High-Lift Pallet Trucks

A high lift pallet truck moves a pallet like an ordinary pump truck, then raises the forks well beyond the 200 mm of a standard truck so the load is presented at a comfortable working height. It is the machine to buy when the job is picking, packing or assembling from a pallet all day and the alternative is bending to floor level for every item. It is not a stacker: it lifts a pallet to hand height, not onto racking. The electric high lift pallet trucks we supply are the GPC VULCAN range, in two fork widths and two capacities, with the powered lift doing the work that a manual scissor pallet truck would ask of the operator's arm. Everything on this page is UK supply in GBP, with the specifications taken from the product listing.

Electric high lift pallet trucks: models and prices

All four are the VULCAN electric high lift pallet truck, priced as shown on the product page and inclusive of VAT. The two decisions are fork width and capacity, and the numbers make them cheap decisions: the wider 680 mm forks add £48.30 at 1,000 kg and £54.12 at 1,500 kg, and the step from 1,000 kg to 1,500 kg costs £189.54 on the 540 mm truck and £195.36 on the 680 mm one. If there is any chance of a 1,200 kg pallet, the extra capacity is the cheapest insurance on the page.

Specification shared across the range

• Conforms to EN 1757-2, the standard for manually propelled pallet trucks.
• Forks 1,170 mm long and 160 mm wide, lowered fork height 85 mm — the same entry height as a standard hand pallet truck, so the truck goes under any pallet a pump truck goes under.
• Fork width 540 mm or 680 mm overall: 540 mm suits UK standard and Euro pallets entered on the short side; 680 mm gives a wider stance for wider or less stable loads.
• 12 V / 60 Ah battery and charger included, driving a 0.8 kW lift motor.
• Manual and electric lift and lower, so the load can be inched to an exact height for a bench, a conveyor edge or a machine table. Manual operation is included as a fallback.
• Adjustable stabilising bars come into operation to stop the truck moving while the forks are raised and loaded.
• 180 × 55 mm steering wheels and 75 × 50 mm front rollers.

One thing the listing does not publish is the maximum raised fork height. If your application needs the pallet at a specific height — a particular bench, a particular conveyor — ask us for the figure before ordering rather than assuming it.

What a high lift pallet truck is for

The case for a high lift truck is ergonomic, and it is strongest where one pallet is worked through slowly. Order-picking from a full pallet of cartons, kitting components at a sub-assembly bench, packing from a pallet of product at a packing station, loading a machine from a pallet of blanks — in each case the operator otherwise bends to floor level dozens or hundreds of times a shift. Raising the pallet turns that into a waist-height reach, and because the lift is powered, nobody is pumping a full tonne up by hand each time a pallet changes. The truck also stays a truck: when the pallet is empty, lower the forks, pull the next one over from goods-in and raise it again. That is the difference from a fixed lift table, which has to be loaded by something else.

The stabilising bars matter more than they sound. A pallet raised to working height on 1,170 mm forks is a tall, narrow load; the bars engage so the truck cannot roll while it is being picked from. The working rule is simple: raise it, work from it, lower it, then move it. A high lift truck is not driven around with the forks up.

High lift pallet truck, pallet lifter, stacker or lift table?

The names overlap in search results, so here is the distinction as we apply it across our range:

• A manual pallet truck or powered pallet truck lifts a pallet just clear of the floor, about 200 mm on our hand trucks, and moves it. It cannot present a load at working height.
• A high lift pallet truck — this page — moves a pallet and raises it to working height. Often what a buyer means by "pallet lifter".
• A pallet stacker lifts a pallet up a mast to storage height, onto racking or a vehicle bed. Our hydraulic stackers lift 1,000 kg to between 1,600 mm and 3,000 mm from £1,666.50; a high lift truck is not a substitute for one.
• A scissor lift table raises a load placed on its platform but has no forks and does not drive under a pallet. Our double scissor lift trolley carries 1,000 kg for £1,512.24 and suits loads that are not on a pallet at all.
• The VULCAN electric mini lifter sits between the two: 400 kg to 1,200 mm on adjustable forks with a removable platform, £1,890.00, for part-pallets, totes and machine loading rather than full pallets.

We set all of these side by side in how to lift and move pallets without a forklift, and the truck-versus-stacker decision has its own guide in pallet stacker vs pallet truck.

What we do not stock

So the range is not oversold: we do not sell a manual (hand-pumped) high lift or scissor pallet truck — the VULCAN range here is electric lift only, with manual operation included as a back-up. We do not sell used or refurbished trucks, we do not hire, we do not sell spare parts, and we do not provide operator training. Under PUWER 1998 the employer must ensure operators are adequately trained for this class of equipment; how to use a pallet truck safely covers the operating basics, and LOLER vs PUWER explains why a truck that lifts a load to height falls under the lifting-equipment inspection regime as well.

Choosing a high lift pallet truck

Three questions settle it. What is the heaviest pallet, including the pallet itself, that will go on the forks — if it is over 1,000 kg, or might be, buy the 1,500 kg truck. How wide and how stable is the load — for wide or top-heavy pallets take the 680 mm forks. And what height does the load need to be presented at — ask us for the raised height figure and check it against your bench before you order. If the answer to the last question is "onto a racking beam", you are on the wrong page: look at stackers. For the wider range, including weigh scale, stainless steel and rough terrain trucks, see all pallet trucks, or lifters and loaders for platform-based lifting.

Lifting a loaded pallet starts with knowing its footprint and weight. Our pallet sizes and weights guide covers UK standard and Euro dimensions and what they mean for fork length.