Rippa R918E

The R918E is the first backhoe loader in the range with an enclosed cab and road travel, and this is where a different category of work begins: loading ballast and soil into a truck with the 0.8 m³ front bucket, stripping topsoil from sites, maintaining country roads and digging utility trenches with the 0.18 m³ rear bucket. It dumps at a height of 2.9 m, straight into the body of a tipper truck, and lifts 1,800 kg.

What sets it apart from the smaller machine are the cab and the transmission. The cab has heating, a fan, a sliding window and an adjustable swivel seat, and it tilts forward for servicing, so you can reach the mechanicals without dismantling anything. The gearbox has four forward and four reverse gears and takes the machine up to 28 km/h on 23.5/70-16 tyres — it moves between sites on its own wheels, without a trailer. The engine is an inline Yunnei YN27GB, direct-injection, four-stroke and water-cooled.

It is the right machine for small construction firms that both dig and load on the same day, for municipal services and town halls, for large farms and gravel pits. At 4,200 kg, 6.8 m long, 1.9 m wide and with 300 mm of ground clearance, it copes with poor access roads, while the ±35 degree steering angle and the 4.6 m minimum turning radius keep it manoeuvrable within an enclosed site.

The loader bucket and digging bucket come as standard, along with A-frame stabiliser legs with locking and cushioned swing of the rear boom. The controls are mixed: mechanical pilot on the loader and hydraulic pilot on the backhoe boom. On request, the manufacturer also fits other engines — Changchai Euro 5, Kohler EPA4 or Cummins EPA4 — for those who need a particular emission standard.

Standard equipment

• Yunnei YN27GB engine, inline, direct injection, four-stroke, water-cooled
• Enclosed cab with heating, fan, sliding window and adjustable swivel seat
• 0.8 m³ loader bucket and 0.18 m³ digging bucket
• Gearbox with four forward and four reverse gears, up to 28 km/h
• A-frame stabiliser legs with locking and cushioned swing of the rear boom
• 23.5/70-16 tyres, 300 mm ground clearance, 1,800 kg lifting capacity