When it comes to maintaining the lift truck, it can really be easy to overlook the simple yet important tire. If you pick the wrong tire, you could end up accidentally with a huge increase in fleet operating expenses, or increased safety risks, which is worse yet. If on the other hand, you pick correct type of tire you could enjoy improved safety, substantial cost-savings and an overall more efficient operation. A correctly chosen tire can actually lessen the downtime for replacement and probably last 40 percent longer.
Tires are actually quite complex parts on the equipment; hence, it is easy to select the wrong one accidentally. There are numerous different brands of tires and types, with a wide variety of compounds and treads. This means you must be fully prepared with the right data when you are going shopping for tires so that you could decide on some safe and tough options to help prolong the life of your lift truck.
The particular kind of tire chosen for a lift truck depends on the kind of surface you would be using the machinery on. Like for instance, smoother surfaces and indoor applications generally use tires that are made from rubber and that are smaller in size. On the contrary, outdoor applications require pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires are filled with compressed air and have a rubber tread. These characteristics give them a great grip on surfaces that are uneven and rough.
Lift Truck Tire Safety
Each year, 200 people are killed in forklift or lift truck related accidents each year. Ensuring forklift safety, like proper inspection practices, can all contribute in to preventing these horrible and dangerous mishaps from occurring.
Pre-Work Check
The tires of the forklift have to be checked prior to each and every 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 could inadvertently tip over when a load is being raised.
Types
The tires used on indoor forklifts would be made out of solid rubber.
Other Considerations
Occupational Health and Safety Administration or OSHA places a requirement on the continual utilization of lift trucks. These lift trucks are required to be inspected at the end of each shift. The operator should inspect the machine for any mechanical issues and the tires must be checked for cuts, excessive wear or apparent damage to the tires. Any problems that are detected should be dealt with as soon as possible to maintain safety.