5 Tips to Maintaining your Forklift

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5 Tips to Maintaining your Forklift

forklift maintenance
Properly maintaining your company’s forklift is the top way to prevent injury and avoid unforeseen maintenance costs. Although your forklift may be taken out of operation for a short period of time, planned maintenance for the equipment will allow the forklift to last longer, perform more efficiently and save you money in the long run.

Visual Inspection

Maintaining your forklift starts with building daily habits. Visual inspections of your forklift will help you notice small problems before they turn into major issues and will keep you and your crew safe on the job. Use a PM Inspection Form to complete daily inspections of your forklift. The form should note items like possible leaks, checking tires, damage to propane tank (for propane forklifts), engine belts and overhead guard.

Choose The Right Forklift For Job

As with any large piece of machinery, you need to pick the best tool for the job. If you have a narrow aisle forklift, you would not use it for a heavy order. The heavier the materials, the larger the truck required to lift them. Attempting to complete a job with the wrong forklift can not only cause damage to your equipment, it can also be a safety hazard for you or your employees.

Schedule Regular Forklift Maintenance

What would happen if you drove your car day in and day out without a regular oil change, tire rotation or checking the fluids? Right…eventually you’ll end up on the side of the road somewhere with smoke coming from the hood. It’s the same idea for maintaining your forklift. It doesn’t matter if you have an electric forklift, battery operated forklift or propane forklift; each machine needs to be serviced on a regular schedule. If you fail to plan regular maintenance of your forklift, the machine will begin to operate improperly, even with regular tasks, and will eventually have a major malfunction – costing you much more to fix than a routine maintenance check.

Inflate Tires

Properly inflate the tires on your forklift to ensure the best productivity. Forklift tires that are too deflated risk allowing the forklift to tip over when carrying loads and will increase the amount of fuel used by a forklift. Overly inflated Forklift tires have a higher probability of a blowout, potentially damaging the forklift.

Quality Repairs

If a part of your forklift breaks, begins to malfunction or needs to be replaced because of age, choose quality products from a manufacturer or repair technician you trust. Making a quick repair with a cheap part will lead to further repairs needed in the future (sooner rather than later), and may even lead to adjoining parts working improperly. No matter the size of your business, when a used forklift is out of operation, you lose productivity and your bottom line suffers. Scheduling routine maintenance, being observant to malfunctioning parts and making repairs with quality pieces will extend the life of your machine and ensure your business is running on all cylinders.

Forklift Maintenance

Coronado Equipment Sales offers quality forklift maintenance. We also offer nationwide delivery of forklift parts. Whether it’s a part of forklift service you need, we have the experience and understanding to keep your forklift in top shape throughout the life of the lift! Call us now to scheule your forklift maintenance.