When it comes to maintaining the forklift, it could be easy to neglect the simple yet essential tire. If you select the wrong tire, you could end up accidentally with a huge increase in fleet operating expenses, or increased safety risks, which is worse yet. If however, you select right kind of tire you can enjoy improved safety, significant cost-savings and an overall more efficient operation. A correctly selected tire can really decrease the downtime for replacement and probably last 40 percent longer.
The forklift tire is a somewhat complex component of the equipment. It is thus, easy to choose the wrong kind accidentally. There are a lot of different brands of tires and types, with various treads and compounds. This means you should be fully prepared with the correct information when you are buying tires so that you could choose some tough and safe options to help prolong the life of your forklift.
The specific type of tire selected for a forklift depends on the type of surface you will be using the equipment on. Like for example, smoother surfaces and indoor applications generally utilize tires which are made from rubber and that are a smaller size. On the other hand, outdoor operations require pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires have a rubber tread and are filled with compressed air. These characteristics give them a great grip on uneven and rough surfaces.
Lift Truck Tire Safety
Each and every year, 200 individuals are killed in forklift or lift truck related accidents each year. Ensuring lift truck safety, like for instance correct inspection practices, can all contribute in to preventing these dangerous and horrible accidents from happening.
Pre-Work Check
The tires of the lift truck have to be inspected before each and every shift. Tires must ideally have the proper air pressure, that is set by the tire manufacturer. This is very important because if the tire pressure is very low, the machinery can inadvertently tip over when a load is being raised.
Kinds
The tires used on indoor lift trucks will be made out of solid rubber.
Other Considerations
Occupational Health and Safety Administration or OSHA places a requirement on the continual use of lift trucks. These lift trucks are required to be checked at the end of every shift. The driver must inspect the machinery for any kind of mechanical problems and the tires need to be checked for excessive wear, cuts or obvious damage to the tires. Any problems that are detected must be addressed as soon as possible to maintain safety.