When it comes to maintaining the lift truck, it could be easy to neglect the simple yet important tire. If you pick 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 select right type of tire you can enjoy improved safety, significant cost-savings and an overall more efficient operation. A properly chosen tire can actually decrease the downtime for replacement and probably last 40% longer.
Tires are really somewhat complex components on the machine; therefore, it is easy to choose the wrong type accidentally. There are numerous different brands of tires and types, with various compounds and treads. This means you must be fully prepared with the right data when you are buying tires so that you could choose some safe and durable alternatives to help extend the life of your forklift.
Your business should choose the specific tire for their machine according to the type of surface the machine will be operated on. Smoother surfaces and indoor applications for example, would usually utilize tires that are smaller in size and made from rubber. On the other hand, outdoor applications need pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires have a rubber tread and are filled with compressed air. These characteristics give them a great grip on surfaces that are uneven and rough.
Forklift Tire Safety
Each and every year, 200 people are killed in forklift or lift truck related accidents each year. Ensuring forklift safety, such as correct inspection practices, can all contribute in to preventing these dangerous and horrible accidents from occurring.
Pre-Work Inspection
The tires of the forklift needs to be checked prior to each shift. Tires should ideally have the right air pressure, which is set by the tire manufacturer. This is really essential because if the tire pressure is very low, the machine could inadvertently tip over when a load is being raised.
Kinds
The tires used on indoor lift trucks 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 inspected at the completion of every shift. The driver must check the machine for any mechanical problems and the tires need to be inspected for excessive wear, cuts or obvious damage to the tires. Any problems that are detected need to be addressed as soon as possible to maintain safety.