Lifting Attachments

Types of lifting attachments

The range divides by what is lifted and by how the load leaves the attachment at the landing point.

Concrete buckets for crane and excavator pours

Concrete buckets are chosen by how the concrete has to leave them. The Twinflow concrete bucket pours from the bottom or through a fold-out side chute, so one bucket covers slabs, columns and trenches on the same pour. The geared Coneflow concrete bucket meters concrete through a geared side outlet, and the hose-outlet concrete bucket places it through a flexible hose into wall forms and tight footings. Without crane cover, the excavator concrete pouring bucket pours trenches and footings from the machine already on site.

Self-dumping and crane dumping hoppers

Waste hoppers are matched to where the waste goes. The self-dumping boat hopper and the crane-lifted boat dumpster tip automatically under the crane, so no worker stands at the tipping point, and the crane-only circular dumping hopper fits tight scaffold and rooftop zones. Dense rubble and scrap suit the drop bottom hopper, which empties through a bottom flap, while the crane lift dumping hopper is a lug-lifted hopper for overhead crane work. Where a forklift feeds a fixed yard bin, the bottom empty forklift hopper opens on the bin rim with the driver in the cab. More tipping and forklift hoppers are in dumping hoppers.

Crane forks and excavator pallet forks

Crane forks carry palletized loads on the hook to decks and scaffold that a forklift cannot reach. The crane pallet forks balance themselves under load and take a safety net for loose packs, and the telescopic self-leveling crane forks adjust in height to suit the load and have hooks for an optional load net. Excavator pallet forks turn an excavator into a pallet handler on ground too rough for a forklift.

Block grabs for packaged masonry

A block lifting grab picks a whole pack of brick, block, pavers or slabs on the crane hook and opens on its own lift cycle, so no one reaches under the load to release it.

Curb stone lifters and handles

Curb tools step up with the weight of the piece. The manual curb stone handle and the two-person stone handle carry single curbs, edging and slabs by hand. The universal curb stone lifter and the heavy duty curb stone clamp work by hand or on a crane hook, and the heavier clamp, rated to 1,100 lb, takes large curb sections, steps and natural stone. Curb clamps take one piece at a time, so whole packs of block or pavers go to the block grab.

Goods cages, brick baskets and lockable crates

Cages carry loose, non-palletized materials that would slide off forks. The mesh-sided crane lift goods cages move tools, cable and fittings on multi-level jobs, and the heavy duty goods cage with ramp lets heavier equipment be wheeled in at grade. The brick basket is a small crane cage for bricks and fittings going up to a scaffold deck, and the lockable forklift crate keeps high-value equipment locked between moves.

Lifting cages for waste carts, gas cylinders and IBCs

Some loads arrive in their own containers and need a cage shaped around them. The waste cart crane cage lifts full commercial waste carts off upper floors and demolition decks behind lockable gates. Gas cylinder lifting cages hold cylinders upright for crane lifts and site storage, while the forklift gas cylinder cradle straps one cylinder to the forks. The IBC lifting cage carries an intermediate bulk container on four corner lifting eyes.

Personnel access cages and rescue cages

Two kinds of cage are built to carry people. The personnel access cage lifts two workers on a crane or forklift for short tasks at height, with a self-locking gate and harness rings. The crane rescue stretcher cage and the accident rescue cage lift one casualty on a stretcher with one attendant, for evacuation from height or confined zones on high-rise builds, wind towers and industrial plants. On a crane-served job, the rescue cage is kept on site and written into the lift plan before work at height begins.

Drum lifters, drum tilters and IBC tippers

Drum tools are chosen by whether the drum only moves or also pours. The rim grip drum lifter clamps open or closed steel and plastic drums automatically, while the forklift drum lifter locks onto the top rib of closed steel drums, so open-top drums go on the rim grip. The forklift drum tilter and the crane drum tilter lift and tip drums under crank or chain control, and the IBC tipper tilts an IBC so the last of the contents drains out.

Fork mounted jibs and roof truss jibs

A jib turns forklift or telehandler forks into a small crane for loads that must hang from a hook. The fork mounted extendable jib telescopes and angles upward, with several hook points for awkward loads, and the roof truss jib lifts and places roof trusses without a crane.

Magnetic lifters for steel road plates

A permanent magnetic lifter holds steel plate with no power supply, so steel road plates can be set over a trench and lifted again from the hook without lugs welded on or holes cut in the plate.

Mortar tubs, mortar hoppers and rubble carts

The crane and fork lift mortar tub is a stackable plastic tub with fork channels for mortar, materials or waste, lifted by crane or telehandler. The steel mortar hopper holds a larger batch of mortar on four crane lugs, and the wheeled rubble cart is pushed to the work inside buildings, then lifted by its hooks to empty into a larger hopper. More containers are in tubs, pallets and boxes.

Rated loads, machine fit and landing space

Rated load against the heaviest full pick

Ratings across the range run from 330 lb on a hand curb handle to over 17,000 lb on the largest boat dumpster, and the figure to match is the heaviest full pick the attachment will make. Concrete, wet soil and masonry rubble weigh far more per cubic yard than mixed waste, so hoppers and buckets are sized by full-load weight as well as volume. The crane, the rigging and the attachment each carry a rating, and the lowest of them sets the limit for the lift.

Fit to the crane, forklift or excavator

Crane attachments hang from a bail arm, lifting eye or chain sling, so the hook and sling legs have to suit the attachment's eye and lugs. Fork mounted attachments have sleeves or pockets sized for a fork section, which is checked against the truck's forks before ordering. Excavator forks and buckets are built for a machine class, from 8 to 20 tons across the range, and fit by quick coupler or pin-on mount.

Reach and space at the landing point

A crane's capacity falls as its radius grows, so the load is checked at the farthest landing point, and a crowded scaffold or rooftop needs an attachment with a compact footprint. Where forks cannot get close to the load, an extendable jib or telescopic crane forks add the reach, and auto-tipping hoppers need clear space at the discharge point.