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Our Caterpillar LP 12000 lb. forklift has a hydraulic problem we think cause the forks will drop slowly when the truck is turned off with the forks in the air. You can kind of hear the thing creak noise and watch it drop a fraction of an inch every time. This problem will happen with or without any load on it. We checked the fluid level and it is full.

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Per the manual there will be some sort of fork drop within the hour if the forks are in the air, please refer to the user manual for the specifications of the drop.

If in fact the drop is substantial and you can actually tell it is dropping, that probably will not be within the spec, this can happen for the fact that the lift cylinder that is holding those forks whether its the primary or secondary cylinder's might be internally leaking if you don't see any visible outside leaks of course,

hydraulic cylinders do have seals inside of them that can leak causing the forks to drift down due to just the weight of them,

It is also possible that the relief valve on the block itself might be stuck open, hence sending the forced by weight hydraulic fluid down back to the tank.