Rear mounted lift for over-the-road vehicle

A powered forklift assembly configured to be operably mounted on an over-the-road vehicle to shift a load relative to a chassis of the vehicle, said powered forklift assembly comprising:

• a shiftable forklift including an extendable mast and a fork mechanism,
• said fork mechanism being attached to and vertically shiftable relative to the mast and configured to support the load;
• and
• a vehicle bed supporting the forklift and configured to be mounted relative to the chassis of the vehicle, with the vehicle bed presenting a bed work surface for receiving the load,
• said fork mechanism including an upright backrest and a fork extending away from the backrest in a longitudinal direction,
• said fork being pivotally attached relative to the mast and being pivotal independently of the mast about a lateral pivot axis extending transversely to the longitudinal direction,
• said forklift including a pivot actuator configured to pivot the fork up and down about the lateral pivot axis.

A powered forklift assembly configured to be operably mounted on an over-the-road vehicle to shift a load relative to a chassis of the vehicle, said powered forklift assembly comprising:

• a shiftable forklift including an extendable mast and a fork mechanism,
• said fork mechanism being attached to and vertically shiftable relative to the mast and configured to support the load;
• and
• a vehicle bed supporting the forklift and configured to be mounted relative to the chassis of the vehicle, with the vehicle bed presenting a bed work surface for receiving the load,
• said extendable mast including a supporting mast assembly and a driven mast assembly operable to support the fork mechanism,
• said supporting mast assembly being vertically stationary relative to the vehicle bed and said driven mast assembly being vertically slidable relative to the supporting mast assembly,
• said driven mast assembly comprising a lowering assembly that is shiftable to a lowered position where at least part of the lifting assembly and/or at least part of the fork mechanism is located below the supporting mast assembly,
• said fork mechanism comprising a support and a fork, said fork being slidably supported on the support,
• said support comprising an upper support member and a lower support member,
• said fork comprising a pair of fork members,
• each of said fork members being L-shaped and comprising a rearwardly projecting fork element and an upwardly projecting fork element,
• said upwardly projecting fork element being slidably coupled to each of the upper and lower support members so as to permit lateral sliding of the fork members relative to the upper and lower support members.

A powered forklift assembly configured to be operably mounted on an over-the-road vehicle to shift a load relative to a chassis of the vehicle, said powered forklift assembly comprising:

• a shiftable forklift including an extendable mast and a fork mechanism,
• said fork mechanism being attached to and vertically shiftable relative to the mast and configured to support the load;
• and
• a vehicle bed supporting the forklift and configured to be mounted relative to the chassis of the vehicle, with the vehicle bed presenting a bed work surface for receiving the load,
• said mast being shiftably connected relative to the vehicle bed for transverse movement relative thereto along an operating path, with the forklift being shiftable along the operating path between a rear position and a forward position to transfer the load on and off of the bed work surface,
• said fork mechanism comprising a support and a fork, said fork being slidably supported on the support,
• said support comprising an upper support member and a lower support member,
• said fork comprising a pair of fork members,
• each of said fork members being slidably coupled to each of the upper and lower support members so as to permit lateral sliding of the fork members relative to the upper and lower support members.