I still can't believe it, but I somehow managed to bend a fork on my 20,000 lb forklift. It's not that bad, not noticable just to look at them but just enough to cause slight "rocking" when picking up machines which bases extend out near the tips. Six foot forks, the bent one is 1/2 inch lower at the tip.
What's interesting is it's not bent at the heel but bent about 2 feet from the tip. Matches the other fork perfectly up until that point.
In trying to straighten it, I blocked the mast stage with a heavy timber so it couldn't rise, centered the offending fork on the carriage and used a 25 ton jack to bend the fork tip upward. The result was the fork did indeed bend upward but at some point it raised the entire front end of the (32,000 lb total weight) forklift ! So it didn't bend it "enough" to do any good, as it sprung back to the same bent position. Not to mention the fact that even if it had worked there is always the possiblity it would have bent the whole fork at the heal, rather than where it really needed to be bent two feet from the tip.
So, what I'm wondering is if using a torch to heat the bent area, combined with the 25 ton jack trick, might be best in this case. I wouldn't even think about that approach if the bend was at the heel, way too risky...but 2 feet from the tip seems like it wouldn't be "dangerous" for future use but worse case senario might rebend easier than it would have before, but most likely would be of similar strength to original.
Btw, these forks cost nearly $4,000 per set new, so replacment is out of the question. The other alternative is a guy in Michigan recommended by a "big 'un's" forklift dealer, with a 1,000 ton press who says 'no problem, do it all the time, 100 bucks...but shipping from
SC will kill ya'
Thoughts ?
What's interesting is it's not bent at the heel but bent about 2 feet from the tip. Matches the other fork perfectly up until that point.
In trying to straighten it, I blocked the mast stage with a heavy timber so it couldn't rise, centered the offending fork on the carriage and used a 25 ton jack to bend the fork tip upward. The result was the fork did indeed bend upward but at some point it raised the entire front end of the (32,000 lb total weight) forklift ! So it didn't bend it "enough" to do any good, as it sprung back to the same bent position. Not to mention the fact that even if it had worked there is always the possiblity it would have bent the whole fork at the heal, rather than where it really needed to be bent two feet from the tip.
So, what I'm wondering is if using a torch to heat the bent area, combined with the 25 ton jack trick, might be best in this case. I wouldn't even think about that approach if the bend was at the heel, way too risky...but 2 feet from the tip seems like it wouldn't be "dangerous" for future use but worse case senario might rebend easier than it would have before, but most likely would be of similar strength to original.
Btw, these forks cost nearly $4,000 per set new, so replacment is out of the question. The other alternative is a guy in Michigan recommended by a "big 'un's" forklift dealer, with a 1,000 ton press who says 'no problem, do it all the time, 100 bucks...but shipping from
SC will kill ya'
Thoughts ?