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Clark C60 forklift won't move

ajk2004

Aluminum
Joined
Oct 12, 2014
Location
Fort Dodge, IA
Good morning guys,
I have a 1960s clark c60 that I use for moving my metalworking machinery and steel around the shop. It is old but runs great and gets the job done. My brother was driving it last week and hit a bump with it and it stopped moving. When you put it in high/low forward/backward it will act like it wants to take off but just sits there. The trans fluid was low when it stopped but it is full now but having problems. There is a port on the top of the axle that I took off and when I put it in gear the big ring gear/bull gear moves like it should. Should I rule out the transmission at this point? I'm guessing I'm going to have to take the mast off and disconnect the axle assy. from the lift. Before doing that is there something else I should check? Thanks for the help.
Andy
 
Guys,
I decided to tear into the old forklift over the weekend. I didn't get as far as I would've hoped and was wondering if someone could help me figure out how to get the axle apart. I took a few pictures as hopefully it will help. I jacked the lift up so the front wheels are off the ground. The right wheel seems disconnected from whatever may drive it. It free wheels pretty easy. The left wheel seems like that of a car. When you rotate it you can feel forces on the inside that it is working against. This theory has led me to believe the problem lies in the right side of the machine. When I put it in gear, the left side will spin, but if you put your foot on the wheel it will stop. When the wheel stops, the ring and pinion gear are still moving. I'm not sure if I will be able to fix this without taking the mast off and taking the differential off of the lift but I am going to try. Does anyone know how to get the axle off of the machine. I took pictures of the manual too for this machine, but the machine looks as though it differs from the manual. Thanks for the help.
Andy
clark 1.jpgclark 2.jpgclark 3.jpgclark 4.jpg
 
It looks like you will need to pull the hub and maybe the spindle to get access to the drive axle.
At least that is where I would start.
 
What happens when you put it in gear when the front is jacked up off the ground? If the wheels try to spin, might be a converter issue. If you have nothing, might be in the final drive or transmission.
 
the wheels will spin, the left one that is. There is nothing from the right wheel. You can stop it with your foot when it is spinning though. The thing that gets me is when you stop the wheel, the large ring/bull gear is still spinning. If it was a tranny issue, wouldn't the bull gear stop with the wheel? The bull gear spins if the wheel is stopped, so that tells me the trans is doing what it is supposed to.
 
Sounds like it may be an issue with the final drive (the last gear reduction before the wheels) or the spider gears for the differential.


Edit:

Either you have the wrong manual, or part 9 in the second picture of the manual is completely missing. What they call an "axle end assembly" is commonly called a final drive. Instead of the axles from the differential directly driving the wheels like on your car, there is another gear reduction. Many tractors and most forklifts are made this way. Usually the brakes will be on the high speed side of the final drive to give you more braking torque.
 
Ewlsey,
Thanks for your insight. The manual seems to be pretty well intact. If you look at the pictures of my forklift, and the manual, it looks like the two differ. With the final drives you mentioned and the spider gear in the differential, is this possible to service without splitting the axle from the transmission? I'm hoping I can pop the hub off and open it up without taking the mast off and splittling the lift. Wishful thinking at least...
 
Any chance the bump tweaked the parking brake lever at the rear of the backing plate of the brakes? AFAIK most ordinary lift trucks have open differentials so if the park brake gets jammed on one wheel only the other will spin.

Easy way to check is shine a flashlight at that area while someone else moves the operator park brake lever to the set and then the release position. If the lever is jammed it won't move and the cable slack will make a loop when released.
 
Looks like you have the bolts loose already. The whole final drive should pull off without removing the transmission. The brakes should be inside there.
 
In picture #4 it looks like the mast mount is part of the final drive housing.
In my limited experience the mast was not attached to the final drive housing.
The housing was held in by bolts and long studs with nuts.
 
Keyster,
The mast is not part of the final drive housing. It looks that way but where those holes are that I removed bolts from, that is the "cap" for the housing. The mast bracket is on the inside of that housing. Thanks.
Andy
 
What about the dump valve sticking? Was it working before you hit the bump? It's the petal on the left. It's the petal you press down to rev the engine to make it lift faster.
 
Just to add to Hobby Shop's idea, there is a "shuttle valve" in the brake line, when the left "inching pedal" is used it does actuate the hydraulic brakes, but it also puts the transmission in neutral via another line coming from the shuttle valve. Right pedal is pure brakes. The function of the shuttle valve is so that pushing on the right pedal doesn't simply fill up the master cylinder reservoir of the left pedal. On my Clark, I eliminated the left pedal and the shuttle valve. Since I use it sporadically for moving machinery and not daily, it has simplified things, less to break and maintain.

The final drives should simply pull straight out, its a heavy spline drive. However there are almost a full 360 degree pattern of bolts that go around the casting. There may be easy ones above, but there can be hidden ones below that are really hard to get and require a full complement of 12 point tools, or, to jack the thing up to get more clearance with the ground. Some of the bottom ones are thru-bolts which go all the way thru to a "dish" in the center of the main trans casting. The bolt heads (or nuts) are sitting inside the "dish" if that makes sense.
 
Gentlemen, I know it has been a while and I've moved to a new house and have been busy and I haven't been able to fix my little Clark. I'm going to dig back in it but had some questions that I hope you can answer. I attached a picture of the casting that I need to remove. The picture has the hub assembly and everything still attached. I removed that but it didn't give me access to the final drive. Where the arrow is pointing, that is what I need to remove and it seems very stuck. Anybody ever take one of these apart? I don't know if it will come off. I can't seem to get it to budge. Thanks in advance for your help.



IMG_0177.jpg
 
Something like this happened to me with my old Clark forklift, it turned out to be something to do with the electric parking brake lock. I managed to get it free by stomping on the brake pedal.
 
Ewlsey,
Thank you for your response. Yours definitely looks like a Clark. The only difference is, yours has bolt holes all the way around. Mine just has holes on the back half of the Assy. Would you agree that once I have all of the bolts out, mine will pull off as well? I tried prying it off but I can't get it to budge. All of the bolts are off too. Thanks again!
 
Something like this happened to me with my old Clark forklift, it turned out to be something to do with the electric parking brake lock. I managed to get it free by stomping on the brake pedal.

I just don't think the problem is with the brakes, but I don't know that for sure. The damn brakes don't even work. The master cylinder is shot. I have a new one for it, that will go on after I fix this issue. What should I check for to rule brakes out. I know I tried stomping the brakes while the machine was running but nothing changed. All I know is that the big bull gears inside the tranny are spinning even when I stop the wheel. That's what leads me to believe the problem is deeper then the brakes.
 
Every Clark I have seen has bolts in the back side and studs that go through on the front side. Raise the forks and look inside the mast at the back side of the final drive. You will see nuts on the end of those studs. Getting them off can be a real bitch.

The brake disk is inside that housing so it would be a good time to replace them if needed.
 
In your pic, on the outer most part, in the center, you will see a circle of bolts. You need to remove them, and then the axle shaft will come out. Sounds like a broken axle shaft to me, that would at least be the first thing I'd check.

You mentioned earlier in the thread that you removed a plug on the center chunk and could tell the ring gear was spinning. If the ring gear is spinning and the outer hub and wheels aren't, you likely have a broken axle shaft. Due to the differential, you can break a axle shaft on one side and both sides will quit.

It's really easy to pull the axle shaft, once you remove that center cover it should slide right out. Of course if it's broken, you won't be able to pull the broken piece out. You then need to pull the shaft out of the other wheel, find a broom handle or something smaller than the shaft, and stick it through one side and push the broken piece out the other.

Edit- Never mind, after looking at the vid posted, It looks to have some sort of final drive reduction you are having to deal with. I've never seen a setup like that. All the ones I've ever seen had a shaft straight from the center "chunk" (like a regular pickup truck) or if they had a final drive reduction, it was in the form of a planetary. My advise above was for a lift without a final drive gear reduction, which it looked like you had until I saw the video.

I've had countless forklift drive axles disassembled but never a Clark. This gives me a good reason to never buy a Clark, looks like a major pain just to do a brake service.
 








 
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