Universal Fitment Forklift Tyres
Buy your forklift from Toyota and your reach truck from Linde, and you'll eventually hit the same wall: two machines, two "official" tyre suppliers, two invoices, two waiting periods. It doesn't need to work that way. Most forklift tyres are built to shared industrial sizing standards, not locked to a single badge on the counterweight, which means one supplier can very often handle your entire mixed fleet.
ForknTire fits tyres sized correctly for Toyota, Hyster, Yale, Crown, Linde, Clark, TCM, Komatsu, Nissan and Mitsubishi forklifts, among others, from a single Pinetown base with national delivery reach. We're not an authorised dealer for any of these manufacturers, and we won't pretend to be — what we are is a tyre specialist who understands that a 21x7x15 press-on doesn't ask which logo is on your mast before it does its job.
Based at 6 Schenk Rd, Pinetown. Phone 031 702 6335. Open during normal business hours, with mobile fitting available across the greater Durban region.
Why "Universal Fitment" Actually Means Something Here
Forklift tyres aren’t sized like car tyres. A Toyota-branded forklift and a Hyster-branded forklift of the same capacity class, running the same mast configuration, will frequently take the identical tyre size — because the sizing standard (outside diameter × width × rim, for press-on tyres, or width-and-rim for pneumatics) was set by the tyre industry decades ago, long before any single manufacturer tried to own it. A 16x6x10.5 press-on doesn’t care whether it’s going on a 2-tonne electric counterbalance badged Nissan or one badged Mitsubishi. It cares about load rating and hub fit.
That’s the practical reality behind this page. Rather than treating each forklift brand as needing its own proprietary tyre supply chain, we work from capacity class, tyre construction, and confirmed hub dimensions. It’s faster to source, usually cheaper than chasing brand-specific parts channels, and it means a facility running five forklifts from four different manufacturers can order from one place instead of five.
None of this means every tyre fits every forklift — that would be irresponsible advice and it isn’t true. Hub diameter, bead seat configuration, and load index still have to match exactly, and a handful of models (Mitsubishi’s FGC25N is a known example, which takes a 21x7x16 rather than the more common 21x7x15) sit outside the standard pattern for their class. What it means is that the fastest, safest way to get the right tyre isn’t necessarily “go to the brand’s dealer.” It’s confirming the actual specification, wherever that tyre ends up coming from.
Fitment by Brand: What to Check Before You Order
Toyota
Toyota's counterbalance range, from the compact 1.5-tonne electric units through to the 3.5-tonne IC range, mostly falls within standard press-on and pneumatic sizing bands. Smaller electric Toyota forklifts commonly run in the 16x6x10.5 to 18x7x12.125 press-on range; mid-capacity IC models frequently take 21x7x15 or 6.50-10/7.00-12 pneumatic-style fitments depending on whether the unit is cushion or pneumatic-tyred. Confirm your exact model against the data plate — Toyota's cushion and pneumatic lines are not interchangeable at the wheel.
Hyster
Hyster's XM and FT series share tyre sizing at each capacity level, and the brand's S-prefix (cushion) and H-prefix (pneumatic) naming makes it reasonably straightforward to identify which construction you're running. Expect sizes in a similar range to Toyota at equivalent capacity — 16x6x10.5 through to 21x7x15 for cushion configurations, with heavier units moving into 28x9-15 territory.
TCM
TCM forklifts, common in port and logistics operations along the KZN coast, generally use standard pneumatic sizing at each capacity band. Larger TCM units used in container handling and heavy yard work often need the 28x9-15 class or above — confirm axle configuration, since dual-tyre setups change the picture.
Yale
Yale sits close to Hyster in sizing convention at comparable capacities (the two brands share some engineering heritage), and many Yale cushion models use the same 16¼-inch diameter steer tyre found on equivalent Nissan units. If you're running Yale cushion forklifts in the 4,000–5,000 lb class, the 16x6x10.5 and 18x7x12.125 sizes are worth checking first.
Crown
Crown is best known locally for electric and narrow-aisle equipment rather than large IC counterbalance units. Its FCTT series and similar cushion-tyre models generally track the same sizing conventions as other manufacturers' electric cushion ranges, which means standard press-on stock usually covers Crown fleets without needing a Crown-specific search.
Komatsu
Komatsu's FG-prefix gas and LPG models use a straightforward suffix system (ST for cushion, T for pneumatic) that makes identifying your configuration quicker than on some other brands. Sizing at each capacity level tracks closely with Toyota and Hyster equivalents.
Nissan (now UniCarriers)
Nissan's forklift range now trades under the UniCarriers name as part of Mitsubishi Logisnext, though plenty of older Nissan-badged units remain in service across South African fleets. Many Nissan cushion models share the 16¼-inch diameter steer tyre convention used on comparable Yale units — useful to know if you're trying to cross-reference a size for an older machine with no clear documentation left.
Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi's IC range mostly follows standard sizing, with one exception worth flagging directly: the FGC25N uses a 21x7x16 drive tyre — a 16-inch inner diameter — rather than the far more common 21x7x15. If you've got an FGC25N or a similar model, measure the inner diameter of your current tyre before ordering, because the visual difference between a 15-inch and 16-inch hub isn't always obvious at a glance.
Tyre Types We Fit Across All These Brands
Whichever brand your forklift carries, the tyre still needs to be the right construction for your operating environment.
Solid press-on tyres
suit indoor warehouse and distribution centre floors where puncture risk from metal offcuts, pallet debris, or nails is a daily concern. They need no pressure checks and can't go flat, which matters if your fleet runs multiple shifts with no downtime built in for tyre problems.
Pneumatic tyres
air-filled or foam-filled, handle yards, loading bays, and uneven outdoor surfaces better than any solid alternative. They cost less upfront but need pressure monitoring, and a genuine puncture will still take a forklift out of action until it's dealt with.d.
Solid pneumatic (resilient) tyres
are built in the same size conventions as air-filled pneumatics but without the air chamber — a middle path for operations that need outdoor-capable tyres without puncture exposure.
Non-marking compounds
are available across all three constructions above, for facilities where black rubber scuffing on epoxy or polished concrete floors isn't acceptable — food production, pharmaceuticals, and clean warehousing all tend to specify this.
For more detail on choosing between these constructions
Why Fleets With Mixed Brands Choose One Supplier
One call covers the whole yard.
If your operation runs Toyota order pickers alongside a Hyster counterbalance and a Linde reach truck, you’ve probably already discovered how much time gets wasted juggling three separate supplier relationships for what is, at the tyre level, a fairly similar job. One enquiry, one delivery schedule, one invoice.
Fitment knowledge beats brand loyalty.
We work from data plate specifications, current tyre measurements, and load ratings rather than assuming a brand name tells us everything we need. That’s a more reliable way to get the right tyre than hoping a generic parts catalogue has your specific model listed correctly.
Stock depth across common sizes.
Because so many brands share sizing at equivalent capacity classes, holding solid stock in the popular ranges — 16x6x10.5, 18x7x8, 21x7x15, 28×9-15, 6.50-10, 7.00-12 — covers a large percentage of enquiries without a special order. Less common sizes, including brand-specific outliers like the Mitsubishi FGC25N mentioned above, are sourced through our supplier network, usually within a few working days.
National delivery, Pinetown base.
ForknTire operates from 6 Schenk Rd, Pinetown, with delivery reach across South Africa rather than KwaZulu-Natal alone. If your fleet spans more than one site or province, that matters more than it might seem.
Customer Success Stories
How Fitment Confirmation Works
Most jobs follow the same straightforward path. No drama, no surprise charges.
You give us the details.
Data plate specifications, current tyre sidewall markings, or simply the make, model, and capacity if that's all you have to hand. A photo of the tyre sidewall sent through WhatsApp is usually enough on its own.
We cross-reference against known sizing.
Using the capacity class, construction type, and hub measurements, we identify the correct size — flagging immediately if your model is one of the known exceptions to standard sizing.
You get a straight quote.
No back-and-forth needed to extract a number. Pricing reflects the confirmed size, construction, and quantity required.
Stock or short-order.
Common sizes are usually available immediately from Pinetown stock. Less common or brand-specific sizes are ordered through our supplier network, typically arriving within a few working days.
Fitting, on-site or at our facility.
Our technicians handle installation either at your premises or at our Pinetown workshop, checking wheel and rim condition as part of the job rather than treating it as a separate, billable surprise.
Coverage and Delivery
ForknTire is based at 6 Schenk Rd, Pinetown, and serves customers directly across the greater Durban and KwaZulu-Natal region, with national delivery available for businesses operating outside the province. Mobile fitting is available for Durban-area customers where on-site service reduces downtime more than transporting the forklift to us would. For sites further afield, tyres are dispatched with fitting handled through your local workshop or, where practical, one of our mobile teams.
Investment and Pricing
Pricing depends on tyre construction, size, brand of tyre (not forklift), and quantity, so we don’t publish a flat rate list — a 16x6x10.5 press-on and a 28×9-15 pneumatic solid sit at genuinely different price points, and quoting a single number would mislead more than it would help.
What we can tell you: solid and solid pneumatic tyres cost more upfront than standard air-filled pneumatics, but typically last two to three times longer in comparable indoor applications, which changes the real cost-per-year comparison. Buying tyres as a matched set (both drive tyres, or a full four-tyre set) is often more cost-effective than replacing them one at a time, since even wear keeps handling consistent across the axle.
Frequently Asked Questions for Universal Fitment Forklift Tyres
Yes, in most cases. Forklift tyre sizing follows industry-standard conventions shared across manufacturers at equivalent capacity classes, so a correctly identified size will usually fit multiple brands' forklifts. A small number of specific models use non-standard hub dimensions, which is exactly why we confirm fitment against your data plate rather than assuming based on brand alone.
Check the data plate first — most manufacturers list recommended tyre specifications there. If that's not legible, the size is usually moulded into the sidewall of your current tyre. Send us a photo of either and we'll confirm the size before you order anything.
We'll tell you directly. The Mitsubishi FGC25N is one known example — it takes a 21x7x16 rather than the standard 21x7x15 for its class. Where a model sits outside standard conventions, we source the correct non-standard size rather than supplying something close enough and hoping it works.
Sometimes, if the wheel is built for a pneumatic-style rim and the solid resilient tyre is manufactured for that same fitment. True press-on cushion tyres, however, use a completely different mounting system and aren't interchangeable with pneumatic wheels. We'll confirm which category your forklift falls into before recommending a switch.
Both. Mobile fitting is available across the Durban area for operations where taking a forklift off-site isn't practical. For businesses further out, we coordinate delivery and fitting through local arrangements.
A single-axle press-on replacement is usually completed within an hour once the correct tyre is on hand. Full four-tyre sets, or jobs requiring rim inspection and repair, take longer — we'll give you a realistic timeframe once we've seen the scope.
This is rare once fitment has been confirmed against a data plate or sidewall photo, but if a genuine mismatch occurs, we sort it directly rather than leaving you with an unusable tyre. Confirming specifications properly upfront is exactly why we ask for that detail before quoting.
No. Whether you need one tyre for a single forklift or a full set across a mixed fleet, the process is the same — confirm sizing, quote, supply, fit.
Get the Right Tyres, Whatever's Badged on Your Forklift
Running Toyota, Hyster, Linde, Yale, Crown, Clark, TCM, Komatsu, Nissan or Mitsubishi equipment — or some combination of all of them — doesn’t mean juggling separate suppliers for something as fundamental as tyres. Confirm your sizing once, and one relationship can usually cover the whole fleet.
- 082 468 5308
- Monday - Thursday :7:30 am–4:30 pm, Friday :7:30 am–4:30 pm
- 6 Schenk Rd, Pinetown, 3610