How to Find a Yale forklift serial number

Yale forklift serial number guide

This Yale forklift serial number guide is useful if you've purchased a used forklift but don’t know its model number or year of manufacture. Without this information, it will be difficult to repair or maintain your Yale forklift because you'll need a repair, parts, or operator's manual. To get a Yale forklift manual (or any brand of lift truck manual), you’ll need the model and serial number to locate the correct publication.

This article will help you find that information for a Yale forklift. Specifically, we’ll show you how to locate the serial number of the forklift, which unlocks all the details you need to keep your forklift running, including the year of manufacture.

What is my Yale forklift’s serial number?

The easiest way to find the serial number of a Yale forklift is to check the nameplate (sometimes called a forklift data tag or info plate). This metal plate contains key information about your forklift.

The forklift nameplate or data tag typically provides the following information:

• Forklift model (See A in the image)
• Serial number (See B in the image)
• Forklift weight (See C in the image)
• Lifting capacity (See D in the image)

The nameplate on a Yale lift truck looks like the picture on the right and is usually found near the dashboard.

What to do if the nameplate is unreadable

If the nameplate is damaged or unreadable, you can still find the truck’s serial number in two other locations:

1. For newer forklifts, it can be found in the electronic system.
2. It may also be stamped into the forklift’s frame.

How to find the Yale lift truck year of manufacture

(For Hyster forklift year of manufacture decoding instructions, please scroll down)

To determine the year your Yale forklift was manufactured, look at the serial number and check for the letter in the last position.

For example, in the image, the serial number is B875B04662D. The last letter, "D," indicates the year of manufacture is 2006.

Here is a guide to decode the Yale forklift serial numbers:

Note: The letters “I” and “O” are skipped to avoid confusion with the numbers one (1) and zero (0).

For Yale forklifts manufactured before 1995, the serial number does not indicate the year of manufacture. If you have a Yale forklift with a pre-1995 serial number, contact Yale or your local Yale forklift dealership with the serial number, and they can look it up for you.

Hyster forklift serial number guide

Because Hyster and Yale are both owned and manufactured by NACCO, many of the tools and processes for identifying trucks from both brands are similar. Hyster began its lettering system in 1957, much earlier than Yale. The Hyster system uses the last letter of the serial number to indicate the year of manufacture, as follows:

Note: The letters “I,” “O,” and “Q” are skipped.

The process repeats beginning with A (1980) until Z (2002). As of 2018, Hyster trucks have "S" as the last letter in the serial number. If your Hyster forklift was manufactured before 1957, contact your local Hyster forklift dealer for more information.

Need a Forklift Manual?

• Forklift Service and Repair Manuals
• Forklift Parts Manuals
• Forklift Operator Manuals