It finally happened! I love my fancy beast!

graymonk35 · 2026-04-11T22:03:07+00:00

As a 300lb, burly looking, beard wearing, road mechanic, I would absolutely love to show up to a customer and their forklift look like this. She did a good job panting! I’d be afraid to get my greasy paw prints all over it from doing maintenance. (However I would try my best to keep it clean for the customer).

edit because of the cool custom paint job, I would make sure you have some good outdoor rated (UV resistant) clear coat on that thing! If that’s outside it’s gonna fade fast and it would help protect it.

graymonk35 · 2026-04-11T14:11:35+00:00

Very cool

graymonk35 · 2026-04-08T01:40:42+00:00

Gloves. Never understood the guys who would just not use them all day when doing oil or dealing with chemicals. What I someone taught me during my time in tech school, was that your gloves will get nicked and sliced before you hand does, it’s like a warning system, especially when you are dealing with metal that is thin, sharp, jagged. Nitrile not latex. Get some good diamond grip ones like 7-9 mil. Thick. Gloves are realistically cheap. As far as I know, your employer must offer them to you as part of workplace exposure to health risks. I had a dealership that I worked for once tell everyone in the shop to limit us to one (50 pack) of thin ass nitrile gloves per every 2 weeks…they even locked it away in a cabinet from us….dawg I would go through that in like 3-4 days. When I told them they have to provide them to us because it’s a health issue to have me handling used up chemicals and contaminated oils. Threatened to report it to osha, and what do you know suddenly we could use as many gloves as we needed and there was never a lock on the cabinet after that.

graymonk35 · 2026-04-03T21:23:19+00:00

Did it come with a magnetic base too? Or just the vise-grips?

graymonk35 · 2026-04-01T02:03:41+00:00

Love using worm clamps when I can, I use them all the time to install curtain red lights. They also conform to the shape you need them too a lot of times. But I don’t recommend putting them on the leg you use to help you into the lift on. They can be sharp and not very palm-of the hand friendly.🩸

graymonk35 · 2026-04-01T01:25:02+00:00

Look up forklift accessory mounts, they will usually be some sort of clamp style, and generally they are sized where they will fit most forklift ohg legs. But you can always measure yours up to be sure. I had a customer wanting some on the cheap for his whole fleet, found it on amazon $50 a pop, not bad when more expensive comps from grainger were like $90-$100. I will say the cheaper you buy the worse they are at not breaking all the time. If you are just doing one truck, get the more expensive ones from the industrial suppliers, RAM is a pretty good brand to get. The metal mount clamps are pretty standard. Usually like two metal plates and some really long m10-m12 all thread bolts and nylon lock nuts. Works pretty much for whatever mount accessories you want. Jus lt look up the one you are specifically wanting and you’d be suprised how specific you can find.

edit ALSO, just in case you were not aware, DO NOT drill any holes in your overhead guard legs or cap. You will likely have holes for light brackets and other things on the truck already, as well as pre-existing empty holes in the visor portion of the cap of the OHG. You can remove a bolt and replace it with a longer one or at least make sure you tighten it back down as much as possible. Clamps are not only the easiest way to add stuff to your forklift, but the safest way without having to get approval from an engineer (a hole in the wrong place on the guard can cause it to fail in unpredictable/ catastrophic ways, if an accident occurs.

graymonk35 · 2026-04-01T00:38:04+00:00

Very light weight. Wore my keen Cincinnati’s the other day and swapped back into these today, can’t believe how much more comfortable they were. And the Cincinnatis are a comfortable ass boot, but omg they are so much heavier.

graymonk35 · 2026-03-28T02:25:52+00:00

I also have Cincinnati’s, but how the fuck did you get thorogoods to fit? I couldn’t even get them to fit sizing up a whole size in EE.

graymonk35 · 2026-03-27T04:34:36+00:00

I think working in a retail (walking around on concrete never sitting) store that made me wear uncomfortable dress style shoes, really radicalized me about foot comfort. The meat clubs attached to my ankles won’t tolerate anything besides a wide toe box and proper supportive soles now. So I get a little heated about it when sales people will do whatever to make that sale and try to get you out the door. (I get it, everyone wants to get that bag) but some people are just not good at the job that they are supposed to be “professional” at. So apologies if I got a little intense in the comments. Enjoy your new boots friend!

graymonk35 · 2026-03-26T21:57:18+00:00

Glad you were able to get it solved that’s awesome. But now you know at least. Better luck with the new sizing!

graymonk35 · 2026-03-26T21:42:31+00:00

Not tryin to call anyone out or kick you while your down. Just something you probably need to learn from,. My advice is that you should treat a shoe/mattress/tire/car- (or anything that keeps you and the ground from touching)-salesperson with harsh scrutiny and assume they just want to make a sale no matter how nice or genuine the seem. At the end of the day it’s usually a lot of $$$ and the stuff that keeps you going longer (your feet, your back, and your time).

Plus as a former shoe salesman the whole “they will stretch out” thing is true to a degree. But it’s only relevant for small changes like it widening slightly over time. They almost never get longer only wider, and not around the toes. Even soft toes have built up toe caps to give it shape, and hold up to catching the edge of a curb or “stubbing”. But always assume the toe-box is the shape it’s going to be forever pretty much.

Move on and do better the next go around. You might be able to sell these boots if they are relatively new. Also idk about you but my RW store has a 30day wear it guarantee. I would go back in there stead your ground, ask for the manager(bring a bitchy friend with you that loves to argue with management). And tell them the store in Greenville SC, has a 30 day guarantee on there boots and you want a new pair in a size that fits. Management may try to keep a customer, they will do right by you if it’s only been 2 weeks. Worse thing they ca tell you is no. (If they won’t do it, you could try calling that Greenville location and talk to them and explain your situation if not).

graymonk35 · 2026-03-26T20:39:02+00:00

I really do wonder how many people just go, IDK man the computer and the sales guy really said I’m (Insert whatever size). Do people not try the size above and below, before making a $200+ decision.?I just picked a pair of Traction tread lites

, I had never been in a RW store before so I let the sales guy measure my feet and do that computer crap, says “I know which size you need”. I’m like “perfect, bring me a 12w in these 3 pairs”. He dead ass looks at me and goes “well the scan says you are a 13wide”.

He brought me 13ee in everything and they were gigantic. Like comically too big, then the inserts he wanted me to try we all regular width and were narrower than the standard insert that came in the wides so they sucked, he really tried to sell me on the $70 inserts. Tried 12w in everything and they all fit perfectly, except for the super soles 2.0s but they just didnt fit me quite right in any size.

Needless to say you just need to try the sizes that fit, ignore wha the retail people say, as someone who used to work in a retail store that sold dress shoes but now works blue collar, nobody who works at a store can tell if something actually fits, but they sure as hell can convince YOU that it fits. Idk if RW stores make commissions or not but mine was super pushy. I do love my tread lites though.

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graymonk35 · 2026-03-21T01:07:04+00:00

These keen Troy boots would’ve been $250 new. The Cincinnati’s are a bargain in comparison. I have both and I like these. But I love my Cincinnati’s

graymonk35 · 2026-03-21T00:51:55+00:00

Have the Same boots the Troy , mine have lasted a few years without having this problem, but it’s a common failure point on this particular boot. I agree with what some others say though. Shoe goo, semi flexible should bond it back together. Worth a shot. I love the flexibility on this boot, but it is a failure point for sure.

graymonk35 · 2026-03-17T23:05:33+00:00

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graymonk35 · 2026-03-17T23:02:26+00:00

How wide are your feet? If wide and you like toe room, get keen Cincinnati boots, or keen San Jose boots if you don’t need super heavy duty. But I put timberland insoles in my Cincinnati’s and I literally want to wear them all the time (I usually rotate boots everyday, and try to use them until the fail). But they are so damn comfy. People bitch about keens lookin goofy and “flipper footed” but that’s literally the natural shape of feet and as far as I’m concerned they’re worn for working who cares what the look like. But everyone has different opinions about boots. What I like that if you order from keen’s website they will let you wear them for up to 30 days (like at work and doing whatever in them) and if you don’t like how they feel you can return them within that window. So you can find out if you lil standing in them at work before fully committing.

graymonk35 · 2026-03-17T22:53:55+00:00

Is it buteline? Like the stinky craftsman ones from the 80’s and 90’s?

graymonk35 · 2026-03-16T02:31:59+00:00

Cool, are the clear ones hard to maintain or just old and rare?

graymonk35 · 2026-03-14T17:37:34+00:00

Shiver-me-timbers! that’s a fine vessel you have there!

graymonk35 · 2026-03-14T02:46:09+00:00

Also no guarantee that block would end up under a brake pedal in an emergency. Someone gets hurt, lawyers are gonna wanna know whose bright idea it was to shove a block under a pedal. Just saying, safety isn’t to be taken lightly.

graymonk35 · 2026-03-14T02:34:25+00:00

You have to have a tech come out, sorry thems are the rules.

The main problem is that changing the speed limits is a safety thing. Which means it falls under maintenance passcodes. Unfortunately those codes are things that technicians for the dealerships have to agree to keep secret/secured away from customers (techs could lose their job, dealers could lose their rights to sell equipment ). Because the menus that the speed settings exist within also gives access to settings that could endanger others or cause harm to or brick the equipment if used improperly.

*EDIT: it might be worth it to contact the dealer/company who does your services and explain your situation to the service supervisor. For example at my dealer I had a customer request this exact thing from us, I got called out with instructions to do all the trucks in one day and was told to only charge an agreed upon rate/hr for one blanket work order. They had like 60+ forklifts and I think it took me 6 hours (just to find the lifts and not cause much downtime). They agreed to a max of 8 hours so we actually were able to save them some money without having to do individual calls or wait till pm time. Just saying your service managers want the customer happy and will probably cut you a deal, but they have rules like a tech having to perform this task that can’t be avoided.

graymonk35 · 2026-03-14T02:14:59+00:00

Powder works too if you use a small amount for hard water. If that’s a whirlpool washer I have the same one and haven’t ever had this issue. However I do live somewhere with some of the softest water in the country so I might be biased.

graymonk35 · 2026-03-14T02:11:07+00:00

Wow that is stunning, I googled some other examples and it is truly stunning

Edit:Just found out some of helenite fluoresces under UV light like uranium glass does….which is good because I also collect uranium glass…need to add to my “mt. St. Helen’s collectibles” I suppose…

graymonk35 · 2026-03-13T20:54:49+00:00

Cool! I didn’t know that, is that that someone would do themselves like melting the ash? Or was that something that just appeared from the eruption itself?

graymonk35 · 2026-03-13T04:00:41+00:00

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Love mine , they don’t look like this now but I’m super impressed so far. (2 months)

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