I got an forkift-o

[[486]]

looks to be a mid-80s clark 2500lb
solid tire, propane, 10' lift, single speed
supposedly it waters its own oil, but we got ideas on that front
dunno man it be a li'l any-height work platform
pics?
pics.
first one stolen from the guy I bought it from
some of you guys might know him from the chevelle in the background

went and picked it up with the flatbed
it went better than I expected and panzer gave me a tour of his fiefdom, lotsa cool shit was seen
I think I finally get how/why/what that big sand washing machine was doing with the controls and waste side and such.
Only had to do a roadside fillup with the truck once. Benefits of running waste oil and having a dead tank switching valve.
because I'm stupid about starting things that don't need to be started I smashed the gantry crane over top instead of setting down the gantry and driving the truck underneath
the skidsteer picks up the gantry real nice with the notch between cutting edge and bucket cheeks, lift it up with the hilift, still trying to think up a cable arrangement to lift the shits, I'll get there eventually

who makes bolt holes smaller than the socket that fits the bolts? Clark does.

picky uppy

slidey over

done this before, but with granite under the hook

wouldn't crank, pulled the solenoid out looked at the contacts

flippinated the burnt one around

and jammed it back into that disgusting little hole

figured out the ignition switch was also burnt up in the crank position, so hooked the crank wire to the headlight switch instead
filed the points and got it to pop on starting fluid
swapped the forklift tank connection for a normal POL and fed it propane, ran good, clutch didn't work but its got some sorta automatic trans forward/reverse so we'll bump it forwards and back without the clutch

well the wheel moved, lift didn't lol
and imagelimit, stand by for cont

 

[[486]]

pulled the clutch MC and got it apart, turns out it also fits a 1938 cadillac and I can get a new one for $90 so there's that

first tried to fill through the cap, but there was enough rust behind the piston that it wasn't going to return under spring tension and suck fluid in...
massacred the diecast cap off and ended up replacing it with one of them rubber bolt-tight frost plugs, had ideas for venting but didn't get that far, worry about it later, got ideas
anyways, here's the pitting inside:

tried polishing them out but it didn't work out, normally I'd try epoxy to fill the pits but they were too deep to get a finger in there to mush it smooth so I decided to use lead solder instead

brushed it in there til it tinned out good

didn't get a good pic of the results, but a 1" reamer cleaned it up reasonably good but managed to score it badly, then an adjustable reamer made it real nice at like 1 1/32" and it honed out great
put it together and jammed it in there, bled it out and there it sits.
Been meaning to stick the cage back on before I move it, been raining ever since.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Gantry is one way to unload

I was thinking pull the front up a hill a little then build a dirt ramp? Oh well, done now.

Lucky the Mc is an automotive application. I had an old tow motor forklift for a little bit, had zero brakes. Needed an Mc and wheel cylinders. They were like 5x's what you'd expect out of a similar car part.

 

[[486]]

Gantry is one way to unload

I was thinking pull the front up a hill a little then build a dirt ramp? Oh well, done now.

Lucky the Mc is an automotive application. I had an old tow motor forklift for a little bit, had zero brakes. Needed an Mc and wheel cylinders. They were like 5x's what you'd expect out of a similar car part.

they easy to fix
do your make fix
if pitted real bad just ream it out to the next size of seals that's available

 

[tracyb]

hell yeah, my first lift was an old clark i got off a guy who repaired golfcarts. it did allot of work for me until i gave it to a guy that helped me get started. i'm no mechanic... i remember points bs and the day i realized the water in the oil meant i was done... until a buddy and i said eff it, its going to be oil cooled. i ran it like that for years, for up to 2ish hours at a time. then the guy i gave it too ran i t fr the last 3 yrs to get his shop started over in idaho..... as far as i know its been running 10+ yrs on a diet of oil and pane.
i couldn't even tell you how much good the liitle clark did. you can see the improvised e brake in this pic... the 2x4 on a pole. back when people were putting litre bike motors in rihinos, or whatever this rig is..

 

[billybob_81067]

I have a caterpillar V80D and it gets used all the fuckin time. Can't imagine not having it around the shop. Pulling tires and weights off of tractors, jockeying trailers around, lifting the back of trailers up so you can change all 8 tires at a time or check wheel bearings. Adjustable height welding positioner, Hell even just using it as a solid place to wedge pieces of pipe or other metal so you can straighten it out. counterweight on the back makes a decent makeshift anvil too. Hell even the forks make a decent anvil for straightening out lighter stuff.

 

[arse_sidewards]

INB4 you bury it in your mini-verdun of a yard.

They were like 5x's what you'd expect out of a similar car part.

They were probably a car part.

You just paid the stupid tax for not trying hard enough to find what they went to.

 

[AKnate]

I have a 60s, maybe early 70s Yale with a 6 cylinder Chrysler. It was converted to propane after the gas tank rotted out and fell off.
5k rated, power shift and fork width plus fork rotate.

 

[[486]]

i remember points bs and the day i realized the water in the oil meant i was done... until a buddy and i said eff it, its going to be oil cooled. i ran it like that for years, for up to 2ish hours at a time. then the guy i gave it too ran i t fr the last 3 yrs to get his shop started over in idaho..... as far as i know its been running 10+ yrs on a diet of oil and pane.

heh that's my solution, too
I was hoping that 'flathead' meant that it'd be like all the other very early equipment I've worked on: straight rad hoses with all the bends being in the rad and engine castings
sadly both its hoses got some compound bends in them, so I'll have to weld together some bendy-straws so I can use four bits of straight oil-hose as couplers

could just dump oil in and call the radiator hoses consumables but I dunno

 

[bgaidan]

It's amazing how much use you find for a forklift after you get one....and how you managed to live without it before.

I scored a deal on this one for about $3500 delivered before I moved. I probably would have spent that much renting one or two to move my shop equipment on both ends. I planned on using to move, fixing it up and flipping it but there's no fucking chance that will happen now. Even with two other tractors, I use the shit out of this thing.

I had a put a new propane carb on it and fully cleaned the gas carb. It runs better on propane but probably has a small leak and I can't be bothered to shut the tank off and it runs out so I just run it on gas.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

INB4 you bury it in your mini-verdun of a yard.

Jealous much?

 

[arse_sidewards]

Jealous much?

Why would I be jealous? Mine is bigger.

 

[FordFascist]

It's amazing how much use you find for a forklift after you get one....and how you managed to live without it before.

Agreed.

I never knew how much I needed one until I had one. It makes changing trailer tires really easy.

 

[tracyb]

heh that's my solution, too
I was hoping that 'flathead' meant that it'd be like all the other very early equipment I've worked on: straight rad hoses with all the bends being in the rad and engine castings
sadly both its hoses got some compound bends in them, so I'll have to weld together some bendy-straws so I can use four bits of straight oil-hose as couplers

could just dump oil in and call the radiator hoses consumables but I dunno

I didn't bother with the hoses. Never had an issue

 

[[486]]

huh, suppose it won't need pressure with oil, so I could just rip the gasket off the cap so it won't pressurize and blow up the hoses that are sure to turn gelatinous

Why would I be jealous? Mine is bigger.

no it isn't
40ac of prime swamp, bay bee

drove it yesterday
spent an hour getting the brake unstuck
tried using the clutch-brake pedal and sure enough the brakes stuck hard again, spent like 2 hrs beating on it that time to get them to let go
guess this one just isn't going to have brakes any more

maybe I could load it up really heavy, get it on pavement, run it in reverse as fast as it'll go then gently brake to try and wear in the brakes, if it is just accumulated rust making them stick

the clutch was a waste of effort, it doesn't feather like a normal dry clutch, it just seems to hydraulically actuate a line pressure dump valve in the transmission, so it is the same as dropping it into neutral with the shifter

it gets stuck really easy
there was a 1" deep pothole in the driveway
one of the back tires fell in that and instantly one side up front was in the air, jammed a board under there and it was going again rofl
looking like I'm gonna have to keep the skidsteer off the gravel to keep it somewhat flat
didn't really sink in, just would lose traction from a total lack of articulation (and about 500lbs over the front tires) then dig its own hole

 

[bgaidan]

On mine, the left "clutch"/brake pedal is mechanically linked to the transmission to drop it in neutral......so you can stop and rev it up to speed up the hydraulics.


I wouldn't want to run mine while lifting anything heavy without breaks. Pulling it in and out of gear gets a little jerky....not fun when you have a load on the forks.

 

[[486]]

it has a cable brake handle on there but I haven't seen where the cable goes to
I gave it a "rust belt" pull and it is certainly attached to something, kinda scared to give it enough of a pull to confirm anything more than that.

having brakes would be really nice, but they're buried deep in there, doesn't look fun

 

[arse_sidewards]

no it isn't
40ac of prime swamp, bay bee

I was talking about the forklift.

 

[[486]]

I was talking about the forklift.

littler=betterer
this guy fits through doors
pallets don't but...

 

[Dethmachinefab]

it has a cable brake handle on there but I haven't seen where the cable goes to
I gave it a "rust belt" pull and it is certainly attached to something, kinda scared to give it enough of a pull to confirm anything more than that.

having brakes would be really nice, but they're buried deep in there, doesn't look fun

I had brakes on one side hang in reverse. Probably some mounting hardware got busted. Lil squirt of gear oil in the drum stopped it hanging up.

 

[[486]]

Try easing on the parking brake while she’s moving. Just light pressure to where you can hear the engine working harder to maintain speed. Drive it around like that for a bit, it should clean whatever gunk is built up on the shoes and the heat might help unstick shit.

pretty sure they're wet brakes, meaning oil ain't gonna do much
also pretty sure there isn't a separate cable brake, my suspicion is that the cable yanks the pedal down, I'll have to look next time I see it

 

[Byro]

Would love to find a little guy like that. They’re either a ton of money or “for parts” for 1000lbs of money.

 

[[486]]

Would love to find a little guy like that. They’re either a ton of money or “for parts” for 1000lbs of money.

they show up non-running for $500 or so around here, pretty regular
one would think they'd be even cheaper where you're at, closer to the iron belt

 

[[486]]

Yeah, all the ones I have experience with are set up just like drum brakes in cars.

I'm betting this guy has the "balls in ramps" rotating wedgey shit going on to smash a couple plates and steels like an auto trans has in it but beefier

 

[arse_sidewards]

they show up non-running for $500 or so around here, pretty regular
one would think they'd be even cheaper where you're at, closer to the iron belt

More population density and more industry means the nearest scrapyard is closer and that drives up the prices on old junk.

 

[Byro]

they show up non-running for $500 or so around here, pretty regular
one would think they'd be even cheaper where you're at, closer to the iron belt

There’s no industry here anymore. All the buildings where men went to work to build this country are now artist lofts.


Came across a guy selling 5-6 3k’s awhile back, some needed something silly, starter, hydro line, etc. Others needed a motor or whatever. Whole lot of them was $2k, he wouldn’t separate them. Like who the hell is gonna buy half a dozen non-op forklifts?

 

[[486]]

There’s no industry here anymore. All the buildings where men went to work to build this country are now artist lofts.


Came across a guy selling 5-6 3k’s awhile back, some needed something silly, starter, hydro line, etc. Others needed a motor or whatever. Whole lot of them was $2k, he wouldn’t separate them. Like who the hell is gonna buy half a dozen non-op forklifts?

you, then you sell them one at a time for 2k apparently