Tyre Handlers
OTR tyre handling to 16 000 kg
Tyre Handlers provide efficient, safe, and damage-free handling, stacking, and 360° rotation of large tyres. These attachments are essential for tyre manufacturing and heavy-duty mining operations, allowing for precise positioning and tilting during tyre replacement and storage.
A tyre handler clamps a tyre across its tread, rotates it through a continuous 360° and tilts it into position, so a single machine can lift a tyre off a stack, present it upright to a hub and hold it there while it is bolted up. Capacities in this family run to 16 000 kg, which covers everything from truck tyres to large earthmover fitments.
This is the forklift-mounted family. Where the work is out on a mine site rather than in a workshop or tyre bay, the same job is done by a purpose-built machine — see the OTR tyre handler range for loader-mounted and dedicated handlers. Both are supplied by ETEQ, and which one suits depends on where the tyre change happens and what carrier is available.
Also known as: Tyre clamp · Tyre grab · Rotating tyre handler
Benefits
- 360° continuous rotation in both directions for maximum flexibility
- Split clamp arm design provides excellent visibility for precise handling
- Thin arm tips allow easy wedging into tight spaces without damaging adjacent tyres
- Replaceable wear blocks and durable patterned plates extend service life
Where it is used
- Mine tyre bays changing earthmover and haul-truck fitments
- Tyre manufacturing and retreading plants stacking and moving stock
- Heavy equipment workshops handling loader, grader and dozer tyres
- Tyre stores where product must be stacked without damaging the sidewalls
Specification
- Capacity
- To 16 000 kg
- Rotation
- 360° bidirectional
- Arms
- Split, thin-tip
Capacities, jaw ranges and rotation are model-specific — the exact figures are confirmed against your truck and load when we quote.
Fits ISO Class II, III and IV fork carriages
In service on Toyota, Linde, Hyster, Jungheinrich, TCM, Manitou, JCB, Feeler, Yale and Komatsu trucks across the region.
- Hydraulic attachments run off the truck’s auxiliary services; where a truck has too few, an additional service or a solenoid selector can be fitted.
- Mechanical attachments slip over standard fork arms and need no hydraulic connection at all.
- Fitting an attachment changes the truck’s rated capacity, so the derated capacity plate is confirmed as part of the quote.
South Africa & Zambia
Attachments are supplied from Nelspruit for South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Eswatini and Lesotho, and through the Kitwe branch for Zambia, the Copperbelt and the southern DRC corridor.
- South Africa — head office, warehouse and service in Nelspruit, with stockholding in Johannesburg
- Zambia — branch office and warehouse in Kitwe, plus a supply depot in Solwezi
- Cross-border freight and documentation arranged per consignment where the destination requires it
Tyre Handlers — questions
- 01What is the difference between a tyre handler attachment and an OTR tyre handler?
- This attachment mounts to a forklift carriage and turns an existing truck into a tyre-handling machine. An OTR tyre handler is a loader-mounted or purpose-built machine for the largest mining fitments, handled on our tyre handler range page.
- 02What size tyres can be handled?
- Units in this family are rated to 16 000 kg, and arm geometry is matched to the diameter and width range you actually handle. We size from the largest tyre on site, not the average one.
- 03Do tyre handlers rotate a full 360 degrees?
- Yes — continuous rotation in both directions, which is what allows a tyre to be lifted flat off a stack and presented vertically to a hub without being set down in between.
- 04Does ETEQ supply tyre handlers to mines in Zambia?
- Yes. Tyre handling equipment is supplied to Copperbelt and North-Western Province operations through the Kitwe branch, with Solwezi covered off the same stock for the Kalumbila and Lumwana mines.