Bob Blaylock
Diamond Member
- Banned
- #1
Just got my license renewed.
A few oddities and observations…
A few oddities and observations…
- This renewal covers only Class V forklifts, and Class VII. It seems very odd that it does not cover Class I or Class IV, which, for the most part, are nearly identical in operation to a Class V. I guess it's because Sunstate is a construction-equipment company, and of the various kinds of forklifts, only Class V and Class VII are commonly used in construction, and so those are the only classes that they handle or support.
- The instructor, and Sunstate's training materials, refer to the Class V as a “Warehouse Forklift”. As I mentioned, Class I, Class IV, and Class V are all nearly identical, but of those three, Class V is the one that you would not likely find being used in a warehouse.
- Class IV and Class V differ only in what kind of wheels/tires they have. A Class IV has solid, smooth tires, meant for use indoors on a smooth warehouse floor. A Class V has pneumatic tires with a treat more suitable for outdoor use, on slightly rougher terrain than a warehouse. Class I is like Class IV, except that it is electric rather than powered by an internal combustion engine.
- Of the forklifts pictured on this license, the second one from the left is a Class V. The other three are telehandlers, classified as Class VII, colloquially known in the trade as “Gradalls”, though Gradall is a trademark owned by one company, that no longer uses that brand on forklifts of any kind. Gradall was once THE dominant brand of that kind of forklift, hence the common use of that name to refer to any forklift of that type, regardless of what brand it actually is. The Gradall brand continues to be used on various sorts of construction machines, but not on anything at all similar to the type of forklift with which that name is so solidly associated.