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Newbie question: any forklift brands or models to avoid?

Dope

Cast Iron
Joined
Jan 16, 2016
I am considering buying my first forklift. I'm looking for something in the 6000-8000lb lift range as the heaviest machine I have is a 5600lb horizontal mill. I'm seeing a lot of Clark, Cat and Toyota forklifts for sale in the area. Most are propane-powered. Anything to avoid? Anything to look out for? I've never owned a forklift and I've used one literally once in my life.

Much appreciated for anyone and everyone's experience that they can share with me.
 
If it isn't propane you can't effectively use it inside.

Buy on condition. It's generally worth it to buy one in fair working shape over a run into the ground POS.

Sideshift is pretty useful. Triple stage mast is nice. Pneumatic tires are good if you need to run on gravel.
 
If it isn't propane you can't effectively use it inside.

Buy on condition. It's generally worth it to buy one in fair working shape over a run into the ground POS.

Sideshift is pretty useful. Triple stage mast is nice. Pneumatic tires are good if you need to run on gravel.

Good information, thanks. Can you briefly explain sideshift?

Any idea what a fair price to pay for a forklift in this range is? I realize that is an extremely vague question, but the dealers around here seem to be asking $6-8k for good looking machines in that capacity range.
 
Ask your self if you really need it. The company I work for got an older Clark many years ago. It rarely gets used. Because of that there always seems to be something that needs to be done to it before we can use it for anything. Plus they bought one that was originally built in the early '70's but had the mast replaced at some point in time. When we started to have issues with fuel delivery we found out that it looks to be hard to find some parts for in the fuel system.
 
Good information, thanks. Can you briefly explain sideshift?

Any idea what a fair price to pay for a forklift in this range is? I realize that is an extremely vague question, but the dealers around here seem to be asking $6-8k for good looking machines in that capacity range.

Sideshift means it has an extra slide on the carriage with hydraulics to shift the forks left-right. There is also what's called fork positioning where the forks move independent of one another.

Most I've ever paid for a forklift is $1400 so I'm not a good source for dealer pricing info.
 
Good information, thanks. Can you briefly explain sideshift?

Any idea what a fair price to pay for a forklift in this range is? I realize that is an extremely vague question, but the dealers around here seem to be asking $6-8k for good looking machines in that capacity range.
Side shift is just what it says. There is a 3rd valve and a cylinder that moves the forks left and right. Handy if you are picking on and off shelving. There are also fork positioners which move the forks together or apart.

Prices vary a lot and dealers ask a premium. I bought a nice Toyota 5K a few years back (from a private party) for $5800. $6K-$8K for a mid-hours decent truck in the 5000-6000 lb class is pretty typical in my area.

What Garwood said is good advice. Pneumatic tire (including "solid" pneumatics) are more expensive than cushion tire warehouse trucks.

So:
Tire type- pneumatic or cushion. Cushion is fine for indoors, pneumatic is better for outdoors and uneven ground. Solid pneumatics won't go flat like an air tire (which is a big hassle on a forklift).
Ground clearance- some warehouse trucks are right on the ground, and get high centered easily if you have a driveway to street transition. So even if you do not have soft ground to drive on, consider the terrain. Small tire trucks with low ground clearances are easy to get stuck.
Power steering, automatic trnasmission- makes life much easier if you are maneuvering around machines in a tight shop or picking on a grade.
Lift height- 3 stage if you have high pallet shelving.
Mast height- make sure it's not taller than the door you are driving through!
Fuel- propane or electric for indoor use.
 
Buy the smallest forklift for the biggest anticipated load. Smaller trucks have smaller working envelopes so they're more maneuverable in a factory environment. Buy based on hours not on cosmetics. I used to work for a rigging company that had a side hustle renting out to some of the local energy plants. A forklift that's only 5 years old but has been used three shifts a day really has the practical equivalent of a 15 year old machine only used one shift. Hyster, Cat, Toyota, Clarks are all fine machines. You want propane, you want a multi stage mast as this will influence how low of a door you can get through with a load off the ground. Side shift is nice but not really dead necessary. Pneumatic or High Profile Solid tires are best though full pneumatic takes a little getting used to as they tend to "squat" a bit more before they pick. 4 or 5 foot forks, shorter won't pick most pallets and longer seems like it'd be better but you end up with more overhung loads which means less capacity to lift.
 
If shopping with dealers, don't let a fresh paint job influence your decision too much, pretty does not do the hard work. Of all the forklifts I've rented, the Toyota's are my favorite, well placed controls and a see thru mast made it a pleasure to operate. If you can afford it, buy more lift capacity than you need today, trust me, the day will come when you need it.

The bonuses of propane, you can drive inside without chasing the crew outside, your fuel never gets water in it, even if you leave the lift outside. Carb does not need rebuilding once a year, no injectors ($$$) to clog.

Downside to propane is getting fuel, it might be further to travel than local gas station, and can only be obtained during normal business hours, best to have 2 or more tanks. Instead of just siphoning fuel, the tweakers will steal the whole damn tank, again, get more than 1.
 
Unless you will be using it outside much, I'd stick with cushion tires. Usually those have a tighter turning radius than the pneumatic tire lifts, and no flats to worry about running over chips all day. Pneumatic tires are still going to get stuck on soft gravel and dirt.

Shuttle shift is better than the older hyster 2 direction foot pedal, those are always trying to roll away on any kind of incline as soon as you left off the brake.

3 stage masts tend to have a lot of hoses and stuff that limits your view thru the mast.

Check the engine oil for water...propane lifts can have condensation issues if they never get up to operating temp.

I would plan on $4-8k for a reliable somewhat modern truck depending on features, hours, and how fast you need to find one.
 
I tend to disagree with some of the mentions .....first essential is to identify if the machine is used on concrete only ,or will have excursions out into the great outdors......small wheel solids will be useless in a yard that isnt paved ....second is travel distances ,even on paved ,solids are bad news for long hauls ......like running 100yds down the street to your other yard......I would always go for diesel fuel /motor,as the faults from occasional use dont develop in a diesel.....Cushion tyres are good,still too small for a yard machine ,and cost heaps to replace ....as do solids,if they need replacing ,which they eventually do.
 
Propane good electric good but battery not cheap.

For electric charger matters as most are "shift" chargers meaning charge fast for next shift so they usually have higher voltage to charge faster but also do not properly float or trucks charge.

A 1 amp charger can ruin a battery.

We have Raymond reach that turns tight, goes 19 ft tall and the forks extend outward.

Can stand next to it and place a pallet in the rack.

Rated 4500 but can lift our 6800 pound lathe.

Walk your shop and visualize what you will use the truck for.

Next look to see what room you have both for driving and parking.

Make a drawing of floor plan and cut out a card size of truck to virtually drive it on paper.

You need to determine what TYPE of truck FIRST.

Next is selecting the unit.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
Until you need it and somethings wrong with it due to it sitting 90% of the time. Otherwise I would completely agree.

The only time a forklift of mine has sat for more than a week is when I own more than one of them. BTW, you can replace the entire propane fuel system on a forklift for a few hundred bucks. propane fuel systems do not go bad from sitting either. Gas and diesel definitely do.

Battery powered is also an option, but I have noticed all older electric lift trucks have one speed: Disappointment.

I've used a new 5K Toyota propane head to head against various brands of new electric lifts moving hundreds of 1500 lb pallets. I moved 2:1 to the electric lifts before they died. When they were on chargers I was still loading for hours.
 
Everyone needs a forklift.

Most useful creation there ever was.


Totally agree. Life would be soo much easier for me if I had a forklift. Soo far I've had to make do with calling the tow truck or using an engine hoist to load / unload stuff from my pickup. If I had the space I would get a forklift, specifically a boxcar special.
 
The only time a forklift of mine has sat for more than a week is when I own more than one of them. BTW, you can replace the entire propane fuel system on a forklift for a few hundred bucks. propane fuel systems do not go bad from sitting either. Gas and diesel definitely do.

Battery powered is also an option, but I have noticed all older electric lift trucks have one speed: Disappointment.

I've used a new 5K Toyota propane head to head against various brands of new electric lifts moving hundreds of 1500 lb pallets. I moved 2:1 to the electric lifts before they died. When they were on chargers I was still loading for hours.

The 2 speed pump makes raising the forks really quick too, with my old Clark you could pull the lever and have a conversation waiting for the forks to get up to 4ft height.
 
I've had them all, and can't say one is considered a bad one.

I will say something about a 5,000 lb capacity Toyota lift we have. We got called to pick it up and carry it to the scrap yard, from a local factory. The lift had 10,000 hours, in a very harsh environment (sand cast aluminum foundry), but it did run. We needed a loaner lift for just general use at our warehouse, and figured we would run it until it quit and then scrap it, that was 10 years ago. Only thing we did was rebuild the steering axle because it was worn so bad it was about to fall off, but other than a hose here and there, we've done nothing to it. The mast is so worn that it just flops around, all the levers are so worn that they just flop, but the thing keeps going and going.
 
We have a tiny Cat 3k lift that we use all the time.
+1 on Toyota that's what I want when I go shopping for one. Better visibility to the forks than anything else I've seen.
 








 
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