Opico Skidster or sherpa mini loaders

[AHPP]

A bargain for sale in Southampton earlier. £4.5k for machine, grab, drill and bucket. I paid nearly double that a few years ago. I have occasionally felt the shame of overpaying but it’s been so bloody useful that I don’t care that much. Until the next time I feel sore that is. 

[stampy]

New iteration of the turbo rake - old bit of seed drill scavenged from the farmyard and chopped about to sit on the back plate of the grab. Being able to push up big piles and then grab and move them is great. 

[josharb87]

7 hours ago, stampy said:

New iteration of the turbo rake - old bit of seed drill scavenged from the farmyard and chopped about to sit on the back plate of the grab. Being able to push up big piles and then grab and move them is great. 

 

that’s a great idea 

[Blah]

Haven't even had the Sherpa a month now and it's been so bloody useful. It doesn't necessarily make anything significantly quicker, but definitely a lot easier. 

 

Loading/unloading chip, moving bulk bags, loading logs onto a mate's truck, presenting logs at waist height for the little splitter, splitting straight into a crate that can be moved to the store and presented to be stacked at whatever height is easy, stacking up brash next to the chipper, cutting logs at waist height instead of on the ground, moving trailers and chippers when the customer have moved their car "out of the way".

 

Can't believe how little mess we made of a lawn yesterday. Rain was biblical and I genuinely reckon the trips we saved over manually dragging brash from a little willow pollard meant the lawn was looking better for using the Sherpa.

 

 

The engine sometimes stalls when I reach a ram limit, particularly tilting up /down or opening/closing the grab. Anybody else get this? This a problem, or just a function of having the basic Sherpa? 

Edited Tuesday at 08:37 by Blah

[Mick Dempsey]

On 07/09/2024 at 10:17, stampy said:

New iteration of the turbo rake - old bit of seed drill scavenged from the farmyard and chopped about to sit on the back plate of the grab. Being able to push up big piles and then grab and move them is great. 

On my rake the tines are the other way round, which tbh, works better.

[Mick Dempsey]

…..

Edited Tuesday at 09:04 by Mick Dempsey

[doobin]

2 hours ago, Blah said:

 

 

The engine sometimes stalls when I reach a ram limit, particularly tilting up /down or opening/closing the grab. Anybody else get this? This a problem, or just a function of having the basic Sherpa? 

‘Dead ending’ a service will often cause a stall, depending upon how the relief valves are set and the power of the engine. 
 

In this instance the 13hp engine doesn’t take much stalling, but it should die at full revs. Might want the relief valve adjusting a bit. 
 

Look what came out of the shed for the first time in months today!

[AHPP]

Does a Sherpa have relief valves? My Skidster doesn’t. 

[Mark Bolam]

5 hours ago, Blah said:

Haven't even had the Sherpa a month now and it's been so bloody useful. It doesn't necessarily make anything significantly quicker, but definitely a lot easier. 

 

Loading/unloading chip, moving bulk bags, loading logs onto a mate's truck, presenting logs at waist height for the little splitter, splitting straight into a crate that can be moved to the store and presented to be stacked at whatever height is easy, stacking up brash next to the chipper, cutting logs at waist height instead of on the ground, moving trailers and chippers when the customer have moved their car "out of the way".

 

Can't believe how little mess we made of a lawn yesterday. Rain was biblical and I genuinely reckon the trips we saved over manually dragging brash from a little willow pollard meant the lawn was looking better for using the Sherpa.

 

 

The engine sometimes stalls when I reach a ram limit, particularly tilting up /down or opening/closing the grab. Anybody else get this? This a problem, or just a function of having the basic Sherpa? 

 

Glad you’re getting on with it mate.

How are you transporting it?

[Blah]

On 24/09/2024 at 15:26, Mark Bolam said:

 

Glad you’re getting on with it mate.

How are you transporting it?

I had an Ifor 12x5 flatbed w/ dropsides before I bought the Sherpa, so it goes on that, on aluminium 8ft ramps. Plenty of space for all the extra attachments. 
 

It’s a bit more faff than a dedicated plant trailer with a drop down ramp back, but it’s what I have and it does the job.

 

The guys I work with all run 4x4 tow trucks, as opposed to transit tipper. One of us will tow the tipper trailer, another the chipper, and me the Sherpa train hopefully quite often. Quite useful to be able to shift the trailers and chipper around on site with the Sherpa.

 

I also have a towball mounted on the grab, but it sits on top of it, rather than on the side like yours. That means there’s less underneath the towball so i end up dragging the grab on the ground when the trailer gets nose heavy. Your arrangement is better I think.