Discussion:
Who has the best 3 wheel electric sit out there?

This for a North American response.
however all 2 cents worth is ever accepted!

Cheers!
  • Posted 2 May 2006 10:54
  • By trainer
  • joined 21 Jan'05 - 35 messages
  • Indiana, United States
Showing items 21 - 40 of 54 results.
Toyota also has the mini lever option. It is very easy to operate
  • Posted 16 Nov 2007 11:30
  • By Liftdoctor
  • joined 22 Jan'05 - 115 messages
  • Indiana, United States
The Yale ERP series truck is excellent. Try it with the Mini-lever hydrolic control option. The mini-levers allow you to feather the forks and you have excellent control over the truck. It is fantastic.
  • Posted 14 Nov 2007 14:44
  • By mark_a
  • joined 14 Nov'07 - 3 messages
  • Illinois, United States
I would agree that the Toyota is a fast machine. I do have some reservations about the fact that it will go full speed with the mast fully raised.
  • Posted 10 Nov 2007 12:32
  • By Liftdoctor
  • joined 22 Jan'05 - 115 messages
  • Indiana, United States
Unlike most of the competition the Toyota 7FBEU (U stands for built in the USA) is 100% AC. Both Drive motors and Hydraulic pump.
  • Posted 5 Nov 2007 03:25
  • By Toyotaman
  • joined 5 Apr'07 - 56 messages
  • Rhode Island, United States
Toyota 7FBE series. Hands down. AC drive w/ regen, anything else is 2nd rate.
  • Posted 4 Nov 2007 03:27
  • By bobby
  • joined 28 Oct'07 - 5 messages
  • Texas, United States
As a further comment. other designs I have serious reservations about are stand up forklifts with no safety bar to prevent the rider falling out, electric reach trucks and similar with a singe drive wheel and hence single braking wheel with electric motor plugging, and often a single separate mechanical brake to the same wheel (braking limited by the weight on that wheel alone; failure of the drive can mean no braking or drive at all - I have investigated two such incidents over the past 8 years
  • Posted 27 Oct 2007 10:45
  • By John_Lambert
  • joined 30 May'06 - 74 messages
  • Victoria, Australia
Better to strive and experience all life's colours from pain to ecstasy than to exist in a grey life
Hi Simon K

Yes three wheelers are built for a specific environment as are all specialist forklift designs.

However there is a question as to why some designs are built at all in their present form given the emphasis on engineering safety into machinery.

Forty years ago three wheel mobile cranes were being built and sold - now there are none being built I am aware of based on safety / poor stability grounds.

Tenty five years ago three wheel all terrain motorcylces were being built and sold - I still have a 1978 Honda ATV 110 on my farm. Now they are banned from sale in some countries on safety/ stability grounds.

What makes three wheel forklifts so different? I beleive a thorough risk assessment in relation to a warehouse system including mechanical handling and racking (and this includes risks in construction) would show that the best option would be wider aisles and lift heights of no more than around 5 metres.

Remember it takes very little speed to tipover a 3 wheel forklift on full or near full lock.
  • Posted 27 Oct 2007 10:40
  • By John_Lambert
  • joined 30 May'06 - 74 messages
  • Victoria, Australia
Better to strive and experience all life's colours from pain to ecstasy than to exist in a grey life
..In my opinion 3 wheelers are designed for a specific enviroment which shouldn't involve speed!. If there is distance involved in your lifts then choose a 4 wheel that can handle twice your max load!....then speediness is possible..
But if you want handling in tight spaces and a counter-balance electric then why look further than the Still R50 range..
..in 10 to 16 (1000kg to 1600kg) capacities..
**** ****....I sound like a salesman!!!...
  • Posted 19 Oct 2007 04:25
  • By simon_k
  • joined 31 Oct'04 - 147 messages
  • Devon, United Kingdom
Hi all


tcmgirl - that's fine.

Sense that numbers of you on this forum are a "forklift professional" who have minds that are open to learning - and people like that are the one's I prefer to work with. If any of you want to query me on anything, or discuss something direct you can contact / email me direct on lambertj235 at bigpond dot com
  • Posted 15 Oct 2007 12:36
  • By John_Lambert
  • joined 30 May'06 - 74 messages
  • Victoria, Australia
Better to strive and experience all life's colours from pain to ecstasy than to exist in a grey life
John,
Sorry, my mistake. The info I posted is for the TCM 4 wheel electric.
  • Posted 15 Oct 2007 11:20
  • By tcmgirl
  • joined 15 Oct'07 - 28 messages
  • Pennsylvania, United States
Kevin k and tcmgirl -

Yes we do have risk assessment procedures and requirements here. Legally every piece of plant has to be provided with a comprehensive risk assessment. I'm yet to see a forklift risk assessment that is "honest". For example these statements from a large forklift supplier in respect of a newspaper roll grab forklift to place 1500 kg rolls at 6500 mm (unit supplied was 7000 lb at 600 mm base forklift which would have passed ISO 1074 or AS 2359, though all other suppliers tendered 10000 lb at 600 mm base forklift). At rated capacity and full height normal reversal away from a stack resulted in rear/ steer wheel lift off!. I risk assessment under crushing from "the plant tipping or rolling" the statement was "Yes - if the plant is travelling very fast with a load high and the plant turns."
Should have said "Yes - if the plant is loaded beyond 40% full braking will cause the unit to tipover; if the plant empty and forks down and turns tightly plant will rollover; if plant is placing /picking up loads at full height braking or reversing will cause tipover...."
The supplier did the right thing in he end and replaced the unit with a 10000 lb unit at no cost.

And tcmgirl's statement reflects the underlying issues with forklifts - the extra safety features of the TCM unit are described along with "outside turning radius is 70.5 in." This repesents a productivity featue allowing racks to be placed closer together - but it is also a danger as it means forklift could rollover at very low speed.

Similarly Toyota introduced there 7 series with excellent safety featues including roll resistance based on four wheel design. In end were "forced" to release a 7 series 3 wheel unit which could not have that feature.

As an excellent OH&S colleague would say: "Are we running a race (maximising productivity) or working safely?"

My view would be that in respect of forklifts we are still "running a race."
  • Posted 15 Oct 2007 10:09
  • By John_Lambert
  • joined 30 May'06 - 74 messages
  • Victoria, Australia
Better to strive and experience all life's colours from pain to ecstasy than to exist in a grey life
TCM is top of the line with all their products. Here is a little info on the 3 wheel electric sit down. 100% AC Power, You can choose between 3 power modes to suit your specific work application, outside turning radius 70.5 in, tilt steering wheel, steering wheel is less than 12 in., large floor space free from catch points for improved operator safety, equipped with standard tilt lock preventing the mast from tilting if the operator in not seated and lift lock prevents the forks from lowering when the key is switched off, anti-roll back, excellent forward visibilty, simple and easy maintenance. Contact your local TCM dealer and they can further help you with any questions you may have.
Good luck in finding the forklift that works for you.
www dot tcmusa dot com
  • Posted 15 Oct 2007 05:51
  • Modified 15 Oct 2007 05:53 by poster
  • By tcmgirl
  • joined 15 Oct'07 - 28 messages
  • Pennsylvania, United States
some very grave accounts of what damage a forklift can do to people who just dont watch what they are doing or think. do they have risk assessment procedures in aus. a heavy slung load on a forklift is dangerous as it gets.
  • Posted 14 Oct 2007 07:05
  • By kevin_k
  • joined 25 Nov'05 - 502 messages
  • dumfriesshire, United Kingdom
Hi Scots33

Yes you are being too hard on them. I investigate fatalities and serious injuries.

In road safety there has been for some time the enlightened view that if a driver makes a mistake they should not die or suffer serious injury as a result. So a lot of work is going progressively into making the roadside forgiving, and inproving the crashworthiness of vehicles.

It is my view that the same should apply in respect of all safety situations including the operation of forklifts. And that is definitely not the case. And as a result very experienced and/or very safety conscious die or are seriously injured, or cause others to be seriously injured. Some examples:

Very experienced safety conscious (he was the OH&S rep') who always wore his seatbelt (statement of all his workmates) was driving with the forks down in an arc which inadvertently meant a brightly painted 140 mm wide building column was hidden by the mast upright (the mast was of the modern open type with no centre lift cylinder) - he would have seen it in the last 1.6 metres but could not stop. On this trip he was not wearing his seatbelt. He was thrown into the controls - so pushed back strongly as the drive wheel drove up the column and rolled the unit over - and he died with his head between the floor and frame.

A forklift driver with 31 years experience operating a very high lift paper roll grab forklift had had a dispute with his supervisor and was angry. Placed a paper role at 6 metres and in his anger reversed back quickly as he turned the steering. Actual forklift speed would have been low. Forklift went over and he died trying to jump clear.

A very cautious forklift driver was moving a slung heavy electric motor - unusually it was known that you have to reduce ratings by 20% with a slung load and the forklift had the capacity to safety move the load at that reduced rating. Was moving forward slowly when he tried to negotiate a slope of 100 mm rise over about 2 metres (pavement had beed sloped up to allow traffic over rail lines), a 5% slope. Because of the slope the motor swung to the left and the right hand drive wheel lost traction. He let it roll back and then tried again. Estimated speed was 1-2 km/h. Unfortunately as the motor already had a swing, it swung even further and pulled the forklift over. He died trying to jump clear and the workmate working with him was hit by the mast and suffered serious injury to one leg.

Experienced forklift driver was travelling quietly at around 6-8 km/h empty in a straight line down a warehouse with the forks down (the mast was of the modern open type with no centre lift cylinder). A pedestrian walked from his left in an arc that ended up in line with the left hand fork. The pedestrain's path meant they were hidden in the mast blind spot until they were about 1.5 metres away. Pedestrian had his leg degloved by the drive wheel.

In all these cases you could put up an argument that the deaths or injuries resulted from people mistakes or errors of judgement (instinctively trying to jump clear). But there is no way you could suggest that they were such serious errors that the end results should have been as described.

All of us need to work towards making forklift systems of work inherently safe
  • Posted 12 Oct 2007 09:00
  • By John_Lambert
  • joined 30 May'06 - 74 messages
  • Victoria, Australia
Better to strive and experience all life's colours from pain to ecstasy than to exist in a grey life
Gary D you just have to be working for northern forklift trucks.
0_0

My tuppence worth would have to be the jungheinrich 3 wheelers, would agree with other comments that the reliablity of the cards has been "questionable " at best in the past,but even with this , they are a cracking little machine and very driver friendly.
As far as the issue of a safe lifting platform , my own opinion is that you could give a forklift driver a tank with forks on it and they would still find a way to make it"Break it self" as its never the drivers fault.....
or am I being to hard on them?
0_0
  • Posted 11 Oct 2007 23:12
  • By scots33
  • joined 11 Oct'07 - 8 messages
  • North lanarkshire, United Kingdom
The name T.U.S.K = Truck Useto Say Kalmar. Is the word in Covington, GA.
  • Posted 11 Oct 2007 22:22
  • By al_k
  • joined 11 Oct'07 - 1 message
  • Georgia, United States
stills r50 and now rx50 no contest
  • Posted 27 Sep 2007 07:06
  • By gary_d
  • joined 20 Sep'07 - 10 messages
  • scotland, United Kingdom
A note of caution.

Forklift stability is always an issue. The deign standards are based on a flat floor and in the worst case a slope of no more than 2%. This is because the standard requires the frklift be tested in ideal conditions with the load at full height to a slope as low as 3.5%. As a reiult a greater slope than 2% constitutes a ramp.

Hence if you have a situation where you require a forward tilt of more than 3 degrees which is 5% you should review your operational situation.

And this is especially so where your operation requires 3 wheel forklifts which cannot be made as safe as the 4 wheel units with advanced stability controls
  • Posted 1 Jul 2006 09:11
  • By John_Lambert
  • joined 30 May'06 - 74 messages
  • Victoria, Australia
Better to strive and experience all life's colours from pain to ecstasy than to exist in a grey life
if u can get a hold of an older (2-3 years old) linde e16-02 thats the model u want its all dc but very reliable
new linde machines are rx50 and the er-18 i believe (3 wheel ac models )
these are new units and seem to be performing well although the rx50 has a very short tilt angle (3 deg fwd) and not good for unloading the tails of trucks on an angled docks er18 has standard tilt angles

these are made by still in germany
  • Posted 30 Jun 2006 10:28
  • Modified 30 Jun 2006 10:29 by poster
  • By justinm
  • joined 13 Apr'06 - 604 messages
  • New York, United States
If you are looking for a 100% AC truck up to 2 tons, Clark´s new TMX series is a must see. Tusk, I understand, gegin at 2 tons and go up from there.
  • Posted 20 Jun 2006 01:41
  • By hanck_c
  • joined 30 Dec'04 - 14 messages
  • Capital Federal, Argentina

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