When it comes to maintaining the forklift, it can be easy to overlook the simple yet essential tire. If you select the wrong tire, you can end up accidentally with a huge increase in fleet operating costs, or increased safety risks, which is worse yet. If however, you pick right tire you can enjoy improved safety, substantial cost-savings and an overall more efficient operation. A correctly chosen tire could really lessen the downtime for replacement and probably last 40% longer.
The forklift tire is a somewhat complex part of the equipment. It is thus, easy to choose the wrong type accidentally. There are so many different types of tires and brands, with a wide array of treads and compounds. This means you must be completely prepared with the right information when you are going shopping for tires so that you could select some safe and durable alternatives to help extend the life of your lift truck.
Your business must decide on the specific tire for their equipment based on the type of surface the equipment would be operated on. Smoother surfaces and indoor applications for instance, will usually use tires that are smaller in size and made from rubber. 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 good grip on uneven and rough surfaces.
Lift Truck Tire Safety
Each year, there are around 200 people killed in accidents related for forklift use. Ensuring lift truck safety, like correct inspection practices, can all contribute in to preventing these horrible and dangerous accidents from taking place.
Pre-Work Check
The tires of the lift truck needs to be inspected before each and every shift. Tires should ideally have the proper air pressure, that is set by the tire manufacturer. This is very vital because if the tire pressure is too low, the equipment could accidentally tip over when a load is being lifted.
Kinds
The tires utilized on indoor lift trucks would be made out of solid rubber.
Other Considerations
The OHSA or Occupational Health and Safety Administration require that forklifts utilized on a continual basis have to be inspected at the completion of every shift. The driver has to check the machine for any type of mechanical problems and the tires must be looked over for cuts, excessive wear or apparent tire damage. Any issues which are detected must be addressed as soon as possible to maintain safety.