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February
2006
Forklift
Chains
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OSHA 1910.178 (q)(7) states that industrial trucks
shall be examined before being placed in service, and
shall not be placed in service if the examination shows
any condition adversely affecting the safety on the
vehicle. Such examination shall be done at least daily.
Where industrial trucks are used on a multiple shift
basis, they shall be examined before each shift. Defects
when found shall be immediately reported and corrected.
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Forklift
Chain Use & Wear
Chains
are just one part of that examination, but one that
should be addressed in more detail. Chains are what
hold your loads in the air, so extra attention should
be given to them. Besides checking for obvious damages,
such as a loose or broken chain or cracked plates, additional
inspections should be performed. This will be detailed
in our Ttraining Tip.
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NOT repair forklift chains— they should be
replaced! Never cut out worn sections and
splice in new pieces. |
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If an operator notices a slack or broken chain while
doing the inspection of the forklift, or when using
the forklift, they should tag the truck out of service
and notify a supervisor immediately. Never attempt repairs
on your own; only trained forklift mechanics should
work on your forklifts. If you don’t know what you are
doing you could lose a finger, hand, arm or foot. Do
NOT repair forklift chains— they should be replaced!
Never cut out worn sections and splice in new pieces.
If the chains are a matched set, then both chains should
be replaced.
Many times we see operators traveling down aisles dragging
forks on the floor as they go along. On some makes and
models of forklifts, this could be a sign that your
chains might need adjusting; others have no adjustment.
By dragging your forks as you drive, you are wearing
them out and they could break while you have a load
in the air. Operators should be taught in their operator’s
training courses to always travel with the forks off
the floor, loaded or unloaded, about 4-6 inches and
slightly tilted back to avoid hitting fixed objects
in the floor or ground, such as pipes or railroad tracks.
Forklift operators should watch their chains as they
leave a pallet to insure the chains are taut and not
slack. If an operator pulls out of a pallet when the
chains are slack, the forks can drop with such force
that the chains will break.
As an operator, you have a responsibility to ensure
your own safety. Following safe operating rules that
you learned in your training classes and doing your
pre-shift or daily inspections will help to keep you
safe and the people around you safe.
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How
to Properly Lubricate and Inspect your Lift Chains
There are three basic types of lift chains: leaf
chain, roller chain and roller less chain. While
all these types of chains effectively transmit
lifting forces from the hydraulic cylinders to
the forks, leaf chain is by far the most prominent
in modern lift trucks.
An important consideration in field maintenance
of leaf chain is lubrication.
Hard-working, heavily loaded chains cannot provide
acceptable wear life without periodic lubrication.
Like all bearing surfaces, the precision-manufactured,
hardened-steel, joint-wearing surfaces require
a film of oil between mating parts to prevent
accelerated wear.
Maintaining a lubricant film on all chain surfaces
will:
- Minimize joint wear.
- Improve corrosion resistance.
- Reduce the possibility of pin turning.
- Minimize tight joints.
- Promote smooth, quiet chain action.
- Lower chain tension by reducing internal friction
in the chain system.
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| (Illustration
originally used in Totalift Forklift
Chain Guide) |
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Use chain and cable lubricant for lubrication
of chains. The lubricant will penetrate into the
chain joint to prevent wear. Applying lubricant
to external surfaces will prevent rust, but the
lubricant must flow into the bearing surfaces
for maximum chain life.
The frequency of lubrication will change with
the operating conditions and the environment.
The best lubrication time is during each P.M.
(typically 250 hours or 3 months maximum actual
truck operating time). Trucks that are parked
outdoors or in very severe service may need lubrication
more often to keep a layer of oil on all chain
surfaces.
In dirty operating conditions, lubricated chains
will gather dirt. Even under these conditions,
chain life will be increased by periodic lubrication.
Joints get a "paste" of oil and dirt, but joint
wear will still be much less than if the chain
is permitted to operate dry with metal-to-metal
contact between pins and plates (pin and bushing
in roller chain).
In dirty operating conditions, leaf chain can
be more easily lubricated than roller and roller
less chain. The plates in leaf chain give more
paths for the lubricant to reach the pin (see
Figure 1). Be sure to wipe dirt from chain prior
to lubrication to allow lubricant to reach all
surfaces of the chain.
Procedure
to Check for Chain Wear
Elongation can be measured using a Lift Chain
Wear Gauge. Select a section of chain that regularly
moves over the sheaves, since this area accumulates
the most wear. Identify the chain pitch and the
appropriate points on the chain wear gauge (either
A or B). Position the corresponding point of the
gauge on the center of the first pin. Please look
at the descriptions listed below for further instructions
on checking wear.
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| (Illustration
originally used in Totalift Forklift Chain
Guide) |
| 1.
Pitch |
1.
Pitch |
| 2.
If the chain gauge indicates that the center
of the pin is equal to or beyond the gauge
point (either A or B), the chain is worn out
and both chains should be replaced. |
2.
If the chain gauge indicates that both points
marked A or 8 do not reach the corresponding
pin, this means that the chain is not worn
and does not need to be replaced. |
| 3.
Span for this example equals 7 pins. |
3.
Span for this example equals 7 pins. |
Lift
Chain Inspection
Lift chains should be inspected and lubricated
typically every 250 hours, or 3 months of operation
(more frequently in hostile environments). Inspection
should focus on the following:
- Elongation
- Edge wear
- Chain side wear
- Turning or protruding pins
- Cracked plates due to:
a. fatigue cracking
b. stress corrosion
cracking
c. corrosion fatigue
- Tight joints
- Ultimate strength failure
- Chain anchors and sheaves or sprockets
- Missing parts.
A chain's normal life expectancy is expressed
as a maximum percent of elongation. This is generally
3% of pitch. As leaf chain flexes back and forth
over the sheave, or roller chain runs over the
sprocket, the bearing joints (pins, inside link
plates on leaf chain, and bushings on roller chain)
gradually wear. As with all bearing surfaces,
the precision-hardened steel joints require a
constant film of oil between mating parts to prevent
rapid wear and also to resist corrosion.
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| Our
remodeled branch, Bobcat of the Twin
Tiers, in Elmira, New York |
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T&J’s presence in Elmira improved
dramatically with the remodeling of
our branch at 3000 Lake Road, and
the approval from Bobcat to use the
name Bobcat of the Twin Tiers.
The remodeling included exterior trim,
paint and signage, and interior painting,
display areas, and two new offices
for our salesmen to better receive
customers.
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| Snow
going…finally! |
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Bobcat of the Twin Tiers exemplifies
our commitment to Bobcat by meeting
specific requirements for parts, service,
rental and sales, which allows us
to utilize the “Bobcat” name. Bobcat
of the Twin Tiers, a Thompson & Johnson
Equipment Company, is committed to
providing the finest compact construction
equipment and aftermarket services
to our local area.
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One
of the services that Thompson & Johnson has available
to our customers is Forklift Operator Training.
We offer the best and most professional training in
the marketplace. Our trainer, Dave Bennett, has been
factory trained by three of our forklift lines: Toyota,
Crown and Clark. Classes are tailored to fit your particular
requirements and your schedules.
OSHA regulation 1910.178 (I)(1-7) mandates that certain
topics be discussed in your training classes. Our classes
are highly detailed to meet those mandates, with strict
attention placed on the stability of a forklift.
Did you know that a forklift tipover is the number
one accident involving a forklift? There are two types
of tipovers: a forward tip or longitudinal tip, and
a lateral tip or side-to-side tipping. We cover the
proper procedures on how to handle those tipovers with
the different classes of forklifts that you may use
in your facility.
Our classes also concentrate on safe handling of your
fuels, the proper “rules of the road” that all operators
should be following, including the all-important interfacing
with pedestrian traffic in your facility. Stopping a
forklift and the surface conditions are also covered.
Forklifts do not stop on a dime, so if you have wet
floor conditions or your forklifts are traveling at
excessive speeds, your stopping distances are going
to be much greater. Our classes explain how a forklift
differs and is the same as an automobile; OSHA requires
that this topic also be discussed in your training classes.
Strict detail is shown on how to read the forklift’s
nameplate, and what all this information means to the
oporators. There must be a tag on the forklift, and
the tag must be legible. For example, did you know that
if you have an attachment on the front of your forklift,
the attachment must appear on the forklift’s nameplate?
If not, then this could result in an OSHA violation!
We will evaluate your operators on each class of forklift
that you have. Operators will drive the forklifts and
will demonstrate the safe operating rules they learned
in the class. This includes motorized hand pallet trucks,
another type of truck on which operators must be trained,
mandated by OSHA. Many times, companies have no idea
that motorized pallet trucks are included in OSHA’s
training standard.
If you currently are doing your own training, are you
covering these topics listed above, and are you doing
the hands-on with each style of forklift that is in
your facility? Some companies are just not comfortable
doing their own training. We can do this training for
you. For a no-charge proposal, please call Dave
Bennett at 315-413-4146.
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