Dock bumpers can help you safeguard your building, your dock equipment and trailers. Every product that moves in and out of your warehouse or manufacturing plant goes through the dock, so it’s essential to preserve it and keep all bays in good working order.

Types of Dock Bumpers

Dock bumpers are typically installed so that a truck or trailer runs into the bumper before hitting your building. This safeguards your building, your dock levelers and the truck or trailer that uses your dock.

There are quite a few varieties of dock bumpers, and picking a suitable bumper can be an important decision, depending upon the workload of your dock operation. Installing overly-lightweight dock bumpers can sometimes result in an early demise, while adding dock bumpers that are thicker than necessary may be ineffective and might in fact create difficulties when docking trailers.

The type of dock bumpers you choose will be established by the approach, average trailer or vehicle height, daily volume and many additional variables. For facilities where trailers are likely to tilt slightly or swing during loading or unloading activities, bumpers may be attached in either a vertical or horizontal orientation.

Molded Bumpers (Light Duty): Bumpers built from molded rubber can supply protection for low-traffic loading docks. Additionally, they are sometimes applied on the interior of a facility to defend walls, doorways and other structural components from forklifts and other warehouse and dock equipment.

Molded rubber is the least durable option of various dock bumper styles, and is more prone to chipping or gouging. If your dock does not get high volumes of traffic, they may be a reasonable option for your business.

Laminated Bumpers (Medium Duty): Laminated bumpers have more substantial pads than molded bumpers and provide superior shock absorption. They are fabricated from strips of recycled truck tires that have been cut to size and mounted between steel plates.

Laminated bumpers have a medium capacity for wear resistance and are adaptable with regard to thickness, length, and height. They are often used on docks equipped with pit-style dock levelers or edge-of-dock levelers, since they provide enduring defense for high traffic docks.

Steel Faced Bumpers (Heavy Duty): Steel faced bumpers are equipped with a movable piece of steel that covers a conventional laminate bumper, stopping heavy abrasion of the laminated padding. The steel allows trailers to brush against the bumpers without breaking down the rubber. Steel faced bumpers offer exceptional wear resistance, and usually are in service more than four times as long as exposed laminate bumpers.

When Should Dock Bumpers Be Replaced?

Although dock bumpers are meant to withstand impact, they do wear down after prolonged use and should be renewed from time to time. There are a few key indicators that tell you that your dock bumpers need to be replaced.

If the pads have worn away by 50% or more, it's time for replacement. The impact absorption capacity of worn down pads is not adequate defend your dock. Pads that are excessively worn will sooner or later wear down to the steel brackets that anchor them, and this may cause avoidable damage to both brackets and trailers.

Apart from regular wear and tear, you should look for further damage like separating laminate layers, cracking, bent or corroding metal and other evident defects. You may want to schedule bumper inspections, just as you would routinely inspect your levelers and other dock equipment.

Truck Dock Bumpers Near Me

For questions or a dock bumper price quote, get in touch with a loading dock equipment expert at Raymond West today.

Raymond West's Boise service center serves most of Idaho, including Boise, Nampa, Meridian, Idaho Falls, Caldwell, Pocatello, Twin Falls, Post Falls and surrounding areas.

Raymond West | Boise Material Handling Equipment Supplier

743 W McGregor Ct #100
Boise, ID 83705
(800) 675-2500