Opico Skidster or sherpa mini loaders

[Mick Dempsey]

4 minutes ago, doobin said:

Fk me, just ‘up to five hours operation’ from 28 litres of petrol 🤦‍♂️ are they really that bad on juice? 

I suppose a 25 hp petrol grinder will use that running flat out for 5 hours.

[lux]

10 hours ago, doobin said:

Yeah, I’m thinking it will be a halfway house between my Sherpa and multione. Will see if it comes in handy for any jobs and if not then move it on. 

whats the fitment for attachments ? Did it come with any ?

[woody paul]

1 hour ago, doobin said:

Fk me, just ‘up to five hours operation’ from 28 litres of petrol 🤦‍♂️ are they really that bad on juice? 

What,,, me little loader will run for 20 hours on that much fuel. 

[doobin]

2 hours ago, lux said:

whats the fitment for attachments ? Did it come with any ?

One bucket, but an hours machining of the backplate will see Sherpa attachments drop on.

 

It's exactly the right size, just needs the tipping pin welded in or a roll in through the clevis rather than the current big fat washer and bolt in order to allow clearance for the two middle hooks. The plate is a mil or two too thick so either grind or do a nice job with a 20mm endmill.

Edited March 26, 2023 by doobin

[doobin]

18 minutes ago, woody paul said:

What,,, me little loader will run for 20 hours on that much fuel. 

So will the Sherpa. Guess the Yanks don't care as gas is so cheap! 🤑

Edited March 26, 2023 by doobin

[lux]

2 minutes ago, doobin said:

One bucket, but an hours machining of the backplate will see Sherpa attachments drop on.

 

It's exactly the right size, just needs the tipping pin welded in rather than a big fat washer to allow clearance for the two middle hooks, and the place is a mill too thick so either grind or do a nice job with a 20mm endmill.

Is it a standalone design.  ? I.e my worky quad uses the same as the avant so that range is interchangeable, as long as it’s not too big or heavy for a smaller machine.  

[lux]

5 minutes ago, doobin said:

So will the Sherpa. Guess the Yanks don't care as gas is so cheap!

It’s not though. Well 6 months ago they were hardly paying less than us which given the sharp and huge percentage it increased must of been a hard pill to swallow. No idea if those prices have fallen sharply again.  
My tracked grinder uses and American v twin Kohler. 38 hp. 
I can easily stick £80 a day in petrol through it if doing some hefty hard stumps all day that make it work hard.   I went for the petrol as the initial outlay and servicing is cheaper but in hindsight maybe diesel would of been better 

been a good machine though so mustn’t grumble.

a recent switch to multi tip teeth from rhino teeth has improved economy.  

[doobin]

22 minutes ago, lux said:

Is it a standalone design.  ? I.e my worky quad uses the same as the avant so that range is interchangeable, as long as it’s not too big or heavy for a smaller machine.  

Same as Dingo, Toro and Vermeer as I understand it. Very commom in the States and Aus. Actually a very similar design to Avant but a touch wider.

[josharb87]

14 hours ago, doobin said:

Little Sherpa has a friend! Picked this up cheap at £4k- think I will

need to get a pump or motor refurbed as one track is lazy and the pump for it squeals when you push it. 
 

It’s not been looked after, so I gave it a a steam off and a service straight away. Amazingly I had the right filters for engine and hydraulic on the shelf. The pins and bushes have no, and I mean no, wear in them- it’s well built. 
 

came with one bucket, but with an hour of machining on the headstock and a dab of weld, all my Sherpa attachments will fit straight on!

 

Its a 20hp petrol Kohler- that’s gonna hurt to run, I can tell 🤣 Still, cheap enough to test the concept. It’s an animal in the dirt, really pushes compared to the Sherpa, although the lazy track means I can’t get its full potential from it yet. 

Apparently it’s got 42l/min flow, so will be a good carrier for the log splitter or maybe even the trencher. Not tested lift capacity properly yet but I’d guesstimate almost double of the Sherpa. 

 

what would one of these new cost, £20k? 

 

Sounds a bargain despite the motor! Quick look on some European sites and cheapest are about 10k with 800+hours
 

Hope it’s legit 😂

[doobin]

17 minutes ago, lux said:

It’s not though. Well 6 months ago they were hardly paying less than us which given the sharp and huge percentage it increased must of been a hard pill to swallow. No idea if those prices have fallen sharply again.  
My tracked grinder uses and American v twin Kohler. 38 hp. 
I can easily stick £80 a day in petrol through it if doing some hefty hard stumps all day that make it work hard.   I went for the petrol as the initial outlay and servicing is cheaper but in hindsight maybe diesel would of been better 

been a good machine though so mustn’t grumble.

a recent switch to multi tip teeth from rhino teeth has improved economy.  

I can run my 38hp tractor with stump grinder on 25-30 litres of red for a day of hard grinding. So that's £22-28!

 

Diesel has always been cheaper for the HP than petrol (even when leaving red out of it and just comparing petrol with DERV). The upfront cost of a diesel engine was always slightly more, and the emmissions bollocks is what's really killed it- I was told around £6k on the cost of Euro 4 engine with DPF etc vs the same HP at Euro 3. Hence the big switch to petrol engines- but there's no way these will last as long as a diesel. Now Arb is OK on red again I think we will see a surge of sales of diesel kit as people swallow the extra emmisions costs so they can run red.