Weidemann loader packs some serious punch.

Weidemann was formed by two farming brothers with an interest in technology. They officially formed as a limited partnership in 1960. The company is now an affiliate of Wacker Neuson, a worldwide producer of plant and agricultural equipment. They manufacture many different machines from mini-electric loaders to the range topping 5080T.

The 5080T has been available in Ireland for the last three years, having been launched in 2013 in Germany. The original was launched with a 75hp engine and, having driven one in the past, I found it to be slightly under-powered. So when they launched a version with a good chunk more power I had to have a go.

Collecting the Weidemann from local dealers, Gordon Hegarty and Sons was the first part of the test. Once up in the cab of the loader I could see that this was a very well-built machine. All the fixtures and fittings had a good solid feel. The Perkins four-cylinder engine fired up nicely and sounded far better than the smaller horsepower version. The test farm is 30km from the dealers and the trip up the road was a good test of the comfort of the German loader. I found that the little loader was very comfortable on the road and the soft-ride system on the loader boom was very effective. I could visibly see it doing its work as I was on the move. The little loader has a maximum speed of 30km/h, which is slow by industry standards but perfectly fast enough for around any yard or on a short run to an out farm. After the slow (but very comfortable) drive back to the farm it was time to see if the power had made a difference.

The loader came with a bucket, pallet forks and a bale spike and during the few days I had a use for them all.

The test

With the bucket on the 5080T, we headed off to do some pushing and lifting. The first task was pushing up some mushroom compost into a shed, the little loader was very nimble in and around the shed and the almost six-metre reach was very good for heaping the material against the holding wall.

This did not test the power of the new engine. For this I found a good big heap of drainage stone which was tipped on the farm. Putting the bucket down and pushing the heap showed the real improvement in this machine. The power was evident and the Weidemann pushed very well, seeming to move most of the stone mountain and then lifted a full bucket with comparative ease.

There wasn’t even a beep out of the lift warning system. This system has a scale that lets you know that you are working within the safe limits of the machine and will beep incessantly if you get close to them. I found it very impressive at this sort of work and can imagine that it would be very good at pushing dung and clearing out sheds with lots of both engine-and hydraulic-power.

The flow rate of the hydraulic system makes for impressive reading with its class leading 150l/minute.

This makes the loader controls very fast and responsive and with lots of grunt in all directions.

Lift capacity

The brochure claims that the 5080T has a lift capacity of a little over two tonnes, in order to test this a trip to the local merchants yard was undertaken, a full pallet of fertiliser was commandeered and the lift capacity was put to the test. The Weidemann lifted the pallet with no issue at all, right up to full-height and then fully extended with no whinging from the lift warning. A sure sign that the lift was well within its capabilities.

The loader happened to be on farm when the first of the spring barley was being baled. The bales being handled were the smallest of the big squares, weighing about 100kg each. The 5080T was very manoeuvrable and comfortable in the field – both with four bales and empty. Even across the ploughing and combine tracks that are common on a year like this, the soft ride was massively impressive. Loading the bale trailer from the one side was very easy with the telescopic boom on this loader. Putting straw up in the shed was very easily done and the loader was very manoeuvrable and nimble in and around pillars of the shed.