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What You Need to Know about Forklift Maintenance

A forklift is like any other vehicle. It’s made of moving parts, and it’s made to move. This means that it can break down, malfunction or otherwise not work as it should. To prevent this, it’s important to take good care of your forklift or your fleet.

Luckily, at Aussie Forklift Sales we’re in the business of forklifts. That’s why we’ve come up with a handy guide to forklift maintenance and care. Read on and you’ll find out everything there is to know about looking after your forklift.

Tyres

You’d look after and check your car or truck’s tyres regularly, wouldn’t you? There’s no reason to not take the same attitude with your forklift. Check their pressure regularly and ensure that they get filled to the manufacturer’s specifications. We recommend using only a trained and qualified tyre fitter to remove, fit, or maintain your forklift’s tyres.

To avoid injury and accidents, a safety cage needs to get used when inflating or fitting tyres on split rim wheel models. The hose for the air needs to have a clip-on chuck. This is so the fitter is not in front of the wheel rim when inflating a tyre.

Service

Like a car, your forklift needs a thorough service on a regular basis. You need to choose a trained, qualified, insured and accredited technician for any service. If you have a gas forklift, use a licenced gas fitter to repair or replace any parts on your LPG-powered forklift.

Clean and Smooth

Keep your forklift trucks clean. It may be worth making cleaning part of your employee’s fortnightly duties. This way, it’s much easier to detect and remedy worn, defective or malfunctioning parts.

A Word about Record Keeping

Keep detailed, hard-copy records of every service, inspection, repair, maintenance and modification. Record specific dates and times, names and meter readings so that you’re up to date.

Unsafe, Damaged or Out-of-Action Vehicles?

Develop a system to handle unsafe vehicles. Isolate them, tag them and report the issue to the required people.

Never use, operate or even turn on a damaged forklift. Wait until the necessary repairs have been completed so that you know that it’s safe to use.

The Advantages of Maintenance

If all this is sounding like a tall order, we’d encourage you to pause and reflect on the benefits of maintaining your forklift or fleet.

This includes:

  • Being able to plan and control expenditure by scheduling maintenance
  • No surprise costs for costly repairs
  • Improved cash flow
  • Reduced operating costs
  • Optimum use of your forklift and more!

Also, should you ever decide to sell your forklift, you’ll have a higher resale value!

Do You Need Forklift Repairs?

Aussie Forklift Sales offer a comprehensive repair and maintenance service for your forklifts. We also sell new and used models. Please contact us with any enquiries. Our friendly team are more than happy to assist you.