When it comes to maintaining the lift truck, it could really be easy to neglect the simple yet essential tire. If you pick 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 choose correct kind of tire you can enjoy improved safety, significant cost-savings and an overall more effective operation. A properly chosen tire can actually reduce the downtime for replacement and potentially last 40% longer.
Tires are actually quite complex parts on the equipment; thus, it is easy to pick the wrong one accidentally. There are so many different types of tires and brands, with various treads and compounds. This means you should be fully prepared with the correct data when you are going shopping for tires so that you can select some tough and safe options to help extend the life of your lift truck.
The particular type of tire chosen for a forklift depends on the type of surface you will be utilizing the equipment on. Like for instance, indoor applications and smooth surfaces generally utilize tires which are made from rubber and that are smaller in size. On the other hand, outdoor operations need pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires are filled with compressed air and have a rubber tread. These characteristics give them a good grip on surfaces that are uneven and rough.
Forklift Tire Safety
Each year, 200 people are killed in lift truck or forklift related accidents each year. Ensuring lift truck safety, like correct inspection practices, can all contribute in to preventing these terrible and dangerous mishaps from taking place.
Pre-Work Check
Prior to every shift, the lift truck's tires need to be inspected. Ideally, they should have the proper air pressure, as set forth by the maker. This is very vital because if the tire pressure is too low, the machinery can inadvertently tip over when a load is being lifted.
Types
The tires used on indoor lift trucks would be made out of solid rubber.
Other factors
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration or OSHA require that forklifts utilized on a continual basis need to be inspected at the completion of each shift. The operator must check the machine for any type of mechanical problems and the tires must be checked for cuts, excessive wear or apparent tire damage. Any problems that are detected must be dealt with as soon as possible to maintain safety.