When it comes to maintaining the lift truck, it could really be easy to neglect the simple yet essential tire. If you choose the wrong tire, you can end up accidentally with a huge increase in fleet operating expenses, or increased safety risks, which is worse yet. If however, you choose right tire you could enjoy substantial cost-savings, improved safety and an overall more effective operation. A correctly selected tire could really decrease the downtime for replacement and potentially last 40 percent longer.
Tires are actually quite complex parts on the machine; hence, it is easy to select the wrong one accidentally. There are so many different types of tires and brands, with a wide array of compounds and treads. This means you must be fully prepared with the correct data when you are buying tires so that you can choose some durable and safe alternatives to help prolong the life of your lift truck.
The particular kind of tire chosen for a lift truck depends on the type of surface you will be using the machine on. Like for instance, indoor applications and smooth surfaces normally use tires that are made from rubber and that are a smaller size. On the contrary, outdoor applications require pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires have a rubber tread and are filled with compressed air. These features give them a good grip on surfaces that are uneven and rough.
Lift Truck Tire Safety
Every year, 200 individuals are killed in lift truck or forklift related accidents each year. Ensuring lift truck safety, like proper inspection practices, can all contribute in to avoiding these dangerous and horrible mishaps from taking place.
Pre-Work Check
Prior to each shift, the forklift's tires need to be checked. Ideally, they should have the proper air pressure, as set forth by the manufacturer. This is very essential because if the tire pressure is very low, the equipment can accidentally tip over when a load is being lifted.
Types
The tires used on indoor lift trucks would 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 need to be checked at the completion of each shift. The operator should check the machine for any kind of mechanical issues and the tires need to be looked over for excessive wear, cuts or obvious tire damage. Any issues that are detected have to be addressed as soon as possible to maintain safety.