Forklift turning

[Thrashsmith]

Hi all, I'm new to driving/owning a forklift so don't know all the tricks yet.
My workshop is by a lane & has sliding doors around 4m wide.
There's a patch of concrete outside my workshop that's around 3-4m wide, then it's the road. So if I have some 6m long bars, perpendicular to the forks, they stick out onto the lane a bit. My workshop doors are parallel with the road.
Is angleing the steel on the forks to a 45 degree angle the best way to be able to turn into the workshop? Or are there any common fork extensions/balancing beams/chain setups etc that I can copy to help make manouvering easier? What's the best way to secure bars to the forks so they don't spin around into another angle whilst going across the bumpy concrete outside my workshop?
I've marked on a satellite image roughly where my doors are in blue, and roughly where my steel rack & saw is.
Thanks for any pointers.

 

[Erie Fred]

Sideloader Forklifts

Combilift's Sideloader Forklifts deliver robust performance and exceptional manoeuvrability.

combilift.com

I was thinking out a design of an attachment for a regular forklift to mimic the sideloader.
My friend runs a Swiss shop and could really use one.

 

[Agroshield]

I was thinking out a design of an attachment for a regular forklift to mimic the sideloader.

There is such a thing as a 4-way forklift, where the drive wheels turn 90 degrees to the forks.

RBM2025N3 Series multi-way reach trucks

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www.mitsubishi-forklift.co.uk

I am sure I have seen discussion of this problem somewhere recently. I think it involved chaining the material to the back upright of the f/l cab and then using an I-beam across the forks to support the front. I guess you lift the front up high, wrap the chain at the rear around the stuff, then lower the front so it picks the far end off the ground. Maybe an electric winch at the rear would be an upgrade to this.

Buy a second forklift. Load the material in the conventional way onto the first one and then pick the first up from the side with the second (Liebherr's next promotional video).

Edit: not what I remembered, but seems a good concept:

FLT Sideloader Gizmo

Well, I got fed up lugging steel into the workshop. The regular lengths can't be brought in with the forklift for obvious reasons. I'd had various hair-brained schemes from buying a sideloading FLT down to a couple of little carts linked together by rope. In the end, a couple of brackets on...

www.mig-welding.co.uk

 

[gaz1]

you would reverse out of the workshop due to the length of forks as close to the left side as possible when your out 2m start to swing your forklift truck to the left

therefore your forks are still within the warehouse when outside 3m square then your forks are outside of your building

when entering its the reverse

other options are extending forks instead where the reducement of length can be used

 

[Erie Fred]

i have purchased a few forklift mast's from the local scrapyard, and adapted them to 3-point hitches.
One I still have laying in the weeds is a stand on stacker.
the forks move "out" on a scissor affair, much like a lift table stood on end.

I think someone could weld up a heavy frame with box tube fork pockets, a heavy counter weight
on the opposite side, and make this scissor fork holder move out to one side.
For the light usage, a 12v pump and battery could be part of the counterweight. instead of tapping into
the forklift's hydrualics.

 

[awemawson]

Moffat Mounty in some formats will do a 90 degree wheel turn. Saw it on a recent Diesel Creek video where he is building his house and was unloading (I think) trusses.

 

[Stupoty]

A pal with a very tight access tends to hang the metal from a strap so it can be spun about to get round the tight corners. does mean you need an assistant though.

Stu

 

[RichardM]

Is it a private or public road?
Do you realy need the FLT to move the steel or would putting it on a trolley be more suitable?

 

[pedrobedro]

We used to hook the end of the bars in the doorway then reverse to angle them and drive in as close to one side as possible, Caterpillar V60B trucks.