Monotrol pedal conversion parts? H135xl

[johfoster]

I bought this mid 90's h135xl earlier this year. Just now getting around to going through it. Replaced the 48" forks with 72" last week. Going to get all new hydraulic lines made monday, and just got in new tires to go on it. Now that I am addressing things I got back to wanting the monotrol gone.

Does anyone here have experience with converting a monotrol back to a column shifter? The local parts guy said he hasn't sold one in a while, but it used to be common to sell the field conversion kit. They and the local hyster dealer were both going to look into it, and get back to me...though never did. Have any of you performed this modification, or know what parts I need to look for? If all the forklifts I had we're monotrol I'm sure I would get used to it, but that's not the case so I would much rather just have the column shift on this. I'm sure I could fabricate something up to get rid of this that would work just fine, but would rather have oem parts on here If it's reasonable to find them. Thanks.

 

[true temper]

No help for you but I never liked the Monotrol controls either. I didn’t know there might be a conversion kit available.

 

[matt_isserstedt]

I don't love the monotrol either. On my particular forklift I think its a 3-way hydraulic valve with a common pressure line and then a line for fwd and another for reverse. Should be detented so that it snaps into position and doesn't allow flow out of both ports. I think I could live with it better if the brake pedal didn't put the transmission in neutral when I step on it. I understand the need to not thermally overload the trans fluid by letting the engine drive the torque converter against a stall condition and continually shear fluid, but for my sporadic uses as a rigging machine, I'd rather avoid the unneeded jerkyness.

 

[johfoster]

I was not aware that they made a hydraulic monotrol. The only ones I have been around have two microswitches in the pedal cover that control solenoids on the transmission. This makes it easy for me to convert to something else I think, and have already found a generic column lever switch that I think I can make work. I want to get the parts book for this lift to make it easier to source things myself. The local parts guy made it sound like it would be under $1000 for all the oem parts. I think I can cobble it together well myself for under $200 in parts and a half a day though.

 

[Garwood]

I was not aware that they made a hydraulic monotrol. The only ones I have been around have two microswitches in the pedal cover that control solenoids on the transmission. This makes it easy for me to convert to something else I think, and have already found a generic column lever switch that I think I can make work. I want to get the parts book for this lift to make it easier to source things myself. The local parts guy made it sound like it would be under $1000 for all the oem parts. I think I can cobble it together well myself for under $200 in parts and a half a day though.

I have had two Hyster Monotrols and they were both had hydraulic monotrol pedals. It was very common.

Does your forklift have pneumatic tires and a single speed auto with monotrol? If so, that seems like a strange combination to me.

 

[johfoster]

Yes it is pneumatic tire, auto, and monotrol. The last big lift we had was an old 70's 20k hyster with a 4 or 5 speed manual, and you could really get cruising down the street if you were feeling adventurous.

I imagine a well working hydraulic monotrol probably has a better feel than the microswitch version, which is a bit clunky to me. Other than not having neutral (which I think newer models the did add a neutral detent in the pedal), the monotrol in theory should be no different than the column shifter. I get on this lift once for every 100 times I use the Nissan probably, so I stand no chance of not reaching for the shifter or not forgetting to shift on the pedal before moving. So far is just a nuisance, but could be dangerous with 10k+ lbs on the forks.

 

[Garwood]

Yes it is pneumatic tire, auto, and monotrol. The last big lift we had was an old 70's 20k hyster with a 4 or 5 speed manual, and you could really get cruising down the street if you were feeling adventurous.

I imagine a well working hydraulic monotrol probably has a better feel than the microswitch version, which is a bit clunky to me. Other than not having neutral (which I think newer models the did add a neutral detent in the pedal), the monotrol in theory should be no different than the column shifter. I get on this lift once for every 100 times I use the Nissan probably, so I stand no chance of not reaching for the shifter or not forgetting to shift on the pedal before moving. So far is just a nuisance, but could be dangerous with 10k+ lbs on the forks.

I did the same thing. I had my 4k Komatsu and an S5000 Monotrol Hyster for awhile. I was always reaching for the shifter on the Hyster.

I've been sprucing up a 1967 H80C- Like what you're doing to your newer machine- I tracked down some original manuals and parts books for it. The old manuals make a solid distinction that monotrol and single speed automatics are for hard tire warehouse lifts and column shift 2 speed autos and stickshifts are used in pneumatic tire lifts. Makes sense to me, but sounds like they got away from those ideas later on.