When it comes to maintaining the forklift, it could really be easy to overlook the simple yet important tire. If you choose the wrong tire, you can end up accidentally with a huge increase in fleet operating expenses, or increased safety risks, which is worse yet. If however, you select correct tire you can enjoy significant cost-savings, improved safety and an overall more effective operation. A correctly chosen tire can really decrease the downtime for replacement and probably last 40 percent longer.
The forklift tire is a quite complex part of the machine. It is therefore, easy to pick the wrong type accidentally. There are so many different kinds of tires and brands, with various treads and compounds. This means you must be completely prepared with the correct data when you are going shopping for tires so that you can choose some safe and tough options to help extend the life of your forklift.
Your company should select the specific tire for their machine according to the kind of surface the equipment will be operated on. Smoother surfaces and indoor applications for instance, would normally use tires that are smaller in size and made from rubber. On the other hand, outdoor operations require pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires are filled with compressed air and have a rubber tread. These characteristics give them a good grip on uneven and rough surfaces.
Forklift Tire Safety
Each year, there are around 200 people killed in accidents related for lift truck use. Ensuring lift truck safety, like for instance correct inspection practices, can all contribute in to avoiding these horrible and dangerous mishaps from taking place.
Pre-Work Inspection
The tires of the lift truck needs to be checked before each shift. Tires must ideally have the proper air pressure, that is set by the tire manufacturer. This is really important because if the tire pressure is very low, the machinery can inadvertently tip over when a load is being lifted.
Kinds
The tires used on indoor forklifts would be made out of solid rubber.
Other Considerations
OSHA or the Occupational Health and Safety Administration places a requirement on the continual use of forklifts. These forklifts must be checked at the end of each shift. The operator should check the machinery for any kind of mechanical problems and the tires have to be checked for cuts, excessive wear or obvious damage to the tires. Any issues which are detected must be dealt with as soon as possible to maintain safety.