How do you figure out what forklift part to order?

Our Library of Forklift Parts

At Intella, a common question we receive is “how do I figure out what part number to order?”  Fortunately at Intella we have a huge library of forklift parts manuals from a variety of different forklift brands and models.

How to Find the Part Number

If you need a part and you don’t have a part number, first you need to find the model and serial number of your forklift.  Typically a forklift will have a data tag / serial number plate somewhere near the dashboard of the forklift.  It will typically have the make, model, and serial number of the forklift stamped.

To figure out what part number to order, we need model AND serial number.  No other information will help us like the model and serial number.  The color of the forklift really isn’t too helpful either, it’s really the model and serial number which is most helpful.

Once you provide the forklift model and serial number, it’s useful to know that there are two different types of parts manuals supplied by forklift manufacturers:

Specific forklift part number manuals:  Like the name implies, these manuals are real straight forward.  They provide pictures of assemblies, descriptions of parts, and the actual part number of the part.  Forklift manufacturers such as Cat, Hyster, Yale (modern era), Crown, Komatsu, and Nissan have parts manuals like this.

Group number forklift parts manuals:  At some point along the way, certain forklift manufacturers realized they really didn’t want end users shopping around for parts.  They’d prefer end users to simply rely on the OEM dealer and they’d like the end user to be a little in the dark.  For this reason they created group number manuals.  A group number forklift parts manual does not show unique part numbers in the manual.  The manual shows pictures, descriptions of parts, but then instead of showing a part number, it will show a group number.

A group number is simply a numerical value assigned to a particular part type.  In Clark, for example, group number 02.242 is ALWAYS an air filter element.  In each group number manual, the air filter element will show 02.242 next to it.  You’ll assume this is a part number and try to search for it…but alas, that’s only a group number and really doesn’t help–you need the serial number with it.

Clark and Toyota utilize group number manuals.  Yale Materials Handling used a system like this before they merged with Hyster.  But most Yale forklifts in the market today will not use group number manuals.

Either way, Intella Parts can help if you don’t have an OEM forklift part number. Simply provide us the model and serial number and we can help figure out what you need. To check out our Nissan forklift parts catalog click here.

Why Do I Need an Exact Serial Number?

Often customers will wonder why the exact serial number is needed when ordering parts for their forklift.  The simple answer is that often forklifts are ordered with custom options.  Take forklift radiators for example.  You can have the same model Hyster forklift, built during the same month with the same engine and one customer ordered the forklift with an open core radiator and the next customer ordered with a standard forklift radiator.  In that case, ordering by serial number would be the only way to get the right parts!