A scheduled maintenance routine for your forklifts is crucial to driver safety and operational efficiency. Like your own car or truck, there are parts on your lift trucks that need to be serviced periodically to maintain performance and avert systematic problems.

Some lift truck components invariably receive unrelenting wear, or are more susceptible to damage because of heavy utilization or extended service. All rubber components and hoses should be periodically replaced on a planned maintenance schedule to prevent leakage or failure.

Replacing lift truck parts before they weaken or give out can help you avoid far more expensive maintenance down the road. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

These are some of the components on a lift truck that must be replaced on a regular basis:

• Rubber Parts and Power Steering Hoses: Every 4,000 hours or 2 years
• Reservoir Tank Hose: Every 2 years, or 4,000 hours
• Wheel Cylinder Rubber Parts: Every year, or 2,000 hours
• Master Cylinder Rubber Parts: Every 1,000 hours or annually
• Hydraulic Hose: Every 2 years, or 4,000 hours
• Lift Chain: Every 3 years, or 6,000 hours
• Swing Lock Cylinder: Every 10,000 hours

There are other parts that may also need regular replacement, including:

• Forklift batteries: these will usually last at least 5 years, and with proper handling they can last much longer. However, all batteries will eventually wear out and need replacement.
• Lift truck tires: as soon as tires erode further than the 50% line, have shredding or chunking issues, or form flat spots, they should be swapped out right away.
• Bearings: any failing bearings should be promptly replaced to continue unimpeded function of the lift truck.

Lift Truck Maintenance

Scheduled lift truck maintenance programs should include the following:

• Routine Lubrication: the joints and moving parts of a forklift should be oiled on a regular basis.
• Fluids: Lead acid battery water and fluids for hydraulic systems should be checked on a regular schedule.
• Battery Charging: A regular charging routine is essential for your lift truck’s battery longevity and performance.
• Instrument Inspection: as a basic safety measure, all instruments and gauges must be checked on a regular basis. Not only is this a good idea, it’s also an OSHA requirement under the compliance section 1910.178(q)

Lift Truck Safety

The federal government has many regulations concerning forklift maintenance, and any vehicle that is deemed noncompliant must be sidelined until any problems are corrected. How do you know when a vehicle is not safe to operate? Here are some of the issues that might be cause to keep a truck sidelined:

• Tires with gouges or missing chunks
• Broken welds on the mast or truck frame
• Damaged or missing bolts on any part of the forklift
• Broken gauges
• A compromised overhead guard

Forklift Parts Near Me

If you’d like assistance in sourcing forklift parts or need forklift service, speak with a parts professional at Raymond West today.

Raymond West's Stockton facility serves much of the northern Central Valley, including Stockton, Lathrop, Lodi, Tracy, Modesto, and Merced.

Raymond West | Stockton Forklift Dealer

19107 Christopher Way
Lathrop, CA 95330
(800) 675-2500