Gavin Wilson of Havard Logging in Masterton was so impressed when he bought the first-in-the-world Hitachi ZX400L-7G that he got busy and bought the second one in the world as well.
He says at the top of his list of favourite things about the Hitachis are reliability, cost-effectiveness and performance.
Gavin started out at Havard Logging straight from school in 1985 and along with his wife, Donna, bought the company in 2021. With a fleet of 18 Hitachis (23 if including subcontractors) it’s fair to say Havard Logging runs the Hitachi Army across their six crews with a total of 36 staff including office staff and two mechanics.
We’re here today to test the 400L-7G with its Pro Steel 1800 grapple and a live heel. The second 400L-7G Gavin ordered will get a Satco felling head.
It is years since we have tested a Hitachi and, on arrival, the 400L-7G is dressed to impress with a new, stronger and more efficient engine, next-larger-class undercarriage components including carrier rollers and track motors, plus a higher track frame. But more about that later.
The dirt here is unusual. It is a good base. Where machines have tracked on it repeatedly there is a mild amount of mud developing but, for the most part, this ground is really good to work on. It looks like it has a layer of course volcanic ash or fine scoria, similar to Northern Kaingaroa but also mixed in with some clay patches.
Havard Logging are shovel loggers and all the Hitachi 400’s have live heels.
The best guess as to why is the terrain. It obviously suits groundbased but with short steep pinches there is a fair bit of area where a skidder might struggle. Short enough steep pinches for an excavator of the 400 class to pass them through though, so an excellent choice of extraction machine for the terrain.
Improvements galore
Back to that undercarriage. Starting at the bottom there are thickened plates, the top and bottom rollers are from a 500 weight class machine (both end-supported) as are the track links and side track frames. The height of the track frames has also been raised for higher rigidity and there are idler brackets, shoe guides and upper and lower roller brackets to further increase durability and operational strength. The track motor guarding is now made from 12mm plate with a block bar to increase protection.
Moving to the boom there is a factory high lift bracket to increase loading height.
In the cab we have some obvious ergonomic improvements to get things more at your fingertips. Revs, climate control and sounds are all within easy reach of the right-hand joystick.
Inspecting the specs there is a good selection of alarms for the really important stuff i.e., engine overheat and low oil pressure, but also alarms for hydraulic filter restrictions and air filter restrictions. A much better idea than just having a visual warning on the monitor which you’re not going to be looking at if you’re in the flow of shovelling in steep hill country...
