Very cool…the forks I knew were propane fueled…this is a great project! Congratulations
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- Thread starter SNLC
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Thank you. And it is our first all-electric Toyota truck. But hopefully not our last. I started down the path of acquiring a lathe and mill, a bandsaw and this forklift with the idea of converting over our RJ77 with it's rather anemic 22R engine.
Nice! Doubt it had wood under the battery originally. Be careful, that rear steer will swing the rear end fast. Probably wouldn't take it on the gravel too much.
There was a badly deteriorated sheet of plywood under there when I removed the old one.
Interesting that you would mention the gravel...
Pretty well stuck
Well the winch did not do it...
This did not work either. And it was looking like rain... I was not so sure that Mr. Toyoda had engineered the forklift for rain so I was a bit concerned. I went off to the place where I am confident many of us have a love-hate relationship.
But when I got back I found that my son had moved the gantry crane out of the garage and had successfully lifted the rear of the forklift!
I want to pause here...
I had not considered using the gantry crane to lift the rear end because this thing is kinda old. Lifting a 3000 pound battery using an old chain and an old chain hoist was stressful both when I removed the old battery and when we installed the new one. My gut was telling me it was too dangerous to do this. But here was my son who had just gone ahead and done it. Even before I had left to get a 12 ton bottle jack and snatch blocks I had asked an AI about it:
And my son himself was worried about the purple strap holding up the rear. This also is a product of the love-hate store. Rated at only 2000 pounds....
This did not work either. And it was looking like rain... I was not so sure that Mr. Toyoda had engineered the forklift for rain so I was a bit concerned. I went off to the place where I am confident many of us have a love-hate relationship.
But when I got back I found that my son had moved the gantry crane out of the garage and had successfully lifted the rear of the forklift!
I want to pause here...
I had not considered using the gantry crane to lift the rear end because this thing is kinda old. Lifting a 3000 pound battery using an old chain and an old chain hoist was stressful both when I removed the old battery and when we installed the new one. My gut was telling me it was too dangerous to do this. But here was my son who had just gone ahead and done it. Even before I had left to get a 12 ton bottle jack and snatch blocks I had asked an AI about it:
And my son himself was worried about the purple strap holding up the rear. This also is a product of the love-hate store. Rated at only 2000 pounds....
I will say I was gratified that the double-wheel casters did so well outdoors.
Anyways, we fiddled and faddled around and put some more wood under the wheels.
And after a first failed attempt by golly the old girl drove herself out of the by-now wet and soggy gravel!
Anyways, we fiddled and faddled around and put some more wood under the wheels.
And after a first failed attempt by golly the old girl drove herself out of the by-now wet and soggy gravel!
I particularly liked the "lower the forks and it'll be like lifting itself up" comment!
I did see your earlier comment about replacing bad plywood. I'm saying there probably wasn't even plywood there originally. Somebody added it at some point in the lift's life probably because the battery was corroding away.
I did see your earlier comment about replacing bad plywood. I'm saying there probably wasn't even plywood there originally. Somebody added it at some point in the lift's life probably because the battery was corroding away.
Got it. It did seem like a good idea to put some wood under there. Bit of cushion and the bearing surfaces were actually quite limited. I figured the wood would distribute the weight a bit better. These batteries are scary dense and heavy.
BTW, for anyone else that is thinking of looking for a Toyota electric forklift, I have to say that I really like this thing. Looks very supportable and durable. The costs have crept up over time. The forklift itself was cheap at 800 USD. Charger was 450 I think. Power cables and so on was probably another 400 USD. Redoing the casters on the gantry has probably cosst me close to 500 and the new/refurbished battery was 4100. That all said a solid electric forklift is substantially more than that from what I have seen so I think I could get the $$ out of it if I needed to.
After yesterday's events I decided I really wanted a way to hitch securely to the rear of the forklift using a pin arrangment in the rear:
I had picked up a big shackle a few weeks ago with this in mind, but it did not quite fit. Time for some more machining!
I had picked up a big shackle a few weeks ago with this in mind, but it did not quite fit. Time for some more machining!
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I have gotten our forklift stuck on the dirt back road behind the shop a few times. It usually takes some hard yanks with either my FJ62 or F350 and chain to unstuck
All you should really need is the pin, not the shackle.
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Pin is anchor point. Chain, hook, etc simply go around the pin in lower opening.
Not exactly same but same idea -
Not exactly same but same idea -
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Local trade school surplus mechanical training station. 20 plates covered in gears, pulleys, shafts, collars, couplers, bearings, etc, etc. Plates store on front/back/sides/underneath. Bigger/heavier gears etc shown but box full of smaller stuff. Work surface is three 23x34 removable plates with 3 more that store underneath I guess for assembled projects. Plus gear reduction right angle motor, electric clutch/brake, gear reducer and controller for the motor/clutch/brake. Those and the reducer are over $3k alone at lowest prices I could find. Doubt I'll ever find anything to do with most of it but plan is to install drawers underneath and use a mobile workbench.
Great find….like you, I don’t know what I’d do with it all but, you never know when something will come in real handy
