Forklift Attachments

Forklift Truck Attachments Buying Guide

Every attachment changes the truck's capacity. A forklift's data plate rates it at a stated load center, commonly 24 in from the fork face. An attachment attacks that rating from two directions: its own weight comes straight off what the truck can lift, and most attachments also push the load's center of gravity further out, which cuts capacity a second time through the longer lever arm. A telescoping jib extended to full reach can turn a 5,000 lb truck into a machine that safely handles a fraction of that. Reputable attachment makers publish capacity charts by boom position and load center; read them against your truck's data plate before buying, not after. The attachment's own rating is a ceiling, never a promise: a 6,000 lb jib on a small truck lifts what the derated truck allows, and nothing more.

The paperwork is part of the installation. OSHA 1910.178(a)(4) requires the truck manufacturer's prior written approval for modifications and additions that affect capacity and safe operation, and 1910.178(a)(5) requires that a truck fitted with non-factory front-end attachments be marked to identify the attachment and show the approximate weight of the truck and attachment combination at maximum elevation with the load laterally centered. In practice that means contacting your truck dealer or manufacturer when you add an attachment, and getting the data plate updated to reflect the combination. It is a modest administrative step, it is what an OSHA inspector checks first, and it forces the derating math from the section above to actually get done. Operators must also be trained on the truck as equipped, since a jib or hopper changes how it handles.

Jibs, hooks, and booms: the forklift as a crane. The forklift jibs and hooks collection is the biggest lever in the catalog: it gives a forklift a crane hook for slinging loads that forks cannot enter. Fork-mounted hooks are the simple end, Vestil single-tine and double units from $91 to about $330 in 4,000 and 10,000 lb ratings, with swivel-latch versions that let the load rotate. Star's heavy-duty jibs carry 6,000 lb from about $2,100, Vestil telescoping booms reach 3,000 lb with tilt options, and Tandemloc builds fork beams and multi-pick spreader beams to 10,000 and 12,000 lb for loads that need more than one pick point. Below the hook, ordinary rigging rules take over: shackles and slings sized to the load, and the sling angle math no different than under a crane.

Fork extensions and replacement forks. Fork extensions slide over the existing forks to support deep loads, double-length pallets, crated machinery, and they carry a hard rule from the forklift design standard ANSI/ITSDF B56.1: extensions must not exceed 150 percent of the supporting fork's length, so 48 in forks take 72 in extensions at most. Vestil extensions start around $240. The same collection carries replacement and dedicated forks, where the spec that matters is the ITA carriage class: Class 2 forks hang on a 16 in carriage, Class 3 on 20 in, Class 4 on 25 in, and the class rises with truck capacity. Star covers Class 2 through 4 pallet and block forks, plus shaft-mounted forks matched to specific telehandlers, Skytrak, JLG, Genie, Gehl, CAT and others, where the shaft diameter must match exactly.

Hoppers: making the forklift move scrap and rubble. A forklift hopper rides the forks to the dumpster and empties itself; the operator trips the latch from the seat and the hopper rotates, dumps, and self-rights. Star's self-dump hoppers carry up to 4,000 lb from about $2,400, Vestil's light-duty steel hoppers start around $700, and wheeled versions from about $940 double as floor-level collection carts between lifts. The same collection covers the construction-side variants: concrete hoppers and mortar tubs for placing mix by forklift or telehandler, skeleton buckets that sift debris from soil, and crane-liftable trash skips to 13,000 lb for sites where material moves by hook as well as by fork. Sizing is simple: match the hopper's rated capacity to the density of what goes in it, because a hopper of demolition rubble weighs several times a hopper of packing waste.

Drum handling, buckets, and the specialist rack. Morse owns the drum problem: fork-mounted drum lifters from about $257, MORSPEED handlers that grab a steel drum at 1,000 or 1,500 lb, and turn-and-pour attachments, manual tilt from about $1,060 or power-tilt to $6,600, that let one operator dispense from a 55-gallon drum without leaving the seat. For machines that are not forklifts, the skid steer attachments collection carries root grapples, grab buckets, and Star's brush cutter, power rake, and trencher heads. The rest of the answers live in specialist forklift attachments: 48 and 60 in sweeper brushes, snow plows and pushers, trash compactors, safety work platforms, truss booms to 10,000 lb, and telehandler carriages. If a job has the truck idle while workers do something by hand nearby, there is probably an attachment for it here.