Sanderson SB55 "TC"? TC means what exactly?

[Gavin Phillips]

COuldn't find a forum dealing with RTFL's and since most Sanderson trucks seem to end up on farm's...


A couple of days ago I returned from a short trip to the Isle of Wight and naturally took some snaps of equipment which was more or less close to my line of travel at the time. Nice weather and the boat yard owner had no problem letting me in to take this picture.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y19...TCforklift.jpg

Two-wheel drive, rear wheel steer, typical of the RTFL's of the period. I have a brochure for the SB55 around here somewhere, but I'm at a loss what the TC is supposed to mean.

I have a picture of the smaller SB45 machine which lacks this designation so I'm assuming its an option built-in during its construction.

Any ideas?

[Iron Horse]

Torque Convertor ? It may mean it's a Powershift model .

[Gavin Phillips]

Torque Convertor ? It may mean it's a Powershift model .

Interesting point, I would have thought modern forklifts were all powershift machines as standard but were such fitted forklifts a common thing back in the 60's and 70's?

Perhaps this means that its a slightly more rare machine, either way its nice to see this forklift is still in use and outwardly at least; still in decent condition. Obviously its well looked after!

[Gavin Phillips]

TC does indeed stand for Torque Converter. Those forklifts without the TC designation (SB45) are manual transmission machines.

Confirmed this when I bought a Sanderson SB50 RTFL brochure from eBay last week.

There was a Sanderson SB55 TC on eBay not long ago either, although I didn't keep a note of the item number.

[footsfitter]

Had more dealings with Sanderson Teleporters rather than their fixed mast RTFL's, but 99.9% sure that what you were looking at will have the same Ford 4 speed shuttle shift with Torque Converter.

Commonly used the Ford 4000 size rear axle with their own transmission, also used in 4555 and 550 series Ford diggers. Sandersons used to buy in the skid units with either 3 cyl 4000 engine or 4 pot 5000-5600 ones.

They were prone to the cylinder block core plug behind the flywheel corroding thru from the build up of sludge created by the angle of the engine being nose up when sanderson used them in the teleporters, may be the same in the SB's

although sanderson made the steering axle, the hubs/king pins etc were also taken from the Ford industrial range

Only other common fault was the Torque Converter is secured to the flywheel with a double thickness of tin plate bolted to the back of the TC and around the flywheel. when this fractures there will still be drive for a while but there will be a lot of "tinny" metallic noise emitting from the bellhousing when it is ticking over. continued use may damage the TC and the charge pump

ff

[Iron Horse]

That means i was right about something this millenium , i'm going to go and tell the wife .

[footsfitter]

That means i was right about something this millenium , i'm going to go and tell the wife .

Whoaa, steady on there, part correct, Power Shuttle would be a better term, the 4 gear ratios are usually what you chaps call a stick shift??, ie conventional manual gear change (no synchromesh!)

ff

[Iron Horse]

I wonder why the manufacturers don't designate them PS instead of TC then ?

[alamarah]

As a service engineer for 20 years up here in Scotland,We were main dealership agents for Sanderson.The TC is indeed Torque Convertor and although ive cursed many a time when out on site say perhaps pulling an engine out of one etc i have to admit they were a great piece of kit.The 55 range came either in the basic manual 4 gear (clutch) range or the TC.powered usually by a Ford 4000 engine.Peak production being around 1973--78 for this range.With around a 2 tonne lift the unit could be uprated to an SB65 or indeed SB75 with additional rear weight "slices" with extra long securing bolts etc.Interestingly (without wishing to bore you all ) there was also a 4 wheel drive range with early models sporting the Ford County rear axle prior to the newer range (SB50 ETC)with Shindler or Carrera...Ok..im done..Thanks for rekindling happy(ish) memories..
Pete

[Gavin Phillips]

I'm quite surprised this topic is still going, its a welcome surprise though.

Thank you for your input Pete, I was unaware that the SB55 could be uprated due to the addition of extra counterweights. Would the decals on the machine be changed to reflect this (ie, SB55 changed to SB65)?

Best regards

Gavin