Old Clark Y20 forklift / yardlift

I've had this old Clark sitting behind the shop for several years. I decided to drag it into the shop the other day to attempt to breathe a
little life into it. The tag says Y20 and the engine is a Continental flathead 4. My guess is that this thing was build in the early 1950s.
The engine tag says BLK NO 400A 5297029 Serial No 585. I tried to start it, but it seems to have a bad coil, so I'll replace it. The carb
has a broken choke shaft. It also needs a set of tires. It would be pretty neat to have this thing in running condition because it would be
very useful around the shop. Does anyone have any experience with one of these?
 
Plenty of experience with old Clarks, but to get any real help, you need to provide some more information. Pictures will save us a lot of time and agony in typing.
Continental made slightly fewer variations of flat heads than Carter made pills, so the first step should be to positively identify the engine. Then you need to get the full number off of the lift. For the engine, start with the head and look for a STAMPED number. You will likely find either a "Y" or an "F" before the number. In a Yardlift (The "Y" in Y20 stands for Yardlift) the likely engine candidates are Y112, F162, or F163. There are still a few yards in the country that remember all about the old lifts, and the parts guys that do are golden. Post all the pics and info you can then fire away with specific questions. jt
 
Thanks rustmonger. Here's a few pics of the old lift. I have the hood, but I removed it to work on the ignition. Sorry for the upside down tag pic. I can't seem to get that right. I'll look for the head stamping today.
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I have an old Clark yardlift.

model 2024

serial Y20309PM

engine Y91

serial 30067

Local Clark dealer basically told me it didn't exist. But I was able to get some steering parts from Clark. And they pressed on a new set of drive wheels. Brake cyl. parts from brake shop. Basic carb parts same as little AC tractors, BUT- choke shaft could be a challenge as most old machines I am familiar with had a choke ROD, not a cable.

This engine has a distributor standing right straight on top of the engine. I pulled it once to service the points, etc., and was alarmed to find that I couldn't turn the shaft by hand. It's a wonder something didn't wear, break, or shear down in there. I was able to pull the drive part and free it up and lube it. I also lubed the dist. itself(shaft and advance) I just pulled the dist. again and all was well.

I got hyd. pump seals from a local hyd. shop. I just fixed a leak in the hyd. sump, and rewired the machine. I'm sure wiring was original, and it was terrible. I should have done it long ago, but having the hyd. system removed made it easy.

The fuel level sender doesn't work, so I just run it until it quits(it's not like you'll be far from home!) and then the 3 gal. tank easily holds 2- 2.5 gal. jug of gas.

Someone installed an electric fuel pump, which I think is a great idea.

I got new "cups" for the cylinders from a hyd. shop.

Sorry for the rambling. I'm just writing as I recall things!
 
Okeedokee, Y400 indicates it is one of three engines- Y69, Y91, or Y112.

I would first do as Bob hinted, and make sure that the distributor is free and lubed before getting it started. There may be a grease zerk on the side of the distributor housing. If so, get a grease gun and lube her up a bit. Also make sure that the points are clean and gapped.

Next I would make sure that there isn't a load of water in the bottom of the hydraulic tank before I started it, so that you don't just distribute water all through the system on startup. Since these engines use a bypass type oil filter (If any), you will want to change the oil before you start it.

Once you get it started, you can use the mast tilt to lift the front of the truck off the ground (rear too if you are clever and can estimate the Center of gravity). To raise the front (In case you want to change tires or work on the brakes) , you will want several 2x4, 4x4x, and a few 4" square or larger steel plates around 1/4" thick. Tilt the mast all the way back, then place some of the blocks under the mast rails. Tilt the mast forward and it will lift the truck off the ground.BLOCK CAREFULLY AND USE STEEL WHEN NECESSARY. I like to use the steel plates on top of the wooden blocks to lesson the possibility of splitting wood.

Next, get out the grease gun, and hit all of those fittings that haven't been touched in 48 years.

Really.

These things really need to be greased often, and there are a lot of fittings that can only be hit by getting down and dirty with the lift. The steer axle pivot almost never gets greased, also the mast pivots down at the drive axle.

If your email is open, and you want, I can send you some Continental literature that might be useful. Jeff
 
That looks like a clipper. E-mail clark the serial # of the machine and they will tell you all about it. If the serial tag is gone/unreadable it is stamped on the right side. Hope your trany is good. Good parts are hard to find. I'm rebuilding my trany right now.
 
Update: I got the thing to fire and run (squirt of gas in each spark plug hole and a touch of ether). It sounded good. No knocks or rattles. I removed the carb and quickly realized that it was complete junk. It has had water in it for decades, so everything inside is scaly rust, so I'll need to locate a replacement. The carb is a Marvel TSX 239.
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I cleaned up a carb we had on an old Hercules engine and got the thing running like a sewing machine. The hydraulics work great, but the tilt cylinder has a little leak. It won't move under its own power because the brakes are locked up. On to brakes and tires...
 
I am currently using the same Yardlift in my business. Just pulled the engine to install a new clutch, pressure plate and flywheel. Mine was built July 1951 and has the Y112 engine.
 

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