Sometimes you do not have access to a crane, or you have a load that is too small to justify the use of a crane.  However, you cannot pick it up manually or by any other means, but instead must have to suspend it from a forklift and lift it to a more elevated position by raising the forks to the appropriate height. 

If you encounter such an application, use an Easy Rack lift hook to do the job. It is the safest way of lifting suspended objects by means of a forklift.  It can be used with either an extendable reach or straight mast forklift.

Never try to chain the object to the forks.   

A lift hook, by definition, is an attachment with two fork pockets that slide onto the forks.  Between this attachment there is a with a swivel hook positioned at 24”.  The unit is secured to the forks by a heavy duty chain.  This keeps the unit from sliding past the 24 inch mark, which is crucial to safe operations.

The reason for this is lies in the way the forklift itself is built.  The load center of a standard fork truck is 24 inches.  Anything positioned forward or aft of this intrinsic center of gravity throws the entire vehicle slightly off balance.  This may be something you can get away with if you are lifting an exceptionally light load.  However, if you are lifting anything of substantial mass, you run the risk of losing your contents on the ground, or even worse, overturning the vehicle or injuring a worker.

The lift hook is designed to give you a safe, ergonomic, and time-saving solution to this potential dilemma.  Because it is located at exactly 24 inches to the rear of the lift hook frame, it places any load you attach to it squarely at the standard manufacturer load center rating location—which on most forklifts is 24 inches.

This allows you to use your standard forklift as you normally would, although you must deduct 265 pounds, which is the weight of the lift hook itself, from the total rating.  For instance, if your fork truck is rated at 8,000 pounds in a specific boom configuration, you must subtract 265 pounds from 8,000 pounds to arrive at a total of 7,735 pounds—your new rating when using this attachment.

It is very important to never exceed this factored rating, even for purposes of testing.  Also, check your forklift manual for variations of the load capacity based on variation in boom position.  Typically, when you elevate the forks, the rated lift capacity will decrease.  Similarly, on extendable reach forklifts, the rated capacity decreases when the boom is extended.

You should only use the lift hook with the forklift forks level or with the tips tilted only slightly upward. The lift hook is designed for vertical lifting only, so you should never use it to pull any type of load.   Clear the area around the load of all personnel prior to lifting, and advise all parties onsite to stay at a safe distance.

Easy Rack stocks a vast inventory of commercial shelving, material handling equipment, commercial lighting, used pallet racks, and modular prefab buildings installed nationwide. If you can not find what you are looking for call us toll free at 1-888-776-3720 and we will find it for you. Our home office is located in Houston, Texas with warehouses located throughout the United States that enable us to service all 50 states including Memphis, Tennessee, Baltimore, Maryland, Charlotte, N.C, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Seattle, Washington, Boston, Massachusetts, Denver, Colorado, Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky, Irving, Texas, Amarillo, TX, Dallas, TX, Brownsville, Texas, Grand Prairie, TX, Pasadena, Texas, Fort Worth, Texas., El Paso, Texas, New York NY, Miami Fl, Los Angeles, CA, San Diego, CA, San Francisco, Ca, Phoenix, AZ, Boston, MA, Chicago, IL .