Hyster fork truck - anybody used one of these?

[btulloh]

This Hyster fork truck is for sale and only about 45 minutes from me.  I'm gonna talk them tomorrow and ask some questions. 12k lb capacity, tires look really good, ad says "everything works the way it's supposed to".  Gas engine though.  Don't know if it has side tilt or side slip. Looks pretty good at $7k and should handle my terrain. 

I can't find any info about this big tired version. I need to go look and see what's about to go wrong with it. Looks like it could do what I need if it's not gonna need a lot of ongoing repairs.

Anybody used one of these or know anything about this model?



 

 

[Southside]

Better plan to keep it on absolutely solid packed, dry, ground.  Otherwise you will need to borrow something bigger to pull it out with.  I almost bought one off a guy up in Amelia a few years back, but when I was trying it out on the damp grass a cloud passed over and she got stuck.  Obviously, I am being a bit funny there, but those are made to run on a finished surface or solid packed gravel and nothing else.  

[mike_belben]

Those look to be manual spread forks and oldschool big truck wheels and hubs. 

My dad and i bought an old 10k forktruck from s&w when i was still there.. Similar but not as wide or high a rack. I cant remember if its clark orhyster but its a pretty old vintage also.  Propane 4 cylinder i think.  

Just general age and obsolete parts.  Old enough for rotted radiator fins, cracked belts, radiator hoses, cylinder packings.  Froze up heim joints in the control linkages, corroded battery cables etc.  Little piddly headaches like ehh too cold to start today or ehh it wont idle so use a brick or ehh its not charging.  It gets used very little and at $1200 it wasnt much risk. 

Like jim said asphalt or goooood gravel only.  No grass, no loamy lots. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I don't know anything about all terrain forklifts but all the Hysters we used to use when I was in the USMC and various construction projects had a pretty good name as best I remember as being mechanically sound. I don't know about parts for one like that now but you can check with local dealers and ask. If I were you I'd have the guy put it through it's paces on ground as similar to your's as he has available and you decide based on that. Good luck. 

[btulloh]

That's some useful info.  Thanks.  I guess the skinny tires should have tipped me off but I was thinking it would handle more surfaces but not true rough terrain. I've looked at a couple conventional forklifts that'll handle gravel and still be ok inside.  Propane.  I was hoping this hyster might be the answer for more variable surfaces, but I guess not. Glad I asked.

Mike those manual adjust forks don't really suit me either and they're heavy enough that I couldn't just manhandle them.

I appreciate  the feedback.  

[YellowHammer]

We had quite a few Hysters and they were tough, old school machines.  We had one that had a 1957 manufacturing plate on it and we used it everyday.  Maintained by the Army Motor Pool.  

Some of those big ones have a differential lock, and it looks that that one is set up purely for asphalt.  When they get stuck, they get STUCK.  Ours were all diesel, and now we have propane.  I never ran or owned a gasoline one.  

[Ljohnsaw]

I bought a 14' truck box from a wrecking yard and they had a forklift like that.  Only it had the correct wheels/tires.  Very wide tires that apparently were foam filled.  They had come loose of the beads but were not flat.  When they tried to scoop up my box, the pushed and pushed but didn't go - the rims were spinning in the tires! :D

[moodnacreek]

Sounds like too high a price.  If you have flat hard ground you can do a lot with it once you get used to it. I have 2 similar machines. Moving the forks is not that hard if kept oiled and use a few tricks. Air tires are best for unpaved ground. Solids and foam filled lack traction. Duals are best on a fork lift and I use chains. The traction problem is because of all the weight on the front axel. Loaded they have lots of traction. What would you pull it out with when stuck? That fork lift could weight 20,000 lbs.  You will have to do this in the beginning, my log truck saved me many times. 

[Southside]

What would you pull it out with when stuck?

He had farmer friends.  We love to brag about how stuck someone was when we pulled them out.  :D

[mike_belben]

Slide forks arent too bad.. I have slid some bigns. Keep the bars greased and ya kinda rest the tip on the ground. Then use a cheater bar to wiggle the bar then tip then bar then tip. 


Now when the slide bar bends youll hate them. Theyll always wiggle to the bend. 

My big timber forktruck has slide forks.  8ft long, 8 inch wide and 3 inch thick.  there are so many braces along the slide bar that the fork lives in a position and has to be unpinned on ground.  Then back out, drive back in at the other slot and repin.  The slide bar has a 3/8 cotter pin and ive never found the motivation to get past it!    :D

[Resonator]

X2 on everything said, would need a flat hard packed surface to work on, plan on chains if not. Check the age, those wheels look old, check brakes and steering. Price might be a little high, I've seen similar for less. And if you don't need 12,000#, smaller ones go for under $4000 all the time.

[moodnacreek]

X2 on everything said, would need a flat hard packed surface to work on, plan on chains if not. Check the age, those wheels look old, check brakes and steering. Price might be a little high, I've seen similar for less. And if you don't need 12,000#, smaller ones go for under $4000 all the time.

12,000# is a little heavy but much better than too small and safer in my mind. It will allow you to do things you never planned on like pick up a truck someone blocked you entrance with.

[Southside]

You don't need a 12,000 lb machine to be effective in dealing with that scenario.  

Don't mess with a farmer

[Resonator]

Just because you CAN lift a car, doesn't necessarily mean you SHOULD lift a car. (Unless you want to "buy" said car.) :D

[moodnacreek]

Just because you CAN lift a car, doesn't necessarily mean you SHOULD lift a car. (Unless you want to "buy" said car.) :D

The trick is to remove the vehicle without getting in trouble. Sometimes this needs to be done by somebody So far I have been lucky.

[customsawyer]

I have a forklift with dual tires and 10000 lift cap. It doesn't like soft dirt or uneven ground. Dif lock would be nice. Many times when it starts spinning it is because one set of tires is over a small little dip in the surface. Since it is solid axle that set of tires comes off the ground. The plus is that you can usually put the forks low and tilt forward enough to raise that side and slide a short board under the tires. It's just a pain when you have been over that area a 100 times but this time it don't go. Chains would be nice but then they would be hard on my concrete.

[Don P]

I can say if you buy too small, slide a load of white oak off a semi trailer, forklift tips forward, spills load, slams the rear down and then breaks just about everything in the rear... too little is a pain. That was an ooold Clark with leather cylinder packing, I had inverted its leathers a couple of times. It was capable of getting stuck on a sidewalk... I was kinda glad to see it go for scrap  :D I'm a fan of loaders, skid steers and Lulls for off road, forklifts are factory machines.

[Resonator]

too little is a pain

Used to deliver flatbed length loads of steel to places where all they had were small forklifts to unload. They would pair up on each side to the trailer 4,6,8,10 at a time. Someone would yell GO! and get all of them little towmotors just a screamin'. If they could get it up a couple inches, I would drive out from under the load and my job was complete. ;D

[Dave Shepard]

You don't need a 12,000 lb machine to be effective in dealing with that scenario.  

Don't mess with a farmer

My understanding is that if someone trespasses on our land, we can't move the vehicle, but we can stack 50 round bales around it until the cops get there.  ;)

[moodnacreek]

The cops here will put it right back in the land owners hand if the vehicle is completely on private land. I think you can impound it and charge storage.             Everyone wants a handler as opposed to a forklift and that is very understandable.  I have a tight allyway with lumber piles 16' high both sides. That is why I like forklifts like the one in question.

[Don P]

There is no debate in tight quarters, you just need good ground year round.

And ground conditions are a matter of degree, I can sink anything, I can just get stuck farther away with some.