When it comes to maintaining the lift truck, it could really be easy to overlook the simple yet essential tire. If you select the wrong tire, you could end up accidentally with a huge increase in fleet operating costs, or increased safety risks, which is worse yet. If however, you pick correct type of tire you could enjoy improved safety, substantial cost-savings and an overall more effective operation. A correctly selected tire can actually decrease the downtime for replacement and potentially last 40 percent longer.
The forklift tire is a quite complex part of the equipment. It is thus, easy to pick the wrong type accidentally. There are so many different types of tires and brands, with different compounds and treads. This means you must be fully prepared with the correct data when you are buying tires so that you could choose some safe and tough options to help prolong the life of your forklift.
The specific kind of tire chosen for a forklift depends on the type of surface you would be using the machinery on. Like for instance, indoor applications and smooth surfaces usually utilize tires which are made from rubber and that are a smaller size. On the other hand, outdoor applications require pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires are filled with compressed air and have a rubber tread. These characteristics give them a good grip on rough and uneven surfaces.
Lift Truck Tire Safety
Each year, there are about 200 people killed in accidents related for lift truck use. Ensuring forklift safety, such as proper inspection practices, can all contribute in to avoiding these terrible and dangerous mishaps from taking place.
Pre-Work Inspection
Prior to each shift, the lift truck's tires need to be inspected. Ideally, they should have the right air pressure, as set forth by the maker. This is really essential because if the tire pressure is very low, the machinery could accidentally tip over when a load is being raised.
Kinds
The tires used on indoor forklifts will be made out of solid rubber.
Other Considerations
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration or OSHA require that lift trucks used on a continual basis have to be checked at the completion of each shift. The operator has to check the machine for any mechanical problems and the tires should be checked for excessive wear, cuts or apparent damage to the tires. Any issues which are detected need to be addressed as soon as possible to maintain safety.