Heavy Duty Forklift Built Out Of Car, Combine Parts

Heavy Duty Forklift Built Out Of Car, Combine Parts MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Forklifts 30-3-34 "It's built heavier than most commercial forklifts on the market," says Gary Koehler, Upper Sandusky, Ohio, who recently sent FARM SHOW photos of a forklift he built out of old car and combine parts. The forklift is equipped with a 10,000-lb. mast and rides on tractor-size tires. He started with a 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass, pulling out the engine, radiator, automatic transmission, and rear end. He used 6-in. channel iron to build a frame from scratch. The car's rear end drives the planetary drive axle off a Deere 9500 combine. He cut the planetary axle in half, then narrowed the car's rear end and welded it into the axle. A short 1-ft. driveshaft is used to hook up the car's transmission to the planetary axle. The forklift's rear axle is off an old White combine. The rear spindles came off the Deere 9500 combine, and the hydraulic steering cylinder is from a Deere 7720 combine. The forklift mast is welded to steel brackets on the front axle. The mast is raised and lowered by a hydraulic pump that's direct-driven off the engine crankshaft. The fenders are off an old Massey 135 tractor and were turned backward so the operator can easily grab handholds on the fenders as he climbs into the driver's seat. "We use it a lot, for everything from moving bulk seed to hauling logs to our wood splitter," says Koehler, who bought the forklift mast at a junk yard. "The car's original carburated V-6 gas engine tends to start hard, so we're now in the process of replacing it with a 4.3-liter, fuel injected V-6 gas engine out of a Chevy S-10 pickup which will be easier to start in cold weather. I might also convert the hydraulic pump to belt drive. "There are 900 lbs. of solid steel underneath the engine for extra weight, suitcase weights on the back end, and water in the rear tires, yet when I have to lift a particularly heavy load the back end will still go up in the air. It has enough power to flatten the front tires out." He used sheet metal to build a 70-gal. gas tank and mounted it directly under the seat. The hydraulic oil reservoir is out of a Massey 750 combine and mounts directly behind the seat. The exhaust pipe was originally mounted on top of the hood over the engine. However, the muffler tended to blow too much exhaust toward the driver so Koehler remounted it along one side of the tractor frame, next to the engine. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Gary Koehler, G & J Koehler Farms, 8366 Township Hwy. 103, Upper Sandusky, Ohio 43351 (ph 419 294-3901; gary@udata.com).

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