What Factors Affect a Forklift’s Lifting Capacity?

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As our readers will notice, we got a brand new website this year! We’re grateful for our revamped online presence and the opportunity it gives us to provide better services to our clients. We hope you love the new website as much as we do!

HTX Material Handling wouldn’t exist without a loyal client base. From all of us, thank you for trusting us to provide the best forklifts and service in the business! We plan to continue bringing you the latest and best in the future and we’re committed as an organization to continuous improvement.

Every company should be proud to stand behind their products and services. We certainly are! We’re grateful that we can confidently say our machinery is both dependable and perfectly suited to a variety of work environments. We fully stand behind every forklift.

As the holiday season begins, we hope you can take the time to be with your loved ones and enjoy Thanksgiving. Those of us at HTX Material Handling look forward to helping you make this busy season an enjoyable one!

Linde Financial Services has launched an unprecedented leasing program, providing acquisition options for the Linde Series 1202 which have never been offered on Linde’s flagship hydrostatic drive lift trucks.  For organizations utilizing forklift trucks, previously out-of-reach quality is now highly accessible.  The opportunity is now available to add premium quality lift trucks to your fleet for the price of a lesser competitor.

Linde’s new 1202 Series represents the latest generation of their 100% hydrostatic drive system utilizing hydraulic fluid for truck propulsion in lieu of a mechanical powertrain.  This technology provides the most efficient truck, including automatic acceleration and deceleration, with NO brake wear and enhanced tire longevity. Directional changes can be made at ANY speed with no damage to the drive system. These advancements, along with optimized energy consumption, increased handling capacity, and a virtually maintenance-free engine, create the most cost- efficient and productive truck in the industry worldwide.

For many organizations, justifying the acquisition of a truck with such advanced features would have not made economic sense in the recent past. However, the future has now arrived with affordability never before seen from the world’s premier lift truck manufacturer.

The Linde Series 1202 is now an affordable alternative in your supply chain calculations. 

It provides extreme versatility and superior functionality in the following applications:

You now have the ability to be in the driver’s seat with affordable options for your operation.

With the new 1202 Series Leasing Program, there are little to no upfront costs, with the lowest monthly rates available, allowing your increase in productivity to positively flow directly to EBIT.  Additionally, adding significantly reduced fuel spend to the equation, the economics of the Linde 1202 Series are unmatched by any traditional tier one lift truck supplier.

Let’s take a look at how leasing vs. owning offers the better solution to get the trucks you want at the price you need.

Any business regularly engaging palletized material needs a reliable forklift to keep things moving. But as anyone familiar with mechanical technology will admit, not every forklift is capable of the work your operation may require. Certain models are better suited to different environments or jobs than others. Is your current forklift model the right one for the job?

Finding the best forklift for any given job requires taking several factors into account: 1) what powers the machine, 2) how much weight it can lift, 3) what amount of space does it require to safely operate, and the list goes on. Every make and model touts features & benefits to a degree, but before you settle on any one in particular, make sure you understand the best way to meet the unique requirements of your application.

[bctt tweet=”Not all forklifts are created equal. Is your current model best suited for your work environment? Find out here. #HTXMaterialHandling” via=”no”]

How can you best determine the right forklift model for your application? For starters, consider the environment in which you work. A recycling center may want to promote an environmentally friendly focus and consider opting for an electric forklift as opposed to an internal combustion chassis. Alternatively, a warehouse that regularly hauls in freight from outdoors may choose a forklift better suited to outdoor environments and potentially inclement weather. What conditions will your forklift be exposed to?

Second, take a look around your yard or warehouse space. How high are the beam levels in your storage racking? How wide are the aisles? How heavy is the average load, and how far will drivers have to move it? Certain forklift models are designed to reach impressive heights or handle bulkier loads than others. Other models are better suited to outdoor applications with lots of room to maneuver, as opposed to lower capacity forklifts specifically designed to fit down narrow aisles.

Third, consider what type of fuel you can provide. Electric forklifts offer comparable capacities, speeds, and gradeabilities to their LPG & Diesel counterparts. The biggest factor is convenience. Do you have the necessary electrical supply that can support an appropriate charging station? If not, are you able to bring it in or would the infrastructure upgrades be too costly? We can model different scenarios for you and help you arrive at the most intelligent decision.

Forklifts are generally designed with specific work conditions and capacities in mind, and altering the machines is not recommended or, in some cases, not allowed. However, an excellent way to maximize the utility of your forklift is through the use of attachments. These specialized components can extend a machine’s reach, shift a load from side to side, rotate it, dump it, squeeze it, pull it or push it. One potential drawback is the added weight these attachments remove from the overall capacity of your lift.

Be sure you have an engineer accurately calculate the appropriate net capacity with the chosen attachment installed and adhere to all OSHA requirements for the notification of net capacities visible to the operator.

No matter the industry, business owners across the nation continually look for ways to reduce their environmental impact. For many, this is easier said than done. But as you look for ways to recycle your trash or keep your energy usage minimal, don’t forget about the vehicles used in your warehouse. Even the forklifts you use make more of a difference than you might think.

Every organization with material handling as a component of their operation should try to have as little of an environmental impact as possible. Aside from obvious changes like minimizing waste and using less energy, why not try switching to ‘greener’ forklifts too? The Linde EVO Series Forklifts are specially designed to reduce your fuel consumption, maintenance requirements, emission levels, and more! Let’s take a closer look at some of the features that make this model such an excellent choice:

1. Maintenance-Free Braking System
2. Drastically Reduced Fuel Consumption
3. Significantly Lower Emission Levels
4. Longer-Lasting Tires
5. Fewer Maintenance Requirements

Linde forklifts include a specially designed braking system that doesn’t rely on generating friction through conventional mechanical brakes. The system is completely maintenance-free, allowing you to spend your time on more important warehouse tasks.

Pro Tip: The Linde forklifts’ maintenance-free brake system also means no brake dust for employees to accidentally breathe in! This potentially dangerous substance can be avoided altogether.

Remarkably, Linde’s Hydrostatic Drive forklifts allow for the majority of material handling tasks to be performed quickly and efficiently with the engine at idle speed. Consequently, this benefit, combined with removing the accelerator and replacing it with load-sensing hydraulics, yields a 40-50% reduction in fuel consumption! Start adding that up and you’ll immediately realize why Linde owns the title of “Earth’s Greenest Forklift”.

While Linde forklifts do still produce emissions, we’ve engineered them to keep those emission levels as low as possible. In fact, the total emissions produced by an individual internal combustion Linde lift truck are less than half of the amount allowed by EPA standards. Proper ventilation ensures no buildup of toxic gases in your warehouse. With the right safety practices, you’ll never have to worry about emissions causing issues for the health of your employees.

Any vehicle, whether a heavy-duty highway truck or simple warehouse forklift, is rendered useless without proper tires. Fortunately, with the Linde Hydrostatic Drive System not allowing over exuberant operators to ‘spin’ the drive tires, we routinely see tire longevity of 3X better than our would-be competitors. With proper care, you’ll realize this same benefit. Consequently, you’ll also spend significantly less time and money replacing worn tires.

With an already maintenance-free brake and drive system, along with reduced wear and tear on tires, a Linde hydrostatic-drive forklift requires significantly less attention than a conventional model with an automotive-style mechanical transmission. The exact amount of reduction you’ll see depends on your usage and the operating conditions. However, following Linde’s fluid recommendations, engine service intervals are every 1000 hours, hydraulic fluid only needs to be changed every 6000 hours, and you NEVER have to worry about changing transmission fluid, brake fluid, or gear oil…there isn’t any!

Linde Material Handling’s Lift Truck product range is designed to keep your operation as environmentally clean as possible, while also saving you significant cost and time spent on maintenance. Your employees will enjoy the most spacious and comfortable operator compartment in the world, and, best of all, you won’t have to sacrifice functionality or power to enjoy these benefits! A Linde forklift is the perfect choice for any organization focusing on becoming more earth-friendly.

Get in touch with us to learn more about Linde forklifts.

Are you considering electric forklifts for your business? Electric models can offer numerous advantages over their internal combustion cousins. Making a switch to electric forklifts will often yield a much better return on your investment.

Unlike other forklifts, these models are driven by electric motors rather than an engine. Many benefits begin to appear as a result, including improved efficiency, lower operating costs, lower maintenance costs, and a near-zero impact on the environment. Let’s take a closer look at why electric forklifts may be the better choice for your operation.

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Since electric forklifts don’t use internal combustion engines, they do not emit harmful greenhouse gases, that also pose risks in enclosed spaces. This also reduces your workplace’s impact on the environment. Sealed AC Electric motors, powered by a battery, provide a safe, clean source of power, with ZERO emissions.

A forklift’s efficiency and performance matter a lot no matter what the application. An electric forklift works more efficiently than its IC counterpart. Linde Electric models using 80-volt technology and high-frequency charging systems, provide speed, gradeability, and overall performance which is often superior to forklifts running on conventional fossil fuels. Better yet, a fully charged forklift battery with this technology can last 12 – 14 hours on a single charge, or 24 hours utilizing ‘opportunity charging’, thus eliminating the need for multiple batteries or battery change-outs.

Pro Tip: Whether you need a heavy-duty outdoor forklift or a vehicle small enough to fit in narrow aisles, we can help you find a Linde electric model that meets your needs perfectly.

Although you’ll pay more upfront when investing in electric forklifts, they’ll help you save money on operating and maintenance costs immediately. Battery-powered lift trucks have relatively few parts, and what they do have requires less attention than what you are likely accustomed to.

When choosing a lift truck, having sufficient lifting capacity to safely handle your heaviest load should be one of the first and most important factors in making your choice. Today’s forklifts have capacity ranges from 2,500 to 110,000 lbs. based on chassis design, but this is far from the only influencing factor.

When investing in a forklift, you should consider where you’ll use it and the type of load it will handle. However, variables like the center of gravity, special attachments, weight distribution, and tire types can also affect a forklift’s lifting capacity. Let’s take a closer look at what affects your vehicle’s potential load.

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Forklifts have an invisible balancing envelope called a stability triangle, or more accurately, a stability ‘pyramid’, which becomes critically important when carrying and raising a load. The center of gravity always lies within the pyramid when the forklift is at rest, but invisibly shifts when the truck moves or lifts a load. A load’s width, length, height, and weight distribution can also shift the center of gravity and affect how much net capacity your forklift is capable of. Unsurprisingly, an unstable center of gravity makes your forklift vulnerable to tipping over and drastically reduces its lifting capacity. If the center of gravity ever moves outside of the stability pyramid, a tip-over is imminent.

Many users often add special attachments to forklifts to suit their operational needs. While this additional equipment can be quite helpful, remember that every attachment decreases your capacity and potentially shifts the center of gravity as well. Attachment weight counts toward your forklift’s total load capacity and may mean you’ll have to stick to smaller loads or increase the base capacity of your truck.

Pro Tip: Locate the data plate on your forklift’s attachment to determine its correct lifting capacity. With this data, you can safely calculate your forklift’s net capacity.

A forklift’s tire type, size, and tread width can also influence the truck’s lifting capacity. Cushion and pneumatic tires (solid or air-filled) have different load limits. Forklifts with cushion tires tend to have better capacity retention than those with pneumatic tires, but are also limited in where they can travel. Generally speaking, improved surfaces only.

Forklifts with dual tire configurations usually have higher lifting capacities than trucks with single tire configurations. Similarly, tires with wider treads tend to increase the forklift’s overall weight capacity because such tires create a broader stance to improve the truck’s stability pyramid. Which tires work better for your application?