It could really be simple to overlook the important tire, when it comes to the maintenance of the lift truck. When you pick the wrong tire for your forklift, you could put huge increases on your operating expenses, and more importantly increase your safety risks. If however, you select correct type of tire you could enjoy improved safety, significant cost-savings and an overall more effective operation. A properly chosen tire can really reduce the downtime for replacement and probably last 40% longer.
The forklift tire is a quite complex component of the machinery. It is thus, easy to select the wrong kind accidentally. There are so many different kinds of tires and brands, with a huge range of compounds and treads. This means you should be totally prepared with the correct data when you are going shopping for tires so that you could decide on some tough and safe alternatives to help prolong the life of your forklift.
The specific type of tire selected for a forklift depends on the kind of surface you will be utilizing the machinery on. Like for instance, indoor applications and smooth surfaces normally utilize tires that are made from rubber and that are a smaller size. On the contrary, outdoor operations need pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires have a rubber tread and are filled with compressed air. These characteristics give them a good grip on rough and uneven surfaces.
Lift Truck Tire Safety
Every year, 200 individuals are killed in lift truck or forklift related accidents each year. Ensuring lift truck safety, such as proper inspection practices, could all contribute in to preventing these dangerous and horrible accidents from occurring.
Pre-Work Inspection
The tires of the lift truck needs to be checked before each shift. Tires should ideally have the right air pressure, which is set by the tire manufacturer. This is really important because if the tire pressure is too low, the machine could inadvertently tip over when a load is being lifted.
Kinds
For indoor work, lift trucks that have solid tires made out of rubber are the most suitable option.
Other factors
Occupational Health and Safety Administration or OSHA places a requirement on the frequent utilization of forklifts. These lift trucks are required to be checked at the end of each shift. The operator must inspect the machine for any mechanical issues and the tires need to be checked for excessive wear, cuts or obvious tire damage. Any problems that are detected need to be addressed as soon as possible to maintain safety.