Hi BigJoe im about to buy a 12 ton EP Lithium forklift, here in mexico with the dealer

Can you help me out, I have read that is a good brand, just have a stock of critical parts

but my question is

Is it a Good Brand

If is, what advices you can give me ?

what parts should i have always available ?

thank you Big Joe

"In 1967, Toyota established its first forklift dealership and sold its first forklift in the U.S. Over the years, Toyota has continued to evolve its lift truck product line."

Saw my first Toyota in Jan. 1970 at MHECO, Denver, Colorado, (owners Jack & Bob Patten) who represented Toyota then and just became an Allis-Chalmers dealer then. By the early 1980s - like 1981 - collectively the Japanese lift truck imports (Nissan formerly Datsun), Toyota, TCM and Mitsubishi (the new kid on the block then) represented about 30% of the ICE product sold in the US - not counting the Yale/Sumitomo made products - at that point the Japanese importer were not were not members of the ITA but we had real good G2 sytem at A-C back then. Then A-C died the death of a rag doll in about 1983/4

As the Big Joe director of sales, my response here might be a bit suspect which I understand. However, I think it might be of interest to share my perspective in this conversation.

Personally, I am third generation in this industry and lived through Toyota coming into the USA in the late 70s and have seen this story before. Many folks considered those early Toyota trucks garbage as well until the 3F and 4Y power plants started turning 30,000hours with few if any issues. When the Korean competitors came along years later... same story, but they hold their own in our industry and on the auto side pretty well these days.

As to China and specifically EP who is our parent company, the development I have seen first hand on both design and quality is pretty amazing over the past 7 years, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Today, I would put our EP product quality up against anything on the street. I am sure some here have had issues with Chinese manufacturers on parts support, design issues, and documentation which can be hugely frustrating. However, you would be mistaken grouping EP in with the rest. Our product support in North America within our Big Joe network is very strong, as is our customer service. Our management team includes seasoned factory veterans from MCFA, Toyota, and NACCO and with our 60+ year Big Joe legacy in the USA we are a force to reckon with. In the past year we doubled our warranty, not because we needed to - but because we barely had any. On the customer feedback side, things are also trending extremely well. Recently we surved the owners of one of our most popular products- the J1 Joey, and the feedback was exceptional with 72% of respondents noting a 5/5 and 24% a 4/5 on overall satisfaction with their purchase.

In Europe, the EP network is not yet as developed, so there may be some growing pains. However, just like in the past with other entrants this is somewhat to be expected as it is still early days. As to the product itself, the quality is there as is the opportunity for people that truly partner with EP to grow with them.

If anyone here has any questions about EP or Big Joe, feel free to message me.

Bill

In the US Big Joe & EP are connected at the hips - read this http://www.bigjoeforklifts.com/about.html

i'm trying to get hold of a wiring schematic for a EP CQP16RVF, if you could help it would be very much apprieciated, problem being intermintant applying of brakes while driveing , burning out brake disc. Thank you in advance for your time and trouble, Regard's
john hancock

Hello, Roma
Thanks for your having a high regard for Chinese goods.I'm a technician, Could you do me a favor, Could you list likely problems, maybe some problem can be solved before shipment.

as Qatari said, Chinese forklifts will have some minor defects at first stage, such as oil leak, but over time, they are proven to be good equipment. so dealing with Chinese is a successful matter if dealer has professional service team. that's why Chinese forklift so popular in global market.
Someone want to deal with Chinese forklifts, I'd like to give technical support.

I believe the post from roma says it all.

Dear Friend,

when you work with Chinese equipment you should have a good service team to back you up as the first 6-9 months will be trouble. you might not get big issues but small issues like leaks ect. , after that every thing settles.

and do not recommend for very rough application or make sure the customer will keep a spare truck, or it will be your headache.

recommend for low and medium duty. and all ways try to keep reasonable capacity margin, so the machine will not be stressed.

Several years ago we supplied 22 Komatsu forklifts to a multinational company. They were a great success. A few months later they asked us to supply a few cheap machines as back-ups in several of their plants. We opted for EP. Within 2 months we had to retrofit their control systems as they all failed. They are very poorly manufactured and unreliable. Yes they are cheap to purchase but the cost of ownership is very high and you risk getting a bad reputation by selling these into the market place. I have never heard anything positive about them other than the cheap initial cost. Incidentally the dealer we bought them from stopped supplying them for the above reasons.
Maybe in the future Chinese trucks will improve in design and reliability but for now I think you would do better to avoid them.

@ edward_t
Thanks, at least I got a single positive comment about EP. Lol

(best Tony Montana voice) Parts,,, we don need no stinking parts...
actually I have a customer that got a new linde jack the same month they got a new EP jack (about 3 years ago now), and I got to tell you,,, in this one operation, the EP has held up better than the linde, and the price of parts for repairs on the EP has been about 1/8 of the the cost the same customer has spent on parts for their Toyota jack. (I don't take care of the Toyota, the local Toyota dealer takes care of that one, I just see the bills when they ask me if 'that can be right' what they got billed for, mainly wheels and bearings).

another "Overseas" forklift would be DAHLIAN......they practically give them away here in the states but don't have a SINGLE service or parts distributor to be found...customer on my service route acquired one and they are more or less going to run it till it dies then run t across the scrap scales.....

It's a shame Toyota can't even colour match there own paint let alone other forklift manufacturers trying to copy the Toyota paint scheme.

EP is just another "me too" brand offering a cheaply made, unreliable Toyota replica.
Isn't it funny how many manufacturers try to copy Toyota's paint scheme?

Yes, very shapely.......the girl, that is.
Freedom of speech and all that, but I do wonder if Admin will permit all this rubbish talk to endure, I mean after all....EP = paying advertiser on this site.
Then again, this type of background noise may just encourage EP to do better...............or not.

Cant help you on EP, never saw their machines. But the girl in their ad has nice legs...
like any other manufacturer starting out, it`s how they improve their product. Can you contact the manufacturer...will they work with you..can they supply the parts in a timely fashion..will they honor warranty. that`s what you need to know before selling their products.
A bad product today may be a hit in the future. When i worked on a poorly built Hyundai Pony in 1985, I would have never envisioned the great company that exists today.

Is there other brand which is cheaper and reliable at the same time?

EP is a good sideline machine for light duty work
from my experience working with them though they do not stand up well under high workload or extreme conditions.

Let's define what we call crap, junk, etc.

If you purchase a new lift & the brackets that secure the steering column to the cowl break, the toggle assy which secures the lpg tank on the lift strips out, the frame cracks under the integral hyd tank reservoir, the hood assy hinges break off, etc- I tend to think that anyone might have a tendency to call this type of equipment JUNK! I'm not sure where Tailift or World lift forklifts are made, but I can tell you that these are the types of repairs these units require (from low use, easy operations no less). My son's Chinese motorcycle has the exactly the same types of breakdowns- things you never saw break or even thought would break do- & often. And after you're done waiting forever for replacement parts & paying the exorbitant prices, you would think that the part would have been upgraded- but low & behold- it's the same CRAP that broke before- waiting to break again.

I slowly but surely replace broken parts with either custom made upgraded parts or sourced from another make unit when possible.
Price is always king when purchasing lifts til the ugly head of downtime raises his head, then the cheap price is quickly forgotten.