Forklift Maintenance: A Complete Guide to Maintaining a Forklift

Forklifts are a crucial piece of machinery in the construction industry due to their exceptional maneuverability and power when navigating materials in small and complex areas. Being a machine that is frequently used, regular forklift maintenance is a necessity to ensure the longevity and continued performance of your machine. Proper and extended maintenance allows for safety and up time benefits, while reducing downtime and increasing the life of your machine.

Allow us to share a guide on how to maintain your forklift:

While the majority of the below should be done during daily pre-start checks, it is also good practice to engage in 3rd party regular maintenance inspections to ensure machine safety and longevity.

1. Keeping your forklift spick and span
   Cleaning and keeping your machine up to date is the perfect way to ensure longevity. Removing dust, grime, and rust from the surface of your machine enables you to see your machine properly. This is important as mechanical problems with your machine can be disguised and hidden by dust, grime, and dirt.
2. Checking fluids
   Regularly checking fluid levels, including engine oil, hydraulic fluid, coolant, and battery water, is a crucial step to maintain your forklift. Fluids can leak, dry up, evaporate, or lose their viscosity, which can affect the overall performance and longevity of your machine.
3. Tire, brakes, and steering inspection
   Look for signs of wear and tear, cuts, and deformity in order to ensure that your tires are safe. It is also important to test if the forklift’s steering and brakes are responsive and smooth, allowing for safe and effective operation.
4. Lights and alarms
   You should make sure all the lights, alarms, and safety equipment are functioning properly and efficiently on your forklift. This includes checking the horn, back-up alarm, seatbelt alarm and any warning lights to make sure they are working as they should.
5. Load testing
   Never try to lift an object beyond the rated safe work limit of your equipment. However, load testing by a suitably qualified person can allow you to understand the lifting capacity of your forklift. Regularly testing this before usage can ensure that you are safe and that you can efficiently carry your intended load.

Forklift maintenance service is key to ensuring the continued reliability and performance of your machine. Depending on the manufacturer’s recommendations, number of hours used, condition and environment, you can improve safety, and extend the lifespan of your forklift, by regularly performing pre-start checks on your machine and maintaining service checks.

When having an expert undertake your equipment inspection and servicing you should consider:

• Quarterly maintenance (every 3 months)
• Annual maintenance (once a year)

SuperService™ takes your service needs seriously. For more information or a customised quote, please visit our ‘contact us’ page.

Interested in learning more about EWPs? Check out 6 Signs Your EWP Needs Repairs