A guy my dad knows called me today askin if i wanted a job. I would drive a forklift and unload trucks for a few hours in the evenings a few days a week. Wasnt too interested untill he said they start pay at around $13/hour.

4/7/2006 5:10:03 PM

you have to have a license (or maybe most companies require you to have some training/certification).

i don't think it's that hard, but you have to remember that with the forks/cargo raised, it's very topheavy, and it can turn really tight...and I'd imagine that visibility might be an issue at times with the cargo loaded.

4/7/2006 5:12:51 PM

easy, if you're on a dock id guess its more difficult cause you might hit stuff

4/7/2006 5:13:30 PM

ive driven an off road one, its just take some getting used to but its not hard. Most turn with the back wheels which makes it easier to line stuff up, but only after u get the hang of it. ie. u have to approach turns differently

4/7/2006 5:58:40 PM

it is easy

4/7/2006 6:33:52 PM

its easy. as far as i know, there's not a law requiring a state issued license or anything, although most companies have some sort of certification training course. back in college, i was certified by the state of NC, but it was only for insurance purposes. i've never actually looked it up, so i could be totally wrong.

but to answer your question, look at the guys who do it for a living, it's obviously not rocket science.

4/7/2006 6:41:30 PM

It's easy. I thought you had to get certified legally though. I worked for a company that didn't have any certified people, so we all drove the forklift as needed. We did have a couple of incidents where people put a fork through the drywall (not me), but that's why you *should* have a license.

Not impaling people with the fork = good.
Certification = good.

[Edited on April 7, 2006 at 7:23 PM. Reason : s]

4/7/2006 7:21:49 PM

I've driven three different types, and once you get used to operating it, the job is second nature.

I've driven two 9000 lb Clarks (identical except one was propane, the other gas), a small Caterpillar model (actually a rebadged Korean model) with solid tires and propane, and a larger Massey-Ferguson offroad diesel (colter should know this one).

Older ones that require clutching when shifting between forward and reverse are a pain in the ass, but nearly all models these days are hydrostatic shuttle drive.

Two main controls: raise/lower forks and tilt forks. The small solid-tire one I drove also had side-to-side fork shifting to help with getting pallets in tight places.

4/7/2006 7:48:22 PM

we have an old school towmotor thats simple as hell cept the brakes dont work well

if you have common sense, you're fine, id do it for 13/hr

4/7/2006 8:27:34 PM

it takes a week or two to get used to, but its fairly easy after then.

4/7/2006 8:35:47 PM

ive driven one through a car once to move it...and driven one through the mud at 20mph while being chained to a truck in order to free it from some muck that some shmuck that i worked with got it stuck in, its not that hard, but i have seen tkeaton do burnouts in them

4/7/2006 10:08:25 PM

like everyone else said, its pretty easy. you just have to get used to the fact that its the rear wheels that turn almost 180* and the ass end will swing around really fast.

id say backing out of a trailer over a dock plate not much wider than the machine itself would be the hardest part of it, but thats the situation where i work, someplace that unloaded shittons of traielrs a day im sure you would have much larger dock plates.


go for it, theyre fun as hell.

4/7/2006 11:10:46 PM

they are a piece o cake......just pay attention to shit, think about what you are doing, and dont be a fucking idiot

'pane powered toyotas are my favorite, fastest

but the battery powered crowns are pretty fuckin hot

just remember, you are basically driving a 7000-12000 lb sledgehammer...you will fuck shit up before you can think twice....just pay attention

4/7/2006 11:55:30 PM

i like doing burnouts with the solid rubber tires

4/8/2006 12:00:37 AM

the hydro-static ones are awesome. smokey burnouts all day long. the smoother the floor the better.

oh, be aware they WILL tip over and it IS possible to sling your load off the forks.

4/8/2006 12:08:22 AM

driving one is simple

operating one takes some skill

4/8/2006 12:30:20 AM

Check out this omni-directional forklift :

http://www.airtrax.com/video/ATX_600k.html

4/8/2006 12:36:38 AM

easy. just hop on and practice. its fun to try to pick up a qaurter with the forks

4/8/2006 2:50:18 AM

cake.
That's my new job & I hate it a good bit less than tires.

Do they have a swing-reach? That's a fun toy.

4/8/2006 3:27:24 AM

it's not hard. the little piggyback ones can be tricky to get used to though.

4/8/2006 5:13:47 PM

BAX Global?

4/8/2006 7:33:48 PM

i think the big thing is you are sitting on your ass for 13 bucks an hour. Can't really beat that if you are still in college.

4/8/2006 7:35:25 PM

Quote :

"just remember, you are basically driving a 7000-12000 lb sledgehammer...you will fuck shit up before you can think twice....just pay attention"

if ya get the chance, ram something with the forks... its fuckin fun

[Edited on April 8, 2006 at 9:03 PM. Reason : [][/]]

4/8/2006 9:02:56 PM

i did it for a few months back i high school... i did not need a license.... its really easy and actualy kinda fun. just takes a couple days to get the controls down up down, left right (on the forks)
i enjoyed it

that is good money for a part time job where u dont do any lifting.

4/8/2006 9:56:11 PM

Quote :

"if ya get the chance, ram something with the forks... its fuckin fun"

haha i ran into a tray full of 5 gallon water bottles... for water cooler in offices
about 90 gallons of water everywhere in the warehouse hahaha

4/8/2006 9:57:31 PM

i use to drive electric ones every now and then back when i was in high school. be careful because those things can quickly fuck up shelves/racks. i remember fixing the supports to the racks with a sledgehammer because someone had bumped a forklift into them.

4/9/2006 4:33:45 PM

im kinda nervous about it. But the pay is really good so i figure what can i lose. hypothetically, if i was to get this job and lets say i bump into something and break it, what typically happens. Would they fire you or make you pay for it or what?

4/9/2006 4:47:52 PM

depends on where it is, how many times you fuck stuff up, etc

4/9/2006 5:32:36 PM

im pretty sure they wouldnt make you pay for it... and it really is not as hard as you are thinking... they will train you.

4/9/2006 6:09:24 PM

I'm certified and could use a new p/t job

4/9/2006 8:14:03 PM

When I was working at the shipyard, some guy died by accidentally backing his forklift into a dry dock and falling ~70ft to the bottom

4/9/2006 8:27:46 PM

^ way to build his confidence lol

4/9/2006 8:52:34 PM

Quote :

"im kinda nervous about it. But the pay is really good so i figure what can i lose. hypothetically, if i was to get this job and lets say i bump into something and break it, what typically happens. Would they fire you or make you pay for it or what?"

depends on who you are working for i guess. as long as you act responsibly, i'm sure you'll be fine.

4/9/2006 11:19:09 PM

Ahhh, I used one occasionally for a few years. We always got one around the holidays to unload lots of crap, and they were a lot of fun to use, haha.

4/9/2006 11:21:41 PM

Never used a forklift, but I've used skid-steer loaders for a decade or so. I'm not a fan of the joystick controlled Caterpillars, but anything with sticks becomes practicaly an extension of your body. They're awesome tractors, can do 180's all day long and get in incredibly tight spots. I can make my current New Holland turbo diesel really dance: hold a wheelie on it's rear wheels, use the forks to walk through hellish mud, you name it.

I'd imagine they frown on that sort of thing during actual certification.

4/10/2006 12:00:19 AM

got the job guys
pays pretty good too

4/11/2006 8:34:15 PM

high speed turns are really interesting with the rear-wheel-steering

4/11/2006 8:38:14 PM

Quote :

" haha i ran into a tray full of 5 gallon water bottles... for water cooler in offices about 90 gallons of water everywhere in the warehouse hahaha"

nice

Quote :

"skid-steer loaders"

hell yeah skidders, fun as hell. i about killed a mexican with one. I was drivin it around while he loaded the bucket with bricks (haha). pullin up beside a house, drove the box into a meterbase, sent a huge fuckin arc over the mexican's head, he was freaked the fuck out

4/12/2006 1:11:32 AM

i used to drive a 12 ton t 5 tree farmer log skidder back at home that fucker was wild yo had 40k pound winch on her and man it would tear fuck them lil bobcats they have nothing

4/12/2006 2:05:14 AM

beer have everything

4/12/2006 2:06:19 AM

im gonna be loading and unloading trucks; i have this deep down feeling that im going to break something.

4/12/2006 3:40:05 AM

^that is a good feeling we all get now and again... run with it....

ok, dude, it just occured to me that you're looking at this completely wrong... Go to work for them, make some money... Suppose you fuck something up bad like a month into it, cool, you just got paid a month to fuck their shit up bad, then you can tell us about it on here. Win Win situation

[Edited on April 12, 2006 at 4:20 AM. Reason : lkhyudcvobjniyv]

4/12/2006 4:18:53 AM

i used to drive the one in my dad's warehouse all the time. not hard and really fun

4/12/2006 6:34:43 AM

Thats the stuff I end up driving all the time at work. Don't be so worried about breaking something. Just be aware that what you're driving has potential to seriously mess some shit up and you'll be fine. It gets a lot easier the more time you spend on each one.

4/12/2006 10:32:52 AM

i worked at a volvo plant in skyland a few years back
drove one of these like a week after they let me loose with a forklift... its cake, just don't try and haul ass or something


i spent 10 hrs a day driving around in aisles these for a summer. got old quick

4/12/2006 11:52:56 AM

WOW Look at all that Beer yummy

4/12/2006 1:52:06 PM