In March of 2012 Luke Kocher started his career at Toyota Lift of Minnesota working in our parts department. It didn't take Luke long to display the sort of abilities and drive he displayed these past few week when he completed the Trans Am Bike Race peddling four thousand, two hundred and seventy miles from Astoria Oregon to Yorktown Virginia in the self-supported coast-to-coast ride in just twenty five days.

Quoting the Trans Am Race website "The organizer of this race had planned for years to do a solo run of this route in a similar manner to most bike-packing ultra-endurance racing events and wanted to bring it to a larger audience. In keeping with the open format of most of these races, anyone is free to race. Ultra-racers, randonneurs, tour riders, gravel grinders, speed-tourists, and anyone who has a passion for taking on the open road in a speedy manner.  You win by taking what you can from it. The route is estimated to be at 4400 miles covering 10 states. A good racing time could be any where from 15 days to 40 days depending on the racer's goals and experience."

Why would you pay more when so many cheaper alternatives are available? Maybe after you've replaced it again, and then again will you discover what those with experience have already come to understand in forklift parts

Quality and durability doesn't come through a discount catalog or aftermarket website.

Quality, durability and here's the rub ... savings come through quality forklift parts, dependable parts, parts that are truly going to last. Your true bottom line isn't measured in the savings you made today, this week or this month. The true bottom line is a lot further out, and will only be improved with smart maintenance throughout the life of your forklift.

A new forklift put into service by its owner is often put into a high usage environment. A large capital expense, it is seen as one that has to justify itself in heavy almost faultless use to justify its costs. Generally because of experience, those that buy new equipment know it pays to have the machines inspected and maintained at the frequencies set by the original equipment manufacturer, most often doing that through the selling dealer.

As the equipment ages and it become more prone to repair there are often changes afoot, and they aren't always for the better.

From Toyota Forklift

Modern intelligent forklifts include diagnostics that allow the equipment to signal when it needs to be serviced, control speed, prevent slipping by monitoring wheel spin and traction on slick floors, avoid collisions - and much more.

Intelligent forklifts promote new process flows in the warehouse. When integrated to a warehouse management system (WMS), the forklift's fork can be raised or lowered more quickly. The WMS directs a forklift to a pick location. Once at the location, the forklift knows whether the pallet to be picked is being stored at a height of three feet, six feet, or whatever. The operator pushes a button on the console and the forks move at the maximum safe speed, a speed considerably faster than the operator would be apt to move them.