When a forklift or smaller vehicle requires lifting for service and maintenance, there are a number of considerations to optimise the safety and productivity of the lifting job, says Pronal pneumatic lifting cushion Australian supplier Air Springs Supply.
The tens of thousands of forklifts operating in Australia have become even more critical to moving goods in recent years, so maintaining them quickly, safely, and efficiently has become ever more important to optimising uptime.
The growing e-commerce business in both countries has triggered the need for large warehouse spaces and faster logistic services, including mega e-fulfillment centres, parcel hubs and delivery centres, which augment the demand for forklift trucks in these facilities.
And as supply chains are restored after Covid, there is continuing strong demand for these ubiquitous and versatile workhorses in traditional markets, including food and beverage, retailing, recycling, agricultural and bulk handling depots, ports, warehouses, logistics centres, construction sites, and rental fleet managers.
Lifting cushions can be ideal for forklift maintenance because they are compact, light, and fast, minimising downtime. They can tolerate eccentric loads, such as those imposed by typical diesel, electric and gas forklifts, which have more weight at one end.
Plus, an air cushion jack takes up little space deflated around the truck loading depot, warehouse, or distribution centre. Depending on the dimensions chosen, the cushion and its accessories (control box, power line, and/or handling plate) can be easily stored in a bag.
Air Springs Supply product manager James Maslin said the entire weight of the load to be lifted is a first consideration.
“Plus, it is essential to identify the distribution of mass in order to lift a load safely. This criterion will make it possible to define the cushion, which will be powerful enough to lift the load but also its lifting location. If the load is heavier in a certain place, the cushion will have to be positioned in such a way as to avoid any tipping and to lift correctly,” said Maslin.
An example of a lighter uneven lift is provided by a forklift weighing between weighing between 4 and 5 T. The most important mass is located at the rear of the vehicle with the engine and the counterweight. From this information, we can conclude that you don’t need a heavy-duty cushion if you want to raise the front. On the other hand, if it is a question of lifting the sides or the rear of the truck, you will need an airbag jack with a larger capacity and to position it in line with the distribution of the load.
To choose the best-suited lifting cushion, it’s important to know the lift height required for maintenance. Depending on the existing standard dimensions, the lifting stroke differs. The greater the lifting capacity of the cushion, the greater the lifting height. Sometimes, one is enough to give you the space you need to work, but if you want to increase the lift height there are other possibilities.
First, add one or more lifting plates (or wedges) to save centimetres.
“The number of plates varies depending on the capacity of the used cushion.
“For example, if you want to fill 600mm, you can use a Pronal CLT 65 cushion and add a plate. But you can also take a CLT 43 cushion and add 2 plates or a CLT 24 with 4 lifting plates, and so on. (CLT capacities are stated in tons – eg, CLT 65 is a 65-ton lifter, 43 is 43 tons, 24 is 24 tons, and so on),” said Maslin.
Second, take advantage of the fact that the CLTs can be stacked in pairs to widen the spacing between the ground and the load.
Combinations of bags and shims can be used for greater flexibility, as above, combining CLT lifting bags and shims.
Features of Pronal lifting cushions include:
- Pressing, clamping, tilting, and guiding strokes from 70-585smm (CLP), with longer strokes provided by combinations of cushions, in addition to standard sizes, specific sizes and shapes can be made to order to suit particular applications;
- ease of use, with inflation either by compressor or simple air cylinders, inflation pressures up to eight bar, regardless of stroke (CLP models – CPB pressures vary from under one bar, depending on model);
- construction from threaded layers coated with chemical resistant elastomer, hot vulcanised under pressure in one operation;
- non-slip surface providing maximum friction when stacking two cushions; and
- control systems tailored to particular uses.
Pronal equipment can be supplied with trailers, lifting bases and control systems developed to the demanding standards of Pronal's world-wide customer base.
