Forklift Attachments

Fork extensions, four fork attachments and roll cage lifters

Fork extensions add length, the four fork attachment adds width and load positions, and the roll cage lifter gives a platform for wheeled loads that forks cannot pick up.

Fork extensions

Extensions slide over the parent forks for the occasional long or awkward load, such as timber, doors or long packs, that would otherwise overhang the fork tips. Each is sized to a fork section, so standard fork extensions suit most trucks and heavy duty fork extensions suit trucks that handle heavier long loads. Choose the length against the parent fork, since an extension may only overhang it by a limited proportion.

Four fork attachment

The four fork attachment mounts over the truck's own forks and carries four tines on a wider frame. It supports wide loads across their full width and lets the truck carry more than one unit in a pass, with the frame width chosen to the load.

Roll cage and pallet lifter

The roll cage and pallet lifter is a platform on the forks for loading roll cages and pallets on and off articulated trailers, so wheeled cages that bare forks cannot lift are raised to the trailer bed.

Forklift tipping skips, scoops and concrete skips

The right container depends on the material and on where it is emptied: into an open skip, into a larger bin from above, onto a heap or into a pour.

Forklift self-tipping skips

Self-tipping skips carry general and building waste from the work area, tip it forward into a larger skip and right themselves when set down. Standard, lidded premium and mesh extension models in several capacities and colours are in forklift tipping skips: a lid keeps contents contained, and a mesh extension holds bulky, light waste such as packaging and timber offcuts. Where only a crane can reach the work area, crane lift tipping skips carry certified lifting lugs.

Bottom empty skips

The bottom empty skip opens through its base when lowered onto the rim of a larger container and relocks when it is set back on the ground. The driver empties it into a high-sided yard bin without leaving the cab or tipping the skip forward, which suits production floors, recycling yards and sites that feed waste to static bins many times a day.

Scoop buckets

A forklift scoop bucket picks up and moves loose material such as sand, gravel and topsoil with its toothed edge, a job a tipping skip cannot do without loading by hand. The underslung scoop bucket sits close under the forks, bringing the load nearer the mast and shortening the truck's working length for yards and sites with little turning room.

Forklift concrete skip

Where a pour cannot be reached by crane, as in basements, mezzanines and refurbishment work, the forklift concrete skip carries concrete to the pour on the forks and discharges it through a lever-operated side gate. An optional tremie hose adapter extends its use to vertical pours. Crane-lifted skips are in the concrete skips range.

Skip compactor

The skip compactor presses down bulky waste already in a skip, so each skip leaves site fuller and fewer collections are booked. Its height adjusts to standard site skips, and it is most useful on demolition, refurbishment and construction work, where loose bulky waste fills a skip with air space long before it reaches its weight limit.

Forklift sweepers, magnets, snow ploughs and gritters

Yard attachments work best in pairs: a brush sweeper with a magnet hung from its frame clears loose spoil and steel debris in one pass, and a snow plough followed by the gritter keeps access routes open in winter.

Forklift brush sweepers

A brush sweeper pushes sand, topsoil, aggregate fines and loose spoil off yards, roadways, footpaths and warehouse floors. The heavy duty forklift road sweeper has interchangeable nylon brushes in several widths, and the eco forklift sweeper has a lighter brush for jobs where the volume and weight of material are low. The road sweeper frame is made to carry the fork mounted magnet.

Sweeper collector

Where swept material has to leave the yard, the forklift sweeper collector sweeps, collects and then dumps it into a skip.

Fork mounted magnet

The fork mounted magnet picks up nails, screws, rebar offcuts and other steel debris from haul roads, loading bays and work areas before they puncture tyres or injure people on foot. It clamps onto the forks with thumbscrews and is used on its own or hung from the road sweeper frame. Collected debris is cleared from the magnet by hand, with gloves and eye protection.

Forklift snow plough

The forklift snow plough clears freshly fallen and compacted snow from vehicle routes and pedestrian walkways.

Hydraulic gritter

The hydraulic forklift gritter spreads salt or grit from a spinning stainless steel disc, with the spread width set by hand to suit the route and the material. The disc is driven from the truck's own hydraulic circuit.

Fitting an attachment to your forklift

Three checks decide whether an attachment suits the truck and the job: how it mounts on the forks, what the truck can still lift with it fitted, and how it is inspected in use.

Fork section and fork spread

Fork mounted attachments take the forks through pockets or sleeves, so the pockets must accept the fork section, which is the width and thickness of each fork, and line up with the fork spread, measured between fork centres. Fork sections across the range run from 100 x 50 mm to 150 x 60 mm, and each product page gives the largest fork the pockets take and any spread the attachment needs. Measure both on the truck before ordering, and check that the retaining pins or screws will sit behind the fork heel once the attachment is pushed fully home. Telehandler forks are often a larger section, and attachments built for them are in telehandler attachments.

Capacity with the attachment fitted

An attachment adds its own weight to the forks and moves the load further from the mast, so the truck lifts less than its rating plate shows. The rating plate gives capacity at a stated load centre, and product pages give the attachment's weight and centre of gravity, with the capacity at each lifting position for hooks and jibs. Together these give the truck's residual capacity, which the truck manufacturer or dealer can confirm and issue as a rating for the truck with that attachment fitted. The working limit is the lower of the truck's residual capacity and the attachment's rated load.

Pre-use checks and thorough examination

Before each use, check that heel pins, twist screws or clamps are fully engaged, and look over welds, fork pockets, hooks and shackles for cracks, wear or distortion. Avoid side pulls and shock loading on any lifting attachment, and keep to vertical lifts unless the product page says the attachment is made for angled lifting. Several lifting attachments, including the low profile jib, the magnet, the sand bag carrier and the well ring lifter, are certified for six months from the date of manufacture. After that, LOLER requires a thorough examination by a competent person at regular intervals, with the report kept on file for the attachment.