Lifting & Handling Accessories

What Lifting Attachments Do for a Machine You Already Own

Lifting attachments solve a narrow problem well: a load that will not sit on forks, will not stay level under a hook, or cannot be squeezed without damage. An attachment is usually cheaper than a second machine, but the trade is capacity and reach. Every attachment adds dead weight, and most push the load center forward, so the carrier's usable capacity drops before the load is even picked. Work the numbers in this order — load weight and shape, then attachment rating, then what the carrier can still lift with the attachment installed, then aisle width and door height.

Forklift and Mast Stacker Lifting Attachments

The Vestil groups in this collection split into two carrier families, adjustable narrow mast stackers and counter-balanced power lifts, and both offer the same load-specific heads: roll fork, pole, reel rotator, roller platform and single ball hitch. A pole attachment picks coils, reels and anything with a center hole. A roll fork cradles paper, film and carpet rolls without crushing the core. A reel rotator pays out cable under control instead of letting a spool freewheel. A roller platform transfers loads to conveyor or die-cart height. A ball hitch turns a stacker into a yard tug for small trailers. The adjustable narrow mast single drum gripper handles closed-head drums upright.

Hefti-Lift attachments — V-shape fork, V block, fork hook and double spindle — mount to existing forks and are the cheapest way to add a hook or a shaft point to a truck you already run. Whatever you fit, OSHA 1910.178 requires the manufacturer's prior written approval for additions and modifications affecting capacity and safe operation, and requires the capacity, operation and maintenance plates to be changed accordingly. ANSI/ITSDF B56.1 covers attachment marking and safe use for the same class of trucks.

Hoist Attachments and Below-the-Hook Lifting Devices

Anything that hangs under a crane or hoist hook and engages the load is a below-the-hook lifting device. ASME B30.20 addresses construction, marking and inspection of those devices, and ASME BTH-1 addresses their design, including service class based on expected load cycles. That distinction matters commercially: a device specified for occasional yard work is not the same device for a production cell running every shift.

The hoist attachments here fall into three groups. Structural devices — the Vestil Short Span Steel Lifting Plate and the Vestil Basket Lifting Beam — fix the pick geometry and control sling angle. Grip devices — the Kenco Multilift line and the PH3500SL self-leveling pipe hook — hold the load by shape or friction. Soft rigging and connectors — Vestil drum slings, the Kenco RigMAX kit, and the Abaco multi-slab safeguard sling, cable connect sling, swivel hook, swivel shackle, bow shackle and rotary motor shackle — join the two. The Abaco items target stone and slab handling; the Abaco stone mason apron in this collection is operator PPE, not a lifting device, and carries no rated capacity.

Rated Capacity, Rigging Angles and Inspection

A sling's rated capacity is tied to a hitch. The Kenco KRM16800 RigMAX kit is rated 16,800 lb (7,620 kg) vertical; choker and basket ratings for any sling are separate values that must be read off the tag rather than assumed. ASME B30.9 addresses sling use and the effect of sling angle — as legs move away from vertical, tension in each leg rises sharply, which is the main reason to buy a spreader beam instead of longer slings. OSHA 1910.184 requires a competent person to inspect each sling before use on every shift, requires damaged or defective slings to be removed from service, requires synthetic web slings to carry a design factor of at least five, and requires them to be marked with the manufacturer and rated capacities. On construction sites, OSHA 1926.251 covers rigging equipment for material handling. Screw-pin shackles such as the two 7/8 in. alloy screw-pin anchor shackles supplied with the RigMAX kit should be oriented so the pin cannot be rolled loose by a shifting load.

Verified Specs From This Collection

The Vestil items above are made in the USA and listed with a 1-year limited warranty. Ratings not shown in this table are on the individual product pages; do not carry a figure from one model across a family.

What Buyers Get Wrong

Four mistakes repeat. First, buying on rated capacity alone and ignoring geometry — the Kenco ML12K14T88V1 Multilift is rated 12,000 lbs, but its 14 in. to 88 in. outside grip range is what decides whether it fits your product at all. Second, forgetting attachment dead weight: the PH3500SL weighs roughly 450 lb, and that comes off the crane chart before the pipe does. Third, not budgeting for the hardware that makes an attachment usable. The low end of this collection's $8 to $4,765 price span is exactly that — actuator bolt sets, the KL12000TLP lifting plate hardware kit, ML8K adjustable standoffs, ML8K manhole legs and extended legs, and the ML3K multilift standoff. Ordering the attachment and skipping the standoffs stalls the job. Fourth, leaving a truck's data plate unchanged after fitting an attachment, which OSHA 1910.178 does not permit.