Finally I found a forklift forum

Hey!

I've been searching for a forklift forum for some time now... There is a few out there, but they are close to dead. This looks kinda active, and I love it.

My experience with forklifts are almost a decade driving different brands and models. I understand that my love for forklifts is pretty unique. Most see it as a required evil.

It's nice to have a discussion board like this!

I even made some forklift videos

Hope to see you guys around!

ForkliftGuy

Are those extending forks a European thing or are they found in the US too?

Birken Vogt said:

Are those extending forks a European thing or are they found in the US too?

Click to expand...

I can not answer for the US, since I'm in Norway. These are bad to use on low pallets cause they are so thick, sometimes you just can't get under. And they require a bit more maintenance. I'd rather use normal forks, and put on extensions when needed. Actually in this case, extending forks is an advantage.

Welcome to the Forums Forkliftguy!

Here’s what’s interesting about the first video. You see the truck (we’d call it a semi-truck in USA) is side load. That’s quite rare in the USA because most industrial buildings have loading docks. In Europe (and you can tell in this video), often trucks are loading right in the parking lot sideways. Often this is because of space issues.


In the US, a company like this would have a loading dock the semi-truck would back into, the forklift would be loaded from inside and driven onto the truck bed.


This has caused a few things with respect to development of the forklift.

In Europe, since they load outdoors, most forklifts use pneumatic tires. (Or same tire in a solid version which is called a pneumatic shaped solid). In the USA, because the trucks don’t run indoors, manufacturers developed what’s called a cushion tire. They are tires with rubber moulded around a metal band. Those forklifts have a tighter turning radius and can get into tighter spots than a pneumatic tired forklift can.

You see very few forklifts with cushion tires in Europe. Cushion tires are mostly in USA and this video shows a pretty good reason why.

Link thoughts

Pneumatic tires = https://store.intellaliftparts.com/c/PNEUMATIC-TIRES.html

Forklift tires = https://store.intellaliftparts.com/c/resource-forklift-tire-types.html

Cushion tires = https://store.intellaliftparts.com/c/PNEUMATIC-TIRES.html

Nice to hear that somebody else is sharing this passion!
Best regards