Used Forklifts For Sale in Columbus Ohio

Shop through all of our affordable & priced to sell used forklifts in Columbus Ohio. We carry several brands of electric forklifts, pallet jacks, order pickers, reach trucks, work platforms, personnel carriers, pneumatic & cushion forklifts. Our most popular brands are Yale, JLG, Taylor-Dunn, Utilev & SkyJack. 

Tips For Buying a Used Forklift

  1. Look at the age of the forklift. If a forklift is under 5 years old and has a high amount of hours you might be better off purchasing or renting a new forklift. This is because the maintenance and service costs will likely be higher for the used equipment. 
  2. Compare the hours on the forklift and the age. Equipment with 1,000 hours a year or less is considered part-time use. Whereas heavy use is over 2,000 hours. Aim for equipment that has about 1,000 hours or less for every year, so if you’re looking at a 6 year old forklift and it has 5,200 hours on it then it is more likely to hold up its value and have less wear and tear. 
  3. Ask what applications the equipment was used in. Extreme applications are hard on the forklift. As a result you will find yourself spending more money on maintenance costs. Examples of extreme applications are ones that contain salt-water, have extreme cold (freezer applications), have humid environments and high outdoor use applications. 
  4. Visit the dealer and ask for a demo. Similar to buying a used car, bring a technician to inspect the equipment. The areas that you should focus on when inspecting are:
  1. Forks – look for cracks or blades that are not aligned.
  2. Lift Chains – check for excessive or out of place gaps between links.
  3. Mast – watch how smoothly the mast operates when going up and down. Ask to see how it works with a load as well.
  4. Tires – look for chunking, radial cracks and tread depth. Make sure the tires are fairly new.
  5. Battery – for electric forklifts, look at the age of the battery, ask how many hours of use the battery has and measure the voltage.   
  6. Engine – for diesel forklifts check the exhaust emissions. 
  7. Leaks – look along the mast, transmission and radiator for any leaks. 
  8. Safety Features – make sure the horn, seatbelt, lights, brakes, and levers all work.

HOW TO BUY A USED FORKLIFT IN 9 STEPS: LEARN HOW TO PROPERLY INSPECT EQUIPMENT

Sometimes you just can’t convince yourself to spend the extra money on a new forklift — even if it is a lease. Or you have low hours of operation per week and cannot justify spending more money on something that you are only going to be using 20 hours per week…

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how to buy a used forklift: 9 step guide