chassis uses single 100 x 50mm leaf springs mounted above a 127mm, 10-stud axle that is said to offer improved ground clearance in difficult conditions.
At the drawbar, a single transverse leaf spring provides suspension and doubles to carry out a load-sensing function to give smooth, progressive braking via the 420 x 180mm commercial-grade brake set-up.
This makes for better tyre wear on the BKT 560-65R22.5 rubber, which in turn is mounted on 50mm oversize rims to reduce tyre roll -- important when each tyre is rated to seven tonnes.
The heavy-duty body with one-piece floor tapers to be 100mm wider at the rear, for easier unloading and less risk of vertical jack-knifing.
Twin, chrome plated lift rams lift the load and, interestingly, these are plumbed through twin return lines to help reduce cycle times during unloading.
At the rear, a high-clearance door allows rapid discharge, and the lifting arms are at least 2.5m above ground level, eliminating the risk of catching gateposts in areas of limited access.
Standard equipment includes a mesh upper panel in the front headboard to allow the driver to see the load, LED rear lighting, auto reversing lights mounted on the main chassis, a hydraulic parking jack, rear trailer hitch and a bolt-on ring hitch on the drawbar.
The McKenzie trailer is also configured as ‘air-brake ready’ if needed in future.
