It can be simple to neglect the essential tire, when it comes to the maintenance of the forklift. When you select the wrong tire for your forklift, you can put large increases on your operating costs, and more importantly increase your safety risks. If however, you select right tire you could enjoy improved safety, significant cost-savings and an overall more effective operation. A correctly selected tire can actually lessen the downtime for replacement and potentially last 40% longer.
Tires are actually somewhat complex components on the equipment; therefore, it is easy to select the wrong one accidentally. There are so many different brands of tires and types, with different compounds and treads. This means you should be completely prepared with the right information when you are buying tires so that you could choose some durable and safe options to help prolong the life of your forklift.
Your business should choose the particular tire for their machinery based on the type of surface the machine will be operated on. Indoor applications and smoother surfaces for instance, would normally use tires of a smaller size and made from rubber. On the other hand, outdoor applications need pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires are filled with compressed air and have a rubber tread. These characteristics give them a good grip on surfaces which are uneven and rough.
Lift Truck Tire Safety
Each and every year, 200 people are killed in lift truck or forklift related accidents each year. Ensuring forklift safety, like correct inspection practices, could all contribute in to avoiding these dangerous and horrible mishaps from taking place.
Pre-Work Check
The tires of the lift truck needs to be inspected before every shift. Tires must ideally have the right air pressure, which is set by the tire manufacturer. This is very vital because if the tire pressure is too low, the machinery can inadvertently tip over when a load is being lifted.
Kinds
The tires utilized on indoor lift trucks will be made out of solid rubber.
Other Considerations
The OHSA or Occupational Health and Safety Administration require that lift trucks used on a continual basis have to be checked at the completion of every shift. The operator must inspect the machine for any kind of mechanical problems and the tires must be inspected for cuts, excessive wear or obvious tire damage. Any issues which are detected have to be addressed as soon as possible to maintain safety.