Forklifts.....school me

[bearpaw]

Hard rubber tires are usually smaller dimeter and work great indoors on concrete or on asphalt outside, but if you get them on soft dirt or uneven ground they get stuck so easy. If you will be using in a dirt road environment I highly recommend pneumatic tires, get a lift with the largest tires you can find. I watched around and finally heard about one for $2800, its old but functions just fine. Watch online classifieds and ask around.

[derrickbouwman]

We have about 80 forklifts in our facility. Pnemautic tires will get you anywhere on packed gravel with a light foot. Should be easily able to get a good one for 8k. We use mostly komatsu but have several others as well.


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[CastleRocker]

There were a BUNCH of decent lifts at the last Richie Bros. auction in Centralia.  I wasn't able to go look at them, so I didn't bid on any.  If you are going to be using it primary on gravel, get one with duals.  They don't sink nearly as bad. 

[addicted1]

Just to be clear, they are solid pneumatic tires. A 3000# lift will work good for you, get a propane one pre 2005 and they are super simple to work on. Komatsu, Toyota, Nissan or Hyster. I am partial to Komatsu. They are built well, you can abuse the crap out of them. The thing to remember is propane forks lift are capable of running 24-7, with typically only minor repairs to hydraulics hoses for years on end. Most the time stuff fails from operate damage. The engines can be ran on a quart of oil for weeks and will run for 10k hours. Heck, I got a seized one free and it ran for a solid 3-4 months before it blew a rod (called it knocky). Don’t be worried about older ones, just look for signs of damage around the mast. Check GSA sales, local forklift companies will sell off their old fleet too. Those can be hit and miss depending on who rented them.

[Jpmiller]

An older model skid steer is pretty basic. An open cab model and mostly mechanical. If you look at one I’d check for hydraulic leaks and raise the arms up and shut it off. They’ll all settle some, settle alot is a bad sign. I’d go tracks over wheels unless you’re using it alot on roads. A lot of them are super tight to work on so if you’ve got tiny hands it’s usually an easy fix.

What year/hours of use would be in my budget range of $8K

Depends on brand. Kubotas are cheap, I never liked them but I was always using them for work and putting them through a lot more than you would in your application. Bobcat makes my favorite but Cats are good too. Takeuchi is a good middle of the road imo. You would probably be looking at around a 20 year old machine or older in that range but I wouldn’t be scared off by age. They’re made to last if they’re maintained.

[Jpmiller]

Keep an eye on auctions, I’ve seen them at Ag auctions too not just construction.

[Dan-o]

@NOCK NOCK

Bidadoo auctions in Kent has forklifts at auction more weeks than not.
I've bought 7-8 pieces of equipment from them over the years, and always felt like I was treated fairly and nothing was misrepresented.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204820445332?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338265335&toolid=10001&customid=80389321-299a-4526-b8e1-84f76c95d7ed

[addicted1]

Yeah, you are gonna buy an industrial piece of equipment for home use. Don’t over do it, you will likely wear the tires out by degradation before they ever come close to wearing out. Honestly a skid steer might get you the most versatile use. I just know forklifts probably better than anyone should, so if you have any doubt or question on those just hit me up.

[huntingfool7]

In your price range, a skid steer is going to be a used up piece-0-s. 

I've owned and operated both hard tired and pneumatic tired forklifts for years on both paved and gravel surfaces.  Your ground is the issue.  Hard tires will get stuck in short order.  Pneumatics are not as capable as many seem to think.  Currently own a Hyster 80 with air tires that has spent some time on rural property with no pavement.  On gravel {without a load} it handles a slight grade poorly.  If you're very careful it will handle the flat ground assuming well prepared, tight compacted gravel surface.  If your gravel is loose and has any thickness you will get stuck...or worse.  If you insist on a forklift look for one with dual air tires up front. 

What you really need is a tractor with a front end loader rated for the weight you will be handling.  You will need more room for turning but the machine will handle the terrain.

[NOCK NOCK]

Thanks for all the help so far.

I was kinda thinking that about a SS.
Maybe im off, but I look at stuff by how well its appearance is, if it looks beat up, my guess is it wasn't taken care of, internally too.

Tractor has always been my first choice, I just dont have room to operate a larger one that will lift the weight I need.

[Rob]

8K is a tight budget.  I second the tractor approach as you won't have issues with traction, and you can operate 2 implements at once.  I would think something in the 40HP would give you close to 2K lifting power.  I have an LS MT235HE.  It is 35 HP and is Just shy of 1,700 at the pins.  Turns on a dime and works in tight places though.

A neighbor has a skid-steer with a blower on it that bailed me out a couple times before I got the tractor.  it had "summer tracks" on it and would get stuck on snow in a low spot.  never took more than a small nudge to get it going again, but those tracks would just spin if it stopped in the wrong spot.

But 8K is a budget # you are going to keep hitting up against...  2-3 times that will get you a nice machine.

I just unloaded a truck full of lumber onto the forks on a pallet last weekend.  I just dropped it in an out of the way place, and then when I am ready for it I will pick it up and move it to the job site.  Pretty handy!

[OutHouse]

Back when I was running a forklift loading trucks in a warehouse we used to get a forklift stuck every time we had to load/unload in the parking lot

 

I loved driving forklifts when I worked a lumber yard back in the late 2000s. But it was terrible when we had to side load certain trailers off the pavement. The darn things are so heavy and the narrow tires cuts right into the ground.

[Rob]

And to be clear, it is a much bigger dime that it turns on than a SS or Forklift would turn on I am sure!  Still operates in decent tight quarters.

Alos handy for hauling brush to the burn pile. and changing the oil on the ATV a snap.

[NOCK NOCK]

@Rob.

What does “at the pins” mean?

Also in my learning, folks keep talking about how much Hp a tractor has. I get Hp, but how does that equate to lifting capacity/hydraulics.?

[Rob]

Folks who are more schooled in Tractors will correct any errors in what I state below, but my understanding is:

"At the Pins" refers to the pivot point where the forks attach to the front end loader (FEL).  See red circle in the attached photo.  Since you essentially have a lever with the forks, the further the load is from the pivot point, the more effort it takes to lift, and the less weight you can lift.  I have seen forks that clamp inside the bucket and that is a low cost option for adding forks to a tractor, but it puts the load further away from the pivot creating a pretty decent lever.

My understanding on the relationship between HP and lifting capability is that more HP can run a bigger hydraulic system.  The bigger Hydraulic system the more flow you have.  The more flow you have (Gallons per minute), the more lift you get/the more power you can deliver to your implements.

My tractor has 13.7 GPM, but it is a hydrostatic drive transmission and some of that flow is used to power the transmission.  I get 8.2 to the implement.