I don't know very much about forklifts, but I purchased this AC forklift about 2 months ago to use around the farm. It is very old, mid 1980's I believe, but it has performed great for the task at hand. Recently, while in forward/low gear, you could hear this whinning type noise coming from the front. It progressively got worse, until today, when I heard the noise, the front end locked up, as if the brake was applied. I stopped, and started again, could go about 10 ft. then the noise occured, and I was stopped. I took the floorplate out to take a look. At the end of the driveshaft, prior to going into the front axle is something that resembles a torque convertor. The emergancy brake linkage goes into it at the bottom. I think that is where the noise is coming from, but not sure. Any ideas what the problem might be, and how to fix it? The brakes work well via the brake pedal, and the emergancy brake holds very well when applied. I had some people using the forklift, unsupervised, and I suspect they could have left the emergancy brake on while trying to go forward, but am not sure. Any tips you can give me will be appreciated, as I plan on working on it tomorrow to see what I can do. Parts for something this old may be hard to find, and the nearest "big" town to me, is Wichita Kansas.
thanks,
coadman