It can be simple to overlook the essential tire, when it comes to the maintenance of the lift truck. When you select the wrong tire for your forklift, you can put huge increases on your operating expenses, and more significantly increase your safety risks. If however, you choose right kind of tire you could enjoy improved safety, substantial cost-savings and an overall more effective operation. A properly selected tire could really reduce the downtime for replacement and potentially last 40% longer.
Tires are really quite complex components on the machine; hence, it is easy to choose the wrong one accidentally. There are lots of different brands of tires and types, with various treads and compounds. This means you must be completely prepared with the right information when you are going shopping for tires so that you can select some durable and safe options to help extend the life of your forklift.
Your company must choose the particular tire for their machinery according to the type of surface the machinery would be operated on. Smoother surfaces and indoor applications for example, would normally utilize tires of a smaller size and made from rubber. On the other hand, outdoor applications require pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires have a rubber tread and are filled with compressed air. These features give them a good grip on uneven and rough surfaces.
Lift Truck Tire Safety
Every year, 200 individuals are killed in lift truck or forklift related accidents each year. Ensuring lift truck safety, like correct inspection practices, could all contribute in to avoiding these terrible and dangerous mishaps from occurring.
Pre-Work Inspection
The tires of the lift truck have to be checked before each shift. Tires must ideally have the proper air pressure, which is set by the tire manufacturer. This is really vital because if the tire pressure is too low, the machine could accidentally tip over when a load is being lifted.
Types
For indoor work, lift trucks which have solid tires made out of rubber are the best option.
Other factors
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration or OSHA require that lift trucks used on a continual basis have to be inspected at the completion of each and every shift. The operator must inspect the machinery for any mechanical issues and the tires should be inspected for excessive wear, cuts or obvious damage to the tires. Any problems which are detected should be dealt with as soon as possible to maintain safety.