Do we really need fork pockets? These steel ears jet out the side of our perfect square dumpsters? They are always dented and torn from front loader trucks smashing into them, picking them up and smashing them back down.
Fork pockets are essential to every dumpster’s construction. They take a lot of abuse and they are rarely ever rebuilt like other parts of a container. Hambicki’s builds containers with fork pockets reinforced with gussets underneath and the top. A steel bumper is also installed on front of the container to prevent forks from ripping into the side of a container if a driver misses the pockets. Those front loader garbage truck drivers are always very sleepy while having to fight the distractions of morning traffic.
Recently, Hambicki’s noticed their fork pockets underneath the popular 3YD concrete pan were taking a lot of abuse at construction sites. The pockets rest underneath the container for forklifts to pick-up and move up to 10,000lbs of material. Damage is inevitable when full containers are set down on the un-even ground at construction sites or when a fork lift with short forks tries to pick up a full washout container and the weight of the can tips forward causing a leveraged ripping of the bottom of the pockets. The solution was to build fork pockets with thicker ¼” steel.
The solution to keeping your pockets in good condition is to reinforce pockets that show signs of tearing. Always have drivers handle fork pockets gently.