Description
What Is the LH16 Series Leaf Chain?
The LH16 Series Leaf Chain is a high-performance lifting chain manufactured to the dual standards of DIN ISO and ANSI, making it one of the most versatile and widely specified forklift chains available to procurement engineers and fleet maintenance teams across the United Kingdom and Europe. Designed with a 25.4 mm pitch and available in multiple lacing configurations — from 2×2 through to 8×8 — this series accommodates an exceptionally broad range of load capacities, from lighter pallet truck applications right up to the most demanding heavy-duty warehouse reach trucks and counterbalance forklifts operating in port, logistics, and manufacturing environments. The chain’s plate geometry, heat-treatment protocols, and pin-interference fit assembly are all optimised to deliver consistent performance even under dynamic shock loading, frequent cycling, and the corrosive conditions common to UK cold-storage and food-distribution facilities. Whether you are sourcing a direct OEM replacement or specifying chains for a new fleet build, the LH16 Series delivers the dimensional accuracy and mechanical reliability that modern operations demand.
Each chain in the LH16 range is manufactured from premium alloy steel, with plates processed through precision blanking and profiling to ensure consistent plate height and thickness tolerances batch after batch. The solid-steel pins are ground to tight diameter tolerances and pressed in with controlled interference fits, eliminating the relative movement between pin and outer plate that causes fretting fatigue — the single most common failure mode in leaf chain applications. This engineering discipline translates directly into extended maintenance intervals and lower total cost of ownership, a factor that resonates strongly with UK operations managers who face increasing pressure to reduce downtime and maintenance expenditure without compromising safety.
Why the LH16 Series Outperforms the Competition
Dual-Standard Compliance
Every LH16 chain is manufactured to both DIN ISO and ANSI specifications, simplifying procurement for UK engineers working with mixed OEM equipment fleets and ensuring drop-in dimensional interchangeability across forklift brands.
Exceptional Tensile Strength
Ultimate tensile strength ranges from 84.5 kN (LH1622) to 338.1 kN (LH1688), providing generous safety margins even in the most demanding forklift mast and free-lift cylinder applications within UK warehousing and manufacturing.
Precision Engineering
Plates are blanked and profiled to tight dimensional tolerances with consistent plate height (h2 max 24.13 mm), plate thickness (T max 4.09 mm), and pin diameter (d2 max 9.54 mm) throughout every production batch.
Wide Lacing Range
Seven lacing configurations (2×2 up to 8×8) mean a single series covers lightweight single-mast pallet trucks through to ultra-heavy quad-mast reach trucks, reducing the number of SKUs purchasing teams need to manage.
Anti-Fatigue Pin Design
Interference-pressed, ground-finish pins resist fretting fatigue and plate rotation under continuous dynamic loading — the primary contributor to premature chain failure in high-cycle fork lift applications operating multiple shifts.
Custom Supply Capability
Ever Power supplies LH16 chains pre-cut to specific lengths, pre-assembled with anchor pins or clevis attachments, and surface-treated for corrosion protection — delivering ready-to-install assemblies that cut workshop time significantly.
Technical Specification & Design Drawings
All values measured at 20°C in accordance with DIN ISO 4347. Ultimate tensile values represent minimum guaranteed breaking load. Contact Ever Power for certified test reports.
Materials, Construction & Working Principle
🏭 Alloy Steel Plates
The link plates are produced from medium-carbon alloy steel, selected for its combination of high yield strength, toughness, and fatigue resistance. After blanking and profiling, plates undergo controlled carburising or through-hardening heat treatment processes that develop a hard wear-resistant surface while preserving a tough core. This dual-zone microstructure is what allows LH16 leaf chains to resist both surface wear at the pin-hole interface and plate bending fatigue simultaneously — two failure modes that are difficult to address with a single-zone material. The resultant hardness profile meets the requirements of DIN ISO 4347 and ensures consistent mechanical properties across all production batches supplied to UK clients.
🔧 Ground-Finish Pins
Each pin is manufactured from case-hardened alloy steel and ground to a tight cylindrical tolerance. The ground finish ensures uniform contact stress distribution across the full pin-plate interface, which is critical for fatigue life under oscillating loads. Pins are pressed into outer plates with a controlled interference fit that prevents rotation and fretting — a design feature that distinguishes quality leaf chains from those assembled with running-clearance fits. The combination of surface hardness, core toughness, and dimensional precision allows the LH16 pin to sustain repeated bending cycles encountered in multi-shift forklift operations across UK distribution and manufacturing facilities.
⚙ How Leaf Chain Transmits Force
A leaf chain operates as a tension member rather than a power-transmission chain — it does not engage sprocket teeth but instead connects a forklift mast carriage to the free-lift cylinder via sheaves. When the hydraulic cylinder extends, it pulls the chain over a sheave and lifts the carriage at twice the cylinder stroke. The load path runs from the clevis anchor pin, through alternating inner and outer link plates, along each pin, and back to the anchor at the mast. This seemingly simple load path imposes combined bending, tension, and shear stresses on every component, which is why material quality, heat treatment, and assembly precision each have a direct and measurable impact on the service life and safety of the complete lifting system.
Typical Application Scenarios
Warehouse & Logistics
UK 3PL operators, Amazon fulfilment centres, and retail DCs.
Manufacturing Plants
Automotive, aerospace, and steel processing facilities across the Midlands and North.
Ports & Dockyards
Southampton, Felixstowe, and Tilbury container handling fleets requiring salt-air resistance.
Cold Storage
UK food and pharmaceutical cold-chain operations where condensation and temperature cycling are constant.
Retail & Construction
DIY and builders’ merchant yards; rough-terrain and telescopic handler applications.
Customer Success Story
A proven track record with industrial operations across the United Kingdom and Europe.
Case Study — UK Automotive Manufacturer, West Midlands
Reducing Unplanned Forklift Downtime by 63% at a Tier-1 Automotive Components Plant
A Tier-1 automotive stamping and assembly plant in the West Midlands — operating a fleet of 34 counterbalance forklifts across three shifts, seven days a week — was experiencing chronic leaf chain failures every four to six months on their heaviest-duty trucks. The root cause, identified during an Ever Power site engineering visit, was that the plant had been running a generic chain with inconsistent plate hardness and running-clearance pin fits, causing fretting fatigue at the pin-plate interface. After switching to LH1646 and LH1666 chains from the LH16 Series, with interference-fit pins and full batch traceability documentation, the plant recorded zero unplanned chain-related downtime over an 18-month monitoring period. Annual maintenance cost savings exceeded £28,000, and the maintenance supervisor noted that the consistent dimensional quality meant chains could be replaced in a planned window rather than reactively during shift. Ever Power also supplied pre-cut chain lengths with pre-installed anchor pins, cutting workshop fitting time by approximately 40 minutes per truck.
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“We’ve sourced leaf chain from several suppliers over the years, but Ever Power’s LH16 range is the first where the dimensions are genuinely consistent batch after batch. That makes a real difference when you’re planning preventive maintenance schedules across a large fleet.”
— Warehouse Engineering Manager, 3PL Operator, Milton Keynes, UK
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“The technical data Ever Power provided — including dimensional drawings and test certificates — gave our procurement team full confidence to approve the switch without a lengthy qualification period. Pricing was competitive and lead times from their UK stock were reliably short.”
— Fleet Procurement Specialist, Port Logistics Company, Felixstowe, UK
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“We operate cold-storage forklifts at -25°C and corrosion is always a concern. The LH16 chain with added surface treatment has been running 14 months without any sign of pitting or cracking. We’re now planning to standardise the whole fleet on Ever Power chains.”
— Maintenance Director, Frozen Food Distribution, Glasgow, Scotland
Ever Power — Manufacturing Capability & Custom Chain Services
Ever Power operates a vertically integrated manufacturing facility equipped with CNC precision blanking presses, automated heat-treatment lines, centralised quality control laboratories, and dedicated assembly and testing bays. This end-to-end manufacturing control — from raw material inspection through to finished-chain proof-load testing — ensures that every LH16 Series chain dispatched to UK customers meets the full dimensional and mechanical requirements of DIN ISO 4347 and the corresponding ANSI specification.
Beyond standard catalogue products, Ever Power’s engineering team offers an extensive range of customisation services designed to reduce assembly time and total installed cost for UK and European OEM clients. Our technical team will work directly with your design and maintenance engineers to understand your application requirements and deliver a ready-to-install chain assembly that eliminates workshop cutting, assembly, and fitting operations. Custom services include: non-standard pitches and lacing combinations; pre-cut lengths to ±0.5 mm tolerance; custom anchor pin and clevis end configurations; nickel-plated, zinc-phosphate, or hot-dip galvanised surface treatments for corrosive environments; extended pin ends for sensor-flag attachment in automated guided vehicle (AGV) applications; and complete chain assembly kits with all ancillary hardware. Minimum order quantities for custom variants are discussed on a case-by-case basis, and prototype samples can typically be supplied within 10–15 working days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions from UK buyers, maintenance engineers, and procurement teams.
Ready to Upgrade Your Forklift Fleet with LH16 Series Leaf Chain?
Talk to an Ever Power application engineer today. Get a competitive price, certified technical data, and a custom supply solution built around your UK operation.
edit by gzl
