I recently received a forklift for a customer whereby the attachment manufacturer has welded front plates on the fron face of the forks.My concern is that there is welding horizontally 2 inches on the inside of the fork heel.Is there any legislation or writing that I can get on this.I am convinced that welding close to the inside raduis of any fork should result in a catastrophical failure.Your opinions please
follow up.-Hallo All.Thanks for your valued replys.The legislation in Mozambique is non existent till somebody gets hurt,then burocracy takes over and you will be nailed for everything you have.To give you guys more detail on the circuimstances of the machines above.The forklift Brand is a Linde 14ton unit supplied by Linde heavy truck division.The attachment supplier is Micron engineering which is also the official representitive of Auramo attachments in Southern Africa.In the meantime all the forks have started to crack at exactly the welding on each fork.The best part is that Auramo are refusing any responsibility for this because in their opinion Linde have accepted the machine after the attachment was fitted.In my opinion if you are a well known supplier like Auramo it would not be strange for a dealer to accept the machine as Auramo is the manufacturer of the attachment and probably would have fitted the attachment as per legal requiremnts which they obviously didnt.Auramo SA now claims that their warranty excludes them from consequential loss.I myself cannot believe these guys attitude toward obviously something that they have done wrong.I will try and post a picture of the weld
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Hallo All.Thanks for your valued replys.The legislation in Mozambique is non existent till somebody gets hurt,then burocracy takes over and you will be nailed for everything you have.To give you guys more detail on the circuimstances of the machines above.The forklift Brand is a Linde 14ton unit supplied by Linde heavy truck division.The attachment supplier is Micron engineering which is also the official representitive of Auramo attachments in Southern Africa.In the meantime all the forks have started to crack at exactly the welding on each fork.The best part is that Auramo are refusing any responsibility for this because in their opinion Linde have accepted the machine after the attachment was fitted.In my opinion if you are a well known supplier like Auramo it would not be strange for a dealer to accept the machine as Auramo is the manufacturer of the attachment and probably would have fitted the attachment as per legal requiremnts which they obviously didnt.Auramo SA now claims that their warranty excludes them from consequential loss.I myself cannot believe these guys attitude toward obviously something that they have done wrong.I will try and post a picture of the weld
Can't disagree with any thing you state for units used in the USA & probably Canada. But the guy that posted the question is from Mozambique and their standards maybe, I'm 99.99999% certain they are) different. They may jsut adopt EU standards - often Canada rubber stamps US standards adn add a few extras of their own. For example, in the developed country of Japan, a UL Underwiters lable means nothing (they have their own standards) unless they import units into a country that recognizes the UL rating label (like the US in the NFPA 505, probably part of the OSHA or SAE standards now). In most cases they have to change the truck wire guage, starter, alternator and exhaust muffler and be tested by UL as a side note thedomestic Japanese forklift LBRE (load back rest extension) are not compliant to US standards either (wider than 6" between vertical members).
Certanly , JIVA, EU, ITA are working closer together to have a common standard but each country has special reasons - in the US we simply have too many "Phildephia Lawyers".
Can't disagree with any thing you state for units used in the USA & probably Canada. But the guy that posted the question is from Mozambique and their standards maybe, I'm 99.99999% certain they are) different. They may jsut adopt EU standards - often Canada rubber stamps US standards adn add a few extras of their own. For example, in the developed country of Japan, a UL Underwiters lable means nothing (they have their own standards) unless they import units into a country that recognizes the UL rating label (like the US in the NFPA 505, probably part of the OSHA or SAE standards now). In most cases they have to change the truck wire guage, starter, alternator and exhaust muffler and be tested by UL as a side note thedomestic Japanese forklift LBRE (load back rest extension) are not compliant to US standards either (wider than 6" between vertical members).
Certanly , JIVA, EU, ITA are working closer together to have a common standard but each country has special reasons - in the US we simply have too many "Phildephia Lawyers".
generally the basic rule about forks is NO alterations period.
BUT if the manufacturer did this then it would have been approved by ansi and any other organization that enforces the standards on these things.
also fork heels? wear plates? NOPE not legal on any that i've ever seen.
any alterations made by any party other than the manufacturer are illegal and should not be allowed and any found should be taken out of service immediately.
If you want some good information about forks and inspections go here. Remove the spaces i added and follow the url. or just go to cascades website and search for fork inspections, or just google it.
h t t p s://w w w.cascorp.com/web2/home.nsf/links/americas-en-forkinspection
Don't think any fork or lift truck manufactuer would approve of this modification and if they don't then the regulation probably says something to teh affect "it ain't approved, by the manufactuer,in writing, don't do it".
But with this type of modifcation, when an accident happens help keep our "ambulance chasing" lawyers & expert witnesses - happy, happy, happy & gamefully employed in the USA.
You might want to check what your own country & the manufactuer of the lift truck brand(s) says about this - 'casue what we do here or in other countries - may or may not apply to your situation.
Here's a question then.
What's the stance on wear plates welded to the bottom of fork's at the heel?
The attachment with these on was fitted by the forklift manufacturer as the truck was delivered brand new with the attachment already fitted & corresponding data plate mounted to truck.
I agree with Karait- As far as I know- welding on forks is prohibited from any governing agency.
I would immediately remove the machine from service to mount the attachment correctly.
Well, I am not sure, what is the forklift legislation in Mozambique, but all European standards and regulations I know, proscribe to intervene in forks structure (the forks usually are after surface hardening), and limit the wear to 10%. So every "modernisation" of the forks must be confirmed by laboratory testing in accordance to Machinery Directive and properly certified.
I don't remeber exactly, but one of EN 1757 standards, and ISO 3691 include these erquirements.
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