Forklift Carriage Pins for a FEM Frame - What They Are and Why They Wear

In short: Pins are wear parts on the hooks of a FEM carriage, on which the fork or another attachment moves and locks while hung. Through use the pins wear down and play develops in the carriage, making the attachment wobbly and imprecise to use.

What are the pins and why do they exist?

A FEM carriage hook is a piece of steel on which the upper part of the hung fork moves when the fork is adjusted up and down or removed. The pins, as wear parts, are fitted so that steel doesn't grind directly against steel, but instead a replaceable part wears down.

• Protect the carriage: without pins, the carriage hook itself would wear, and repairing that is far more costly and time-consuming.
• Easy to replace: pins are designed to be replaced, the hook usually isn't.
• Keep a precise fit: correctly sized pins keep the fork held exactly in place on the carriage, without wobble.

See the range on our forklift carriage pins page.

Why do pins wear, and what does that mean?

• Constant load and movement: every up-and-down and back-and-forth motion of the fork wears the pins slightly.
• Heavy loads: lifting heavy loads speeds up pin wear.
• Play means wobble: once the pins have worn through, the fork starts to wobble on the carriage, making precise load placement harder and increasing noise.
• Ongoing wear damages the carriage: if worn pins aren't replaced, the carriage hook itself starts to wear, which is considerably more expensive to repair.

When should you replace the pins?

• The fork hangs or wobbles on the carriage: noticeable play before lifting a load is a sign of wear.
• Unusual noise when moving the fork: a metallic clunking suggests the pins are no longer the right size.
• Regular maintenance checks: on heavily used machines it's worth inspecting pin condition once or twice a year.

Related to other fork maintenance

If the pins are fine but you need a different fork length or a fork replacement, see our forklift forks page. Also important for carriage stability are the parts listed on our FEM carriage hooks page, which belong to the same carriage system.

We'll help you choose

Tell us the forklift's make, model and FEM class, and describe whether and how the fork wobbles on the carriage. We'll recommend the right pins. Get in touch via our contact page.