What's new
What's new

"homemade" counterweights

m16ty

Hot Rolled
Joined
May 11, 2016
I'm in the process of modifying a couple of forklifts to a higher weight rating. I'm now at the point of working on design and getting budget numbers as I'm doing extensive mods. I'm doing most of the design work myself and then get my engineer to approve the design or make modifications where necessary.

Where I'm at now is counterweight material. One lift is going to need around 6,500 lb of additional counterweight and the other a whopping 20,000 lb as I'm removing the existing counterweight and replacing it all with removable slab weights. I want it to look more professional than just hanging a chunk of iron off the back. I also want to keep the sections at 5,000 lb or less so a 5K lift could remove or replace the weights.

Option 1- Building a box the shape I need and filling it with punch slugs. This is probably the lowest cost option as I can get punch slugs for scrap price but is the least weight per volume.
Option 2- Buying plate steel and welding it together in the shape I want. Probably most expensive option but would be super simple to put together and would look the most "factory".
Option 3- Building a box and filling it with lead. This would be the most weight per volume. It would also be cheaper than plate steel if I could buy the lead at scrap price, but I'd have to deal with melting the lead to fit into the box. I don't know if I could source enough scrap lead in the quantities I'm needing either.

Does anybody know of anywhere you could purchase "blemished" steel plate cheap? It wouldn't matter if it wasn't structurally sound as I just need it for dead weight.

This is going to be around a $100,000 project. I know that sounds like a lot but when you price Versa-lifts at $300,000, it doesn't sound all that bad. I'll post more on the other modifications I'm making when I get the design figured out.
 
Your playing with fire. Be careful friend;)

This isn't my first rodeo, this is the fist time I've done anything to this scale though. That's also why I'm having my engineer approve the final design.

We are in the machinery moving business and have been since 1984. I'm fully aware of the liability and OSHA regs that go along with this. I also know that if Forklift manufacturers can design a lift, we can too.
 
While you're at the rodeo, remember that the steering axle and all related components are going to see this weight increase too. Often they are built to the max with the factory counterweight installed.

I assume the engineer you are consorting with is familiar with all aspects of forklift design...if not, that may bite you down the road.

Stuart
 
You could check with lead acid battery recycling centers or shooting clubs of the indoor type to see if yiu could source some lead.

Scrap yards also may be able to provide that or plate.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337Z using Tapatalk
 
Yes, rear axle is being replaced to support extra weight. Front axle is also being evaluated. Rear axle fails, forklift is disabled and nobody gets hurt. Front axle fails under load and it can get real nasty. The front axle is really the limiting factor on how much you can modify the lift, every other load carrying member can be changed relatively easy.

We are also doing a complete redesign on the mast. I checked on a ready made replacement mast from a manufacturer but after review with engineer, we think we can modify the existing mast. The mast itself can just be modified but cylinder will have to be replaced and the carriage will have to be pretty much built from scratch.

As far as harvesting lead from batteries goes, I've done that before and it's a real nasty job with less than desired results. You also end up with quite a bit of hazardous waste to depose of. Wheel weights are much better but it takes a bunch of them. The local scrap yard will sell sell me lead at scrap price, they just don't always have very much available.
 
Option 3- Building a box and filling it with lead. This would be the most weight per volume. It would also be cheaper than plate steel if I could buy the lead at scrap price, but I'd have to deal with melting the lead to fit into the box. I don't know if I could source enough scrap lead in the quantities I'm needing either

What density you achieve with lead really depends on how you put the lead in. Steel has a density of 0.281 lb/in3. Lead is 0.410 lb/in3, but that assumes you completely fill the box. If you use the cheapest source of lead I've seen (used lead shot bought by the pallet) and dump it into a box, you'll get a packing density of .609-.625, for a net density of ~.253 lb/in3, which is worse than steel. To make lead work, you have a few options.

1) melt the lead and cast it into the box. This gives great density, but has toxicity issues
2) use rectangular pieces and stack them in the box. Unfortunately, rectangular blocks cost more than shot.
3) use big odd shaped pieces and fill the interstitials with small shot.

You're going to need to get your lead really cheap to compete with 26,500 pounds of A36 steel burnouts.
 
I have thought about that but figured it would be expensive to have custom castings done. I may need to look into it a little more.

I looked into this for some counterweights and it was prohibitively expensive and long lead. It seems like a simple open casting should be easy and cheap, but it was cheaper to use pieces of 2" plate tacked together.
 
What density you achieve with lead really depends on how you put the lead in. Steel has a density of 0.281 lb/in3. Lead is 0.410 lb/in3, but that assumes you completely fill the box. If you use the cheapest source of lead I've seen (used lead shot bought by the pallet) and dump it into a box, you'll get a packing density of .609-.625, for a net density of ~.253 lb/in3, which is worse than steel. To make lead work, you have a few options.

1) melt the lead and cast it into the box. This gives great density, but has toxicity issues
2) use rectangular pieces and stack them in the box. Unfortunately, rectangular blocks cost more than shot.
3) use big odd shaped pieces and fill the interstitials with small shot.

You're going to need to get your lead really cheap to compete with 26,500 pounds of A36 steel burnouts.

We made some lead counterweight boxes in the past of about 700 lb each. What we did was build the boxes out of 1/4" plate, dumped wheel weights in and melted them with a rosebud. You don't have to completely melt the lead or do all the pour at once, you just need to melt it enough where it runs together and fills all the voids.

What are you calling "A36 plate burnouts"? I know what A36 plate is but I've never heard of burnouts.
 
Isn't it getting difficult to find many lead wheelweights anymore? Once commonplace, they have been largely replaced by steel, zinc, or other non-lead materials. Probably not going to find an affordable source for the thousands of pounds needed here.
 
What are you calling "A36 plate burnouts"? I know what A36 plate is but I've never heard of burnouts.
Send a DXF file to your steel supplier, they torch/plasma/waterjet the plate of steel to your dxf (print). Very easy way to acomplish what you are doing, but you will pay steel prices and burn prices per linear inch. Ever consider willing the box with concrete? very cheap(not as dense) and easy.
Joe
 
Isn't it getting difficult to find many lead wheelweights anymore? Once commonplace, they have been largely replaced by steel, zinc, or other non-lead materials. Probably not going to find an affordable source for the thousands of pounds needed here.

Yes they are. On the above mentioned project, at least half of the weights I got were something besides lead. Some of it we discarded, some of it we buried in the pour.

Send a DXF file to your steel supplier, they torch/plasma/waterjet the plate of steel to your dxf (print). Very easy way to acomplish what you are doing, but you will pay steel prices and burn prices per linear inch. Ever consider willing the box with concrete? very cheap(not as dense) and easy.
Joe
I can cut the pieces myself. I'll probably just buy plate and cut/weld it up if I go that route.
 
I would think it would be easier and safer to buy a rated fork lift. Military surplus has big machines. Be safe John

Try to get one of those big military forklifts inside a factory with 10' X 10' doors and then try to maneuver inside the plant once you get inside.

For these specialty machinery moving lifts, pricing starts at $250,000 for used ones and over $300,000 for new. Often used lifts will bring more money than new due to close to a year waiting list for a new one.

On my preliminary budget, I think I can achieve my project for less than $100,000. I'm looking at saving $150,000+.

If you can find me a 40/60 Versalift or 40/60 Hoist for less than $200K, I'll scrap this project and go buy it tomorrow.
 
Try to get one of those big military forklifts inside a factory with 10' X 10' doors and then try to maneuver inside the plant once you get inside.

For these specialty machinery moving lifts, pricing starts at $250,000 for used ones and over $300,000 for new. Often used lifts will bring more money than new due to close to a year waiting list for a new one.

On my preliminary budget, I think I can achieve my project for less than $100,000. I'm looking at saving $150,000+.

If you can find me a 40/60 Versalift or 40/60 Hoist for less than $200K, I'll scrap this project and go buy it tomorrow.

This sounds like a fun project. Those Versa-Lifts look quite impressive.

Do you use the boom much, or mostly the forks. The only times I've seen the heavy rigger forklifts used they only used forks and only needed 4 or 5 feet of vertical travel (to get a machine on/off a truck), where the Versa-Lift has 18'.
 
We use booms probably at least half the time.

Mostly where you need a lot of lift is standing up stamping presses. They can be 20'+ tall. We also do a lot of food processing work where you will have tall tanks with very little room to work.

Part of the reason for this project, other than to save money, is that I love this kind of stuff. Most of the design process is following in somebody else's footsteps and at least copying the concept but sometimes when I am thinking stuff through I'll stumble upon something somebody has never thought of before.

We've built all our forklift booms up to 40,000 lb. My Dad even designed a boom that retracts horizontally just like the Versa-Lift boom back in 1985. I'm not going to say it was the first but it was the first one I saw and was years ahead of Versa-Lift. I Guess he should have tried to get a patent on it.
 
I didn't mention this as I thought it would soon pop up, but it hasn't so, have you thought about used trench plates? In my area, you can buy them from PG&E when the plates are too far out of shape to be used on the street, often for scrap price or less.

Stuart
 
Maybe ask around TVA lakeside marinas for scrap/abandoned sailboats. Lead keels are the norm for larger daysailers, and they would likely be glad to be rid of them. You'll probably only face local competition for them due to shipping costs.

Chip
 








 
Back
Top