[AT] First forklift attempt

Thomas O. Mehrkam tomehrkam at houston.rr.com
Tue Jul 5 04:08:28 PDT 2005


I had this happen with a Dodge grain truck. I had a load of peanuts on 
the truck and I went arround a tight curve. Lost power. I noticed the 
oncoming car head for the ditch. I did not know why.

When I stopped the Dual wheels were sticking out about three feet. The 
bearing had let go and let the axle slide out. It almost came all the 
way out.

It was a hot day. I still remember having to shovel all those peanuts 
out of that truck to another. Had to find a new axle to get the truck 
back on the road. That was almost as fun as when the brakes went out 
pulling into the peanut dryer. Of course it was at the bottom of a hill. 
:=} Sure shook up the people in the office. They installed a concrete 
barricade after that.

rdhaskell at juno.com wrote:
> Hi all
> This is the story of Sunday's attempt to retrieve the forklift from
> Tehachapi CA.  Delete now in you are not interested.
> 
> I left home about 8:30 AM. topped off with Diesel, went about three
> blocks and stopped for a left turn.  I should tell you I drive a '94
> Dodge Diesel 4x4.   The light turns green, I run through second gear, go
> into third and the engine spins freely, try fourth and nothing.  A string
> of cars behind me is backing up and to my right is another line also
> making the lift turn.  I put it in four wheel drive and made it over to
> the right shoulder.
> I get out and expect to see the rear drive shaft on the ground, but there
> was no sound.  The first thing I notice is the left rear tire is sticking
> out about a foot more than it should, and gear oil is dripping on the
> ground.  The nut holding the bearings on the spindle had backed off, the
> tire,hub, brake drum, and axle had all come out of the housing.  I jacked
> it up and pushed it part way back in, but the brake shoes wouldn't go
> back in  the drum.
> 
> For a minute I considered fixing it there, but the steady stream of cars
> and trucks whizzing by made me reconsider.  I called my friendly tow
> company to haul the truck and another friend to get the trailer.
> 
> Back at home after much cleaning I found that the small metal clip that
> is driven into the plastic insert of the retaining nut had come loose and
> was laying pulverized in the hub.  A new set of brake shoes,  axle seal,
> three hours cleaning and chasing parts and I was back on the road.
> 
> Not exactly what I had planned, but it could have been a lot worse.  Like
> breaking down 150 miles from home instead of 2.  Or having the wheel come
> off on a curve at speed with the forklift on the trailer.
> 
> Ron Haskell
> rdhaskell at juno.com
> Riverside, California
> USA
> http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=3009370&f=0
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
> 




More information about the AT mailing list