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Brumbear
| | Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2011 - 08:25 am: | 
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Thanks that pretty much somes up my concerns and what I am trying to find out. I am looking further into this machine. I love working on the electrics as well they are SO much cleaner. I have a couple Silent Hoist machines with V-8 engines but other than that pretty much 15,500lbs is the biggest we work on. |
Tiltcylinder
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2011 - 12:17 pm: |
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Chinese goods have come a long way in the last fifteen years or so. I remember looking at a 'Powerlift' electric and all the insulators for the buss bars were blue/white ceramic like grandma's coffee pot. The first couple we got had reusable fuses that sort of looked like giant ATC's. There was a length of wire wrapped around the insulator, when the fuse blew, you would wrap a new piece of that wire around each leg with a single strand across. That strand was the fuse. Worked, but was designed for farmers, not modern repair shops, eventually convinced them to work up a standard ATC fuse block to retrofit them.
If you do go for it, try to work with a financing company to get them their new machines. If you bring in a plan they can live with, sales go much easier. Then you'll need to be able to refurb (or at least service and repaint) their used equipment, and sell it. Pick a non-standard paint color and decal up with all the safety decals (helps aleviate lawsuits) you can lay your hands on. I still see machines I refurbed twenty years ago, still in use and easy to identify ( I had hundreds of feet of wide boat stripe decals in three shades of blue, used on all my repaint jobs). Caterpillar yellow is available in gallons and spray cans. Has awesome coverage in a single coat, looks great with flat/semigloss black accents and is easy to touch up.
SMH or Nolf's or LPM (one of them) used to sell a nice universal safety decal set.
Good luck. It's a buisness where service is key. It's always going to be the core. They need the machine, they need you to fix it NOW, you've got to be able to provide that and make a living doing it. Everything else is gravy. 'Rent' them a new machine when you have to bring their POS into the shop for a tranny or engine job. Keep the cost low, drop it off when you pick their's up. You'll be surprised how often that leads to a sale six months or so down the line. Especially when its a small buisness, where the owner might actually operate the equipment. Long term rentals with service contracts included also work, but only if its a decent customer. I remember scaling fences in the middle of the night to remove distributors... ahh those were the days. |
Skinstains
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2011 - 07:04 pm: |
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Dave, just make sure you don't get hosed. |
Malott442
| | Posted on Saturday, March 05, 2011 - 12:12 pm: |
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I'm in the material handling industry, and the reason you are probably not getting a call back is that you are too small of a business. You are not well known nationally, and if you make bad decisions, those unsatisfied customers could smear the brand name. A satisfied customer tells their peers about their experience about 20% as much as a dissatisfied customer.
What class lifts are you thinking about?
I work with class I II III and IV. I work for a company called Carolina Handling, we are owned by Raymond, an electric forklift company. We specialize mainly in I II and III.
Tailift has never been heard of in this area, and I wish I could give you feedback, but I can't. If I were to open a business, I would seek out:
RICO
HYSTER
CROWN
RAYMOND
TAYLOR
CAT
I would be cautious about Cat though, because right now they are in a turbulent time where it looks like they may just go back to moving dirt. They used Rays for their warehouse lifts for a while, and now they are using Yuengheinrich, which is a POS electrically and impossible to get parts for (think 88 ducati).
I would also consider Barrett possibly, though their line has gone downhill a bit thanks to their parent company's decisions (Nissan). Barretts still hold a reputation in the grocer warehouse field as being an absolute tank. I've seen em go 25 years on a drive unit without an oil change, and the stuff that comes out looks and feels exactly like used bearing grease.
If you would like some specific questions answered I can be of assistance. Is there any way to tell what parts Tailift is using for their components? That is VERY important. |
Malott442
| | Posted on Saturday, March 05, 2011 - 12:18 pm: |
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I forgot about TCM and Yale, not to mention Clark.
If you want to work on a car motor still, some Hysters come with a Vortec 4.3. |
Brumbear
| | Posted on Saturday, March 05, 2011 - 04:29 pm: |
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Raymond of NJ has clark(I wouldn't touch em) and TCM , Liftec has Nissan Hyundai and baker/linde Maintainco has Toyota and Mitsubishi CC has Komatsu and Kalmar/tusk is out and Trilift has Cat ,Heli and junghiendrich. They are not getting back because they can't they are locked up.Tailift has returned my request they do not give specific rights so competition could be a problem but I welcome that. I am now trying to get finance Co on line and come up with the capital for my initial buy and checking how much my ins. will go up. This is not an easy thing to do but I feel it's worth the effort and the payoff could be significant in the service end which is what fuels the industry anyway.
Raymond is a nice machine but I heard Toyota was making a run at them I hope they don't cause those bastids usually get what they want!!!!!! |
Brumbear
| | Posted on Saturday, March 05, 2011 - 04:31 pm: |
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oh yeah hyster and Yale are locked up too never heard of Rico? They appear to be all terrain types |
Malott442
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2011 - 12:56 am: |
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Rico does tuggers and some narrow aisle equipment. |
Tiltcylinder
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2011 - 12:42 pm: |
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There was a great company in Canada making all terrain units... Manitou? or something like that, we sold a couple here, just never enough to become a dealer. NYC is just not a great market for that as everything's frikkin' paved everywhere. Don't believe Cat actually makes forklifts anymore. They sell them, but I believe they've been rebadged Mitsubishi units for at least a decade. Don't get involved with Junghiendrich, nice machines, but they had the worst dealer service/assistance I ever had to deal with. Never wanted to honor any kind of warranty work, zero tech assistance, left a really bad taste in my mouth whenever I had to deal with them.
Komatsu, TCM, Nissan, Yale, Toyota and Hyster... in that order would be my choice as top lifts. Toyota would be higher on the list but they have a lot of oddities that make them tough to repair. Bakers were air-cooled (damn what's the name of that engine maker?) or watercooled VW in-line fours ans maybe Westerbrooke diesels... odd but stout. Loved TCM electrics, old Barret, Baker and Crowns too. Miss the old AlisChalmers and Cat lifts. They were indestructable. 2 inch plate 'frames', grease fittings on any part that moved; simple, reliable stuff.
Things are getting way overcomplicated these days. Shift and start by wire, heck even steer by wire. Does my fleet of 8 new 8,000 pound Yale 'velociraptors' really need four cylinder, electronic injection turbo deisels instead of a simple all mechanical inline sixes? |
Toona
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2011 - 02:53 pm: |
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I'm looking for a used 4000 lb fork lift. Any brands that I should look for or stay away from?
I'm in central PA, sorry I won't be able to do any business with you. |
Brumbear
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2011 - 07:22 pm: |
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I love the Japanese brands it also depends on what your using it for and where.
I love the electrics best of all and you don't have to store fuel insurance co like that.
I would ask you a couple questions though.
Where are you using the lift? IE inside or outside or both? Do you have an asphalt area if it's out side and or gravel? If you have gravel minimum you need a pneumatic (style) truck they displace the weight better not necessarily because of air tires you can get (solid pneumatics) in case puncture is a worry the frame is bigger than a cushion tire machine.
Do you need a triple lift mast and do you double stack pallets in a trailer? A standard mast will raise the second channel quickly and will not have as much free lift as a triple usually.free lift is the ability of the first stage to come up without the second stage picking up so you can double stack in trailers or low wharehouse etc.
Do you need or want a side shifter? lumber forks or regular class 2 forks is a small issue. Lumber forks allow you to pick up plywood bundles they are thinner and wider.
The reason I like the Jap trucks they are much cheaper to get parts for and easier to work on.
I hope this helps I would look at the 5000lb machines they are more numerous as they are a standard piece and may be cheaper on the whole.
I hope this helps Toona |
Toona
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2011 - 11:44 pm: |
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It does help, thanks for your input.
Mostly I see it being used inside or on pavement/concrete outside. Minimal use on gravel.
My main thought for getting one is mainly for unloading my supplies and stacking them on pallet racks in my shop, nothing higher than a 12' ceiling.
While a sideshift might be nice, most of those are out of my budget range. Trying to stay below $2500. I think I'll probably only use once or twice a month...that is until I get one, then I'll find lots of use for it! |
Brumbear
| | Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2011 - 09:49 am: |
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Thats true remember a cushion tire machine will sink in gravel immediately you know they make stackers which you may find a better and cheaper purchase like a counter balanced stacker with a 24 volt steel cased battery "not light duty pack"
http://www.directindustry.com/prod/blue-giant/elec tric-counterbalanced-stackers-22677-296172.html
something like this also here is a link to help you find what your looking for
http://www.eliftruck.com/
good luck I hope to make the resivior ride this year. Ulynut says it's a great time I hope I can make it. |
Malott442
| | Posted on Monday, March 21, 2011 - 07:50 am: |
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Wish you were closer. I have a few customers with walkie stackers for sale here in central AL. Not the best brands, but cheap for low usage. One has a Big Joe for 1000, with a decent battery. |
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