When it comes to maintaining the lift truck, it can 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 costs, or increased safety risks, which is worse yet. If on the other hand, you pick correct tire you could enjoy improved safety, significant cost-savings and an overall more efficient operation. A properly chosen tire can actually reduce the downtime for replacement and potentially last 40% longer.
Tires are actually quite complex components on the equipment; hence, it is easy to pick the wrong kind accidentally. There are lots of different brands of tires and types, with different compounds and treads. This means you should be totally prepared with the correct data when you are purchasing tires so that you could select some safe and tough options to help prolong the life of your lift truck.
Your business should choose the particular tire for their equipment based on the type of surface the machinery would be operated on. Smoother surfaces and indoor applications for example, will generally utilize tires of a smaller size and made from rubber. 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 great grip on rough and uneven surfaces.
Lift Truck Tire Safety
Every year, 200 individuals are killed in forklift or lift truck related accidents each year. Ensuring lift truck safety, like for instance correct inspection practices, could all contribute in to avoiding these dangerous and horrible mishaps from occurring.
Pre-Work Inspection
The tires of the forklift needs to be checked before each shift. Tires must ideally have the right air pressure, which is set by the manufacturer of the tire. This is very vital because if the tire pressure is too low, the equipment could accidentally tip over when a load is being lifted.
Types
The tires used on indoor lift trucks will be made out of solid rubber.
Other factors
The OHSA or Occupational Health and Safety Administration require that lift trucks used on a continual basis need to be inspected at the completion of each shift. The driver should inspect the equipment for any type of mechanical problems and the tires have to be inspected for cuts, excessive wear or obvious tire damage. Any problems which are detected must be dealt with as soon as possible to maintain safety.