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Clark C500 Y50 for the shop

oceanobob

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Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
751
Location
oceano california
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general contractor
Not sure how this happened. It was always thought to be a good thing to have a forklift at the shop but never good enough to justify the price of a decent used machine.....
LSMS (long story made short) Acquired this machine, a Clark C500 Y50. Hard to believe paid money too.
Yes it has the pneumatic drive tires and yes it has side shift. And the mast is only 7 feet tall.
The other yesses are all on the list of needing a lot of repairs. Priority was the mast which leaked profusely. And it gravity self lowered at a notable observable pace with no addtl help from the Operator.

That big ram for the carriage raise/lower was not too bad to remove once we were shown to remove the chains and raise the mast to disengage the mast rails from the carriage after we had capped the side shift hydraulics. Have learned this mast is way simple compared to a possible four piece ram that was available for the taller lifts I guess.

To explain those color(s) Looks like it had a thick yellow paint over the clark green, then a variant of the green, then blue, and then some flat black (rat rod black??).
But the seat has no tears and the engine starts with minimal fuss. Only smokes blue upon startup and makes some odor while running, less odor as it warms up. Due to the secret sauce in the radiator and the freewheeling clutch fan, it warms up quickly LOL. And the forks look like they were replaced because the heels show no wear. But No trailer ball hole - which is an option that will be corrected one day. [Note: prolly fab a slide over bracket like the rental yard and then can have the two trailer ball sizes ready]

Question: It seems the chassis tank on what we can label the "Driver's Side" has a pipe cap and inside has some tan fluid - we now think that is the (unused) gasoline / diesel tank because this machine was LP from the factory. Is this a case of 'find a tank and fill it'?
The other chassis tank on the "Passenger Side" has a plastic vent cap with a dipstick, all part of a round cover plate with and a metal tube 180 degree bend into a hose that connects shortly thereafter to the hydraulic pump mounted on the engine.
Side comment: That hose is labelled "Coolant" and has a internal spring that is poking out from that (now) quite soft rubber - prolly leaking air into the pump which (hopefully) explains the somewhat jerky movement of the mast. Hydraulic supply house offered they have a 'correct' suction hose with the spring formed & wound into it. We mentioned this condition to some folks with (self) title as mechanic and they didnt see a problem mixing the coolant rubber into the hydraulic system - I sure hope the inside isnt falling apart 'cause I will chase rubber particles forever.​
We are thinking this latter tank is indeed the hydraulic tank. Which we should drain and refill with new oil since the old oil may have attracted some moisture due to the discolor.
We located the transmission dipstick on the front axle housing center and the fluid looks good and the one speed trans w F and R appears to be OK.
There is only one wheel brake operating so brake inspection required. Noticed also the steering link's (not sure of name) bushing is really bad.
Of course, no electrical gages appear to function.

The saga to be continued.

Pics:
Machine where found.
Machine in shop with mast lift ram removed and said ram in back of truck on the way to rebuild shop.
IMG_2288.jpg IMG_2324.jpg IMG_2323.jpg IMG_2292.jpg
 

oceanobob

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
751
Location
oceano california
Occupation
general contractor
Just got the news: the mast ram is rebuildable. Since so much water in the oil was worried the bore would not hone but they say they can patch it up for some labor and seals. Whew!
 

oceanobob

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
751
Location
oceano california
Occupation
general contractor
Had plans to install the mast ram, but then looking at the front axle access being improved with the carriage and ram removed, decided to jack it up and then pull tires to check on the weak brakes and the steering linkage.
Used a HD floor jack and lifted side to side then cribbed with steel shim plate on the front; two blocks of wood are on the cross piece in front of the rear axle pivot.
Off with the wheels and then pull those housings. There is no doubt that brake job is needed. To make the point, one of the linings was free (unbonded) from the shoe.

In the pic the lining is perched on the studs.

Am thinking the trans seals were weeping and this oil crawled along the stub shaft and managed to dampen the brake parts, had not leaked enough to drip but did a number on the shoes.

IMG_2334.jpg IMG_2333.jpg IMG_2340.jpg
IMG_2339.jpg
 

oceanobob

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
751
Location
oceano california
Occupation
general contractor
As to the steering axle, a couple days ago soaked the two pairs of bolts that fasten the pivot to the frame and tried them and looks like they can be removed.
Why take this loose? The steering 'tiller' connects to a big plate that operates like a rocker arm in the horizontal plane. That rocker piece is quite loose at the pivot which combined with the worn to oblivion & lack of rubber grommets on the other end of the tiller arm ram, makes for some loose steering.
The tiller connection is like a tie rod end with a ball joint tapered shaft and it was found loose but the castle nut was with the cotter pin intact so not sure what will be the situation.
Given the pivot and also probably the taper, some repair work will likely be involved.
Maybe some tapered bushing will be one scheme...noticed the p/u truck folks often cite a 1:8 or 1.5" in a foot which is about a 3-1/2 degree on each side or perhaps labeled as a 7 degree overall taper.
 

oceanobob

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
751
Location
oceano california
Occupation
general contractor
Dropped the steer axle and have some pics of the rocker. The pivot point bearing material is absent and one of the tapers for the typical tie rod end is wallowed out. Probably cause the end which is on the tiller arm is not able to rotate but does swivel. Gotta fix the tapered hole and then fix the tie rod end or a recurrence will happen.

Also pilled the suction filter from the hydraulic tank. Oil change and tank clean out are 'on the list'.

IMG_2352.jpg IMG_2351.jpg IMG_2348.jpg
 

TD24

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Jan 3, 2011
Messages
295
Location
MS
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RETIRED (Mostly)
Dropped the steer axle and have some pics of the rocker. The pivot point bearing material is absent and one of the tapers for the typical tie rod end is wallowed out. Probably cause the end which is on the tiller arm is not able to rotate but does swivel. Gotta fix the tapered hole and then fix the tie rod end or a recurrence will happen.

Also pilled the suction filter from the hydraulic tank. Oil change and tank clean out are 'on the list'.
View attachment 205522 View attachment 205523 View attachment 205524
Clark refers to the "rocker" as a spider. The "wallowed out taper" is filled with a Clark "Ball Stud."
Get you a new ball stud from Clark and and you may find the opening taper is not as bad as appears and
the new part solve your problem there.
Ref pic 2... READ THIS and EXAMINE THE HOLE CAREFULLY:
The "pivot point bearing material" May not be "missing".
The action there is a pin (welded from below the axle, a couple of washers over it coming up...
Your Rocker/spider hole is filled with two , Torrington needle bearings (one top-the other bottom.
Bearings are counter sunk enough for two leather washer seals. (Like leather o rings.)
This assembly then sits over the pin, then a washer and snap ring to fasten on top.
Grease fitting in the side allows grease to fill the space between top and lower bearings,
If bought new, greased every 100 hours of operation, you would never need to replace.
Scrape upwards inside the hole with a sharp pick from 2 inches down.
You will probably contact the leftover shell of the needle bearing.. Same for the bottom.
Get them out, (without gouging) then examine the inside. If decent, new bearings and go.
Examine the pin. Probably be bad in the area top/lower where bearing ruined. get a new pin.
To replace the pin.. Grind off weld on bottom till weld and pin flush with axle. Drive out from
the bottom, One man holding a big punch with long channel lock pliers and with safety glasses,
The other man wielding the sledge. (Or take it to a machine shop with a 50+ton press.)
Cheers...
 

oceanobob

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
751
Location
oceano california
Occupation
general contractor
Did some more disassembly and the Ball Stud (see pic) looks pretty darn good. The hard chrome seems to have added some life to the piece. The tapered hole has been cleaned and polished with some emery on a drill. Once the ball stud is seated in the taper using hand pressure, I spun it to see if there was a 'best fit'. Nah just the same small amount of wiggle, maybe ten thou. Snugged the nut and the wiggle was immediately reduced to not discernible, could install it and keep an eye.
To remove the ball stud from the steering tiller, the ball end was partially disassembled and one cup that happened to come free looked reasonably good.
Since the as found condition was the ball stud would wiggle, but would not rotate - all rotation was the ball stud rotating in the rocker spider plate. Given the feeling of being locked from rotation, it is surprisingly in a round shape! Amazing. Gotta check the other cup and maybe a spring or belle washer.
~
The more horrid area is the pivot point of the spider plate. Said Pin (that is welded to the axle) looks pretty good, it was hard chrome plated and that bought it a lot of time.
But that female portion of the [rocker] spider plate is pretty ugly. A good inspection will be conducted to see if the bore will clean up.
Thanks for your help!

Ball Stud and Tapered Hole
IMG_2361.jpg IMG_2362.jpg


Pivot Pin (female)

IMG_2364.jpg IMG_2363.jpg
 

TD24

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Jan 3, 2011
Messages
295
Location
MS
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RETIRED (Mostly)
The more horrid area is the pivot point of the spider plate. Said Pin (that is welded to the axle) looks pretty good, it was hard chrome plated and that bought it a lot of time.
But that female portion of the [rocker] spider plate is pretty ugly. A good inspection will be conducted to see if the bore will clean up.
Thanks for your help!



Progress...
Examine the bore closely. If there is no bearing residue, then you will have to have it machined larger and sleeved back to bearing ID size.
 

oceanobob

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Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
751
Location
oceano california
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general contractor
Went to the local forklift dealer, the parts-person was quite helpful. Even got a nice pic of the spider bearing rebuild kit showing the needle roller bearings etc - appears to be the quite precise assembly.
He showed me a [commonplace for other clark's] steering ram with the 'toggle' (pilot valve) ....that system may very well require a precise assembly ..... but this machine, being at the end of that model run, has a Danfoss valve on the end of the steering wheel shaft and, as such, may be ok with less precision than that needle bearing assembly; perhaps a simple bushing arrangement will suffice. Am inclined to think the steering ram version was changed to the Danfoss system but they kept the spider bearing arrangement for the convenience/cost etc.

Thanks for the suggestion - Got a new ball on order and spoke to a local mechanic who has a tapered hand reamer, which between the two will improve the fit on that item.
Am thinking of considering a Connex spring bushing could be a solution for the pivot repair - regarless will have to set up the spider on lathe (or mill with rotary table) and clean it up and check the dimension available....if not, once it is on the machine, will have to sleeve and install the clark oem needle bearing kit. More investigation to be done, this is a for the moment suggestion only.
~
Status of parts:
New shoes for brakes (old ones saturated) and both master cylinders (brake and inching), drum brake wheel cylinders, filters etc, are on order as of yesterday .... and probably will arrive after the holiday. Plenty of other things to do but trying to not have this machine to be a garage project LOL. FYI Had checked with a couple parts places out of state via the net but their prices didn't reflect the knowledge and local assistance: thus made the deal with the forklift dealer. Compared to some backhoe and dozer parts from other mfgs, this deal so far didn't require smelling salts LOL.

Q1 Should the inching valve on the side of the transmission be rebuilt seeing as how all the other brake parts are getting replaced? Some folks fear the consequences of any brake fluid entering the trans, were this item to be leaking into the trans.


As for the parts order, did obtain the seals for the axle housing where those brake housing stub shafts are to be fitted.
~
The manual shows an Axle Housing on a bench without the transmission ....with the ring gear and carrier assembly tapered bearings fitted to spec by using the (more or less) thin shims on those seal housing plates.
Q2 Not shown in the manual: Am curiously wondering if that 'tin cup' (that looks sorta like a freeze plug) at the upper center of the axle housing is an inspection hole .....and if so should that be opened to determine if the carrier has side to side play and if those bearings are in need of some (hopefully) small amount of shim "adjustment". Loose carrier bearings allowing ring gear to move out of alignment has caused problems for many machines but some machines prolly not matter as much.
 

TD24

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Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Messages
295
Location
MS
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RETIRED (Mostly)
Please e mail me at: forktruk@yahoo.com. We are taking up a lot of space here and will probably use quite a bit more
before you are good to go..
This is an interesting project. Some points you make intrigue me. Don't know what a "Danfoss" valve is in the context of Clark.
Similar "steering column shaft power" was referred to by Clark as an "Orbiitrol" and on smaller capacity units.
E mail,we will proceed.
 

oceanobob

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
751
Location
oceano california
Occupation
general contractor
Thank you TD24 - you were correct about the needle bearing, close exam of the bore detected one needle bearing housing well peened I may add. Bore after polish hone looks much better but endured a lot of abuse indeed.
IMG_2375.jpg

Put a few turns of the tapered reamer in the wallowed out hole and looking forward to the improved fitment from the new part.

IMG_2374.jpg
 
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