Above 1200 Sq/FT 86's 20HP shop

[Strouty]

I am going to start a fire sale, or a fire, either way I need to get rid of lots of things.....

 

[86turbodsl]

I think if the local one is very close to a bolt on, then I'd go for it. Pallet racks are not very useful if you have to load by hand. And old lifts with out the free lift is annoying and a bit dangerous if you aren't used to it as it is easy to forget about. Two of mine are and the big one is not and it gets way up there without the free lift. Doubt I am going to find a different mast for a 12k capacity for anything I can afford.

I can't quite tell what you have, is it a Ford?

It's an Oliver 551. Basically an early 60s Oliver 550 tractor turned around backwards and a counterweight, frame and some mods tacked on. It was built by KD industries in Texas and shipped to Oliver to be sold as a factory built forklift in early 60's. I have 2 other Oliver tractors here, so a lot of the same parts, makes maintenance very easy.

 

[86turbodsl]

I am going to start a fire sale, or a fire, either way I need to get rid of lots of things.....

We both do my friend.... that was the whole point of buying the forklift. Turbocharge my processing of **** to get rid of. My loader wasn't cutting it. Just too hard to process things.

 

[Strouty]

Haha, getting bigger equipment just means you can have bigger things.

 

[86turbodsl]

Haha, right. I changed oil in the forklift this morning. It's already stinky hot out. I might end up just organizing the shop today and nothing else... whew.

 

[86turbodsl]

Sweet... just jumped on the tractor to move some stuff around and something sounds and feels crunchy under my seat... that's the transmission. Wheee....

 

[86turbodsl]

OVER 2 gallons low. Uh oh. I couldn't even tell it was leaking.

 

[86turbodsl]

Forward progress yesterday and today. The oliver forklift is cleaned up, new ignition, plugs, wires, and a gauge. Still work left to do, but looking a lot better and running better.

Yesterday, i bought a Clark C500-50 forklift for the mast, and some of the components. It's got a good running Waukesha D155G engine, which is almost the same engine as in the Oliver. That just got delivered. First order of business is start disassembly of the Clark, to get the main cylinder out and get it in the shop for repair. The swap will be pretty simple from my
measurements, since the Clark mast is almost the same dimensions as the Ollie. Pics attached.

Those add on garden tractor tires are absolutely hilarious. Somebody was a jokester...

 

[rattle_snake]

I believe you said the mast on the Oliver is too short, hence the swap. It is too short to be really usable at all?
Good luck with your latest project.

 

[86turbodsl]

the total height on the Oliver is 10'5". I can't get hay bales into the wife's barn loft. That task was the genesis of the forklift idea. Once i had the idea of adding a forklift, all sorts of other things took off.

 

[rattle_snake]

I see. So....
Wife's barn.
hay bales.
I would then assume that means she has horses? (aka you have horses)

If so I have same three problem$.

once finished it will be very handy.

 

[86turbodsl]

Yep, we have two horses and she insists on round bales. Immaterial. If she wanted small squares I'd still be forking them upstairs. I'm done with slinging bales at 52.

 

[bimmer1980]

I'm assuming you are putting the seal kit into the mast cylinder yourself? Is that the cylinder that telescopes out the top and the bottom? The primary outer cylinder moves up partway with the three stage mast?

About a year ago I did mine on the Clark. It wasn't too bad, but it was messy. Helps to have it under a beam with a chain hoist available.

I bought a couple of spanner wrenches and two good snap ring pliers of the appropriate size. That made a huge difference.

I popped the one gland nut loose before removing the cylinder from the mast.

One of the small seals I was able to get out without completely removing the one inner cylinder rod.

I also made a couple of seal drivers from 3" and 4" pvc pipe. That worked pretty good for the larger seals.

Good luck! Let me know if have questions.

 

[86turbodsl]

I'm assuming you are putting the seal kit into the mast cylinder yourself? Is that the cylinder that telescopes out the top and the bottom? The primary outer cylinder moves up partway with the three stage mast?

About a year ago I did mine on the Clark. It wasn't too bad, but it was messy. Helps to have it under a beam with a chain hoist available.

I bought a couple of spanner wrenches and two good snap ring pliers of the appropriate size. That made a huge difference.

I popped the one gland nut loose before removing the cylinder from the mast.

One of the small seals I was able to get out without completely removing the one inner cylinder rod.

I also made a couple of seal drivers from 3" and 4" pvc pipe. That worked pretty good for the larger seals.

Good luck! Let me know if have questions.

It is the triple telescoping cylinder. I wanted to do it myself, but in the interest of getting the job done sometime this year, i think i'm going to throw money at it to avoid the hassle. Guy i bought the lift from said a local place does them for 400 or less. Sounds like money well spent to me.

 

[Strouty]

If that’s true, I find most people selling something tell tall tales about easy repairs.

 

[86turbodsl]

Well, i don't know about tall tales, but i bought the lift from a forklift repair shop, he sends those cylinders over to the shop he mentioned because he can't beat that price with his own labor doing it himself. He said if it was the single cylinder he'd have done it himself.

 

[Strouty]

Well that would be good, I couldn’t get a single stage cylinder repaired for $400 locally, let alone a three stage. Fingers crossed!

 

[86turbodsl]

Yeah lets hope so. Find out later today maybe.

 

[bimmer1980]

yeah, if you get it done for $400, that is money well spent......

I think I paid about $38 for the seals, close to $80 or $100 for the tools..... I can't remember how much time it took me. Probably a few hours a day over a weeks time. At $400, my guess is that is about 3 to 5 hours of time.... longer than that and he's not making much money.

 

[86turbodsl]

Yeah i have never been into one of these before. While i understand hydraulics pretty well, my forklift guy said there's valving and other things in there besides just seals, so my thought was send it to the expert so i don't get in over my head. Of course that may change if the quote is more like 600-1000.

 

[Spareparts]

Sounds like time is more of a concern than the cost to a point. Have you kept track of the times you tore into
a project not knowing all the in's and out's and made it work, me either, sure makes you feel good when it is done,
and if it don't work we just don't speek of it ever again.

 

[86turbodsl]

My usual modus operandi is i tear into something knowing i can fix it, find some small roadblock, then back burner it until things work themselves out. Thus 50 projects littering my shop. I'm trying to focus on doing things that won't get derailed right now. Fork lift is functional as is, i can spend time working on the mast, and just stack hay bales in the machinery shed until the mast is ready. But don't want that to drag into winter either. It's a royal pain getting in and out of the machinery shed in the winter with big equipment. The incline into the shed gets greasy and snow piles up there.

 

[rattle_snake]

Well if I can suggest some more side projects for you, perhaps you can find an vintage dozer and install taller mast onto that. Tracked fork lift.

 

[86turbodsl]

Wow have never seen anything like that before.

 

[Strouty]

While that would be cool, it would make a mess.

 

[1Garageman]

You boys and your toys!

 

[macgyver37]

I showed the wife and she said no as soon as she saw it, then said we don't need an army of forklifts. Which I replied we already kinda have an army of forklifts. I will now be watching for a dozer just in case..

 

[Strouty]

It is always good to be prepared, tell her it will be very useful once the zombie apocalypse hits.

 

[Bob Heine]

I will now be watching for a dozer just in case..

Macgyver37, show your wife some videos of the flooding from Ida. Mention how dry she will be riding on the platform held up by the forks when the floods come to Kansas.

 

[86turbodsl]

While i would like to have a dozer someday, even though i probably don't need one, i will continue to secretly look for one...

 

[86turbodsl]

It is always good to be prepared, tell her it will be very useful once the zombie apocalypse hits.

i gotta go with firearms for that one.

 

[bulletpruf]

Any chance of us seeing any Fairlane content anytime soon???

 

[86turbodsl]

Not unless somebody gives me a giant vacation and i get all caught up on things. It's on the shelf under the back burner.

I called the cylinder place local to me that does them. 500-600 dollars unless something is wrong and it can go up. I might take a shake at it. Sigh...

 

[86turbodsl]

yeah, if you get it done for $400, that is money well spent......

I think I paid about $38 for the seals, close to $80 or $100 for the tools..... I can't remember how much time it took me. Probably a few hours a day over a weeks time. At $400, my guess is that is about 3 to 5 hours of time.... longer than that and he's not making much money.

Ok, so more like 600. I have a lathe. I can probably design and make any special tools. Where did you get your seals? You replaced everything right?

 

[bimmer1980]

Let me see if I can dig up my photos. My phone archived them to my google pics.

I bought the seal kit from an equipment supplier in Harrisburg, PA.

I took a quite a few pictures, and I have the manual....

Will the mast operate as is? other than squirting oil? It helps with disassembly if it still operates. Also, if you can run the mast all the way up and look for any scratches or scoring on the cylinders. Mine did not have any issues there, so I felt pretty good about just doing the seals.

 

[86turbodsl]

the forklift doesn't run right now. It's propane and i don't have a cylinder. I was told it's old faithful, so probably assisted extension is the rule. We looked at the cylinder before i bought it, the chrome looks pretty good. He thought it looked like it had been rechromed. Since that's all he works on, i believe him. I could probably hook the cylinder up to a power pack off the mast if needed. I have a spare.

 

[bimmer1980]

Ok, I found my pictures....Whew, I did take a bunch!!!
Here is the seal kit, the snap ring pliers and the spanner that I used. Also notice the "home made" seal drivers. PVC pipe, slit, heated and adjusted to size. And a Chain Vise grips.

 

[bimmer1980]

FYI-- I started a thread with all the details as I recall them on the cylinder seal kit process....

 

[86turbodsl]

oh cool. i'll check it out.

 

[bimmer1980]

I finished uploading all the pictures. While it might vary a little from your cylinder, it should at least get you closer.

Give me a shout if you have questions...... The hardest part is getting started and then the clean up afterwards....