Electric pallet jack - what do I need to know to buy a used one?

[richard newman]

I will be moving my shop in a month, thinking to buy a used electric pallet jack, rather than renting as I did last time. I have a 6K manual jack, lifts just fine, but pushing it with 2K loads is just too hard! After I'm set up in the new shop, it will get only very occasional use.

Assume I'm totally ignorant about these, what do I need to know? Best brands? What to watch out for? Etc

Thanks for any and all advice

 

[reggie_obe]

Don't get stuck with one that has a battery that's nearly dead.

 

[BT Fabrication]

batteries can easily run a few thousand dollars for a rebuilt one. can be worth 90% of the price of the unit itself. Have a guy I know that needs to keep his plugged in to a charger to use it or it would be dead. Don't be that guy

 

[richard newman]

Thanks for the warning. How can one determine battery condition?

 

[Bill D]

On some the battery can be replaced by two? car batteries in series. Not as much run time. But reduced weight so it can lift more load.
Bill D

 

[john.k]

Check the single drive wheel for a big flat spot.......expensive to fix ,and very annoying...........I wouldnt expect a pallet jack of normal shop size to have big batteries..........the units I see in the supermarkets are a whole lot bigger and probably do have expensive /large batteries.

 

[BT Fabrication]

if its just the deep cycle 12V batteries like a car etc you can test with a load meter. if its the size of a large suitcase battery, biggest thing is checking the acid levels in it and seeing if its been topped up with distilled water and maintained that way by pulling the caps off the top, of course watch for acid.
best way is check the specific gravity of the acid with a tester for it to be ideal specific gravity of 1.285 then check for corrosion and best way is to use it and see how it performs under load.

 

[mpmar_bt]

Old equipment with dead batteries can be a great bargain.

I have an old 8k 24volt pallet jack and a nice 12 volt walk walkie-stacker (fork lift in front, pallet jack in the back) that I run off of a pair of 12V marine batteries. They call them deep cycle, but they are somewhere in between deep cycle and auto batteries. These type of batteries work very well for occasional use. I have two in series on the PJ and two in parallel on the stacker. It's the lift pump that draws the most power. I have some extra ballast in the stacker to balance the missing 500 lb battery.

Current price for steel case batteries is about $0.11/lb at junk yards around here.

 

[Milacron]

On some the battery can be replaced by two? car batteries in series. Not as much run time. But reduced weight so it can lift more load.
Bill D

Yes, I ran a 6,500 lb capacity electric pallet jack with a couple of 12V deep cycle batteries many times and worked fine for short runs. And yeah you can lift more than rating with the much lighter batteries. Only downside is apparently the original battery weight is needed to lower the forks all the way so you might find needing 4" clearance rather than 3.6" to get under machines....and getting into pallets is tough sometimes due to the same problem.

 

[richard newman]

How long are "short runs"?
12V deep cycle batteries = automotive batteries?

I'll be using this to get machines out of my current shop, into and out of elevator, and then into truck. Nothing over 2500lbs. Floors are rough, height differences require steel plate & pinch bar to negotiate with manual jack. At the new shop it's much smoother going, probably can get by there with the manual jack. Will be mostly traveling, less lifting.

 

[mpmar_bt]

That sounds like less than an hour of run time for the drive motor and maybe a couple of minutes for the lift. New batteries wouldn't have any trouble with that. Also you can put a decent charger on between uses to top them off.

Good luck with the move

 

[Overland]

To get more battery capacity, for 24 volts, use 4 batteries; 2 in series / 2 in parallel, or something like that .....
Bob

 

[Scottl]

Ask the seller to demonstrate it under load. See that it travels smoothly at all speeds with no jerkiness or hesitation.

Ask the seller about battery age and condition and service history of jack.

 

[Superbowl]

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