Like Awemason mine is for hobby use, not a business.
I have a hyster 2.5XM with a high lift mast, it has a little isuzu 4 cylinder diesel and almost no electronics besides lights and cranking/glow plugs. Probably the perfect era for a diy'er to go for.
it was in bad shape when I bought it from years of neglect but it was a cheap neglected price & I've gone through it and I'm fairly happy with it now, though I will need to do the forward clutch pack eventually, as when I have a heavy load on a incline its slipping but only in fwd, for now I plan heavy lifts in reverse until I'm on the flat. Thats pretty common on a cheap used forklift I think because when I was looking a few more expensive ones that did it too. They are awkward to work on because they might be small but theyre so damn heavy you have to treat them with respect.
You can jack one up with heavy blocks under the front edge of the mast and use the tilt to raise the wheels and walk it up heavy dunnage which gets me front(drive/brake) axle access, and at the rear I can jack it up with a machine jack. Access to do the clutch packs is a pig and will involve engine & transmission out but its a american hydramatic unit fitted to a lot of different things and I've priced the frictions out at a few hundred euro and I'll do that myself when I get around to it. The downside is when lifting that engine/transmission out, is probably one of those times I'll really need a forklift for
Things I might consider is do you specifically need a container mast (ie a stubby low 3 section mast when its down). My current high mast can reach the roof of the house and the apex of my barn inside and that has been incredibly useful but going into buildings with normal vehicle height lintels are out. You have to drop the pallet with the framehead at the threshold and use a pump truck inside but my workshop was built to accomodate plant so its ok for me. Same for unloading out of a container, with a suitable mast it would be a breeze but all the big stuff that comes here is usually on a curtainsider or a flatbed and its a doddle to open the side and fork off anyway.
Another aspect is fumes, you obviously cant use a diesel in a closed unvented building for long but a electric forklift would be fine. But used electric forklifts all seem to have sick battery packs, and the value of the forklift is less than the cost of a replacement pack I've been advised and everyone I know with a electric forklift that isn't a business using it daily seems to have theirs on charge when I visit. Lpg seems a good option though, and no diesel bug to deal with if you use it infrequently.
Also probably less of a issue for you as you already use the neighbors but unless one has pneumatic wheels, they are easy to get stuck. Even more so if you dont have a lot of weight on the forks, as the weight is all at the back on the counterweight then, and its 2wd with the drive axle being at the front. I have a stone yard, and in the edges where there's some soft spots it sinks into the stone and digs a trough and beaches the main belly and its game over, we have to go get the jcb and pull it out. I saw about someone here driving one accross fields with a welder/genny on the forks for a job and I thought "braver man than me". If it rains theres some other spots that I will only venture in with weight on the forks. And I managed to crush a drain 0.5m below the surface rolling over it with a load on. All that weight focused on narrow width wheels. Ive also had it on two wheels taking a access ramp too quick at a angle backwards and comedic as it sounds, a lot of people die in accidents like that when they jump out as it goes over and crushes them. I put the seatbelt on to stop my instincts being able to take over.
But every time I use it, I always think "why did it take me so long to get one". And even my wife begrudgingly says what a great purchase it was.
I have a hyster 2.5XM with a high lift mast, it has a little isuzu 4 cylinder diesel and almost no electronics besides lights and cranking/glow plugs. Probably the perfect era for a diy'er to go for.
it was in bad shape when I bought it from years of neglect but it was a cheap neglected price & I've gone through it and I'm fairly happy with it now, though I will need to do the forward clutch pack eventually, as when I have a heavy load on a incline its slipping but only in fwd, for now I plan heavy lifts in reverse until I'm on the flat. Thats pretty common on a cheap used forklift I think because when I was looking a few more expensive ones that did it too. They are awkward to work on because they might be small but theyre so damn heavy you have to treat them with respect.
You can jack one up with heavy blocks under the front edge of the mast and use the tilt to raise the wheels and walk it up heavy dunnage which gets me front(drive/brake) axle access, and at the rear I can jack it up with a machine jack. Access to do the clutch packs is a pig and will involve engine & transmission out but its a american hydramatic unit fitted to a lot of different things and I've priced the frictions out at a few hundred euro and I'll do that myself when I get around to it. The downside is when lifting that engine/transmission out, is probably one of those times I'll really need a forklift for
Things I might consider is do you specifically need a container mast (ie a stubby low 3 section mast when its down). My current high mast can reach the roof of the house and the apex of my barn inside and that has been incredibly useful but going into buildings with normal vehicle height lintels are out. You have to drop the pallet with the framehead at the threshold and use a pump truck inside but my workshop was built to accomodate plant so its ok for me. Same for unloading out of a container, with a suitable mast it would be a breeze but all the big stuff that comes here is usually on a curtainsider or a flatbed and its a doddle to open the side and fork off anyway.
Another aspect is fumes, you obviously cant use a diesel in a closed unvented building for long but a electric forklift would be fine. But used electric forklifts all seem to have sick battery packs, and the value of the forklift is less than the cost of a replacement pack I've been advised and everyone I know with a electric forklift that isn't a business using it daily seems to have theirs on charge when I visit. Lpg seems a good option though, and no diesel bug to deal with if you use it infrequently.
Also probably less of a issue for you as you already use the neighbors but unless one has pneumatic wheels, they are easy to get stuck. Even more so if you dont have a lot of weight on the forks, as the weight is all at the back on the counterweight then, and its 2wd with the drive axle being at the front. I have a stone yard, and in the edges where there's some soft spots it sinks into the stone and digs a trough and beaches the main belly and its game over, we have to go get the jcb and pull it out. I saw about someone here driving one accross fields with a welder/genny on the forks for a job and I thought "braver man than me". If it rains theres some other spots that I will only venture in with weight on the forks. And I managed to crush a drain 0.5m below the surface rolling over it with a load on. All that weight focused on narrow width wheels. Ive also had it on two wheels taking a access ramp too quick at a angle backwards and comedic as it sounds, a lot of people die in accidents like that when they jump out as it goes over and crushes them. I put the seatbelt on to stop my instincts being able to take over.
But every time I use it, I always think "why did it take me so long to get one". And even my wife begrudgingly says what a great purchase it was.