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 costs, or increased safety risks, which is worse yet. If however, you pick correct kind of tire you can enjoy improved safety, substantial cost-savings and an overall more efficient operation. A properly chosen tire can really decrease the downtime for replacement and potentially last 40% longer.
The lift truck tire is a somewhat complex component of the machine. It is thus, easy to choose the wrong kind accidentally. There are a lot of different types of tires and brands, with various treads and compounds. This means you have to be totally prepared with the right data when you are buying tires so that you could select some durable and safe options to help prolong the life of your lift truck.
Your business should choose the specific tire for their machine based on the kind of surface the machine would be operated on. Smoother surfaces and indoor applications for instance, will usually utilize tires that are smaller in size and made from rubber. On the other hand, outdoor operations need pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires are filled with compressed air and have a rubber tread. These features give them a great grip on uneven and rough surfaces.
Lift Truck Tire Safety
Every year, 200 individuals are killed in forklift or lift truck related accidents each year. Ensuring lift truck safety, like proper inspection practices, can all contribute in to avoiding these terrible and dangerous mishaps from occurring.
Pre-Work Check
The tires of the lift truck needs to be inspected prior to each and every shift. Tires must ideally have the right air pressure, which is set by the manufacturer of the tire. This is really essential because if the tire pressure is too low, the machine can accidentally tip over when a load is being lifted.
Kinds
For indoor work, lift trucks that have solid tires made out of rubber are the most suitable alternative.
Other factors
Occupational Health and Safety Administration or OSHA places a requirement on the continual use of forklifts. These forklifts must be inspected at the end of each shift. The operator must inspect the machine for any type of mechanical problems and the tires should be inspected for excessive wear, cuts or apparent damage to the tires. Any problems which are detected need to be addressed as soon as possible to maintain safety.