Fordson - Clark Hybrid Forklift

[Wudman]

I recently purchased an old Clark forklift off of Ebay, with plans of pirating the mast and installing it on the 3 point hitch of a farm tractor.  I got a pretty good deal on the Clark, paying less for it than it's scrap value.  It's a 6000# lift capacity.  Here it is:



Removing the mast was a pretty easy deal.  I removed the two caps securing the mast to its axle, disconected a couple of tilt cylinders, and put the sawzall to a couple of hydraulic lines that were in tough shape.  I used the tractor and boom pole to lay it on the ground.  It took less than an hour.  Then came time to move it down to the shop for the remainder of the work.  I backed under it with forks on my Fordson tractor and lifted.....the front end of the tractor went to the sky.  I can handle about 1 ton with the little tractor....this thing is heavy.  So I upsized on tractors a little and transported it down to the shop.  I mounted a pair of stub axles in the original mounts for the mast.  I cut a couple of shims out of 2" pipe stock and it was pretty much a bolt in after that.  Here's that shot:





Next, I stood it back up......and hooked to it.  The lift arms fit into the original mounts of the tilt cylinders.  I welded up a mounting bracket for the new toplink / tilt cylinder and I was in business.  Here's that shot:



Here's the complete unit:



The unit works very well.  The only downside is that it is a bit heavier than anticipated.  I'm going to foam fill the tires so I don't slide one of them off the rim.  You have to be "considerate" of the tires when turning.  If you cut too short, it will slide them.  The tires are the weak link in the sytem.  Also, you need decent ground to operate on.  There is not a lot of ground clearance under the bottom of the mast.  I have hung myself up already when I dropped a wheel in a hole. 

Wudman

[OneWithWood]

I like it.