Coming from Europe and worked for over 10 years with stand up side ways forklifts and reachtrucks where the steering system is as it supposed to be, turn left makes the lift go left, turn right makes it go right, I can't understand some one came up with the great idea to reverse this system, for me it is very hard to operate a truck in the states and i need to be retrained like a rookie...

Coming from Europe and worked for over 10 years with stand up side ways forklifts and reachtrucks where the steering system is as it supposed to be, turn left makes the lift go left, tirn right makes it go right, I can't understand aome one came up with the great idea to reverse this system, for me it is very hard to operate a truck in the states and i need to be retrained like a rookie...

1) All stand-up forklifts used at a location are required to have the same steering direction, either forward or reverse steering.

2) You would never want reverse steering on a sit-down forklift where the operator faces forward. The stereotypical steering for a forward facing operator is like that of a car. A clockwise turn of the steering wheel while traveling forks leading results in a clockwise turn of the forklift. In reverse the clockwise turn of the steering results in a counter clockwise turn.

2) The difficulty with stand-up forklifts is that most are side stance operators and travel the forklifts forks trailing. Crown found the stereotypical correct steering for a side stance operator to be reverse steering. Operators made fewer steering errors because forward was perceived by operators to be forks trailing and therefore a clockwise turn of the steering tiller while traveling forks trailing results in a clockwise turn of the forklift.

3)However it would not be appropriate to have some forklifts with reverse steering and some with forward steering that operators can get on and operate. That would lead to even more steering errors and accidents.

4) There was a serious accident in Kansas City a few years back where all of the forklifts were changed over a weekend from reverse to forward steering. Operators were able to operate the forklifts and "adjust" to the change and it largely worked until an operator was traveling down an aisle and the forklift drifted to one side. The operator (who had operated the forklifts with steering one way for years) steered the forklift to straighten up but really caused it to turn even more and then panicked and steered the forklift under a rack beam and was killed.

Do anyone know how to change reverse steering of Toyota 6FBRE16 to forward steering, same as Japanese reach truck?

I know on the BT RRE Reflex reach truck ( & the Toyota / Cesab clone versions of it ) you can set the steering to go the opposite way to the steering wheel, its in the factory parameters & you can only change it with BT Truck Com software.

Ive no idea why BT even bothered to put the ability to do it in the software but its there.

Parameter 1102 - Inverted steering for JAPAN only!

Actually on most brands of stand-up lifts, it depends on how the salesman specs & orders the lifts. If in your application you'll be predominantly running in reverse, you'll want it to steer one way. If forward, the other. On most lifts, this can be easily changed by swapping the lines going to the steering gearbox. I had one company that ordered 20 reach trucks w/ reverse steering & 20 rider counterbalanced with forward steering. Operators would be running both lifts. I ask them if they were crazy, they were going to get someone killed. Once I explained it to them, they said their Dealer National Account Salesman talked them into doing it that way. They paid my company to put the steering in the same direction on all lifts.

By default the steering on a standup lift be it a reach truck or stacker, etc... it is designed for the load to be carried trailing the operator(behind you) for obvious safety reasons because of visibility while driving. But yes there are options available to change the steer rotation to (reverse) the steering. This can be done by a qualified technitian from the mfg's dealer in your area.

As MEngr said, it could be done via the software menu but depending on the model and year of the machine in question it could be different and require a hardware change of some sort. Without any make, model or serial number it is impossible to give you the right information.

But as for any laws in CT? probably not, the safety standards are not governed by state, they are federally mandated.

Just to clarify, it has reverse steering now and you want to make it standard? What model is it?

Hi ricky;
Reverse steer on stand - up vehicles is allowed if one has written approval from the equipment manufacturer, the vehicle has all of the proper safety decals and it is done in accordance to the vehicle manufacturer's engineering specifications. Most of the stand - ups in the market today offer this feature in their programable menus.