My Grandfather and Dad, as farmers did in the old days, built much of their own farm equipment and by the early '60s, when I was 10, they built a forklift to fill grain drills out in the plowed ground. The loose dirt required it to be 4-wheel drive so they started with a 1944 Chevrolet surplus Army truck. That truck was a great choice since it had a transfer case with a high and low range gear shift to go along with the standard 4-speed manual transmission.
They shortened up the frame as much as possible, obtained a used forklift mast, and somehow turned the differentials around so the normal forward gears actually drove it backwards. They added the hydraulics to run the mast and to steer it.
I distinctly remember my Dad proudly coming home with the 4” thick cast iron fenders he used for counterbalance weight over the single front tires which are now the back tires. This was much more attractive than the normal homemade forklifts of the time that used a block of concrete hung on the back.
Throughout my teenage years, I drove this forklift quite often around the farm. Jump ahead 25 years to the late '80s when dry land grain farming in California became un-profitable. The forklift was only used occasionally for odd jobs until the battery wouldn’t start it anymore. Then it remained parked in the weeds for another 25 years. When we started planting vineyards, and we needed a forklift to unload the many truckloads of steel stakes and trellis wire.
So, in 2013 I did enough work on it to get it going with the original 1944 Stovebolt that was only running on 4 or 5 cylinders, leaking oil that would foul the spark plugs. Talking to a mechanic, he informed me the 1944 Stovebolt wasn’t re-buildable since it had Babbitt bearings. But I did have another Stovebolt in a portable welder that my Grandfather and Dad built. Much to my amazement: it is a 1957.
I’m partially rebuilding this engine to go into the forklift which has now become a labor of nostalgic love.
This website and forum are awesome. I’m already getting some of my questions answered.
