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Ever had to replace front wheels on electric pallet jack ? Holy Moses...

Milacron

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Dec 15, 2000
Location
SC, USA
what a PITA ! It seems that even if keep inside in benign envirnoment the axles tend to get rust welded to the wheel forks, which makes removal quite a challenge.

On a Clark 6,500 lb elec pallet jack I did at least manage to get the axles out eventually but on a Multiton 4,500 elec pallet jack (2001 vintage, BTW) I had to literally cut the wheels out with a portable bandsaw. And even then the only way I got the remaining slugs out was by drilling each with 3/8 hole, inserting a 3/8 bolt..just to have something projecting out to hit with a sledge hammer...and even that was amazingly difficult. Luckily I forsaw the issue on the Multiton and had new axles ordered with the wheels.

All this would have been nearly impossible without being able to lift the pallet jacks to different heights with a forklift and having each C clamped to the forks. Had to have comfortable working heights, and the C clamps for safety and to provide some resistance to the pounding.

Although the Clark had much longer wheels, the Clark was easier mostly because being built heavier, it's forks were more stout and resisted the pounding. I had to pound one slug in the Multiton with so much force that it bent the forged fork a bit and then had to pound it back afterwards.

Anyhoo, always fun when you end up spending hours on something that should take minutes, right ? :rolleyes5:


(and if wondering why no use of WD40 type penetrant, the rust welds were so tight I can't imagine it actually pentrating unless the jacks were turned on their sides for some help with gravity....which would be pretty involved due to removing 500 lb batteries first, and turning 1,000 lb jacks over...twice)
 
I have found that using an air chisel with a flat ended punch helps me loosen/remove things that are stuck or grown together. I find a surface that I can push on and rattle the hell out of the item. It even helps vibrate lub into the parts.
Also found that I can buy a new manual pallet jack for what the wheels cost!!
 
I have found that using an air chisel with a flat ended punch helps me loosen/remove things that are stuck or grown together. I find a surface that I can push on and rattle the hell out of the item. It even helps vibrate lub into the parts.
Also found that I can buy a new manual pallet jack for what the wheels cost!!
Yeah, I've never owned an air chisel or air hammer and was wondering how much one of those might help in this sort of situation.

Re manual pallet jack wheels and cost...strange, as these electric pallet jack wheels are much heavier built than a typical manual pallet jack wheel (the Clark ones anyway) and only cost about $70 a pair.
 
Malacron, I highly recommend you getting a pneumatic chisel with an assortment of chisels. In your line of work, you probably don't run into extremely rusted nuts, but they are great for splitting the nuts -- sure beats pounding on a nut with a hammer and chisel! And as Timw mentioned, the vibration helps getting penetrating oil into tight places.

("WD40 type penetrant" -- please! Use something that works -- PB Blaster, Gibbs [though it has gotten expensive in recent years], Liquid Wrench, etc.)
 
("WD40 type penetrant" -- please! Use something that works -- PB Blaster, Gibbs (though it has gotten expensive in recent years), Liquid Wrench, etc.)
Note I said WD40 "type" penetrant... I use PB Blaster on the really stuck stuff but avoid it if possible due to it's abysmal odor.

Re getting air chisel.... it's actually pretty rare for me to be doing this sort of thing...otherwise I would have bought one years ago.
 
ops. Sorry

I can't remember what they look like. Would it be possible to drill a small hole from the top through which to drip Kroil or whatever down to the interface.
 
The axles ends are flush with the forks so all it would do is just run off unto the floor.

You'd be amazed at what Kroil can wick into. Only takes a tiny bit every day to wet the surface. Surface tension is stronger than gravity.
 
You'd be amazed at what Kroil can wick into. Only takes a tiny bit every day to wet the surface. Surface tension is stronger than gravity.
Not really...I presume you are unfamilar with electric pallet jack front forks ? I suppose some sort of dam could have been concocted of putty to contain a small pool of penetrant long enough to wick inside, but otherwise all of it would just run off on the floor. (unless the jack was turned on it's side...but I already addressed the complexities of actually doing that)
 
Kroil is your friend!
Does Kroil work better than PB Blaster ? Seems unlikely... but it does seem more "professional" since it doesn't have cartoons on the can ;)

I suppose another possiblity besides building a dam of putty might have been to have two shallow buckets of a penetrant so that you could lower the entire wheel assembly (up to the axle anyway) into each bucket and let sit overnight....might be expensive, but maybe you could filter and reuse ? In fact the more I think about it, that probably would have been the way to go on this. Cut one gallon milk or water jugs for custom buckets.
 
Another vote for Kroil. I have PB Blaster, WD40 and Liquid Wrench also, but I notice that Kroil is quite a bit more effective than those others. PB Blaster is a distant 2nd.
 
.... it's actually pretty rare for me to be doing this sort of thing...otherwise I would have bought one years ago.

+1 on the Kroil. Best penetrant I've used. Tightly rusted parts will take more time, multiple applications. Gravity never seemed to make much difference when I've used the stuff. Just keeping it 'wet' was enough, it has great capillary action.

Heat also works wonders on tightly rusted parts. Not necessarily to expand the hole, but to get the parts hot enough to 'rearrange' the corrosion between the two parts. Dunno exactly how it works, but heat will reduce the 'bond strength' of the corrosion. And by heat, I mean as hot as you can safely go! An OA torch works best as you can pinpoint the heat, but even a MAPP gas cylinder or propane will help.

Even an el Cheapo air hammer would probably have saved you hours of hacking, and if you rarely use it it'll probably last a lifetime.

QB
 
I never used PB, might be the same stuff. I have given similar items a squirt a day of kroil over a few days and it finds its way in, no reason to submerge it.
I don't recall encountering "similar items" to this in my career. I guess I need to stress that on the Multiton, the axle end and the fork were flush and appeared to be nearly one continuous piece. Maybe someone in the past had hammered away at it and mushroomed the axle ends, hard to say. Squirts of Kroil might have worked on the Clark, but highly unlikely on the Multiton.
 
Here's a video that should help!

what a PITA ! It seems that even if keep inside in benign envirnoment the axles tend to get rust welded to the wheel forks, which makes removal quite a challenge.

On a Clark 6,500 lb elec pallet jack I did at least manage to get the axles out eventually but on a Multiton 4,500 elec pallet jack (2001 vintage, BTW) I had to literally cut the wheels out with a portable bandsaw. And even then the only way I got the remaining slugs out was by drilling each with 3/8 hole, inserting a 3/8 bolt..just to have something projecting out to hit with a sledge hammer...and even that was amazingly difficult. Luckily I forsaw the issue on the Multiton and had new axles ordered with the wheels.

All this would have been nearly impossible without being able to lift the pallet jacks to different heights with a forklift and having each C clamped to the forks. Had to have comfortable working heights, and the C clamps for safety and to provide some resistance to the pounding.

Although the Clark had much longer wheels, the Clark was easier mostly because being built heavier, it's forks were more stout and resisted the pounding. I had to pound one slug in the Multiton with so much force that it bent the forged fork a bit and then had to pound it back afterwards.

Anyhoo, always fun when you end up spending hours on something that should take minutes, right ? :rolleyes5:


(and if wondering why no use of WD40 type penetrant, the rust welds were so tight I can't imagine it actually pentrating unless the jacks were turned on their sides for some help with gravity....which would be pretty involved due to removing 500 lb batteries first, and turning 1,000 lb jacks over...twice)

Here's a video showing how a forklift tech would replace pallet jack
wheels

https://youtu.be/sIaPS-2gZws
 








 
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