TextHow do I figure out what parts I need for my Clark forklift mast?
Clark has been manufacturing forklifts for years. They’ve been doing it for so long that many consider Clark to be the first mass produced forklift in the United States.
If you’re working on a Clark forklift and you need to order parts for the mast of the forklift, it’s not as simple as looking for the model and serial number and getting us that info. Clark makes it a little more difficult and the reason why has to do with forklift history.
You see, back in the old days, forklift masts could be easily swapped between various models. Let’s say you were a dealer and had a new forklift in stock with a mast that only goes up 12 feet with a diesel engine. You also have a forklift in stock with a gasoline engine that goes up 20 feet. In the old days, the masts could be interchanged between models and you could sell what your customer needed based on what you had in stock.
Flash forward to today, and no one really exchanges masts between forklifts any longer. It can be done but it rarely is done. Dealers have large inventories, models of forklifts have some design differences that eliminate even the option of swapping forklift masts, and labor costs are high to swap the masts.
Where does that leave us today? That leaves us with a Clark parts system which essentially considers the mast a separate piece of equipment with a separate model and parts manual. Clark even calls it something different than the rest of the industry….they call the mast the “deck”. So if you’re working on a Clark forklift mast and you’re looking for parts, you will need to know the DECK number.
WHERE TO FIND THE DECK NUMBER
Clark stamps each mast with a unique number. That number can be found on the outer mast channel, on the driver’s side of the forklift. It will typically be a 4 digit number with some letters.
If you look closely at the pictures above, you’ll see the deck (mast) number circled. That’s the deck number and that’s what we’ll need to properly identify the parts on your forklift mast.
More clark forklift parts can be found at Intella Parts Company.