Purchasing a little forklift

[bimmer1980]

Here's the short story on how I ended up with my Clark forklift.....

I usually search the craigslist every day. Normally I only look at the farm& garden, tools and materials. For some reason, that day in december of 2008, I also looked in the general section. And there was advertised a Clark forklift for $500. hmmm, well, you usually get what you pay for... but I thought it might be worth a look. It took awhile to hear back from the guy, but eventually he did and I went to take a look at it. Turns out, he is an HVAC company and had gotten a smoking good deal on a much newer forklift from a customer that wasn't paying. So he just wanted to get rid of this one. Everything looked good except that the brakes didn't work. Well, how hard can it be to fix the brakes. So I offered him $400 and let him think. after about 5 minutes, he says sure, $400 it is. Then I had to arrange for a method of getting it home. I knew I couldn't use my bmw and trailer. A roll back was $125... but hey, maybe I can borrow a truck and trailer from work. That can be a little dicey due to the liability, but I figured it was worth a shot. So finally on a decent day in november, I cut out of work in the morning, drove over to pick it up. They had to use the other forklift to push it onto the trailer due to the smooth tires (it is meant for hard surfaces only) Got it all strapped down and hit the road. took it to the fiances place rather than my apartment....(no point in moving it twice...) quickly unloaded it and headed back to work. about 2 hours round trip--including loading and unloading.

It took a few more weekends before I was able to tackle the brakes, but that only cost about $10 for a new piece of brake line, a small bender and some brake fluid. put the new line on, bleed them down, and viola, brakes!

Since then, it has come in so handy

 

[bimmer1980]

it looks like the date on my camera date stamp was set wrong in those pics... looking back, it looks like it was actually early November time frame.

For what it's worth, the forklift weights 6275 lbs and can lift about 2500 lbs. It has a three stage mast that can lift to 15 1/2'.

When I lived in SD, my brother and I also had a forklift for our shop there. THat's why I was really happy to find a good deal on a little forklift out here.

 

[bimmer1980]

it was a little dicey getting it into the garage for the first time. Literally, it barely fits. I have to tip the mast all the way forward and then drive into the garage. the door has to be held up because I need all the clearance I can get. The mast just grazes the weather stripping on the door. then when the front tires go up over the lip, the mast is just far enough inside the door that it clears. If the mast is tipped back, it would rip the trim off of the garage door.

The new garage is definitely going to get the 8' doors, not the 7' doors......

 

[Jaguar Fan]

That is way cool - and a great price!

 

[35mastr]

That was a good deal. I have been looking for a decent one for a while now.

I just about have to move everything myself when I buy it. Then I have to rig and engineer a way to either get it off the trailer or the truck when I get it home.

Thats one of the reasons I want a lift also. Can be used for just about anything around the house.

 

[OldCarGuy]

Nice lift truck!
Looks as if there is plenty of rubber left on the tires. Now that's what I call a great investment. With next to no up front costs...

 

[gsport]

nice find.... i keep seeing one pop up on my local craigslist for $775.00. says works great just smokes...

 

[unimog1300]

That is a great deal. We bought a propane Clark C-500 for $1500 from a local guy. My wife thought, "here we go spending more money". That night my big snow plow (1300 pounds) fell over in the building. My wife says "how are we going to pick that up"? I told her stand over there and watch. Hooked a strap to the plow and stood it up......done in about 35 seconds. In my wifes defense a fork lift is an unknown in her world. I use one most every day at work. They are life savers for heavy work. We have a mezzanine that runs the length of our 60' building, if I can get the fork lift under it, it goes upstairs. I had told my wife that she was going to get real tired of carrying stuff up the steps to put upstairs. We put extra furniture, lawn/patio furniture in the winter, tiller, aerator, wifes extra sewing machines, mower, jet skis, etc, etc, etc. I've unloaded whole bunks of plywood, wood I joists, a 3000+pound table, 3400# generator, lifting the mower, loading home theater speakers to the second floor through the window. Work smarter not harder if you have the need and or space for one.

 

[tatra]

bimmer, when you did the brakes, did you jack it up or use the fork boom to tilt and lift the tires off the ground?..........a real time saver if it works..........

 

[bimmer1980]

yes, I did use the boom to lift it up. Luckily the guy had all the manuals. That was one of the tips in the manual. it worked like a champ! it will only lift it about 1/2" to 3/4" off the ground, but that is pretty much all you need to get the wheels off.

for those of you that are curious about this method--it involves sticking a hard wood or steel block under the bottom of the mast. When you tilt the mast forward, the corner of the mast contacts the blocking and lifts up the forktruck.

 

[Jay H 237]

They are great! You can even get a basket or use a skid to lift someone up to change lights or do work if you have high ceilings.

How many hours on it and what does it have for an engine?


We have a propane Caterpillar at work and it has a Chevy 6 cyl Vortec in it. We have an electric Raymond stand up too but it can't go outside.

 

[A_Pmech]

That was a great deal!

I paid about scrap price for my 8,000lb Clark CY-80. One steering cylinder, steering pump, hoses, valve adjustment, tilt lock valve, control re-rigging, seat, gauges, battery, hydraulics adjustment and 5 gallons of paint later:

Should you need a service and overhaul manual for your Continental engine, they can be found here:

http://www.wisconsinmotors.com/partcatalog-enginescon.html

 

[tatra]

yea that little tip probably saved you from having to buy a low profile jack cabable of lifting that end of the unit..........you'll still need one for the steering end if and when the time comes.............nice score btw............

 

[autoclassicnut]

Let me be the first one to say YOU ****! ( a little atta boy found only on good deals on this site)

 

[stick004]

Wow! great deal. That would come in really handy around my place.

 

[krooser]

I've got an old 3K capacity Clark I bought on Ebay for $285.00.

I had to replace the starter as the farmer who owned was pulling it to start it for TWO YEARS!

Now it's sitting in my driveway missinga few parts to get it running... too handy to have it non-operational so I have to put it on my to-do list.

 

[bimmer1980]

It looks to have at least 2000 hours on it--altho I'm suspecting that the hour meter doesn't work. I think it has the continental engine on it. Regardless it is a little four cylinder. It doesn't have a huge amount of power. But it starts every time and does what I need it to do, so that's good enough for me...

 

[bimmer1980]

A-P: that's a nice looking forklift! I would have liked to have that the offroad tires on mine, but sometime you gotta take what you can get. That is a tank of a forklift.

just for entertainment, I was at one of our vendors awhile ago, and got to drive their forklift in their steel yard! that was awesome!

 

[35mastr]

It looks to have at least 2000 hours on it--altho I'm suspecting that the hour meter doesn't work. I think it has the continental engine on it. Regardless it is a little four cylinder. It doesn't have a huge amount of power. But it starts every time and does what I need it to do, so that's good enough for me...

Well said. Thats probably more than you will ever need. I hope to score one sometime soon.

 

[OldCarGuy]

That was a great deal!

I paid about scrap price for my 8,000lb Clark CY-80. One steering cylinder, steering pump, hoses, valve adjustment, tilt lock valve, control re-rigging, seat, gauges, battery, hydraulics adjustment and 5 gallons of paint later:

Should you need a service and overhaul manual for your Continental engine, they can be found here:

http://www.wisconsinmotors.com/partcatalog-enginescon.html

Now that's what I call a fork lift!

That old Clark could easily pick up Bimmer's baby Clark and carry it away!

 

[bimmer1980]

lol.... that reminds me of an OSHA violation picture that was passed around... One forklift is picking up the other forklift so they can have enough mast height to get a pallet of stuff up on a mezzannine...... there was a slew of other safety violations to go with it..... it was a "funny" email......

 

[biker]

That was a great deal!

I paid about scrap price for my 8,000lb Clark CY-80. One steering cylinder, steering pump, hoses, valve adjustment, tilt lock valve, control re-rigging, seat, gauges, battery, hydraulics adjustment and 5 gallons of paint later:

Should you need a service and overhaul manual for your Continental engine, they can be found here:

http://www.wisconsinmotors.com/partcatalog-enginescon.html

Hay man,

I have the same fork lift you have. The only thing mine is not as pretty as yours. That lift is a man. Mine runs great. The only thing wrong with my lift is that a wheel brake cylinder is broke. I can't find brake parts for my lift down here. Where can I find parts for this lift. I would not trade mine for a new one!!!

 

[A_Pmech]

Now that's what I call a fork lift!

That old Clark could easily pick up Bimmer's baby Clark and carry it away!

hehe, yeah. 6,700 lbs won't even faze it. It's a little more conservatively designed than the current machines as far as tipping moment, I believe. However, they're prone to fatigue cracks in the fender area. The 1/2" plate fenders were enlarged to 1" fenders on the next model.

I like the retro style though. It has nice lines. The photo actually makes it look smaller than it is.

I'd like to find a little carloader like Bimmer's as well, for use inside the shop. I saw a really cool 1948 Towmotor still in operation at an Ace Hardware in New York. I made noises about buying it and the guy flat out refused!

Those little carloaders are heavier than they look, due to the short wheelbase. To make up for the lack of opposing arm, they make 'em heavier. MUCH heavier!

Biker,

Glad to hear there's another CY-80 out there still running. The serial number is located on the left frame, just aft of the step in. The parts should still be available from Clark. If not, there's a HUGE forklift junkyard in Texas (the name escapes me) that has a few CY-80's.

A number of parts from the next model, the Clark C-500 series, are compatible. Those parts are still readily available.

 

[biker]

Thanks A Pmech

 

[ket-tek]

lol.... that reminds me of an OSHA violation picture that was passed around... One forklift is picking up the other forklift so they can have enough mast height to get a pallet of stuff up on a mezzannine...... there was a slew of other safety violations to go with it..... it was a "funny" email......

probally this one.

this is a classic also:

 

[metal1313]

http://cnj.craigslist.org/grd/1230599285.html

i want that one

 

[wanderer]

I just ran into this old thread. Could some of you that have the CY80's tell me how bad a clutch replacement will be? I found one for sale locally. Guy is asking $1500 and is willing to deliver AND negotiable on price but it needs a clutch. I'm wanting to know how big a project this is.