He Built His Own Bi-Directional Forklift

He Built His Own Bi-Directional Forklift TRACTORS Made-It-Myself 22-3-3 FARM SHOW reader Allan Bernardi recently sent us photos of a powerful bi-directional forklift his friend, Ray Roesner, built to use for heavy chores around his farm. "It's an excellent machine for skidding logs and hauling heavy loads because you never have to back up," says Roesner, Sparta, Ontario, noting that the rig is equipped with two steering wheels and sets of controls for driving in either direction. "You sit up high and there's lots of glass in the cab to provide exceptional visibility in all directions." He built the forklift around the chassis of a 1961 Ford F-700 truck. The wheelbase was shortened by half and the frame was heavily reinforced with I-beam. The truck's original axles, hubs, wheels, tires and suspension were retained for the machine. It's powered by a 305 cu. in. V-8 Chevy car engine with a 3-speed automatic transmission. Top speed is 50 mph. He mounted an 8-ft. Clark 5,000-lb. fork-lift mast on the end opposite the engine and fitted it with two 4-ft. forks. "The forklift raises up to 14 ft. high and tilts up to 45 degrees, which is ideal for lifting out trees when clearing land," Roesner says. "It'll lift a 15 ft. tree out of the ground in one minute flat." Controlled by a joystick in the cab, the forklift runs off a Vickers hydraulic pump from a junked Minneapolis-Moline tractor. The cab was fashioned out of a Massey combine cab and a New Holland swather cab welded together back to back. The forklift is fitted with two steering wheels, with gas and brake pedals on each end. A bucket seat out of a minivan mounts in the center of the cab on a pipe within a pipe so the seat can be quickly rotated 180 degrees by pulling a spring-loaded lock pin. Bi-directional steering is controlled by 24 ft. of roller chain wrapped around 3-in. dia. sprockets on the steering columns and on the power steering box. The body of the forklift was made with 1/ 4-in. thick steel "checker" plate. Numerous inspection doors were installed to make maintenance easy. "It's got plenty of power," Roesner says. "I lifted a 10-ft. long by 4 1/2-ft. dia. log with it last winter that, I was told, weighed 8,000 lbs. It just groaned a little." Roesner spent approximately 600 hours and $2,000 building the forklift. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ray Roesner, R.R. 1, Sparta, Ontario, Canada N0L 2H0 (ph 519 775-2500).

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