Forks are a frequently overlooked on a lift truck due to their how they simply work. However, when you need a different sized fork or your old ones are past their prime. It can be hard to know what you need to replace them. Here is a basic guide to get you on your way.
Click HERE to return to our Fork and Fork Extensions selection.
_______________________________________________________
Forklift Fork Wear (knowing when your forks need replacing)
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit sontex.
You should check your forks to make sure they haven&#;t been worn too thin with a Fork Arm Wear Caliper regularly to make sure it is still capable of carrying it&#;s rated load. Forks are considered worn beyond their carrying capacity once they are at 90% of their original thickness. In order to check this, you apply the outer jaws of the wear caliper to the shank portion of the fork because it is rarely worn. Then you apply the caliper to the heel of the fork and check to see if the inner jaws slip past at any point. If so, they are worn past 90%.
The most common of fork is the ITA style which are divided up into classes. These classes define the carriage height that they can mount to.
Next we have shaft mount style forks which mount on a pole (shaft) that spans the width of the carriage. Most of the time when you see these, they are mounted on an older forklift or a larger one. They are also frequently seen on fork positioning attachments, skid steers, and telehandlers. These are typically custom built and thus require a special form to be filled out in order to purchase.
PLEASE CLICK HERE if you need a shaft mount form to fill out so we can get you a quote.
After we get the style of fork nailed down, next we need to establish the proper length, width, and thickness of the forks. There are usually a couple things to consider with dimensions; maintaining capacity limits and being able to properly support or fit into a load.
Forks can come in different tapers to enable a load to be picked up in different ways. Typically the main difference is how thin they need to be at the tip in order to pick up a given load.
Standard &#; This is the most common fork taper. It is perfectly suitable for picking up most pallets and skids. No beveling, normally, tapers begin 16&#; to 24&#; from tip and end with a 3/8&#; tip.
Full Taper &#; Taper begins at heel of fork and extends to tip, ending with 3/8&#; tip. Can be polished or not. Good for getting under plywood or cardboard boxes.
Full Taper & Polished &#; Same as the Full Taper above, but the fork is polished.
Fully Tapered w/ Bottom Bevel &#; as the name states, the fork is fully tapered and will have a bottom bevel at the tip (also called a chisel tip)
Fully Tapered w/ Top Bevel &#; same as above, but beveled on top.
There are three main tip styles.
Style 1 &#; This is the most common tip. The front of the fork is flat with a gently rounded edge.
Style 2 &#; These are a fairly sharp fork without the flat front section (popular for block forks).
Style 3 &#; These are almost completely flat across the entire width of the tip and are standard on forks over 7&#; wide.
Along with what is listed above, there are literally dozens of different style forks that are special purpose that go beyond the scope of this page. However, here are some examples below.
Note that if you need a specialty fork, please feel free to contact us. We would be glad to get what you need.
Block Handling Forks (brick forks) &#; These forks are predominantly for lifting concrete blocks in large numbers. These forks are really thin and are usually used in quantities of more than 8 at a time in order to spread the load more evenly and reduce the risk of the skid losing structural integrity.
Bolt-on Forks &#; These forks are fairly rare because they bolt directly to the carriage and diminish any ability to move them laterally.
Coil Handling &#; These forks are chamfered on the edges to enable them to move coils of steel, reels, concrete pipes etc. when straddling the load is desired.
Tire Handling &#; Similar to the coil handling forks, these forks have an inner chamfer to handle tires without damage.
Corrugated Handling &#; These forks are typically used to lift loads that are not on skids or blocks and thus are really thin to enable them to fit between the load and the ground or split loads. As the name implies, they are popular for lifting corrugated metal.
Drum Handling &#; These forks are obviously designed to better lift drums. They have radiuses cut out of the inner edges of the forks that are designed to lift 55 gallon drums. Using these in conjunction with a rotator will allow you to have the ability to not only lift, but tilt a drum for dumping.
Offset &#; These forks are primarily used to allow the forks to reach beyond the standard width of the forklift&#;s current carriage.
One other consideration is to use FORK EXTENSIONS. These are an economical way to get the length that you need if you only occasionally handle loads that require a long fork. However, extensions are not intended for extended use and will wear rapidly if left on for extended use. An additional consideration is that extensions are only rated to be 150% longer than the fork they are used on. So, if you have 42-inch forks, you should only use extensions that are 60-inches or shorter.
Blade &#; The horizontal portion of the fork upon which the load is supported.
Heel &#; The radiused portion of the fork connecting the blade to the shank.
Shank &#; The upright (vertical) portion of the fork to which the supporting hooks are fixed.
Hooks (or clips, hangers) &#; Lugs attached to the shank to support and retain the fork on the carriage. They may be made as non-integral hooks (attached to the shank) or as integral hooks (formed integrally with the shank).
Tip &#; The free end of the blade that is inserted into the load.
Positioning Lock (or pin assembly, locking pin) &#; Device for locating the fork on the carriage (typically at the top of the shank on the hook).
Tube &#; The tube used for mounting the forks onto shaft-type carriages.
This chart is a basic chart describing the minimum capacity of the forks that we stock. Capacity is per pair @ a 24&#; load center (thus the x24).
Knowing forklift aisle widths is an important aspect of warehouse setup and organization.
After all, smaller aisles can help you free up a lot of space in your warehouse.
So, this article is all about how to calculate your minimum forklift aisle widths.
In it, you&#;ll learn:
Let&#;s dive in!
How Narrow Aisles Maximize SpaceGetting as much product into your existing space as possible is the name of the game in warehousing.
But with this goal comes some challenges.
One major challenge is that floor space is expensive.
And that makes expanding horizontally difficult, if not impossible.
So what&#;s the solution to expanding your storage capacity without breaking the bank?
Answer: Narrowing your pallet racking spacing.
In fact, reducing your warehouse aisle width from 12 feet to 8 feet can help you gain an extra 15 to 20% of storage area!
The 3 Most Common Aisle WidthsIf you&#;re not familiar with the different aisle widths available for warehouses, let&#;s go through them.
That way, you&#;ll have a clearer idea of what may work in your operation and how much space you can save.
Wide aisles (WA) are also known as standard or conventional aisles.
Most older warehouses have this style of aisle.
And that&#;s mostly because they&#;re the standard aisle width for forklifts.
So, what is the width of &#;wide&#; aisles?
Generally, they measure between 12- and 13-feet wide.
This makes them ideal for standard 48-inch pallets handled with counterbalanced forklifts.
Narrow aisles (NA) designs evolved for two main reasons:
So, what qualifies as a &#;narrow aisle&#;?
Answer: Aisles that measure between 8- and 10-feet wide.
Compared to wide aisles, this design can free up as much as 25% of warehouse space.
But if you only have standard counterbalance lifts, you can&#;t use narrow aisles.
That&#;s because this type of aisle layout only works with specialty narrow aisle lift trucks.
Not sure what we mean by a narrow aisle lift truck?
Don&#;t worry.
We&#;ll cover that in the Common Forklifts and Their Dimensions section below.
You now know about narrow aisles, but what is a very narrow aisle?
Want more information on 6.5'' CPLA Forks? Feel free to contact us.
Answer: They are aisles that measure 6-feet wide or less.
These aisles are a new concept in warehouse design that is just catching on.
And the reason for this newfound popularity is that using very narrow aisles can increase your warehouse floor space by up to 50%.
While this increase in space is appealing, there is a string attached&#;
Like narrow aisles, operating in very narrow aisles requires very narrow forklifts.
We&#;ll cover what exactly those are in the section below.
Common Forklifts and Their DimensionsWe&#;ve covered the most common aisle widths in warehousing.
And we&#;ve mentioned that setting up your warehouse around these aisle widths requires having material handling equipment that can navigate them.
But we haven&#;t gone into detail on what specific material handling equipment works in each aisle type.
So let&#;s do that now.
The 5,000 lb. cushion counterbalance forklift is the most popular type of forklift used in warehousing.
And it also happens to be considered a &#;wide aisle forklift.&#;
But what exactly does that mean?
It means that these forklifts require the most amount of space to safely navigate without hitting things.
As you may recall from the previous section, wide aisles are usually 12- to 13-feet in width.
And this corresponds exactly with wide aisle forklifts.
That&#;s because these lift trucks generally require 12- to 13-feet of minimum aisle width to navigate (assuming they&#;re handling standard 48-inch pallets).
Let&#;s finally answer the question: What is a narrow aisle forklift truck?
Narrow aisle forklifts trucks are those that can operate in aisle widths of less than 10.5-feet.
This equipment typically consists of reach trucks.
That said, there are different kinds of reach trucks for narrow aisles.
Let&#;s go through those different types.
Most reach truck forklifts are single-reach.
That is, they are only able to reach a single pallet deep into racking.
These types of reach trucks typically require a minimum aisle width of 8- to 9-feet.
Deep-reach forklifts, as the name suggests, are capable of reaching further into pallet racking than single-reach trucks.
To gain this extra reach, deep-reach fork trucks have extra-long pantomime mechanisms.
And while that&#;s the case, these trucks still can fit within narrow aisles with 9- to 10-feet of space.
What is a very narrow aisle truck?
These are forklifts that can fit into aisles 6-feet wide.
Mostly, this style of forklift consists of order pickers and swing reach trucks.
Let&#;s go through each of those.
These are also called swing-mast trucks.
That&#;s because their masts swivel or turn 90 degrees to retrieve pallets from racking.
Because the mast itself moves, the body of the forklift doesn&#;t have to.
And that&#;s why these lift trucks are adept at working in very narrow aisles with only 5- to 6-feet of aisle width.
Order pickers aren&#;t typically used to retrieve pallets from racking.
Instead, they&#;re designed for manual picking.
That is, the operator uses the machine to travel both horizontally and vertically along aisles.
Then, they manually pick or place materials from or into the racking from a pallet located on the forks.
And because these trucks don&#;t retrieve pallets from racking, they don&#;t require much space for turning.
So, they can work well in very narrow warehouse aisles at 4- to 5-feet wide.
How to Calculate Minimum Aisle Widths
Now that you know the aisle widths available to you and the types of trucks that work in them, you might be wondering how wide should your warehouse aisles be.
We&#;ll answer that in this section.
As you might expect, we&#;ll need to use a little bit of math to determine how wide do forklift aisles need to be.
But don&#;t worry &#; it&#;s pretty simple.
Here&#;s the formula to calculate your minimum forklift aisle width:
Right angle stack + Load length + Clearance
Not sure what each of these terms means?
Let&#;s go through them.
Imagine you&#;re driving a forklift down an aisle of warehouse racking.
You have a pallet in the racking on one side that you have to retrieve.
How do you do that?
Of course, you turn at a right angle, place your forks under the pallet, lift it up, back out, and return to your original orientation.
Now, the amount of space you need to perform all those actions is called the &#;right angle stack.&#;
To put it simply, the right angle stack of a forklift is the minimum amount of space required for the forklift to retrieve a pallet from storage without hitting anything.
Now, where can you find the right angle stack of your forklift (or a new forklift you&#;re thinking of getting)?
Often, you can find it simply by googling.
For example, if we google &#;CLARK S25 right angle stack,&#; we find it listed on the official CLARK website:
But the best way to find it is simply by contacting your local dealership and asking.
They&#;ll have the most accurate and up-to-date information.
This is a pretty simple one.
The load length is the length of the pallet you&#;re handling.
Most pallets are 48-inches long.
However, some industries use 36-inch, 40-inch, or 42-inch pallets.
So you&#;ll want to take a tape measure to your pallets if you&#;re not sure what length they are.
In addition, you&#;ll need to make sure to take into account any overhang.
For example, let&#;s say you handle oversized loads on a 48-inch pallet, where the load hangs over by 4-inches.
You&#;ll need to add 4-inches to your 48-inch pallet, for a total load length of 52-inches.
It doesn&#;t matter how precisely you calculate your minimum forklift aisle width if you don&#;t allow some extra forklift clearance as a safeguard.
How much extra clearance?
The suggested rule of thumb for forklift clearance dimensions is at least one foot (12-inches).
By giving yourself this extra cushion, you can sidestep a lot of space issues when calculating your aisle widths.
Now that you know what each of the components of the aisle width formula is, let&#;s go through an example calculation.
First, let&#;s assume that we&#;re using a Toyota 5,000 lb. cushion forklift (model 8FGCU25) in our example warehouse.
Second, let&#;s say we&#;ve contacted our local Toyota dealership and confirmed that the right angle stack for this lift truck is 94.3 inches.
Third, let&#;s say that we&#;re handling 48-inch long pallets with no overhang.
And finally, recall that we&#;ll add 12-inches of clearance as a &#;cushion&#; to ensure we have enough space.
Let&#;s put it all together:
94.3 inches (right angle stack) + 48 inches (load length) + 12 inches (clearance) = 154.3 inches
That equates to a 12.9-foot aisle width.
And that&#;s all there is to calculating your minimum aisle widths!
ConclusionThere you have it: Everything you need to know about forklift aisle widths.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website compostable spoon china.