It looks like we are going to miss the 1st Southern Fried WaGuns Breakfast in Centralia tomorrow, unless I get some good ideas from someone here.
There is a 7000 pound forklift sitting in the back of my pickup.

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The plan was to crane it off, just like it was craned on.
But... The crane starter motor is toast... Happens every several years. It is likely just the heavy contacts in the solenoid, but I need to remove the starter to remove and reinstall the solenoid.
My current condition of wussiness prevents me from being able to remove the nut that the red arrow is pointing to...

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I am left with a heavy forklift in my pickup.

dan360 had a good idea regarding building a loading dock... Alas, That won't happen tonight, and that style wouldn't work for a solid tire forklift. So...


I have seriously considered hooking onto the bigger forklift and driving away fast. It would be humorous at least.
But the thought of the ass end of the dropping forklift bouncing (? hah!) onto the bumper of the pickup would surely temper the fun.
I won't tip load the big forklift with 7000 pounds... Dangerous in a few ways, and all of them are expensive as well as dangerous.

Any ideas?

I have three ideas for your consideration:

1) Tannerite

2) Low bridge

3) Bring a different vehicle to the breakfast.

Your ideas were less offensive than I had imagined they would be. Thank you.


Not picturing what you have in mind.


I'm struggling with this one too. Help a brother out.



The Suburban started eating water pretty hard, no drips, so suspect a head gasket. Not likely to be wrenching much for the next 8 months or so. That's just an excuse as to why I haven't fixed it before now. I could have gotten a son or friend to help, but I just figured that I'd weather the storm with the pickup.

Maybe hitchhike? "Thanks for stopping for us sir! Hang on a minute while we load these 40 ammo cans."

Stack up a bunch of firewood in a huge ramp and drive it off.....

Scorpion Rider just gave me the work-around for starting the crane.

We may be a little late, but I think I'll get it done.

Dig a hole, drive truck into hole, drive or roll out forklift, drive truck out of hole, fill hole back in.

could have sworn tractor supply had a ramp....or at least a 3 ft hill back the tailgate up too.

yep lots of 4x4 every other cross with strut and drive



last resort $$$ call a flat bed truck in /out 5 min

Aw, the good stuff always happens behind the scenes.

What is the workaround?

It would be done already, but I need another person...

What was the workaround? He said it and I just laughed out loud and cursed myself for the dumbass that I am.

Have someone else push the start button in the cab while I short across the solenoid terminals. I've started this and other machines easily 100 times this way. This crane has always been started that way for a week or so before I get tired of it and replace the solenoid or whole starter.

It's good to have friends who keep their wits about them. Thank you Scorpion Rider. I'll roust the Dread Princess out of bed hopefully early enough to get it done in time for breakfast.

The tiltdeck truck would have worked.. Not a flatbed. That would have just transferred my problem onto a rental truck.

I can't imagine the ramp at TSC that could handle the forklift. Could have built a solid 4x4 supported ramp for sure... Just would have taken a long time to get the length needed.

1. Lift the forks 1’ off the bed

2. Drive the forklift to the back of the bed so the forks stick out past the tailgate

3. Back the truck rapidly into something solid (neighbors house whom you don’t like)

4. Lift the forklift off the bed

5. Pull truck out from under

6. Lower forklift to the ground

7. Profit?


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Glad I was able to reboot your memory. I’m good for something once in a while. I just have to remind my wife of that somehow.

Hopefully you make it to breakfast.

You don't even need two people if you use a large cresent wrench handle. Just hit the starter motor post and the power in post and the solenoid "crank" post at the same time. Round end of the wrench handle across all three.

Don't ask me why there is a large cresent wrench in my log loader!

I had a street rod with headers that would heat up the starter solenoid so bad it wouldn’t work on hot days. I did the wrench trick one too many times and accidentally welded the wrench to the posts. Had to unkook the battery in a hurry because i couldn’t get it off. Melted all the battery cable insulation to hell. Needless to say I added a starter heat shield while replacing the cables.

Warnings?!? We don't need no stinkin' warnings....



Good to know, and nice heads-up !