Business

What You Should Know Before Considering Liftgate?

Suitable liftgate will be needed in order to do loading and unloading of heavy cargo from trucks more efficiently, so that it can reduce operator fatigue and risk of injuries. Also, the delivery times can be reduced and improve productivity.

However, there are a wide range of options available based on box truck liftgate dimensions and it is often too difficult to choose the right one.

In this short article, we shall try to highlight few important things that you must consider to choose the right liftgate.

  • What will be lifted by liftgate

By exactly knowing what the liftgate will lift can help you to decide the required platform size, lifting capacity and few other additional options.

  • Size and type of truck/van

You will have to start with this detail for proper selection of gate as the answer will begin to narrow down about the liftgate types, that is compatible with your vehicle.

  • Detailed specification of truck body

Specifications of the truck body will help in deciding which liftgate models will be most compatible.

  • Whether vehicle will load/unload at raised dock?

By knowing this before, it will be possible to estimate the challenge that operators may face during both loading and unloading at raised dock or at ground level.

  • How the product will be transported on the liftgate?

Whether the product will need dolly, pallet jack or cart? Whether the driver will also have to ride on platform with cargo?

Answers to all these questions will decide the requirements for your platform ride, dimension and weight capacity.

  • What is the weight capacity required for platform?

Often people forget to consider about the weight of driver, pallet, pallet jack or anything else which might be used for handling the cargo on liftgate

.

  • What is platform size?

It is necessary to ensure that you have sufficiently large platform surface from where you can work. You cannot have person putting just 4’ X 4’ pallet on a platform which is less than 3’ deep platform.

  • What is the expected duty cycle of liftgate?

As liftgate batteries also tend to get discharged, hence the delivery number and frequency can also impact the specification of liftgate.

  • Where the truck will operate

You must consider the climate and the type of terrain where the truck is going to operate.

  • Aluminum or steel platform?

It will be good to know that aluminum platform can provide 10% – 15% overall advantage of liftgate weight as compared to steel that can contribute increased payload capacity, productivity and fuel economy.

Related Articles

Back to top button