Cat V50B Forklift - mast will not lower - locks out (on a safety?)

[Scuffedknuckles]

Hi All,
I’m scratching hay head thinking I’ve missed something , extended the forklift mast to full extent, to grease mast but it will not fully descend. It seems to lock out at 2/3rds of the height (descends only a 1/3rd!) the lockout point for the forks is more or less level with the top if the exposed farm.
Does anyone know if a safety feature to lock it out that I may have missed? I don’t remember having used it at full extent in 10 years so either I’ve forotten, or there was a lockout and .. I’ve forgotten, or there’s a fault ?
There is precious little wiring or hydraulics , so it’s something simple, Please let me know any suggestions if someone has an idea or is familiar.
Thanks

 

[Mogman]

Sounds like lack of lubrication to me
Do the chains go slack when you lower it? Maybe the bearings in the rollers on the carriage have failed

 

[V8Druid]

Hi All,
I’m scratching hay head thinking I’ve missed something , extended the forklift mast to full extent, to grease mast but it will not fully descend. It seems to lock out at 2/3rds of the height (descends only a 1/3rd!) the lockout point for the forks is more or less level with the top if the exposed farm.
Does anyone know if a safety feature to lock it out that I may have missed? I don’t remember having used it at full extent in 10 years so either I’ve forotten, or there was a lockout and .. I’ve forgotten, or there’s a fault ?
There is precious little wiring or hydraulics , so it’s something simple, Please let me know any suggestions if someone has an idea or is familiar.
Thanks

possibly not enough weight to overcome the oil volume and stiction in the ram bore on the seals, if it's not been up there in a long time.
put some weight onto it to get it down and then operate it with weight on the forks several times to clean and free all the motion.
Had to do it with the mast I modded for me hitch .... hadn't been used in quite some time and was well tight

 

[craig]

If its got two chains, are they both adjusted the same? Had one once where one chain had stretched more than the other for some reason, fine going up, but coming down it would hang on the shorter chain and cock over slightly in the runners, jamming itself from coming down.

 

[Jimoz]

Bit late to put weight on if it's halfway up! Might need a pallet, water butt and hose. Or ibc and hose. Also a ladder !

 

[doobin]

Sounds like lack of lube. I had the same when I bought my Hyundai, it went up when I tested it but wouldn't go down and ate an aux pipe that came off the roller when it went out of sequence. Got it back down with a lot of shaking it about, then a proper lube up back at the yard and she's been fine ever since.

 

[V8Druid]

Bit late to put weight on if it's halfway up! Might need a pallet, water butt and hose. Or ibc and hose. Also a ladder !

or a n other FLT or a telehandler and drop some on ....... I was expecting mine to be tight, so it got the treatment first

 

[Aftermaths]

On our forklift, if the mast jambs it's always one of the rollers catching the top of a mast section rather than dropping in, lift so there's no pressure on them and a light tap is all it takes