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 expenses, or increased safety risks, which is worse yet. If on the other hand, you select right tire you can enjoy substantial cost-savings, improved safety and an overall more efficient operation. A properly selected tire could really reduce the downtime for replacement and probably last 40% longer.
Tires are really somewhat complex components on the machinery; hence, it is easy to choose the wrong kind accidentally. There are a lot of different brands of tires and kinds, with different 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 choose some durable and safe alternatives to help extend the life of your lift truck.
The particular type of tire chosen for a forklift depends on the kind of surface you will be using the machine on. Like for instance, smoother surfaces and indoor applications normally use tires that are made from rubber and that are smaller in size. On the other hand, outdoor operations require pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires have a rubber tread and are filled with compressed air. These characteristics give them a good grip on surfaces that are uneven and rough.
Forklift Tire Safety
Each year, there are around 200 people killed in accidents related for lift truck use. Ensuring forklift safety, such as proper inspection practices, could all contribute in to avoiding these dangerous and horrible mishaps from taking place.
Pre-Work Check
The tires of the forklift needs to be inspected before every shift. Tires should ideally have the proper air pressure, that is set by the tire manufacturer. This is very essential because if the tire pressure is very low, the machinery can inadvertently tip over when a load is being raised.
Types
The tires used on indoor forklifts would be made out of solid rubber.
Other factors
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration or OSHA require that lift trucks utilized on a continual basis need to be checked at the completion of each shift. The operator must inspect the machinery for any mechanical problems and the tires have to be checked for cuts, excessive wear or apparent damage to the tires. Any problems which are detected must be addressed as soon as possible to maintain safety.