Gehl
Gehl VT230
The bright segment is what Gehl VT230 is rated to carry; the grey run past it is the rest of its tipping load. Bar length is tipping load drawn to the same scale on every machine on the site, so a short bar is a smaller machine and not a conservative rating.
Gehl publishes no list price for this machine, and we found no dealer listing worth quoting, so there is no number here to give you. What we can say is what the machines around it cost: the middle half of the 27 track loaders within 15 per cent of its capacity list between $65,297 and $75,366. That is a fact about them, not a quote for this one.
Mid-range vertical track loader rated 2,300 lbs at 35% of tipping load, sold by the parent company as the Manitou 2300VT. It sits between the VT210 and VT275 with the same 23 GPM hydraulics as the smaller machine but more frame and capacity behind them.
Also sold as
The same machine is sold as the Manitou 2300VT, which we do not list separately. Different paint and a different dealer network, same hardware.
Suits: Grading and material handling on soft ground where a 2,300 lb vertical lift is the right size Its vertical lift path reaches highest at full extension, for loading high-sided trucks and stacking.
Lifting and reach
- Rated operating capacityTrack loader rating convention
- 2,300 lbs
- Tipping load
- 6,572 lbs
- Lift height to hinge pin
- 121 in
- Lift path
- Vertical Lift
- Operating weight
- 9,191 lbs
Power and hydraulics
- Engine power
- 72 hp
- Engine
- Yanmar 4TNV98CT-XNGL
- Auxiliary flowStandard circuit
- 23 GPM
- Flow type
- Standard
- Warranty
- 2 yr / 2,000 hr
Fitted or available
What this machine can be ordered with. Some of these are standard and some cost extra, and which is which moves between trim levels, so check them against the quote rather than against this list.
What owners report
Summarised from the sources listed below. Nothing here was tested by us.
Tracks and vertical lift in the 2,300 lb band put this machine on ground where the wheeled V230 would churn, at the cost of about 1,400 lbs of extra weight and an undercarriage to maintain. What makes it easier to judge than most of the range is that Gehl publishes the capacity on both bases - 2,300 lbs at 35% of tipping load and 3,286 lbs at 50% - so it can be compared honestly against makers who headline either way.
The experience is the mid-range platform: a lift arm sloped away from the operator so mulch and soil shed rather than packing on, hydraulic lines routed inside the arms, a cab roughly 23% larger with reworked glass and a forward-sloping roof for visibility to the load, and seat-mounted pilot joysticks that move with the operator. Keyless start and LED lighting are part of the same generation, and the IdealAccess bi-folding door is available as an upgrade. IdealTrax is standard: a cylinder tensions the tracks when the engine starts and releases them when it stops, which Gehl credits with up to 15% more track life and which removes the periodic manual tensioning other machines need. The gaps are travel speed - no two-speed option is listed - and standard auxiliary flow, which stays at 23 GPM despite the step up in capacity.
Owners working soft ground, turf or slopes at moderate capacity get vertical geometry for truck loading. Gehl publishes no price, so collect quotes under both the Gehl and Manitou badges and buy from whichever dealer is nearer, because parts availability on a track machine matters more than the badge. Before signing, ask for the tipping load in writing since the spec sheet omits it, confirm what travel speed you are actually getting, and get the cost of a complete track set so the undercarriage is a known number from day one.
What owners like
- Gehl publishes both bases for this machine - 2,300 lbs at 35% of tipping load and 3,286 lbs at 50% - which is unusually transparent and makes cross-brand comparison possible without doing the arithmetic yourself.
- A 121-inch hinge pin with 37 inches of dump reach at full height loads standard truck bodies without repositioning the machine on every pass.
- 23 GPM standard flow with a 30 GPM high-flow option covers most brush cutters, brooms, augers and grapples without stepping up a frame size.
- The turbocharged Yanmar 4TNV98CT-XNGL is the same engine as the wheeled V230, so a mixed Gehl fleet shares filters, parts and one service relationship.
- IdealTrax is standard on the VT range - it tensions the tracks at start-up and releases tension at shutdown, credited with up to 15% more track life and removing a manual greasing job that otherwise recurs every 50 hours.
- A 38-gallon fuel tank against the wheeled V230's 28 gallons means it will genuinely run a full day on heavy work rather than needing a midday fill.
What owners complain about
- Gehl omits a tipping-load row for this model; the 6,572 lb figure has to be derived by doubling the published 50% rating rather than being stated outright, which is an odd gap on a published spec sheet.
- No two-speed travel option is listed, so travel speed is no better than the smaller machine below it - a real constraint on a 9,191 lb loader working a spread-out site.
- Standard auxiliary flow is 23 GPM, unchanged from the frame size below despite the extra capacity, so the high-flow option does more of the work here than the standard circuit does.
- At 9,191 lbs it needs proper transport, and track wear is a running cost the equivalent wheeled machine simply does not carry.
- Neither Gehl nor Manitou publishes a list price, and the range is recent enough that used examples are scarce, so there is little to check either a quote or a resale expectation against.
Drawn from gehl.com, compactequip.com, ope-plus.com, starequip.com.
What buyers ask
What is the VT230's tipping load?
Does it have two-speed travel?
How should I compare its capacity against other brands?
VT230 or the wheeled V230?
Do I need the high-flow option?
Put the Gehl VT230 against
Machines in the same range
The rest of the Gehl line
Gehl
Gehl RT105
$42,000
Also sold as the Manitou 1050RT
- Engine
- 35 hp
- Aux flow
- 15 GPM
- Weight
- 4,720 lbs
At 50.8 inches wide with a 34.7 hp Yanmar diesel, the Gehl RT105 targets backyard landscapers and rental fleets in the Bobcat T450/Cat 239D small-frame class. It's the smallest track loader in the Gehl line, a 4,720 lb radial-lift machine built by Manitou Group and also sold as the Manitou 1050 RT.
Full sheet & owner reports
Gehl
Gehl RT135
$48,000
Also sold as the Manitou 1350RT
- Engine
- 47 hp
- Aux flow
- 17 GPM
- Weight
- 6,510 lbs
Slotting between the gate-friendly RT105 and mid-frame RT165, the Gehl RT135 is a small-frame radial-lift compact track loader from Manitou Group, also sold as the Manitou 1350 RT. A 46.6 hp Yanmar diesel, a 1,350 lb rated capacity, and a 57-inch width aim it at the Bobcat T550/Cat 249D class.
Full sheet & owner reports
Gehl
Gehl RT165
$64,850
Also sold as the Manitou 1650RT
- Engine
- 70 hp
- Aux flow
- 18.7 GPM
- Weight
- 8,020 lbs
IdealTrax automatic track tensioning, a 69.9 hp Yanmar diesel and a 1,650 lb rated capacity make the Gehl RT165 a value-priced alternative to the Bobcat T595/T64 class. It's a mid-frame radial-lift compact track loader built by Manitou Group and sold in identical form as the Manitou 1650 RT.
Full sheet & owner reports