Intensive forklift work often results in wear of various components. If this concerns important elements that affect the forklift’s operation, it can lead to breakdowns. One of the parts that forklift users pay less attention to is the forklift axle. Meanwhile, it has a huge impact on the operation of the entire vehicle.

What are the types of forklift axles?

In fact, most forklifts distinguish two types of axles that serve completely different functions. These include:

  • drive axle – located at the front of the vehicle. This is an element mounted to the transmission system or directly to the engine if the forklift has no gearbox. Its task is to stabilize the vehicle’s operation, maintain wheels in optimal position, and enable the forklift to drive forward and backward.
  • steering axle – located at the rear of the forklift, enables direction changes and efficient forklift maneuvering. It is loaded from many sides, must withstand the weight of the vehicle, operator, and load. It is also subjected to constant pressure from the steering system.

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How can you better care for the forklift axle?

The most important factors that affect the forklift axle include driving style and maintaining full stability during work. At the same time, these rules can protect the forklift operator from tipping over and more serious consequences. Therefore, it’s worth following these guidelines:

  • while driving, forklift forks must be located just below the axle, but away from the surface. This advice may seem trivial, but during many lifting and lowering operations, it’s easy to forget about this,
  • before transporting a load, it’s worth lowering it to axle height. This allows for faster movement and easier turning,
  • avoid placing loads on the boom or mounting a rotator. This increases the probability of vehicle tilt and loss of stability while driving,
  • if the load is placed outside the central area of the forks (with oversized loads or non-standard pallets), the difference in tilt can be a maximum of 2%, or 20 mm per 1 meter. It is forbidden to transport loads that are tilted downward.

It’s also worth taking care of issues such as not exceeding maximum lifting capacity and avoiding lifting loads while driving. You should also not transport loads that are distributed unevenly.

What is the stability triangle principle?

To better care for vehicle stability, and thus for the forklift axle, it’s worth remembering the stability triangle principle. It applies to counterbalanced forklifts, in which three points can be distinguished:

  • front left wheel,
  • front right wheel,
  • center of the rear axle.

According to the triangle principle, the forklift’s center of gravity should always be within this triangle. If the forklift is loaded incorrectly and the center of gravity is outside this triangle, the forklift may tip over on the first sharp turn.