well after having a day to think about this and think about what i posted earlier i thought i might want to clarify a couple of things

first off these customers i speak of that got training were from big corporations that had purchased fleets of trucks from cat, i'm sure they had something worked out with cat to allow them to get the training etc. so..... this i guess would be the exception to the rule?
I am almost 99% sure you can get a service manual from the mfg through your dealer parts dept if your willing to pay for it.

secondly.... as far as the private independent tech?
no i wouldnt expect they would get different treatment than what bbforks got.
bbforks, that guy could of at least offered to sell you a manual :o)
i work with other competition like yale and hyster at times when i need help i cant get from our guys, of course i know most of these guys in thier training depts and their techs, being in the business for 30 + yrs does have its advantages i suppose ;o)

generally dealerships rely on this priviliged information from the mfg to do thier job and make their money. IF every tom george and harry had this the dealerships would be hurt bigtime, because the independent guy can undercut labor rates and alot of other things that are considered overhead for a big dealer. I'm fairly sure what hurts the independent guy is that he cant offer manufacturer support like the dealership can.

Besides you cant totally blame the dealer for the security encompased around the information and programs used on these lifts, yes they want to keep it 'inhouse' to keep thier business going, and its the government that dictates to the mfg's to design the lifts to certain EPA standards now because of emmissions standards and you have to be a certified mechanic to work on them.... according to the rules setup by the people that were the architects of this envrionmental
program.
And of course the DMCA and any of those other 4 letter acronyms the government came up with to help protect the intellectual rights of the ones writing these programs and information.
Can you see where i'm going with this?
I'm sure we could start a whole new conversation in another thread on that alone :o)

EasyM, is that a trick question?
hehe ;o)
just kiddin
i'd say no to that