Forklift Attachments Effect Load Capacity

Your forklift is rated for a specific maximum load capacity. If you don’t already know what it is, you can easily find the maximum load capacity for your specific vehicle because it will be listed on a plate installed in a highly visible area — usually on the mast at eye level to the driver.

The maximum load capacity is the highest weight your forklift can lift safely. When you attempt to lift a payload that is higher than your rated maximum lift capacity, while your vehicle may be able to do it — at least briefly — it won’t be safe and it could put the driver and pedestrians in the area at risk if there is a failure.

It may also damage your forklift’s motor, hydraulics, and other costly parts.

Forklift Attachments and Load Capacity

Using forklift attachments will affect the maximum load capacity of your forklift. While attachments will never increase the highest possible weight your vehicle can lift, they often will decrease it.

This has to do with engineering and physics. Lifting a load without an attachment with just the forks is what the vehicle was designed to do. But when you add something like a boom attachment, a lift platform, a carpet pole, or another type of attachment, not only is there the added weight of the attachment itself, but you are also changing the way the payload is being lifted.

Before you use an attachment, it is critical that you and forklift operators understand how it will affect the maximum load capacity of your vehicle. Trying to lift too much weight with your forklift attachment can put the attachment, the vehicle, and your driver in danger.

To understand how a forklift attachment will affect the maximum load capacity of your forklift, check the spec sheet for the attachment, the owner’s manual for the attachment and the forklift itself, or the manufacturer’s website.

Maximum Weight Capacity Tips

Generally, it’s a good idea to buy or lease a forklift with a maximum load capacity that is higher than the biggest weight you ever intend to lift. A good rule of thumb is to estimate the highest payload you typically would lift then add 5% to 10%.

It’s also a good idea to make sure everybody using that particular forklift knows its maximum load capacity, the weight of the object being lifted, and the effect a forklift attachment will have on the vehicle’s lifting performance.