On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:10:02 -0500, "Pete C."
wrote:
Randy wrote:

Well, I borrowed a charger from the local forklift company, by way of
a friend of a friend and it looks like the battery is good. At least
in fair condition, I drove it around for 20 minutes.

However the two times I drove the lift out of the warehouse and onto
the paving I have made big rutts in the blacktop and busted up a nice
spot. Seems I have 1" of BT over top of mud.

So my cheap lift truck is now going to cost me $2800 for 900 sqft of
new paving, 6" stone and 3.5" paving.

How long does the new BT need to sit before you can drive a 9000#
lifttruck on it?

Forever. A month or two with plywood or steel trench plate down.

6 years ago I had 80% of the lot paved for 3 grand, now the last 20%
is costing me almost as much. 6 years ago the other spot looked real
good, now it's all cracked plus the rutts where I drove over it.

I had that spot done almost 20 years ago, could not afford the whole
thing so I just and a strip from the street to one overhead door done.
Looks like the guy screwed me, he said he put down 2".

I don't think you can ever safely drive a "regular" forklift on asphalt
unless it has a concrete base. Back when I worked at a CNC company we
never drove out 10k# forklift out in the parking lot without putting
down plywood first in anything but the coldest winter weather, and never
let it sit in on spot even then. A rough terrain forklift with large
pneumatic tires is probably the only safe forklift on asphalt.

Bingo. Concrete driveway with a nice rebar grid (not just wire mat)
over a substantial layer of compacted crushed base stone if you're
planning on taking a solid-tire forklift onto it. The point loads
they generate are simply too much for asphalt alone.

This is why they quickly outlawed solid truck tires on the highway
when pneumatic tires became widely available and reliable at the turn
of the last century. Besides limiting the truck to 25 MPH without
killing the driver or shattering the cargo, they ripped up the roads.

-- Bruce --