When it comes to maintaining the lift truck, it could really be easy to neglect the simple yet important tire. If you pick 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 however, you choose correct kind of tire you could enjoy substantial cost-savings, improved safety and an overall more efficient operation. A properly chosen tire could actually lessen the downtime for replacement and potentially last 40% longer.
Tires are actually quite complex parts on the equipment; therefore, it is easy to select the wrong kind accidentally. There are so many different kinds of tires and brands, with different treads and compounds. This means you should be fully prepared with the right data when you are going shopping for tires so that you can decide on some tough and safe alternatives to help extend the life of your lift truck.
Your business must select the specific tire for their machinery based on the kind of surface the equipment would be operated on. Indoor applications and smoother surfaces for example, would generally use tires that are smaller in size and made from rubber. On the other hand, outdoor operations require pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires are filled with compressed air and have a rubber tread. These characteristics give them a good grip on uneven and rough surfaces.
Lift Truck Tire Safety
Each year, 200 individuals 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 taking place.
Pre-Work Inspection
Before each and every shift, the lift truck's tires need to be checked. Ideally, they must have the right air pressure, as set forth by the manufacturer. This is really essential because if the tire pressure is too low, the machine can accidentally tip over when a load is being raised.
Kinds
For indoor work, forklifts that have solid tires made out of rubber are the most suitable alternative.
Other factors
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration or OSHA require that forklifts utilized on a continual basis have to be inspected at the completion of each and every shift. The operator should check the machinery for any mechanical problems and the tires should be looked over for cuts, excessive wear or obvious damage to the tires. Any problems that are detected have to be addressed as soon as possible to maintain safety.