On review: Smyth's tri-axle Supercube shows big gains on long draws

With limited skilled labour available in the sector, short weather windows with an increased emphasis on making top-quality silage, agricultural contractors are investing in bigger kit to get through more work in limited timeframes.

Years ago, 12ft to 16ft silage trailers were all the go. These trailers suited the tractors of that era, and there were more contractors around and silage quality wasn’t seen as the priority it is today. This is changing rapidly, and today there are less and less 18ft and 20ft trailers being sold, with a push towards 22ft and up to 25ft trailers, depending on the part of the country.

Over the past couple of years, there has been a trend towards tri-axle trailers with larger contractors, more so in the south, east and in some areas of Northern Ireland. To showcase the versatility of its tri-axle trailers, Carlow-based Smyth Trailers gave us a demonstration of a 25ft Supercube 50m3 trailer for a few days last summer.

The spec

The trailer featured is 25ft long (7.6m) and 8.3ft (2.55m) wide with an overall height of 12.8ft (3.9m) and an internal height of 8.6ft (2.62m), which Smyth says gives it a payload capacity of 50m3.

Sitting on three axles, the trailer is shod on 560/60 R22.5 BKT tyres. Both the front and rear axles are force-steered, which is also known as positive steering. This means the axles don’t have to be locked straight for reversing.

The trailer follows the movements of the tractor through a bar attached to a smaller ball and spoon that runs parallel to the drawbar, a similar system to what is used on forage wagons and some rakes on today’s market. To run this, the tractor needs to be fitted with a ball and spoon-type hitch.

The trailer features Distag-sourced running gear and a Donatelli single tipping ram.

Other specs include auto reversing lights, a hydraulic tailboard, LED lights and air and hydraulic brakes.

First impressions are that the trailer is an absolute beast. It’s clearly well-engineered and the design is well thought out. We pulled the trailer with a JCB 8330, which was overkill and ran around with the trailer at its ease.

The steering system on the trailer meant it followed the tractor extremely well. We tried it out on a couple of hilly fields, and it proved to be very steady.

On the road with the Fastrac, the tri-axle proved steadier than any of the other 18ft to 22ft trailers on the same job. With a good operator, you probably would bring the 25ft Smyth trailer with the two steering axles in most gaps that you would bring a 22ft tandem axle with a steering axle.

We ran the trailer alongside 18ft, 20ft and 22ft trailers, and obviously expected the 25ft Smyth to bring a lot more grass.

However, it surpassed our expectations and brought significantly more grass.

In fact, we guesstimate that it brought almost double the load of a standard 18ft trailer. Why? Well due to the length of the trailer, when you fill the back, then move to the front and vice versa, the load gets significantly more time to settle than it does in a smaller trailer. This, coupled with the overhanging front Supercube design, allowed it to carry a huge load.

The positive steering system was very impressive.

With a standard steering axle, you need to be wary to lock it when you get out on the road. With the positive steering, this isn’t a worry.

We found it to follow the tractor very nicely on the road and in the field. The only thing I would be afraid of is damaging the arm that runs up alongside the drawbar when reversing in a tight yard. Now to be fair to Smyth, they have the arm protected with a rounded tubular section welded onto the drawbar.

As mentioned, we ran the trailer alongside 18ft non steering trailers, and although much bigger, it probably turned tight even kinder on the ground than a much smaller non-steering trailer.

Based three miles from Clonroche in Co Wexford, Aidan Wickham runs a sizeable contracting outfit. He runs four 25ft Smyth Supercube trailers, and four standard Smyth trailers, which range from 20ft to 24ft. He also has a new 25ft Smyth Supercube on order.

“We typically run five big trailers with our Claas Jaguar 980. If these were all 20ft trailers, I honestly believe we would need seven tractors and trailers to match the same output capacity as the five big trailers.

“With the scarcity of skilled labour in our sector, having to employee one less person that’s already difficult to source is a great help.

“We are big fans of the positive steering setup. I honestly think you will bring a 25ft tri-axle trailer anywhere you will bring a 22ft tandem axle trailer. I find that the two steering axles (front and rear) are very easy on tyres, especially when turning in and around farmyards.

“To be fair, you do want a bigger tractor for comfort, but we do pull the big trailers with ballasted John Deere 6155Rs when tractors are tight. They are under pressure, but they work away fine with the trailers drawing grass.

“For comfort, you would want the equivalent size tractor of a John Deere 6210R or a 6215R. At maize last autumn, we were weighing loads with the maize being sold by the tonne. The 25ft Supercubes were bringing 24t to 25t loads, in comparison to the standard 20ft trailers which were bringing 15t to 16t loads. In addition, the tri-axle trailers are steadier on the road than the tandem axles.

“Some farmers were a bit anxious when they saw the big trailers, but the trailers are only 3ft longer and they have an extra axle, so they are actually easier on the ground. For example, we run a four-rotor rake that gathers 40 to 45 swarths. We found that turning from one row to the next with 22ft trailers can leave scuff marks. With the two steering axles on the 25ft trailers, you don’t get this.

“With the way tractors are getting bigger, draws are getting longer and labour is getting harder to find, I think we will be buying all 25ft trailers going forward. The Smyth trailers are well-built and they are reliable,” said Aidan.