Forklift Extensions – Types and Uses

Forklift Extensions And Their Use

Forklifts are looked on today as one of many industrial workhorses that, together with forklift extensions, underpin the continued growth and success of the construction and manufacturing industries around the world. Many, if not all, industries would be stymied without the natural progression that forklift extensions allow whether you are seeking forklift round extensions or forklift tine extensions.

Forklift Extensions
With advances being made in other areas of material handling and processing its no wonder that today’s modern forklifts bear little comparison to the originators of this “species”; yet like motor cars, they still embody the initial design utility of simply carrying big heavy stuff. Lots of different big heavy stuff too, with extensions coming into play!

Whether the makers of smart phones know it or not, the tag line “there’s a forklift extension for that” could well be used here, as quite literally there probably is an extension available to do what you need to do. Lifting a drum? There’s an extension for that. Moving coils? There are forklift extensions for that, and so on it goes.

The precision use of Archimedes’ first laid rule of force application, liberally misinterpreted as to mean “give me a lever long enough and I can move the world”, is the inherent basis for all forklifts. Refinements in design and use of CAD systems allows for more than simple guesswork in its application these days, giving us the precision material handling equipment we have today.

Knowing these items are available, and knowing how to correctly use them, however, are two different animals all together. Unlike other disciplines, like painting perhaps, the tech now used within this industry is refined to the degree that a majority of jobs that 10, even 5 years ago, that would have been carried out using a utility system now have their own expert systems using forklift extensions.

While this may not seem that much of a leap to all and sundry, if you’re using machinery that cuts your job time down by a substantial amount and makes it easier, you’re involved with an expert system that’s been developed exclusively for that task. With that comes the fact that by utilizing these systems your time and cost requirements have been substantially defrayed; thereby saving your company and client considerable outlay. By doing so, you’re proving exactly why forklift extensions – when utilized properly – are in fact an astute and worthwhile corporate purchase.

As with everything, you get from it what you put into it, in a sense. So while adding forklift extensions to your plant lineup is a great thing, its also tantamount to monetary suicide if your operators (and sales/customer service, don’t forget) are unaware of all the things that your new additions can, or cannot, do.

If your people don’t know that forklift extension X can only hold Y amount of weight and be lifted Z amount of height, then your workers, and your merchandise, can be in true danger. Make sure your staff is knowledgable and prepared. There’s a very simple way to ensure that all your people know exactly what can be done with these tools, and luckily you’ve found the correct place to garner further information and a resolution to that problem!

Explore the types and used of forklift extensions available.

Forklift Forks – Essential Forklift Attachments

Are your forklift forks up to task?

forklift forks

Forklift Forks

Forklift Forks are essential forklift attachments that need daily inspection under normal working conditions and are should be subjected to thorough inspection once every six months. Fork truck operators must make a visual inspection of forklift forks before they begin their daily work. These checks will enable them to identify some permanent cracks or distortions if any exist.

Thorough inspections should only be done by a trained forklift mechanic and must involve check ups for distortion, excessive wear and cracks on the forks. Depending upon their weight loads and usage hours fork truck forks may need to be inspected more often.

At six months, the trained fork truck mechanic will also check the blades of the fork for any wear. Actually forks are continuously subjected to abrasion by steel shelving, concrete floors, etc and this can significantly reduce their thickness eventually leading to catastrophic failure when they exceed their current load capacity. The forklift fork inspector will have to ascertain the thickness and deem if it is suitable for the material handling task at hand.

The inspector will also examine the fork for any distortion as they can bend or warp out of shape. Depending upon the degree of distortion, some forks can be easily straightened. The hanger and heel should also be checked for minute cracks, an eddy current machine or other such device may need to be employed. Sometimes cracks appear on the forks where the various forklift attachments are welded. Sometimes this can also occur in the radius of a bent area.

Forklift fork cracks can be easily detected using dye penetrate or magnetic particle on periodic basis. You should also contact your forklift manufacturer or supplier to seek additional information on this.  Reputable dealers that sell used Linde forklifts, Clark, Hyster, Toyota, or even used Komatsu forklift dealers will all be able to provide you with scheduled maintenance and the best method of forklift fork inspection.

You should never attempt to repair your forks. Only an experienced fork manufacturer has the capability to repair the forks. Similarly, forks should never be modified without consulting the forklift supplier. Any in-house modification or repair can reduce the fork strength drastically and result in a forklift accident.

Whenever replacement is required, you should replace only with high quality forks usually forged or upset heel styles.

You should take care not to overload forklift forks. Operators should keep the load within the limits of the recommend manufacturer capacities, and it is important for fork truck operators to know that capacity of their machinery and its parts.  This is important because any overloading can weaken or even bend the forks possibly leading to a forklift related injury or accident.

The load should be positioned as per the load center recommended on the chart supplied by the manufacturer. The load limit of the fork truck would decrease as the load center is raised. You should avoid adding any excess weight for counterbalancing the forklift.

Forklift forks are essential pieces of equipment and should be carefully used after daily inspection and this task should be included in the daily start-up checklist.

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Standard Forklift Fork Diagram