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Vintage Clark Trucloader questions

v8bug

Plastic
Joined
Jan 26, 2011
Location
New York
getting the home hobby shop going again after a few years away from fabricating. picked up a old clark trucloader and am in the process of going through it, doing a minor freshen up rebuild. I am still in processes of getting it running, so I have not done a function test yet....

its hard to find info of these it seems, right now i am having trouble figuring out what a small broken fittings was for. its on the left side, on the transmission case. its a small pipe fitting into a 90 elbow with what looks like a hose connection. possibly high pressure hose? looks like the hose had a core and wire jacket. is this a transmission temp gauge? (there is no spot for more guages on the machine so I dont know) broken fitting/hose is marked with the red arrow.

any other advise or help would be great
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I scored an original operators manual on ebay recently, turns out that is supposed to have a flexable line and a remote mount grease cup attached. it greases the clutch release bearing, "grease one turn of the grease cup every 8hrs of runtime"

the manual covers alot on this machine, very helpful. if anyone has one of these and needs some info let me know.

-Matt
 
A flex hose and screw up greaser were pretty standard on many truck clutch throwouts of the 1930/40/ 50s era,......they generally led to the clutch living in a mass of grease.
 
On my trucloader that hose goes to a bracket that has a grease fitting on the end of the hose. I wouls gladly pay you for a copy of that manual (even if you just want to scan it and e-mail the file) Bill
 
Hi, Worked on many of those back in the day. The TR was made in 2 capacities 1000# @15" LC. and a 1000# @ 24" LC. which was determined by the thickness of the counterweight. And you could get a pneumatic tired unit. It uses a Continental N62 4 cyl. engine with a thermo siphon cooling system, meaning no water pump. They were very popular where elevators were limited in capacity as they weighed close to 2500#.and a lot were used in the tobacco and white goods industry. They were also made in a battery powered unit. Nice truck but hard to find.
 
If you still have the manual on the old Clark forklift would there be a way to get a copy. I’ve searched the internet but no luck.
 
Hello,
I was able to get a manual from the local Clark dealer.
Was also able to get a Build Ticket from Clark but they will need your Serial Number.
 
I know this is an old thread, but I just bought one of these. Very close to the pictures in the first post.

Mine is setup to run on propane.

It runs/drives/lifts, but has been neglected and stored outside for years. My intention is someplace between a basic restoration and just a return to service.

It's main problem right now is that the tilt cylinder was exposed to the weather for years, and the shaft (rod) is very rusted, and thus the seals are basically gone. It needs to be replaced, or I need to find some way to lathe the shaft and hope new seals will still work.

The lift cylinder oozed a small puddle the first time I tried to raise it, but looks good, and hasn't had any visible leakage since the first few cycles. The lift hydraulic hose is scary bad and needs to be replaced.

I have several questions:

--- What Hydraulic fluid should I use? Universal? ISO 68?

--- What goes in the transmission? Same hydraulic fluid? ATF? Capacity?

--- How can I lookup the Tilt Cylinder? Maybe they used 2 of the same Cylinder on "real" forklifts of the same vintage?

--- Are the Hydraulic lines standard? In other words, can I just go to Tractor Supply, buy a pre-made hyd hose assembly of the right length and wrench it in?
 
Any hydraulic oil will be OK..........if it leaks (a lot) Id suggest used oil..............the tilt rams may not be hardchromed ........in any case ,if you reduce the diameter ,you will have to modify the cylinder ends ..........much easier to replace the shafts..............the hoses should be standard SAE fittings ,old Clarks operate at low pressure ,no more than 1200psi.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Clark Materials Handling also returned my call and was very enthusiastic about this little lift truck. As previously mentioned in this thread he is going to try to send me the build ticket for my unit. He basically gave the same answers to my questions.

I'll upload some pictures after a little more painting is done.
 
As promised, a picture of my 1947 Clark Trucloader.

Still to do:

-- Master Cylinder replaced and bled, but I still have no brakes. There is no sound or feeling of anything happening inside the wheels when I try to press the pedal. I am assuming everything is rusted solid in there.
-- Tilt Cylinder leaks. I need to pull it and have it rebuilt, or try to make a "generic" cylinder fit and work.
-- Points and condenser on hand, but not installed yet. It starts immediately and runs pretty well as is, so I am thinking there is no hurry on replacing these parts.

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Making new cylinder rods is generally quite straightforward. You can buy chromed rod cut to length, then you just have to machine the ends to fit the piston, etc.
Good luck,
Bob
 
Apparently, the original rod was not chromed on the tilt cylinder. It may have just been nitrated steel.

-- See post earlier in this thread from @john.k
-- The condition of the rod today shows no sign of chrome. Even in 3/4 of a century, I think that if it had ever been chromed, it would not be as bad as it is now.
-- According to a drawing furnished by Clark, it originally had a bellows (Gaiter).

According to the drawing, it seems that it is simply threaded on both ends. -- So Yes, I could make a new rod (Chrome this time).

I was going to post that I also could not find the seals, but as I'm typing this I just found a vendor selling what looks to be the correct part number and appearance. They are NOS, and hopefully not crispy from sitting for decades. I'll soak them for a few days before installation.

There is also the cup seal, but since it has been inside the cylinder, and wet the whole time, and given the fact that it takes at least a day for the tilt to sag forward, I can assume/hope that the cup seal remains serviceable.

Thank you, @Overland I think you have convinced me to try a rebuild myself, and possibly saved me a lot of time and $$$!

In other news, brake wheel cylinders will be here tomorrow. The shoes look good, and I've freed up/cleaned up inside the wheel.
 
I house trained my Forklift.

I removed and disassembled the tilt hydraulic cylinder. It was not just threaded on both ends. The end that goes into the hyd piston is a smaller diameter.

To cut out some of the story (and a wasted $30), I ended up having a local machinist make me a new rod out of stainless steel. The original is not particularly hard metal. The stainless steel rod will exceed original specifications for both strength and corrosion resistance, and I don't think I'm going to be worried about it lasting another 75 years.
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Note the area at the top of the old rod where I had to use a 1" hole saw to remove the area were it is welded to the yoke on the lift assembly end.

I was also able to find a set of seals on eBay. Correct part number (609064) per the drawing Clark provided, NOS in the original Clark packaging.

Last night I re-assembled the cylinder (including welding the yoke to the rod, and replacing the seals), and re-installed it. I should also mention that the pins that hold both ends of the cylinder were not what would be considered "serviceable" in any real repair/work environment. I cleaned them up with Scotch Bright, greased them, and figured that for the amount I plan to use this little truck, it will be fine.

After installation, I added hydraulic fluid, started it up and checked for leaks. I checked again this morning, and I do not see any drips or puddle on the floor.

I also completed the brake work -- Both wheel cylinders, Master cylinder, and the right brake line. The left brake line had already been replaced. My little Truckloader now has working brakes!
 








 
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