Moving shop - time to buy a forklift?

[Bill Dufour]

I wonder about used BEV batteries in a lift truck. They may not hold enough charge for a car but you need several tons for a lift truck so they might add up to enough power.
I have heard of people getting worn out BEV batteries and using them for home solar storage.
BilL D

A little research say Telsa battery pack units run 22.8 Volts and charge at 25 volts. This is as new condition, used who knows?

[Jim Becker]

Form factor can come into play with BEV/PHEV batteries, Bill. Most of them are designed as large assemblies that sit down low under the floor, at least for the BEVs. That keeps the weight as low as possible for stability because of how heavy those suckers are. But they certainly might be possible to use.

[Jack Frederick]

I have a friend who has milled a lot of big lumber. He has a Ford 450 flat bed with a side boom center mounted behind the cab. It is an old pipe-line welders rig. Depending upon the space you are in and going to I think it ideal for your business. If you have the height to get it in the space you can boom out and pick. If to short you have to be able to get the load to the door but easy peasy from there. The advantage is you have a Truck to handle material every day and the ability to handle it safely, assuming you aren’t surrounded by meatheads. Insurance is an issue with these rigs. You might try your local utility to see if they are replacing their boom trucks. To me your real issue is the on/off lift and transport. Fork, skid, TLB all can do the job, but then they sit. A boom truck can pay in a lot more ways. One bit of additional advise. If you go this way, get a new cell phone number, because you are going to have a lot of new friends. You are fortunate to live in such a fine place.

[John Pendery]

What kind of property do you plan to move your shop to? Are you looking at commercial space in a metro area, or a more rural property where you plan to build a shop? I only ask because I used to have a shop in a warehouse type environment where a forklift made most sense, but recently moved and built a shop in a more rural area where I have a compact tract loader that is exponentially more useful than a forklift. If you’re just forking material on flat concrete indoors the forklift wins hands down, but track machines have so much flexibility depending on where you are and what you might wind up doing.

[Dan Barber]

I wonder about used BEV batteries in a lift truck. They may not hold enough charge for a car but you need several tons for a lift truck so they might add up to enough power.
I have heard of people getting worn out BEV batteries and using them for home solar storage.
BilL D

A little research say Telsa battery pack units run 22.8 Volts and charge at 25 volts. This is as new condition, used who knows?

That voltage is for the individual cells in the Tesla battery pack. The entire pack output is more like 400 volts. Adapting a BEV battery pack to an old battery forklift would be a VERY challenging project. Not saying it can't be done, but it's likely cheaper to buy a new forklift.

[Michael Burnside]

That’s right Dan. You can wire batteries in series to increase the voltage and parallel to increase capacity (amp/hours) or a combination.

[Jonathan Jung]

Thanks all for your replies. Based on your advice and talking to my friend who will loan one forklift, it looks like it will be best to only borrow one forklift for everything. By renting a box truck and borrowing two big flatbeds, we can hopefully get the heavy equipment in one run, which would allow us to take the forklift to the new location to help unload. Even if we have to take it back to load more, it's cheaper to ferry it back and forth once or twice than pay for the luxury of having a forklift at each end. This obviously only works because it's a short-distance move.

[Ron Selzer]

Thanks all for your replies. Based on your advice and talking to my friend who will loan one forklift, it looks like it will be best to only borrow one forklift for everything. By renting a box truck and borrowing two big flatbeds, we can hopefully get the heavy equipment in one run, which would allow us to take the forklift to the new location to help unload. Even if we have to take it back to load more, it's cheaper to ferry it back and forth once or twice than pay for the luxury of having a forklift at each end. This obviously only works because it's a short-distance move.

How are you going to move the forklift?? 3000lb liftgate won't safely load the forklift
Keep safety at top of your list, what will it cost if you end up with a broken arm cause something shifted and your arm was in the way
Ron

[Jimmy Harris]

Forget the forklift. Just rent a truck with a lift gate and use some pallet jacks.

If you use a forklift daily, they're great to own. If you only use one every once in a long while, they're a nightmare. First off, not using them for long periods of time is a great way to damage one. They don't like to sit idle. Second, they will tear up your concrete floor, especially around the door where they go in and out. Thirdly, if anyone breaks into your shop, they'll use that forklift to either steal your heavy stuff or damage stuff for fun, depending on if it was professional thieves or bored teenagers. Plus, you'll have to pay increased insurance rates and make sure you have someone who's licensed to drive that thing. Can you get by without a licensed driver? Sure. Lots of businesses do. But if something happens and your insurance company finds out the driver didn't have a license, you're paying the damage out of pocket. And with a forklift, the damage is almost always significant and expensive.

So, my point is forklifts are indispensable if you actually need one. But they're a huge cost and liability if you don't.

[Jim Becker]

For you folks saying "just use a liftgate", you need to reexamine what the OP said his machinery weighs and potentially what the size is.

[Aaron Inami]

For you folks saying "just use a liftgate", you need to reexamine what the OP said his machinery weighs and potentially what the size is.

Totally agree. Actually, my local Felder warehouse will no longer arrange "normal liftgate shipping" for many of their machinery because of weight and risk. It's strictly a rigging company process with flatbed and forklift.

If you are going to use a pallet jack for these 1000lbs+ machinery, the only thing I would recommend doing is rolling it onto a drop-deck trailer.

[Jim Becker]

Aaron, another option for terminal to chop is a tilt bed, roll off "wrecker". I used that method for my CNC machine...direct transfer from the semi-trailer in a parking lot near my home to the roll-back and then winched down to shop level. But for the OP, a forklift makes sense for loading unloading the heavy and numerous gear they need to move, whether the forklift is owned, borrowed or rented.

[Ed Weiser]

When I moved my shop 1500 miles I rented a forklift and built custom pallets to load them on a flat bed semi. Had a forklift on the receiving end. Safer for me and the machines and quicker. Weather can be a factor in your neck of the woods also. The type of forklift will depend on the surfaces you have. If you load/unload on level paved surfaces, a forklift like you posted is fine. For gravel or dirt, you need pneumatic tires or even an all terrain lift. Good luck!

[Lee Schierer]

I would rent a forklift and record the hours it is used before deciding to buy one. Most companies that own forklifts require their employees that need to drive a forklift get formal training on them for insurance reasons. You might want to check with your insurance company for their cost increase if your shop owns a forklift.

[Mike Gillispie]

Kubota MX will do. Biggest compact tractor that has hydro. I couldn’t live without mine. Not exactly nimble indoors though…especially with a 1000 lbs box blade hanging off the back.

The new Yanmar hybrid drive system looks intriguing…gear drive but has hydro like features.