Hello and thank you in advance.

Our company acquired a very old (circa 1970) Clarklift EC40 E. 36V system.

Keep in mind I have no forklift experience but an able wrench.

The machine has no battery, so I rigged up 3 12v in series to make 36V.

The hydraulics all work fine, lift, tilt and offset. The seat switch functions, kills hydraulic power when raised, turns on when lowered.

My issue is that there is no forward or reverse. I was able to manually force forward and reverse by over riding the 2nd (in a row of 4) contactors and simultaneously the the forward or reverse contactor.

My first question is what is the function of the 2nd contactor? The first is the hydraulic functions, the 3rd is fwd and 4th is reverse.

I found all 4 solenoid coils (DC contactors) read 40ohms of resistance. When I press the foot pedal with the forward or reverse selector in the desired position I get 36V at the solenoid. What I can't get is the solenoids to engage, I can only get fwd or reverse by manual override.

I could not find any brake switch that would be preventing fwd or reverse. I inspected the main circuit board and. O visual burns. I have looked for a manual but could find nothing. I feel like I'm missing something very simple, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Dan