Generated 10 October 2026

Vesconite in Forklifts

A forklift can operate for up to 24 hours each day in various environments. Vesconite is ideal for forklifts used in harsh conditions. The wear parts used in these forklifts need high wear resistance – yet they carry heavy loads. Traditional materials need regular greasing to maintain their wear life. Vesconite’s self-lubricating properties give exceptional wear life at the same time as reducing maintenance and downtime. Vesconite has tried and tested solutions to keep your forklifts running smoothly for longer.

Common Forklift Applications

Vesconite polymer bearings for forklifts

Vesconite Forklift Resources

Thousands of Forklift Parts SoldWatch
Needle Roller and Thrust Bearing ReplacementsWatch

BENEFITS FOR FORKLIFTS

  • Vesconite increases shaft life.
  • Vesconite requires no lubrication.
  • Vesconite has an exceptionally high load capacity.
  • Vesconite excels in dirty and wet environments.
  • Vesconite is resistant to oils and fuels.
  • Vesconite bearings are easy to fit and remove.

      MATERIAL COMPARISON

      Vesconite is known worldwide for its long wear life, whereas bronze and nylon bushings have higher wear rates and may cause damage to mating components.

      Many competing products require grease. Since Vesconite forklift parts do not need greasing, this makes them particularly desirable in food processing environments.

      Vesconite’s design team can custom make most forklift wear parts, even for discontinued forklifts with difficult to find parts.

      There are many parts on a forklift which are part of the mechanisms for lifting and side shifting heavy loads. Vesconite no grease, high load strength and long life wear parts are the solution for these rugged applications.

      COMMON APPLICATIONS

      • Side shift pads
      • Mast pivot bushings
      • Steer axle articulation bushings
      • Lever and pedal bushings
      • King pin bushings
      • Tilt cylinder bushings
      • Gantry support bearings
      Vesconite Forklift Case Studies
      Louisville forklift rental company reports success with Vesconite side shift wear pads
      A Louisville, Kentucky-based forklift rental company has reported promising results after installing wear-resistant self-lubricating Vesconite side shift wear pads on a Toyota forklift in July 2024. The company conducted a maintenance review in March 2025 and found no reports of replacements or repairs. The parts manager at the company was…
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      Vesconite king pin bushings demonstrate unmatched durability in Yale forklift application
      Vesconite king pin bushings have demonstrated exceptional durability, outlasting OEM kingpin bushings on a Yale forklift by an astounding 27 times. In a challenging application at a metal recycling plant, a 2.5-ton Yale forklift was equipped with Vesconite king pin bushings and thrust rings. Operating under demanding conditions, including three daily…
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      A clean and grease-free forklift
      We understand your frustration with messy grease on your forklift. Our forklift team replaced the bronze liner on this forklift with a Vesconite part and couldn’t be more pleased that our warehouse staff won’t have to concern themselves with greasing this part anymore. Vesconite has developed many forklift parts that…
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      New king pin and thrust bearings save costs for forklift company
      A forklift rental company in the Cape winelands, South Africa, is experiencing less downtime, expenditure and fewer equipment repairs thanks to the introduction of Vesconite king pin and thrust bearings on its forklifts. This is according to brothers Jacques and Van Rhyn who, together with their father, Japie du Plessis, supply…
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      Vesconite slides facilitate battery swops on electric forklifts
      Vesconite battery slides will be introduced on all electric forklifts at a beverage producer following successful testing. The battery slides, made from our wear-resistant low-coefficient-of-friction material, Vesconite, are used to guide the lead-acid batteries that power the forklifts. The batteries need to be swopped out and recharged after every shift…
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      Reassessing grooves in bearings and wear pads
      Vesconite Bearings is exploring new engineering design methods, including reducing or eliminating grooves, where possible, in industrial and marine applications. Vesconite’s bearing materials are internally lubricated so, when replacing traditional materials, Vesconite is challenging engineers to explore designs that remove redundant or superfluous grooves for cooling lubricant or water. For…
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      10 x longer life with Vesconite forklift pads
      A bottling plant achieved over 10 times the life of forklift side-shift pads by switching to self-lubricating wear-resistant Vesconite. These hard-working pads allow the side-shift attachment (which carries the forks) to move left and right freely, for quick and accurate loading. The forklifts’ original side-shift pads were quickly bitten into…
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      Better than the OEM forklift spares
      Bearing and wear part manufacturer Vesconite Bearings has increased its efforts to develop better -than-the-original-equipment-manufacturer (OEM) forklift parts. The company has long known that its gantry support bearings, tilt cylinder bushings, side shift pads, mast pivot bushings, steer axle articulation bushings, king pin bushings and lever and pedal bushings offered…
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      Foundry forklift side-shift carriage pads replaced with Vesconite
      A forklift repair company in Australia has replaced forklift side-shift carriage pads with Vesconite. This machine operates in a Foundry, the conditions are often harsh and dirty.
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      Forklift hire company uses Vesconite retainer stubs, side-shift wear pads
      A large South African forklift hire company uses Vesconite retainer stubs at the bottom of their integral side-shift forklift attachments, as well as top and bottom side-shift wear pads.
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      Vesconite side-shift pads last longer
      A large beverage producer turned to Vesconite Bearings for a solution when it found that its forklift side-shift pads were not able to cope with the typical 2-t beverage loads that its single double-pallet-handler forklifts carried. Side-shift pads are located between the forklift attachment and the carriage of the forklift,…
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      Reduced downtime for forklift fitted with Vesconite mast slides
      A sawmill forklift has to operate under dusty conditions and over rough terrain. These unfavourable conditions coupled with poor lubrication resulted in the original bearings on the mast breaking down approximately every six months.
      Read more