Forklifts

Basically forklift trucks come in all shapes and sizes, but all are either Masted or Telescopic.



Masted Forklifts



Can be anything from a small industrial machine to an offroad 4 wheel drive job. All have a vertical mast with a fork carriage that runs up and down. Smaller industrial machines designed for concrete yards will often need assistance from something else or a winch to get on board. For building sites you'll most likely find a Manitou or a JCB 926 like this one







They are nice easy machines to operate with torque converters and nothing fancy. Generally a chain over the fork carriage at the front and one through the towpin at the back will keep these in place.



I've also had to move a sideloader for a timber yard which is the same principle with the mast to the side.







Telescopics



Telehandler, telesporter, tele or just plain old forks. Rough terrain workhouse of the modern building site anything from a small 2t capacity 4m lift to a 4t capacity 17m lift. Usually with the capability to attach a shovel bucket and can be used as a loader.

Usually these machines are easy to tie down, most have nice big slots to pass a chain through and they are usually clearly marked.





You can also chain down across the towpin, this one is done that way as the machine was new and it damages the paint less.

If there are no suitable tie downs on the front I place a chain over the top of the fork carriage and pull down on that.

One point to watch is that the medium & larger CAT machines are a good bit wider than the JCB or Manitou equivalent. When you load them on you need to have the nearside wheels tight against the side of the body or the offside wheels will be hanging over the edge.


Unlike excavators there is no common system as to how the levers work to control the business end of things. Driving them is straight forward, a simple torque converter gearbox, although I find that sometimes it is best to use 2 wheel steer when I load them on. This is easily switched on the dash. To make sense of raising / extending and tilting the boom it's trial and error really, the bigger machines also have two more levers that control the stabiliser legs.

The smallest machines do not tend to have such good tie down eyes, but they're not so common and can be easily secured with straps.