Excavator Pallet Forks VS Telehandler or Forklift

Excavator Pallet Fork Attachments are becoming more and more popular across the construction and plant hire sectors for increasing your digger's versatility and saving you money. They are an attachment to add to your fleet to help maximise your efficiency while on site or increase your hire appeal. But why should you use Excavator Pallet Forks over a Telehandler? Continue reading below to find out.

Why should I use Excavator Pallet Forks over a Telehandler or Forklift?

There are 5 main reasons why we would recommend using a Pallet Fork Attachment over a Telehandler or Forklift:

1. Increases Excavator Versatility
2. Can be used on small or boggy sites
3. Excavator isn't sat idol
4. No extra hire of machine or operator
5. Maintenance of only one machine

So let's talk about each of these points in more detail and really understand why they're beneficial to you, your business or your projects.

1. Increases Excavator Versatility

Whether you're a large plant hire company, an individual who owns their own excavator for home projects or somebody in between, an Excavator / Digger Pallet Fork Attachment WILL make your machine more versatile. Not only can you dig with your machine but you can now lift pallets, stillages and more from Point A to Point B, with just the quick and easy change of an attachment.

We've seen people use Pallet Forks to move pallets of animal feed or plaster mix, stillages of straw or rubber tyres or even small containers of concrete. The options are endless. As well as moving material, they can also be used to load and unload lorries, containers, vans, flatbeds etc if you regularly receive or send large pallets or parcels. If you already own an excavator this is the perfect attachment to maximise its time on site.

2. Can be used on small or boggy sites

Some sites will be too small to fit a full size telehandler or too boggy to use a forklift so this is where the Excavator Pallet Fork Attachment will be your best friend. 

As you know, your excavator is built to work in wet, muddy and uneven conditions, so tracking around boggy sites to move pallets of materials wouldn't be a problem. Your excavator will be able to get into those awkward areas of your site where a large telehandler or forklift couldn't. For example: bringing pallets of bricks around the foundations of a new build house, where the plot is too small for a telehandler and too uneven and muddy for a forklift.

3. Excavator isn't sat idol

If you need a machine to dig and lift then chances are you've considered hiring or purchasing an excavator and a telehandler / forklift. But while one is in use, chances are the other is sat idol, unless you have a large site where you can run multiple projects at once.

What is the problem with your excavator sitting idol? The main issue is that it's wasting money, especially if it's on hire. If your machines are sat not doing anything while you're paying for it to be on site, then you're effectively pouring money down the drain. But if you had a set of pallet forks for your excavator, your excavator will not be sat idol while you use another machine to lift. You're maximising your excavator and reducing it's downtime by consistently utilising it for various applications

4. No extra hire of machine or operator

Going hand in hand with your machine sitting idol, having a lifting attachment for your excavator means that you do not need to hire an extra machine like a telehandler or an extra operator for any of your lifting requirements.

Continually hiring additional machines and operators can be extremely expensive and can start to build up. And if you're only using the telehandler for a few specific jobs then it's sat idol while you use your excavator, that is wasted money. A one off payment of a set of Excavator Pallet Forks would stop your need for an extra machine or operator, and would drastically decrease the amount of money you need to spend per project on lifting equipment. The downside to this is that if you need to dig and lift at the same time, having one machine could be a hinderance. This is something you will have to consider.

5. Maintenance of only one machine

It may seem obvious but if you have Excavator Pallet Forks, your need for another machine like a Telehandler or Forklift will not be necessary. If you own multiple machines, you will need to invest more time and money into machine maintenance, where as if you only owned one machine, your maintenance time and cost of service equipment would be dramatically reduced. This will allow you to spend more time on projects, and less time making sure your equipment is in order beforehand.

You will, however, have to considered the maintenance of your Pallet Fork Attachment and the under carriage of your excavator. There will likely be an increase to the amount of undercarriage maintenance needed for your excavator if you're tracking around site moving material, so this is something you may have to consider when weighing up the pros and cons of hiring another machine.

So there you have it, the top 5 reasons why we would recommend using a Pallet Fork Attachment on your excavator over a Telehandler or Forklift. Learn about the benefits of Rhinox Pallet Forks, or shop the Pallet Fork collection.