On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 13:07:16 -0500, Ignoramus27678
wrote:

On 2011-11-05, Bruce L. Bergman (munged human readable) wrote:
On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 08:14:50 -0500, Ignoramus27678
wrote:

Lifting the forklift was the easiest part of the job so far. I used a
Simplex 10 ton mechanical jack. Right now the front of the forklift
sits on 4x4s.

Okay, Gunner, Test Grading time - Fail, or Partial Credit?

I vote for Partial Credit, because he WILL need that Simplex for
working on the rear tires and suspension - no mast on that end.

I lost you here. I have this simplex jack on the shelf, why can't I
use it for the back?

The pneumatic tire outdoor duty forklifts actually have ground
clearance. A Simplex railroad jack, stubby bottle jack, or other
devices can be used to get them off the ground for repairs.

Nothing "wrong" with using a jack for that, but the Mast Tilt trick
means you don't need any of that.

The solid tire Indoor Only fork trucks do Not have clearance for a
regular jack, if you're lucky you have three to four inches from the
floor - and that's with new tires and full tread. I've seen under two
inches lots of times. A regular trolley jack won't fit under there,
and two tons isn't nearly enough.

Takes a special floor jack with a very short nose to do the pick on
these safely, and you have to be Real Sure the truck is blocked up and
stable before you start taking wheels off and sticking your body parts
in bad places.

But if the truck runs, the 'tilt mast back, add cribbing under mast,
tilt mast forward, safety cribbing under chassis' is a lot easier.

(And for {$Deity}'s sake, don't anybody show Iggy that "Self Loading
Excavator into the back of a Dump Truck" footage for a few years. He
might get ideas he shouldn't have yet. That's an advanced level trick
for someone with a few hundred operating hours under their belt.
People like Adam Savage - and he freaked when he first tried it...)

I am too much of a chicken to attempt that.

Wait till you have a year or so experience on it with a lot of
hours. As you're buzzing one around like it's second nature, and
running the valves and digging holes like you are playing a Video Game
- without even thinking about which valve does what and whether you
just push or pull (or twist and tilt and trigger on a Joystick style
digger) just a flick of the wrist and you're digging.

THEN you can do the self-unload trick. And it'll be fun.

-- Bruce --