How to Find a Hyster® Forklift Serial Number
Hyster forklift serial number guide
This Hyster forklift serial number guide will be useful to you if you have purchased a used forklift, but don’t know the model number or year of manufacture. Without this info, it will be tough to repair or maintain your Hyster forklift because you’ll need a repair, parts or operators manual. And to get a Hyster forklift manual (or any brand of lift truck manual, for that matter), you’ll need model and serial number information to locate the right technical publication.
This handy article will show you how to find that information for a Hyster forklift truck. Specifically, we’ll show you how to locate the serial number of the forklift which unlocks access to all the information you’ll need to keep your forklift running, as well as the year of manufacture.
What is my Hyster forklift’s serial number?
The easiest method to find the serial number of a Hyster forklift is to check the name plate (sometimes called a forklift data tag or info plate). This metal plate provides key information that you’ll need about your forklift.
The forklift nameplate or data tag provides the following information:
- Forklift model (See 1 in image)
- Serial number. (See 2 in image)
- Forklift weight (See 3 in image)
- Lifting capacity (See 4 in image)
The nameplate on a Hyster lift truck looks like the picture on the right. It is typically found somewhere near the dashboard. Because Hyster is made by the same company as the Yale brand the newer name plates are similar between trucks.
What to do if the nameplate is unreadable
Locating and reading the data plate is the best way to find a forklift serial number. However, on older lift trucks if the plate has rusted out or worn down or damaged so badly that it cannot be read, then you can still find the truck’s serial number in two other places.
- For newer forklifts it can be found in the electronics system.
- It can also be found stamped into the forklift’s frame.
How to find the Hyster lift truck year of manufacturer
(For Yale forklift year of manufacture decoding instructions, click here)
To figure out the year your Hyster forklift was manufactured, you’ll need to read the serial number and look for a letter in the last position.
Because Hyster and Yale are both owned and manufactured by NACCO, a lot of tools and processes that identify both brands of trucks are similar. Hyster Company began its truck lettering system in 1957 – much earlier than Yale Materials Handling. The Hyster lettering system uses the last letter to calculate the year and is as follows:
| A=1957 | A=1980 | A=2003 |
| B=1958 | B=1981 | B=2004 |
| C=1959 | C=1982 | C=2005 |
| D=1960 | D=1983 | D=2006 |
| E=1961 | E=1984 | E=2007 |
| F=1962 | F=1985 | F=2008 |
| G=1963 | G=1986 | G=2009 |
| H=1964 | H=1987 | H=2010 |
| J=1965 | J=1988 | J=2011 |
| K=1966 | K=1989 | K=2012 |
| L=1967 | L=1990 | L=2013 |
| M=1968 | M=1991 | M=2014 |
| N=1969 | N=1992 | N=2015 |
| P=1970 | P=1993 | P=2016 |
| R=1971 | R=1994 | R=2017 |
| S=1972 | S=1995 | S=2018 |
| T=1973 | T=1996 | T=2019 |
| U=1974 | U=1997 | U=2020 |
| V=1975 | V=1998 | V=2021 |
| W=1976 | W=1999 | W=2022 |
| X=1977 | X=2000 | X=2023 |
| Y=1978 | Y=2001 | Y=2024 |
| Z=1979 | Z=2002 | Z=2025 |
Note: The letters “I”, “O”, and “Q” are skipped.
So, the process repeats beginning with A (1980) until Z (2002), currently in 2018 Hyster is manufacturing trucks with “S” as the last digit in the serial number. If your Hyster forklift was manufactured before 1957, to contact your local Hyster forklift dealer.
