Lexan shield for forklift ?

The obvious thought, and the one less likely to damage the truck than dragging a pallet along the deck, is to use a normal pallet jack to bring the pallet to the back of the truck where the forklift can reach it.

Pete C.

Chances are you'll tear the pallet apart if you hit a rough spot on the truck deck or encounter a heavy load. The pallet jack is the way to go. Other than that, a piece of bulltet proof glass and have everyone leave the area. This is not exactly a candidate for a Darwin award, but I wouldn't do it or let anyone who works for me do it.

-M

If I was to have to pull a load out of a truck, and I see it done often I would rather have a mesh guard and not a lexan guard. Lexan in time will become dusty, and get scxratched and obscure vision, where a mesh guard will not. Mesh guards are pretty well standard equipment on machines such as right of way clearing equipment, timber harvesters, etc and your eyes / vision sort of blocks out the mesh pattern and its not a problem seeing through.

I'm not g>>Not having a dock, I usually pull a pallet out of a truck using a chain. I

Yea, I think I'd agree. Polycarb also weakens if subjected to oils, and it's pretty expensive.

On second thought, have you thought about using a nylon sling instead of a chain. I for one dread the thoughts of being anywhere inline with any cable or chain under tension no matter what its rated for and how well kept and unabused that chain / cable may be, and what it may be pulling on.....A sling of nylon would be much safer in all aspects. I seen first hand what a broken chain and cable can do.....and both times it was deadly. One was my first father inlaw, who lost the top of his skull when a chain link brokeand the tension on the cable that was applied to the chain whipped back and literally took his skull off at eye level. Of coarse he was an accident waiting to happen anytime he was awake........He had a boot leg coal hole and used a big old dozer with a winch on it to pull small coal cars back and forth across a stream and up a hillside where he loaded it into a dump truck etc. His winch broke, so he would pivot the dozer on the tracks and wrap the cable up on the dozer itself.....I would have thought the cable would fray and break, but it was a link that broke on the chain that did him in.

Another time I seen folks trying to pull a fully loaded Olds Vista Cruiser out of the sand they got stuck in when they decided to drive on the beach area. They had two , 2,000 pound Masdam type comealongs hooked together for length to an anchor point, and were actually bending the handles onthe comealongs in the process of trying to get that stuck land cruiser out. Cable broke and disembowled the 10 year old that was watching them unstick mommas car.....

Use a nylon sling.........

My thoughts exactly.

They do make grab clamps intended for pulling pallets, these have a jaw that grabs the center 2x of the pallet to pull and use the pulling force to generate clamping force. I suspect the key to their successful use is to insure that you are pulling up a bit with the chain to help the edge of the pallet clear bumps and debris. Still not the way I'd do it when a pallet jack is safer and easier.

Pete C.

Nylon slings are just large rubber bands. They store more energy than the chain would.

I believe Dave's got it right. Nylon slings and steel cables stretch quite a bit under larger loads. You have the whole structure storing energy, and releasing it when it breaks. Usually bad news. Chains store energy in each link, but only release the weakest link's energy when it breaks. It may snap back, but usually only within the original dimensions of the extended chain. (At least for the loads we're talking about. Tugboats and oil tankers might be another matter.) Tow trucks use cable and slings because they're easy to store and manage. But usually, they're so overrated for the working load that the elastic properties are not supposed to be discovered in practice.

Transport rated chains are the way to go here, are not too expensive, and are handy to have around.

A sidewalk grate or catwalk section would be good for your forklift. In a pinch, even another pallet sitting up on the forks would do. Put the lexan under the pallet and it'll slide easier...

Chip

You're living dangerously.

Lexan is more suitable for addressing problems with aerodynamics and wind protection. On a forklift, you will have vision issues due to dust/oil/scratchs, plus it is expensive.

Your best bet would be to purchase a few 20 foot lengths of 3/8 inch round bar, cut them up, and weld together a mesh. If you use stainless steel, you won't have to paint it to prevent rust. It is not that expensive. Your greatest expense would be the labor to weld it together; otherwise, the material itself is quite affordable.

When I did something like this, laying out the grid on 4 inch centers seemed to work best -- you want it spaced close enough to catch a flying chain, but not so close that it interferes with your ability to see through it.

The meshes I made were about 3'x4' in size. I found that using 3/8" round bar seemed to work best. 1/4" round bar seemed to be too flimsy for that size of mesh, while 1/2" round bar seemed to be overkill.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Regarding the pallet jack, I agree this is the right way to do the job, but in my experience it only works for lightweight pallets (say under 1000 pounds). For a 5000 pound pallet holding a machine (for example), I can't get the pallet jack to budge. Also the truck isn't always level and sometimes the pallet (when lifted with the jack) will roll in a direction other than where I want.

Regarding the pallet puller hook, I have one and it works well for standard

Regarding the nylon sling, I have a towing strap which stretches under load and, if it were to break, would snap like a rubber band with far greater force than a chain.

Regarding visibility issues with the Lexan from oil, scratches, etc, I plan to remove the "windshield" when I'm not pulling with the chain. I have to admit I haven't looked into how much Lexan costs.

Just a couple of stray thoughts.

At one place I worked, we got a bulldozer in for a couple of hours and had it dig a hole that was dock height at one end and tapered up to ground level. In other words a dock but where the truck was lower and the dock was a ground height.

Second how about using the pallet jack and a winch to get the pallet jack to move. The pallet jack would move with a few hundred pounds of pull on it.

If you do continue to use chain, buy a bigger or better chain. A bigger chain will not have as much force stored in it as the links will not strain as much. Also a bigger chain is much less likely to break. I would go with a steel grill rather than lexan. I would use 1/4 by 1 stock instead of round bar.

Dan

When you have the pallet up on the pallet jack you can use a chain to pull the whole thing.

It pulls with much less force because it is riding on the wheels rather than overcoming the friction of the pallet.

An amsteel cable might work, they drop dead, all most no whipback. I've seen them let go on a 12,000 pound winch. Pat

Hi Al,

The best advise I can give is to stick with chain. Look at McMaster-Carr, or some other reputable vendor, and find their best quality chain (usually an alloy type). Don't trust any type of chain unless it's recommended for overhead lifting, none of that crap binder chain. It's more expensive but lasts much longer and is lighter in weight for it's strength.

If you're pulling 5000# dry I'd recommend not going under a 20,000# test chain.

Periodically check it for elongation of any links. This is easy to see as the opening in the link also becomes narrower. Discard or relegate to a lesser use any chain not passing inspection. Unless you know a single link, ONLY, was damaged do not try to repair the chain and use it in a potentially hazardous operation as the other links, although not as visible, will have been over-stressed as well.

dennis in nca

In 13 years of pulling and lifting everything imaginable I never broke a chain.

We use Amsteel on our logging equipment. 1/2" is around $2.80 a foot. I'm pretty sure it comes in smaller diameters, hence cheaper per foot. I love this stuff. It's spliceable, a lot lighter than steel cable, and because of the mild winter up we have found that it floats, also. :)

I have no connection to Amsteel.

Posting from beautiful Hancock, Mi

I'm not sure about this. It doesn't seem quite right to me. Even if stretching the sling does require more energy, much of this energy could be dissipated due to the friction between the fibres as the sling is stretched, so that the amount of energy released when the sling breaks is considerably less than the input energy.

Whichever stores more energy, I would rather be near a breaking sling than a breaking chain. A chain is much harder and heavier than a sling.

Chris

A nylon fabric sling IS the safest. It may recoil, but it is MUCH slower than a cable or chain, and of lower density/higher surface area, so it stops a lot sooner. There IS a reason they are used by professional tow operators

Nylon slings are very bad for deadly recoil, far worse then a similar strenght wire rope. Offroading I've seen a handful of them go through the tailgate of pickups. I've only seen wire rope do that trick 2 times and their was a lot of dynamic loading in those 2 cases ( One case the trailer hitch made the hole and the rope followed it through) Pat

The reason tow trucks use them is that they damage the car far less then rope does. Most wreckers have fairly limited winches (the trucks I drove had either a 8000# or a 12,000# winch). Winches also tend to be slow and very steady pulls not a dynamic tug. Pat