Material handling equipment can be exceptionally confusing to the untrained eye. As with most significant purchases, it’s good to do your research – not just on the product, but on the application. Pallet trucks and jacks are just like anything else. You can have the most expensive piece of equipment in the world, but if you need a hammer and you bought a screwdriver, you’ve wasted your time and money. The right pallet truck or jack is the one that does the job you need it to do at a price that you can afford. So it’s important to consider some basic questions when selecting a pallet jack.
Douglas Equipment is an excellent resource to consult when researching pallet jacks and trucks. We’ve been in business since 1955. We have manufactured and sold all sorts of material handling equipment in the past almost 60 years. This has given us a unique insight into what works in our industry and what doesn’t. We have serviced a broad variety of industries such as hospitals, restaurant, steel mills, and hotels. We also work with a large number of residential clients. In all of these situations, we’ve been able to provide expertise in helping our customers pick a high quality yet affordable product. We can ship anywhere in the United States and our location in South Florida makes it easy and convenient to ship to locations in the Caribbean and South America as well.
Do You Work in a Grocery Story or Similar Environment?
Many pallet jacks are used to stock retails stores such as Walmart or Target, or grocery stores such as Food Lion. If you work in these kinds of environments and handle moderately heavy pallets, you might wish to consider a hydraulic pallet jack.
Hydraulic pallet jacks are manually powered. This means that the handle is used to pump the pallet jack forks up high enough to move and transport the pallet. While this may sound like tough work, the hydraulic mechanism in the pump makes this a snap. This reduces the need for something more high powered and expensive like an electric pallet jack. If you need to do some heavy duty stocking with a hydraulic pallet jack, we would recommend considering the CPII Pallet Truck by Wesco. It has a rubber coated handle to protect workers, 48 inch long forks, entry and exit rollers, and has a capacity of 5,500 pounds. It comes with polyurethane wheels that help with smooth reliable transport and the wheels won’t scuff or scratch the floor. This pallet jack would more than pay for itself in a small amount of time.
Heavy Duty Lifting
If you work in an industrial environment like a construction supply warehouse, you might find that using a manual hydraulic pallet truck just won’t cut it. This is especially the case if you need to lift the pallet more than just a few inches off the floor. If that’s the case, we recommend considering an electric jack. These jacks can help reduce repetitive stress injuries as well as prevent worker safety issues that can crop up with the constant lifting of heavy weights.
We would recommend the heavy duty powered walkie pallet truck manufactured by Wesco for these types of applications. It has an ergonomic design that is extremely user friendly. The controls for the pallet truck are located on the handle. They include forward and reverse speeds, lift and lower controls, a belly reverse safety button, horn, and an electromagnetic disk brake with an automatic dead man feature when the handle is released. The pallet truck is key operated, which prevents accidental powering. It has a 65.5 degree turning radius which gives you the ability to swivel a bit, giving you more room to work efficiently. It is powered by three 8V/195Ah batteries and can lift up to 4,400 pounds. The wheels are made of polyurethane, which is resistant to water, moisture, chemicals, oil and grease.
What If I Need to Move Irregularly Sized Pallets?
The minute something has a standard size, that’s the minute the exception is born. Some pallets do not fit into the cookie cutter mold of the 40” and 48” pallet. When this situation happens, or if you don’t use standard sized pallets, then you need a long fork pallet truck like the PT70.
The PT70 has two fork lengths: 70” and 78”. We might suggest the 78” because not only will you have greater control over larger pallets, it’s also possible to load and move a 40” and 48” inch pallet simultaneously. This can make transporting pallets much more efficient. Additionally, this pallet jack was designed with the furniture industry in mind so it comes with a high capacity of 4,400 pounds.
For worker comfort, the handle has been coated in rubber to prevent any repetitive stress injuries and keep the worker as safe as possible while operating the pallet jack. The pump in the handle is also ergonomically designed to eliminate any possible injuries to the back, neck, shoulders, and arms. We use the CPI pump model on this pallet jack for smooth performance.
What if I Need a Jack for a Drum Container?
Sometimes you need to lift large and unwieldy drum containers on a pallet jack since the contents are liquid or would not otherwise be shipped on a standard pallet. In that case, we suggest the Pallet Truck Drum Lifter. This pallet truck will secure and move your drum container. It has a maximum capacity of 600 pounds, which should be more than enough for your needs. It has a hydraulic pump pallet jack and is able to handle 55 gallon steel drums. This pallet truck has nylon wheels, which are good for smooth transport and resistant to abuse.
The Right Choice is Easy with our Customer Service Team
Whatever your pallet truck and jack needs may be, Douglas Equipment is ready to help out at a moment’s notice. We have an expert customer service staff standing by to discuss your expectations and needs. Once we understand them, we’ll be able to suggest several high quality and affordable alternatives. Contact us today to get the selection process started.
