Fluids and filters
Engine oil, hydraulic fluid, transmission fluid, coolant, and the filters that go with them. Fluid that comes out dark, gritty, or smelling burnt says more about the machine than any gauge on the dash.
Planned Maintenance
Forklift Maintenance and Inspections
Planned service on your manufacturer schedule, plus the inspections the law and your insurer expect. We bring the service to the machine anywhere in the Pee Dee and along the Grand Strand.
Mobile service out of Pamplico, SC · We come to the forklift.
Why It Pays
Most forklift breakdowns give you warning first.
A forklift that gets serviced on schedule tends to fail in the shop, on a day you picked, instead of in the middle of a shift with a loaded pallet in the air. Fluid samples, hose condition, chain stretch, and brake wear all move slowly enough that a tech sees them coming.
Planned maintenance is set by your manufacturer, and the interval is measured on the hour meter rather than the calendar. A machine running two shifts hits its service point in half the time a machine running a few hours a week does. If nobody is reading the hour meter, the schedule is guesswork.
We come to the machine, do the service where it sits, and tell you what we found. If something is worn but not yet failed, you hear about it while you still have the choice of when to fix it.
On A Service Visit
What a planned service covers.
The exact list comes from your manufacturer schedule and the hours on the machine. These are the areas a service visit works through.
Hydraulic system
Hoses checked for cracking, chafing, and weeping at the fittings. Cylinders checked for drift and for seal weep. A hose that is cracking on the outside is telling you what the inside looks like.
Mast, chains and forks
Chain stretch measured rather than eyeballed, rollers and channels checked for wear, and the forks checked at the heel where they thin out. Worn chains and thin forks are the two items most often missed.
Brakes and steering
Pedal travel, brake wear, parking brake hold, steer axle play, and tire condition. On a machine that spends its life on a dock plate, brakes matter more than most owners think.
Battery or fuel system
On electric machines, cells, cables, connectors, and charge behavior. On LP and diesel, the regulator, lines, fittings, and how the engine actually runs under load.
Safety devices
Horn, lights, backup alarm, seat belt, seat switch, overhead guard, load backrest, and data plate legibility. These are the items an inspector looks at first and the ones that get ignored the longest.
What OSHA actually requires
OSHA requires that a powered industrial truck be examined at least daily before it is placed in service, and after each shift when the truck runs around the clock. That examination is on the employer, and it is usually the operator who performs it. A truck found in a condition that affects safe operation is supposed to be taken out of service until it is fixed.
OSHA also requires that repairs and maintenance be done by qualified personnel, and that operators be trained and evaluated. The daily check is not a substitute for service, and service is not a substitute for the daily check. They cover different things.
What OSHA does not do is set an annual inspection requirement. That expectation comes from the industry standard and from manufacturers and insurers, and plenty of operations follow it. Anyone telling you the federal rule mandates an annual inspection is repeating something they read somewhere.
The daily check, and why it gets skipped
A proper pre shift check takes a few minutes: fluid levels, tires, forks and chains, hydraulic leaks under the machine, horn, lights, brakes, steering, seat belt, and the data plate. It gets skipped because it is boring and because nothing has gone wrong yet.
The value of it is that it catches the fast movers. A chain that jumped a link, a fork with a fresh crack at the heel, a hydraulic puddle that was not there yesterday. Those are the failures that hurt somebody, and they are the ones a scheduled service visit will not catch because it only comes around every few hundred hours.
What we leave you with
After a service visit you get a plain account of what was done, what was found, and what is worth watching. No codes to decipher and no upsell list dressed up as a safety warning.
If something needs to come off the machine and go on a bench, we say so. If something can safely run another few hundred hours and be dealt with at the next service, we say that too, and you decide.
Before The First Visit
What helps us set the schedule right.
The hour meter
The current reading on every machine you want covered. That single number sets the interval and tells us whether the fleet is being worked hard or barely used.
Service history
Whatever records exist, even if they are incomplete. Knowing what was last replaced saves you paying to find out.
How the machine works
Indoors on smooth concrete, outdoors in a yard, or on and off a dock all day. The environment changes the schedule more than the badge on the hood does.
Where We Work
Planned maintenance across the Pee Dee and the Grand Strand.
We are mobile, so the service comes to your yard, dock, or warehouse. Pick your area for local detail.
A Few Straight Answers
Maintenance questions
If you are not sure what your machine is due for, call and we will work it out from the hour meter.
Call 843-920-6959How often should a forklift be serviced?
Your manufacturer sets the interval and it runs on the hour meter, not the calendar. A machine on two shifts reaches its service point far sooner than one that runs a few hours a week. Call with the hour reading and the model and we will tell you where you stand.
Does OSHA require an annual forklift inspection?
No. OSHA requires an examination at least daily before the truck is placed in service, and after each shift on round the clock operations. The annual inspection people talk about comes from the industry standard, manufacturers, and insurers rather than from the federal rule. Many operations still do it, and there are good reasons to.
Can you service a machine we only use occasionally?
Yes. Low hour machines have their own problems: fuel going stale, batteries sulfating, seals drying out, tires flat spotting. A machine that sits is not a machine that stays new.
Do you cover a whole fleet?
Call with how many machines you have, the models, and roughly what hours they run. We will work out what a sensible rotation looks like for your operation.
Do we have to bring the forklift to you?
No. This is mobile service and we come to the machine. That is the whole point of it.
What if you find something serious mid service?
You hear about it straight away, before any further work happens. If the machine is not safe to operate we will tell you plainly, and it is your call what happens next.
Do you take emergency calls after hours?
Yes. Emergency calls are answered 24/7. If a machine is down and holding up work, say so when you call.
Keep It Running
Get on a schedule that matches how the machine is used.
Call with your hour meter reading and the model. We will tell you what it is due for.