Lift trucks are utilized within manufacturing, warehousing, construction, mining and material handling applications to lift, engage and transport palletized loads. Forklifts have 3 basic types: a manual drive, motorized drive and fork truck. The load movement or travel is powered manually or by walking at the rear of the equipment with manual-drive forklifts.
The motorized forklift models come equipped with a motorized drive and in a lot of cases have a seat or protected cab in their design to keep the operator safe and comfortable. Fork trucks are another kind that are motorized and consist of features such as cabs and backup alarms. In order to prevent the machinery from overturning, several forklifts are counterbalanced. Other types of forklifts include safety rails, a rotating element like a turntable or different types of hand rails.
Essential specifications to take into account when selecting forklifts include lift capacity and stroke. Stroke is defined as the difference between the fully-raised and the fully-lowered lift positions. Lift capacity is the supportable, maximum load or forcforce or load. Other specifications for forklifts consist of their type of fuel and tire.
Forklifts comprise various fuel options such as: LP or liquid propane, CNG or compressed natural gas, diesel fuel, propane, gasoline and natural gas. There are 2 basic types of tires for operating fork trucks and forklifts: solid and pneumatic. Solid or cushion tires require less maintenance than pneumatic tires and do not puncture. The solid or cushion tires do provide less shock absorption in general. Pneumatic or air-inflated tires on the other hand provide great load-cushioning and drive traction.
For forklifts, there are 7 classes. Class 1 forklifts include electric-motor rider trucks, stand-up or seated 3 wheeled units. Usually, rider units are counterbalanced and could have either cushion or pneumatic wheels. Class II forklifts are electric motor units that are used for order picking or stock applications in narrow aisle environments. These types of forklifts provide extra swing mast or reach functions.
Class III forklifts are either standing-rider or walk-behind operated electric-motor trucks. High lift models and automated pallet lift trucks are often counterbalanced units. Class IV lift trucks have seated controls and cabs. These types of forklifts are rider fork trucks with internal combustion or IC engines. Moreover, this class uses solid or cushion tires.
Class V forklifts are rider fork trucks. They have seated controls and cabs, pneumatic tires and IC or internal combustion engines. Similar to Class IV forklifts, they are normally counterbalanced. Class VI forklifts are tow tractor lifts that are designed for a sit-down rider. This particular class is supplied with electric or IC or internal combustion engines.
Lastly, Class VII forklifts are the ideal option for use on rough terrain areas. They are a common feature in agricultural, construction and logging applications. Class VII forklifts include all personnel carriers and burden carriers.