It can be simple to neglect the essential tire, when it comes to the maintenance of the lift truck. When you pick the wrong tire for your lift truck, you can put huge increases on your operating expenses, and more significantly increase your safety risks. If however, you choose right type of tire you can enjoy improved safety, significant cost-savings and an overall more efficient operation. A properly chosen tire could actually lessen the downtime for replacement and potentially last 40 percent longer.
The forklift tire is a quite complex component of the machine. It is thus, easy to choose the wrong type accidentally. There are so many different types of tires and brands, with a huge range of compounds and treads. This means you should be completely prepared with the right data when you are going shopping for tires so that you could choose some durable and safe options to help prolong the life of your forklift.
The particular type of tire chosen for a forklift depends on the type of surface you would be utilizing the equipment on. For instance, smoother surfaces and indoor applications usually utilize tires which are made from rubber and that are smaller in size. On the other hand, outdoor operations require pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires have a rubber tread and are filled with compressed air. These features give them a good grip on surfaces which are uneven and rough.
Forklift Tire Safety
Every year, 200 people are killed in lift truck or forklift related accidents each year. Ensuring lift truck safety, like correct inspection practices, can all contribute in to avoiding these terrible and dangerous mishaps from taking place.
Pre-Work Inspection
The tires of the lift truck have to be inspected before each shift. Tires must ideally have the right air pressure, which is set by the tire manufacturer. This is really vital because if the tire pressure is very low, the machinery could inadvertently tip over when a load is being raised.
Types
The tires utilized on indoor lift trucks would be made out of solid rubber.
Other factors
Occupational Health and Safety Administration or OSHA places a requirement on the frequent use of lift trucks. These lift trucks are required to be inspected at the end of each and every shift. The operator must inspect the machinery for any mechanical issues and the tires need to be inspected for cuts, excessive wear or apparent tire damage. Any issues which are detected should be addressed as soon as possible to maintain safety.