It’s one factor so that you can be forklift licensed, however it’s fairly one other factor in your forklift to be licensed badass. Many of the forklifts I’ve used at jobs have been unreliable, smelly monstrosities which have been repaired by the world’s boldest and least competent mechanics. This restomod Hyster is certainly not like that.
What’s that, you say? Restomod forklift? Hell sure. Why not? Folks restomod every part else lately. YouTuber Austin Coulson had a well-used 1956 Hyster that was in want of some consideration. So moderately than bodging it again collectively, he pulled it utterly aside and never solely restored and refinished the physique however utterly modified the way it operated mechanically.
The unique forklift used a four-cylinder engine mated to a transmission with a clutch. It additionally drove a hydraulic pump to regulate the hydraulic cylinders for lifting, side-shifting and tilting. By the point Austin obtained it, the engine was drained and noisy, and the gas tank was vented so the fuel would evaporate away between his rare makes use of of the machine.
Austin’s answer was to delete that massive fuel engine fully, together with the steering gearbox, and the clutch. He changed the unique fuel engine with a hydraulic motor the scale of a soccer. The gearbox stayed, however the clutch may additionally go as a result of the hydraulic motor didn’t have to spin always. To energy this hydraulic motor (and the remainder of the cylinders, minus the side-shift system), he put in a Harbor Freight Predator motor.
Yep, that single-cylinder, air-cooled cheap-o engine is sufficient to drive the entire forklift. The draw back is that the hydraulic motor is way slower than the fuel engine, so the forklift solely does round 1 / 4 of the Hyster’s authentic velocity. Coulson additionally changed the usual steering system with a hydraulic one which makes use of a single lever and a spool valve to vary path.
The entire video, even at nearly an hour lengthy, is superior and I discovered far more about forklifts than I’ll ever have to know, however I can’t be mad at that.