Well, I can finally talk about it. A few weeks ago I attended a media-only introduction to the C-5, Crown Equipment Corporation’s first company-manufactured internal combustion (IC) forklift.  It features an industrial engine that was jointly developed with John Deere Power Systems (John Deere). What do you think of when you think John Deere? Probably farm equipment. Maybe a combine?

Exactly. According to Crown President Jim Dicke III, customers with IC trucks in their fleet were complaining about poor engine performance, overheating, and maintenance difficulties. “We saw an opportunity to help our customers move beyond the existing limitations of IC truck performance,” he said.

Although known primarily for its electric lift truck offerings, Crown has been servicing and renting IC trucks (including Komatsu, Doosan and Tusk brands) for 20 years. Many of its customers still use them. Senior vice president Jim Moran says that even with all the challenges these customers had with IC—particularly the operation and maintenance costs—they learned to live with them as “the nature of the beast.”

These problems weren’t as bad in the agricultural and construction sectors, though. That’s because equipment manufacturers in those niches have taken great strides in improving uptime and maintenance problems. Engine cooling was always a core issue with IC vehicles. To learn how this was handled out in the corn and wheat fields, Crown bought a combine. They learned that these machines run for an entire season without having to be cleaned. That’s because the radiator is self-cleaning. That’s how Crown ended up working with John Deere to adapt its diesel engine to LPG.

A co-development project with John Deere produced a 2.4-liter industrial engine for the Crown C-5 that integrates the best practices from the diesel engines used to power John Deere’s combines and construction equipment with the best practices from Crown’s 50 years of industrial materials handling expertise.

Crown ruled out going with an automotive engine. The number of suppliers is shrinking, and they wouldn’t satisfy EPA requirements, according to Crown’s VP of engineering, Timothy Quellhorst. Product Manager Andy Smith added: “In fact, running an automotive engine in a forklift for just 2,500 hours is the equivalent of driving 100,000 miles at 40 miles per hour in a car. An automotive engine just isn’t built to withstand the demands of many material handling environments.”

Crown addressed the overheating challenge with a dual open-core radiator with separate cooling systems for the engine and transmission. That’s a standard feature. Crown also engineered an optional On-Demand Cooling (ODC) system that automatically clears itself of debris and provides precise cooling to effectively manage heat in intense and dirty environments—again, think of where a combine works.

According to Deere’s John Piasecki, director, worldwide marketing/customer support, his company spends $2 million a day on R&D. The S250 engine used in Crown’s C-5 has also been used by other OEMs since 2003. As for Crown, it has been testing its C-5 with customers for three years. Some of the trucks have racked up 6,000 hours a year. Explains Quellhorst, “Available torque at low speed is key. This engine offers 12% more torque at low speed than competitors, which contributes to acceleration performance and its capability on ramps.”

He concluded that a 20% temperature reduction can double the life of an engine.

The heat that is produced is directed away from the operator—as is the exhaust—during reverse travel.

While at Crown for this introduction, I had the opportunity to sit down with Jim Moran for an exclusive interview. I asked him why Crown was coming out with a lift truck that was so different from its core product line at a time in our economy when such moves might prove risky. He told me that, on the contrary, this is the perfect time to make such a move.

“Many customers buy a lot of electric trucks but also have IC and would like to single source,” he said. “We’ve been looking at this for six years. Every competitor we have has moved into our market, so to stay competitive and be viewed as a potential global supplier, we wanted to be part of the IC market.”

About Crown Equipment Corporation

Crown is one of the world’s largest lift truck manufacturers. Crown’s award-winning line of lift trucks maintains a reputation for exceptional product design, engineering and manufacturing. From the smallest hand pallet truck to the highest lifting turret truck, Crown seeks to provide users with safe, efficient and ergonomic lift trucks that lower total cost of ownership and maximize uptime. Headquartered in New Bremen, Ohio, Crown manufactures lift trucks that are sold throughout the world.