Lifting a shell or car with a fork truck

I see scrappies doing it all the time. They're not dead.....yet.

Aye. But it'd be a shell I was wanting to keep rather than crush...

OIC, I thought you were just wondering if it was safe. By making sure that the forks were under both sills and that any offending items like exhaust and pipes were safely out of harms way or removed then I think you'd be reasonably safe.

I'd arrange it so the weight was being taken at suitable points (using eg blocks of wood), rather than just putting the forks underneath and lifting.

cheers, clive

A long time ago I worked for a Rover dealer and we used to move new shells around on a forktruck all the time.

Not to work under though ;)

Lee

"Doki" wrote

Check the SWL of the fork truck, it should be on a plate somewhere- the model number of the fork truck is often a giveaway- a Lansing Bagnall 25 lifts 2.5 tonnes for example.

Don't forget though that as the car will overhang the ends of the tines (forks), you should err very much on the side of caution when lifting- lift it a few inches, tilt back then push down on the car and see if it is stable.

I would also suggest you use some wood to avoid metal-to-metal contact

And presumably on a pallet or with the forks protected...

I picked up a complete Merc some years ago. No damage and it's on the road.

Rob Graham

Some guys ;-) in a warehouse that I used to work in once picked up the bosses classic and popped it ontop of the office building....

That's still on the road... Once he got it down.

Tom Burton

Shouldn't be a problem, just make sure you don't catch anything underneath, like brake pipes etc. Also make sure the forks are long enough to reach to the sill or chassis member on the far side.

Will do. Definately does a tonne, so a Golf shell should be no problem.

Aye.

I actually saw this done once as a practical joke - someone parked a colleague's brand new VW Bora on top of a container using exactly this method.

This all happened during the summer of 2000, while I was working for Sony at the IBC Exhibition at Amsterdam RAI. You should have seen the look on the guy's face when he discovered where his car had been parked!!

Incidentally, the fork truck driver was a professional, and rubber pads were used to protect the floorpan of the car during the lifting process. Not recommended, unless you *really* know what you are doing !!