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[bonner1040]

So whats the weight of the 540 with grapple?

 

[lumberjack]

I would have to take mine over scales, but I believe ~8klbs.

 

[bonner1040]

Oh, I thought it was heavier..

 

[lumberjack]

If you were of the mind you could take one of the counterweights off and remove the fluid in the rear tires. Add a suitcase rack on the back of the machine and carry the weights in the pickup.

 

[rangerdanger]

Wait, are the tires on the 540 fluid filled?

 

[lumberjack]

The rear are, as well as a counter weight under the engine and the bumper counterweight on the rear.

 

[rangerdanger]

Sweet. I was gonna ask about that for increasing capacity, but that saves me that trouble.

 

[treesmith]

I told Carl if Gehl would beef up the hoods, you could just put a rumble seat in them and when extra weight is needed, flip the hood open and have someone hop on. Presto! Extra ballast!

I was planning on fluid filling all my duals (outer tires only) for extra weight but I've about decided it won't be necessary.

 

[lumberjack]

The service manual for the 540 lists the weight of the 2 post AL540 as 7290lbs with a 165lb operator, Titan HD2000II tires, counterweight, and the rear tires fluid filled. Subtract the operator's weight and you're at 7125. Dave says the HD BMG weighs 380lbs, so that put its weight at 7505lbs. Cab and air adds 330lbs.

So, call it 7500lbs... it wouldn't be that difficult to have a capable trailer that weighs under 2500lbs keeping you under CDL. The 540 without an attachment is 149" long (12' 5").

Justin, did you figure out the height required?

According to the service manual:
The pins are 8" off the ground with the arms lowered
The 540 has 120"/10'/3.05m of height to the raised bucket pins.

Using the specs dirt/construction bucket:
35* of rollback/45* dump at full height
17.5" of dump reach at full height
142" max reach height


All that to say... with a high dump/roll out bucket, you can add at least 1.5' to the bucket pin height, likely more, and still have good reach and excellent dump angle.

 

[bonner1040]

Thanks for all the info Carl!

 

[lumberjack]

No problem! I'm thinking of hosting a demo day/weekend/something somewhere and have a 420, 140, 540, and maybe a 340 there as well as a smattering of attachments and perhaps other machines.

Just an idea currently.

 

[bonner1040]

That sounds awesome... I know you have a bunch of video cameras but I have a few too! You should do them in a few locations.

 

[lumberjack]

I'm thinking more for fence riders, they come to me. The shin dig would need to sell machines to make it worth while. Although having it here would greatly lower costs and I could (likely) get a 420 shipped down. I need to get one down here anyways to do promo vids and such.

Regarding cameras, I want a couple more Heros, and a camcorder as well, likely a Cannon. Maybe a DSLR as well. Traffic and attributable income stemming from my videos dictates the budget.

 

[bonner1040]

Yeah. If you thought you could produce a TV quality commercial you could sure justify buying some nice equipment compared to paying to have a good commercial produced by a 3rd party.

But then its the balance between ROI on a commercial and investment outlaid for production. Either way its a tax writeoff!

 

[lumberjack]

Yep. Not really a commercial, more along the lines of snazzy promo videos. The Heros are great, but they are limited.

Another thing to factor in is production lost due to messing with cameras. They already eat up an hour a day I bet. Also it's tough to run the machines and the cameras at the same time.

 

[Arborkeith]

So does anyone have any close
Up pics of the articulating point on the 540? I have two kubota 520's and to load a full sized dump truck. It seems perfect. With the shorter 540 lift height, it doesn't sound like it would work. But the kubota pivot is beefy as hell. Adrian said that the gehl controls are smoother. But I'm ok with that. I'm interested in heavy duty.

 

[lumberjack]

Tandem dumps? Yeah you would need a high dump bucket. Given the price difference between the 520 and 540, you could buy a high dump bucket and have cab and air for less than the cheapest price I've heard for a 520. Compared to the local price of a 520, you could have a 540 with cab, air, high dump bucket, BMG HD, and have it all shipped to you for less than the 520. There are quite a few advantages going for the 540 for doing tree work. Narrower width, higher breakout force, differential locks...

I can take pictures tomorrow. Here's what I can offer now:

 

[Arborkeith]

Appreciate the response. We have the bradco dirt/grapple on both of our 520 kubota and I like that setup. I've heard before that the high dumb buckets can be weaker, but I've never experienced it. I can get a brand new R520S here with the bradco grapple for 51k. Price isn't always my deciding factor though, and I will be looking for a newer machine in the future. Appreciate any info you have.

 

[lumberjack]

I don't get what you mean by weaker?

How much is the grapple by itself? Also, what kind of work do you do with the loaders?

Base price on an AL540 is around $41k.


If you note, the specs towards the top favor the 520 by a small amount, 220lbs in the straight tipping load for example. However the 520 weighs 1700lbs more than the 540 and is dimensionally larger. Also the tractive effort of the 520 is lacking, although I can't find the spec currently. Anther 540 advantage is differential locks instead of limited slips.

Also I haven't found a wheel loader with better controls than the 540...which is what initially got me interested in Gehl to start with.

 

[lumberjack]

A manual quick attack is an option on the 520?! Also it requires the counterweight "option". I feel like I'm missing something, but I can't see how I am.

 

[Arborkeith]

Mine came with the larger counterweight option, and we do tree work, right of ways, land clearing, dirt work, etc. I think you may be making a bigger deal out of the limited slip than is necessary. The only time that I've stuck my machines is when I got in ground that I shouldn't be walking in, much less bringing a full sized machine in. Load height is originally what made me get the 520, and I change buckets about twice a year, so the coupling mechanism is irrelevant.

 

[lumberjack]

Differential locks are handy for doing dirt work or even to prevent wheel spin when traversing an obstacle in a customers yard/landscape or pulling a tree.

I might look into installing a counter to see how often I use the diff locks. It's fairly regular though.

I was surprised they don't offer a universal quick attach standard. What's your machine weigh with the counterweight?


Soft ground eh? Haha

 

[Arborkeith]

Wet I think it's 9400#, but I could be way off, haven't looked at the specs since we bought the newest one in 05. We had a guy turn one of ours over years ago. Stood it back up, and rock and roll. Haha

 

[lumberjack]

Haha I laid my 340 over in 2011 I believe. Stood it back up with the grinder and truck and finished the job!

 

[Arborkeith]

Also, not trying to be argumentative, but when dealing with a machine the size of the 540 or 520s, inches rarely matter on machine width. And I've always been told that a broader stance is more stabile. When working with a 5k chunk of wood, I want to be as stabile as possible . The guy working for me that flipped the 520 was unloading a roll off box from a flat deck 18 wheeler trailer. He let the hydraulics run down too quick and flipped it at his own fault. It wasn't doing tree work. How did you flip yours?