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Do you have a cushion tired forklift that doesn't get stuck on hard dirt ?

Milacron

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Staff member
Joined
Dec 15, 2000
Location
SC, USA
Mine runs surprisingly well on packed dirt....at least without a load.... which is generally a moot point as I have mostly pavement... but I want to sell the truck and wondering if that aspect might be a "selling point" for someone that normally would be dead set on buying a pneumatic tired lift truck ?
 
Just emphasize how good a job this machine did on packed dirt, even better if you can supply a picture of it working as such.

OTOH, I did have to get a rough-country (fat tire) forklift in to replace the hard tire version I rented when I brought in my Bridgeport-Romi lathe. Fortunately they had one available. This was on packed dirt, but perhaps not packed enough...
 
You usually have paved/concrete though correct? I know you've owned many lifts, but maybe not used many in dirt and gravel right?

Cushion tire lift works on packed gravel, dirt, grass, whatever, until a point where it goes down hill quick. Usually easier to get stuck when NOT carrying a load as the counterweight steer tires sink in.

I believe it's a big gray area and pneumatic tires generally deserve a premium as they are more versatile. Pneumatic tire really has a significant advantage in less than ideal surfaces. I find that when I start getting on the verge of getting stuck in soft gravel or mucky dirt/grass I can tell and with careful driving I can get out of it. Last winter I had a pair of 60 foot long 8" x 40" glulam beams in my field behind my shop. My excavator wouldn't lift them so I figured I'd give my Komatsu a try and I made it out there with foot to the floor, but figured I'd need to use the excavator to pull it back out. Nope. Lifted both beams and was able to back out of the muddy field with a few tons on the forks.

I have had cushion tire lifts with smooth tread and some with luggy tread tires. When I advertised the luggy tread ones I always put "aggressive tread cushion tires" in the ads. Not sure it made any difference in the sale though.
 
I forgot to include a photo.... note the "thicker" than normal cushion tires, with deep tread on the front...iu-2.jpg
 
Angry tread! Furious tread! Tread that will kill, skin, and eat you if you turn your back on it!!

I can see the posters now for the movie version of "The Shining 2: Deadly Forklifts".

Opening the can of worms........ :eek: :D

IME tread has less to do with off-the-concrete performance than some other factors such as front axle type (completely rigid is bad), tire hardness, etc.

I've seen treaded tire trucks get stuck in places where a smooth tire drove through just fine. A treaded tire actually has less surface area than a smooth tire. They're really good at throwing gravel, though. ;)

YMMV. :D
 
I've never seen a "non-pneumatic" forklift with "duals"

Might be a market out there for "Add a Dual" kit.
 
...such as front axle type (completely rigid is bad)

I've rented a few telehandlers, but besides that I have never seen a forklift with a front axle that wasn't rigid to the mast. Having a loose grasp of the physics behind how a forklift works I can't quite see how a front axle that wasn't fixed could possibly be a good thing.
 
I can just picture all the black marks on the warehouse floor from the tires scrubbing in the corners.

Naw...the kit is only for people that use their hard tired forklifts outside....
not the local Home Depot.
Beer Distributor yes, HD no.....:D
 
I've never seen a "non-pneumatic" forklift with "duals"

Might be a market out there for "Add a Dual" kit.

Yes, there are dual tired cushion tire forklifts. We have a Cat T120 that has cushion duals. Sadly, it's usually the back tires that sink into the ground.
 
Yes, there are dual tired cushion tire forklifts. We have a Cat T120 that has cushion duals. Sadly, it's usually the back tires that sink into the ground.
My 1963 clark utilitruc has dual front tires, cushion tires.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
Lots of guys have normal shops with crappy outside surfaces, so I think it would be a selling point
[edit] I had a little electric lift get stuck in a previously unnoticed pothole , nuisance
 








 
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