Blocked... but not..

[twocents]

for long...
I know not where I heard/read this story....
A store, something like Home Depot, Lowes, etc. that was part of a larger mall. Like many of these type stores, it had an outside lawn & garden with its own entrance. People could come and go without having to go in through the mall entrance, through the store, etc.
Seems some ditzy broad decided she was going to park her car in the entrance. Blocked it so completely that no one could get in or out with a cart. Who wants to lug a 3 foot shrub with matching root ball encased in soil by hand. Ignored all the requests to move the car. "Only a miiinute". Yeaaah, right. Got snotty when pressed. Anyway, this L&G center did have one weapon in their arsenal: a fork-lift. They merely fired it up, drove over and picked the car up. They then proceeded to move it as far away as they possibly could and on the other side of the mall.
It was 20 minutes before the jackass woman came back. Of course, no one knew where the car was, who had taken it... sorry about that.
It took her over an hour to find it.
True story, or so I heard.

two cents ¢¢

[Chazzie]

Epic.

I wish I could have seen that lady's reaction.

[Tito]

OMG....I, too, wish I had been there to see the reaction! It must have been priceless!!!!

[Peppergirl]

That's all kinds of awesome.

Although I'm sure others will be along soon to say they went overboard.

[LifeCarnie]

I'm calling shenanigans.

1.) I've never seen a propane or electric fork lift that could lift a car AND move while lifting the car. They are not rated for that kind of weight. And, I doubt that an L&G would have a diesel fork lift on-hand.

2.) Talk about a liability. The odds of this car being moved without severe body and under carriage damage are pretty slim. Off hand, I'd say the entire exhaust system would be crushed.

3.) There is the whole problem of center of gravity with the car. The odds of dropping the car, are pretty high.

[gunsage]

Aww...yeah, you're probably right LC. HOWEVER, assuming it did happen, I'd love pics/video.

[Bandit]

Something similar that I not only witnessed first hand, but participated it.

I was about to participate in a Autocross and it seems that the venue who's parking lot we had rented had hosted a wedding reception the night before and there were a couple of cars in the way.

Now, most of us, including me, had pump jacks on wheels, and wanted to get going.

6 guys, 2 or 3 jacks - problem solved.

At least until the first cab came back with the hung-over owner of one of the cars showed up to a parking lot full of sports cars going at full speed.



Bugger cost me a really fast run.

B

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

If it's true, this is gold. I suspect not though. I don't think a single forklift can pick up and move a car unless it's a really powerful one and the car is a really small one.

Plus as mentioned above, there's a good chance the car gets damaged in the process.

[Boozy]

I'm calling shenanigans.

Its not really shenanigans when the OP says that they don't know where they heard the story and makes no claims to its authenticity. Twocents says they were told it was true, that's it.

But I agree that it probably didn't happen, at least not in this exact way.

[Qaeria]

I'm calling shenanigans.

1.) I've never seen a propane or electric fork lift that could lift a car AND move while lifting the car. They are not rated for that kind of weight. And, I doubt that an L&G would have a diesel fork lift on-hand.

2.) Talk about a liability. The odds of this car being moved without severe body and under carriage damage are pretty slim. Off hand, I'd say the entire exhaust system would be crushed.

3.) There is the whole problem of center of gravity with the car. The odds of dropping the car, are pretty high.

I call no shenanigans:

1.) I have moved a car with a propane forklift (1988 Ford LTD) for a similar reason that this post touched on. It can be lifted, and moved, but it requires finesse, and intimate knowlege of your forklift. You are right that the rating is not there, to which my Hydraulic pump that needed replacement would testify.

2.) The damage was minimal. I imagine a less skilled operator would have toasted the car, but knowing load points, etc it CAN be done.

3.) This is a tough one, because yes, the COG is a little scary. Best to avoid hills, etc, but it can be done.

This story was funny though. I never thought a Big Box chain would do it, with corporate being as anal as they are, but Good for you guys!!

Reminds me of a time way back when I ran Bobcat one season for snow removal. We were finishing up the plow on this one lot when some kids decided they wanted to park on the lot, which was clearly marked as closed. Now at the time, the law favoured the actual snow removers, as they were providing a service to ensure public safety, etc. so in this case, our plow truck could have just rammed this car, and tough shit for them. Because they pulled my boss out of the truck and were trying to pick a fight with him over all of this, I used the bobcat to push their car to a section of the lot where we would not be disturbed. You want to talk about Damage! Bent axle, Rear Differential that was toast, destroyed exhaust system. This went to court, and we got off scott free. I love it when revenge can be taken on SC's using heavy equipment.

[StevieJD]

Not likely to have happen.

Center of gravity and weight distribution of the car versus the length of the forks and the rated weight capacity of the forklift combine to make a simple forklift not appropriate to lift a car.

My forklift is rated for 3500 lbs. Lifting a 3000 lb pallet with the center of gravity not within the confines of a standard 40" x 48" pallet will cause my forklift rear wheels to leave the ground.

Even a 2000 lb load, especially if the load center of gravity is near the tips of the forks, can cause the rear wheels to loose grip with the ground.



BTW, I have thought of using my forklift on SC cars. Just raising the forks so as to straddle a tire and let the SC try moving the car. But alas the default/safety position for the forks is the ground. If you remove power from the drive unit a person only has to touch the operating handle and the forks will lower themselves to the ground thus freeing the car to drive away.

But I am waiting. Maybe the SC will leave their car windows open and I can slide the forks right into the inside of the car. Or maybe I can get two forklifts and park one at the front of the car and one at the rear. I have the keys the forklifts are not going to just roll themeselves away.


On the serious side there are forklifts that are quite capable of lifting a car. Them guys are big boys, nothing that you will find at a HD or L. But as previously noted the forks would most likely damage the undercarriage of the car.

[crazylegs]

How about strapping the wheels and lifting from above? Maybe not with a propane Forks but with a big assed diesel type maybe?

[xaenon]

If it's true, this is gold. I suspect not though. I don't think a single forklift can pick up and move a car unless it's a really powerful one and the car is a really small one.

Plus as mentioned above, there's a good chance the car gets damaged in the process.

It can be done, in particular with an 8,000-lb fork truck, IF you have forks long
enough. Trick is to pick up only one end of the car, leaving the non-drive wheels
touching the ground, and push. Can you pick up the whole car? Yes you can,
but as mentioned before, there's significant chance of serious damage.

I'd love to go into detail about how I know that, but unfortunately the statute
of limitations hasn't expired yet.... grin.

At my current job, we use such a machine routinely to move semi tractors that are
in non-running condition in and out of the service bays. We lift the back end of
these big trucks, and push. It's quite a sight to see. I'm sure somewhere there's
a law, rule, or regulation forbidding such things, but it does get the job done.
I'm also certain a representative of our insurance company would have a flat-out
conniption if he ever witnessed this practice.

Oh, and by the way? For an 8,000-pounder, that's a fairly small fork truck. The
trick there is to get an older one, that does NOT have all the electronics and
limiters on it. You can't buy such an animal new today, but apparently you could
in 1977....

I LOVE old forktrucks....

[Andara Bledin]

1.) I've never seen a propane or electric fork lift that could lift a car AND move while lifting the car. They are not rated for that kind of weight. And, I doubt that an L&G would have a diesel fork lift on-hand.

For all of you who say it can't be done, I point you to this little Youtube gem:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=gkCw8G_83Vk

^-.-^

[StevieJD]

Small car, frontwheel drive, car weight most likely 2000 or less lbs. Forklift with 3-4,000 lb capacity. Flat ground. Exhaust system was the only thing at risk on the car. I also noticed the driver fo the forklift was not exactly moving at normal forklift speeds .... I bet his rear (steering) wheels were getting light. There is no way that forklift would lift my 3800 lb family sedan.