Dock bumpers can help you safeguard your building, your dock equipment and trailers. Every product that moves in and out of your warehouse or manufacturing facility crosses through the dock, so it is important to preserve it and keep all doors available and in good shape.

Types of Dock Bumpers

Dock bumpers are usually installed so that a truck or trailer "bumps" against them rather than against your structure. This safeguards your building, your dock levelers and the truck or trailer that uses your loading dock.

There are numerous types of bumpers, and selecting the correct dock bumper can be consequential, depending on the throughput of your loading dock. Adding overly-lightweight dock bumpers can sometimes lead to an early demise, while using dock bumpers that are thicker than necessary may be pointless and might in fact create troubles when docking trailers.

The kind of dock bumpers you choose will be dependent upon the average vehicle or trailer height, the approach, overall volume and a variety of additional factors. For loading docks where trucks or trailers have the potential to sway during loading or unloading movements, bumpers may be mounted horizontally or vertically.

Molded Bumpers (Light Duty): Bumpers built from molded rubber can supply protection for low-traffic loading docks. What’s more, molded bumpers can be installed on the interior of a warehouse to protect doorways, walls and other structural elements from forklifts and other equipment.

Molded rubber is prone to chipping and gouging with heavy use and is not as wear resistant as other types of bumpers. If your dock does not get high volumes of truck traffic, they may be a viable choice for your operation.

Laminated Bumpers (Medium Duty): Laminated bumpers have thicker pads than molded bumpers and afford superior shock absorption. They are made from cut-to-size strips of recycled truck tires that are mounted between steel brackets.

These bumpers have a reasonably good level of wear resistance and are versatile with regard to thickness, length, and height. They are frequently applied in operations equipped with pit levelers or edge-of-dock equipment, as they offer prolonged protection for high volume docks.

Steel Faced Bumpers (Heavy Duty): Steel faced dock bumpers are designed with a movable section of steel that covers a common laminate bumper, inhibiting heavy erosion of the layered padding. The durable metal allows trailers to brush against the bumpers without degrading the rubber. Steel faced bumpers offer exceptional resilience, and typically last much longer than exposed laminate bumpers.

When Should Dock Bumpers Be Replaced?

Despite the fact that dock bumpers are meant to tolerate daily abuse, they do deteriorate after steady use and need to be swapped out periodically. There are a few things to watch for that indicate that your dock bumpers need to be replaced.

If you see pad erosion of more than 50%, it's time for replacement. The impact absorption capacity of worn out pads is insufficient safeguard your warehouse. Pads that are heavily worn will ultimately erode down to the steel brackets that hold them in place, and this can elicit avoidable damage to both trailers and brackets.

Besides normal wear and tear, you should keep an eye out for additional damage like splitting laminate layers, fractures, warped or rusting metal and other clear deficiencies. You may want to schedule bumper inspections, just as you would regularly inspect your levelers and other loading dock equipment.

Truck Dock Bumpers Near Me

For questions or a dock bumper price quote, talk to a dock equipment expert at Raymond West today.

Raymond West's Fresno facility serves much of the Central Valley, including Fresno, Clovis, Madera, Visalia, Tulare, Lindsay, Hanford, Lemoore, Los Banos, Santa Nella, Dos Palos, Firebaugh, Kettleman City, Coalinga, Avenal, Mendota, Kerman, San Joaquin, and all surrounding areas.

Raymond West | Fresno Material Handling Equipment Supplier

2935 S Elm Ave #101
Fresno, CA 93706
(559) 264-7500