Gehl V400 opinions?

UrDaddie · Mar 8, 2016

I'm considering a c/h/a Gehl V400 on metal Grousers over foam filled 14x17.5s running an M&M Hydra Clip shear/grapple for pasture clearing of bois-d'arc, cedar, mesquite, prickly ash, sumac, oaks etc. Many trees will be too big for even a V400. I'll need something else for them. I need a skid steer for other purposes, that's why I'm considering a V400 first instead of a Fecon or a Rayco purpose-built - maybe later.

I'm very interested in any opinions especially on the V400, but on any of the setup. It seems that the V400 must not have much market penetration because I can find very few opinions on it. Thanks in advance!

UrDaddie · Mar 17, 2016

Not much opinion out there in TBN land about V400's I guess. Maybe I should get one of these and put OTTs on it? ;-)

harwest · Mar 18, 2016

photo of our loader, mulcher on Mustang 4000v (gehl), in Texas is warmer than in Russia, it is better to install an additional oil cooler, in general a good machine

UrDaddie · Mar 18, 2016

harwest said:
photo of our loader, mulcher on Mustang 4000v (gehl), in Texas is warmer than in Russia, it is better to install an additional oil cooler, in general a good machine

Very mean bada$$ looking machine sir! Did you leave your 4000V unattended in the forest during lunch and your Prentice 2864 had his way with her, producing that? If The Dakar ever opens a skid steer category, you should consider entering it. I bet it would beat Eduard Nikolaev's Kamaz. :cool2:

Seriously, what wheels and tires did you put on that? Are they foam filled? Did it need spacers? How wide is it wearing those tires? What is the resulting ground clearance? How does it do in mud and muck? One of the major reasons I keep considering getting a Terex PT110 Forestry is because of it's awesome best-in-class ground clearance (and flotation). And just wire undercarriage maintenance costs into our rates. Anyone have any thoughts on that? How important is ground clearance in your CTL/MTL/skid steer mulching purchase decision making? Looks like very important to harwest.

About the add-on hydraulics cooler idea for mulching with a V400 or a 4000V, any idea how to do that? Who makes a cooler that would work? Is anyone already doing that? If so, what should I look out for?

Fasttalker · Mar 18, 2016

Talk to the folks at Lynn Hendrix in Livingston TX, I've been running one of their 2109 Mustangs for several years. Got over 3000 hours out of one set of tires. The ott grousers work really well for me, you do give up some traction, but the durability is great. By the way,a reversing fan is a MUST if you want to keep your machine cool. Good luck.

Fasttalker · Mar 18, 2016

Also grouser tracks work better with air filled tires. I run the "rock crawler" tread pattern at 80 psi. It's a lot easier to adjust or remove the tracks when you can let the air pressure down.