Systematic solution for maintaining electric forklifts to extend their service life

1、 Core maintenance standards and cycles

1.1 Daily inspection (every 8 hours/after a single shift)

Battery system:

Lead acid batteries: Check the electrolyte level (10-15mm above the electrode plate), clean the surface acid, and ensure that the wiring terminals are not corroded or loose.

Lithium battery: Check the status indicator light and avoid storing in high/low temperature environments.

Tires and chains:

Inflatable tires: with a pressure of 0.7-0.8MPa (according to ISO 6055 standard).

Solid tire: Check if the crack depth exceeds 2mm.

Forklift chain: lubricated and free from deformation or breakage, with a chain tightness sag not exceeding 20mm.

Hydraulic system:

Observe whether there are oil stains on the door frame and oil cylinder. If the oil level is below the scale line, it should be replenished immediately.

If the hydraulic oil temperature exceeds 70 ℃, check the cooler.

Braking system:

Brake pads with a thickness less than 5mm need to be replaced, and brake fluid with a water content exceeding 3% should be drained (according to GB/T 18849 standard).

Electrical Circuit:

Use a multimeter to measure the insulation resistance of the motor (≥ 1M Ω) and clean the controller's cooling fan.

Lubricating components:

Add lubricating grease to chains, bearings, etc. (recommended NLGI grade 2), and apply lithium based grease to the gantry track.

1.2 Regular maintenance

First level maintenance (250 hours):

Inspect the fasteners of the entire vehicle, with a focus on checking whether the wheel axle, transmission shaft, and axle bolts are loose.

Hydraulic system leakage detection, inspection of door frame clearance and chain tension.

Check the specific gravity of the battery electrolyte and whether there is any looseness in the electronic control connector.

Replace the transmission oil and replenish the electrolyte density of the battery.

Secondary maintenance (1000 hours):

Replace the hydraulic oil filter element and conduct a comprehensive inspection of the steering system.

Insulation test of circuit system, inspection of gearbox gear oil status.

Clean the cooling fan and ventilation duct to prevent overheating.

Annual maintenance:

Entrust professional personnel to test the motor performance and electrical control system parameters.

Replace the hydraulic oil filter element and air filter, and check the sealing of the hydraulic pump.

Conduct load testing on the entire vehicle to verify the load-bearing stability of the door frame.

2、 Key component maintenance details

2.1 Battery System

Lead acid battery:

Avoid excessive discharge (charge when there is 20% remaining power), and if it is not used for a long time, it needs to be recharged monthly.

Perform balanced charging once a month and deep discharge testing once a year (capacity ≥ 85% of rated value).

Lithium battery:

Configure BMS system to achieve SOC accuracy error ≤ 5%.

The charging area is equipped with dedicated fire blankets, gas fire extinguishing systems, and specialized training on lithium battery fire disposal.

2.2 Hydraulic system

Hydraulic oil should be replaced every 500 hours (ISO VG32 or 46 anti-wear hydraulic oil is recommended), and the filter element should be cleaned during replacement.

The oil level should be between the pre-set minimum and maximum marks on the oil gauge.

The guide rails of the gantry are lubricated weekly, and the steering bearings are lubricated monthly.

The lifting speed is ≥ 0.5m/s, and the settlement of the gantry is ≤ 0.3% of the full stroke.

2.3 Electrical System

Clean the controller heat sink monthly, check the insulation layer of the circuit, and focus on waterproof protection of the connectors.

The motor carbon brush should be checked and replaced every 2000 hours, and the wear of the carbon brush should not exceed one-third of its original length.

Keep the charger ventilated and regularly remove dust.

2.4 Mechanical components

Tire wear and pressure inspection (solid tire pressure maintained at 5-7kg/cm ²), tire crack depth exceeding 2mm needs to be replaced.

The fork has no cracks or deformations, the lifting/tilting action of the gantry is smooth without any abnormal noise, and the hydraulic cylinder has no oil leakage.

Sensitivity inspection of braking system, measurement of brake pad thickness, inspection of brake fluid level and quality.

3、 Special Environment and Operating Standards

3.1 Environmental Control

Warehouse environment:

Relative humidity ≤ 75%, install dehumidifier (daily dehumidification capacity ≥ 50L).

The temperature range is 5-40 ℃ to avoid material deformation caused by extreme temperatures.

Work environment:

Channel width ≥ gantry width+1m (for balance weight forklifts), with a reserved turning radius of 1.5 times the length of the vehicle body.

The illumination requirement for the work area is ≥ 300lux.

3.2 Operating Standards

Avoid sudden acceleration/braking, load not exceeding 80% of rated load, and maintain low speed when driving on slopes.

Long term disuse requires disconnecting the negative terminal of the battery, starting it once a month and charging it to 60% capacity to prevent battery vulcanization.

The daily inspection items for operators include dashboard self check, battery confirmation, fork inspection, dynamic testing (no-load braking test, steering force detection, hydraulic lifting speed), etc.

4、 Technological upgrade and intelligent monitoring

4.1 Intelligent monitoring system

Deploy three-axis acceleration sensors (with a range of ± 5g) to monitor the vibration of the gantry, and use an infrared thermal imager (with a resolution of 640 × 480) to detect the temperature field of the motor.

Real time uploading of data to the cloud to generate fault prediction models (accuracy ≥ 90%).

When the hydraulic oil temperature exceeds 70 ℃ or the motor temperature exceeds 120 ℃, an alarm is triggered.

4.2 Modular Maintenance Design

The control system adopts the CAN bus architecture and supports hot swapping to replace faulty modules.

Develop diagnostic software that can read fault codes and modify parameters (such as driving speed).

Hydraulic system design quick change connector, hydraulic pipeline replacement time ≤ 15 minutes.

Integrated filtration cooling device, extending the hydraulic oil replacement cycle to 2000 hours.

5、 Maintain records and archive management

5.1 Establish and maintain archives

Record the results of each inspection and replacement of parts, including information such as date, project, and replacement parts.

Battery charging cycle counting, hydraulic system pressure recording (normal range 12-15MPa).

5.2 Data Analysis and Optimization

Analyze equipment failure trends and optimize maintenance plans by maintaining archives.

Based on data from the intelligent monitoring system, adjust maintenance strategies to reduce failure rates.

The main equipment produced by Hebei Makita: stage electric hoist, electric chian hoist, wire rope electric hoist，Hand chain hoist, lever hoist, pneumatic hoist and other lifting equipment