Forklift Attachments

Forklift Attachments: What This Category Covers

A forklift attachment is anything mounted to the forks or carriage that changes what the truck can do — hold, tip, reach, spread or weigh a load. The 148 items here fall into a few working families: dumping hoppers and buckets, drum handling equipment, forklift lifting devices such as jib booms and spreader bars, work platforms and safety cages, fork-mounted scales, replacement forks, and specialty gear like the Abaco Forklift Power Vacuum Lifter (AFPVL300), which runs on shop compressed air and handles stone slabs. Prices run from $100 up to $28,026.50 for the Vestil ULM-PBT-BTC-10 bin tilter, a complete unit made in the USA and listed with a 1-year limited warranty.

Hopper Buckets and Forklift Hopper Attachments

A hopper bucket for forklift use is the highest-volume attachment in this category, and the decision comes down to volume, rated capacity and release method. Apex Hoppers are listed in seven sizes — 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4 and 5 cubic yards. The 1.5 and 2 cubic yard hoppers are rated at 6,000 lbs; the 2.5 through 5 cubic yard models are rated at 8,000 lbs. The Apex Multi-Dump Bottom Dump Bucket is rated at 5,500 lbs and releases through the bottom instead of tipping.

Release method matters more than most buyers expect. A self-dumping hopper such as the Star Industries Self-Dump Forklift Bucket or Vestil Overhead Self Dumping Bin (SDB) tips when a latch is pulled and rights itself afterward, which suits repetitive scrap and swarf work at a fixed dump point. A bottom-dump bucket spreads material while the truck travels. Tilt and drop-bottom dumpsters like the Abaco CD70/CD102 and DBD100/DBD150 are built around waste containers, and the Star Industries Heavy Duty Forklift Trash Hopper and Forklift Self-Dumping Trash Hopper cover the trash hopper attachment for forklift application directly. Sizing note: cubic yards and pounds are separate limits, and a dense material will hit the weight rating long before the hopper is full.

Forklift Lifting Devices: Booms, Spreader Bars and Overhead Lifters

Lifting devices for forklifts convert fork tines into a hook or a spreading beam. A jib boom slides over the forks and puts a hook out ahead of the carriage, letting the truck work like a short-reach crane. Star Industries lists both a Fixed Length and a Telescopic Forklift & Telehandler Jib Boom; the Abaco ATPSF35 is a 3-in-1 boom with handwheel vertical adjustment, a roller system for horizontal adjustment, lateral swing left and right, and extendable reach.

Spreader bars do the opposite — they hold pick points apart so long or flexible loads do not fold. The Star Industries 1160B adjusts from 12 to 20 ft, uses 39-inch on-center fork pockets, requires a 48-inch or wider carriage, weighs 1,140 lbs empty and is rated at 16,800 / 11,200 / 8,000 lbs depending on the setting; its product data states it meets OSHA and ANSI safety requirements. The 1160BA version adds crane pick points, and when a spreader is picked by a crane rather than a forklift it becomes a below-the-hook lifting device — ASME B30.20 is the standard that addresses those. Vestil Overhead Load Lifters and Telescoping Adjustable Spreader Beams serve the same forklift beam attachment need.

Capacity, Carriage Class and the Rules That Apply

Every attachment costs capacity twice: it adds dead weight, and it usually pushes the load center farther from the carriage face. OSHA 1910.178(a)(4) requires the manufacturer's prior written approval for modifications and additions affecting capacity and safe operation, with the capacity, operation and maintenance plates changed accordingly. OSHA 1910.178(a)(5) adds that trucks fitted with front-end attachments other than factory-installed ones must be marked to identify the attachment and show the truck-plus-attachment weight at maximum elevation with the load laterally centered. ANSI/ITSDF B56.1 is the consensus safety standard behind those requirements, and OSHA 1910.178(l) covers operator training for powered industrial trucks.

Check fit before you check capacity. Attachments hang on ITA-class hook carriages, and classes are not interchangeable — the Arrow MHP Standard ITA Forklift Forks listed here are Class IV with a 21,000 lb capacity. Fork pocket spacing and carriage width are the other common blockers, as with the 39-inch on-center pockets and 48-inch minimum carriage on the Star spreader bars. Powered attachments such as the Vestil Hydraulic Powered Fork Truck Crate Turner/Dumper (CTD) need an auxiliary hydraulic function on the truck, which many basic warehouse trucks do not have.

Drum Handling, Weighing and Work Platforms

Drum work has dedicated tools. Vestil Drum & Bin Dumpers and Portable Hydraulic Drum Carrier/Rotator/Booms carry, rotate and empty drums without transferring them to a second machine, while Vestil Universal Trash Can Dumpers and the Open Ended Steel Dumping Hopper (HOP) handle in-plant waste.

Fork-mounted scales let you weigh inside the material flow. The RAVAS iForks-32 is offered in 2,500 kg, 3,000 kg and 5,000 kg weighing capacities, with a stated maximum tolerance of 0.1% of applied load, IP65 protection, 200% mechanical overload protection and 75 hours of battery operation per fork. If those weights will be used in a commercial transaction, NIST Handbook 44 governs commercial weighing and measuring devices, so confirm legal-for-trade status with your state weights and measures program.

For elevated work, the Bluff Forklift Safety Cage (SG4048) is rated at 1,000 lb capacity and the Star Industries Safety Work Platform serves the same purpose. The Star Load-N-Tow combines a loading platform with a towing attachment, and Star Bucket Racks store buckets between shifts.

Choosing the Right Attachment

Work through it in this order: what the load is, how it must be released, what the attachment weighs, whether your carriage class and width accept it, and whether the truck has hydraulics if the attachment is powered.