Counterbalance · reach trucks · rough-terrain masted trucks · stackers
A forklift is decided by two numbers and one fact: rated capacity at the load centre you are actually lifting at, the lift height you need with the mast you can fit under, and what the floor or ground is. The building usually decides the fuel type before the load does. Everything else — attachments, tyres, shift pattern — modifies those three.
| Class | Capacity band | Lift height (class range) | Power and tyres | Surface it needs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pallet truck / stacker | 1–2 t | Ground level to approx. 3.5 m | Electric | Smooth level slab |
| Electric counterbalance | 1.5–3.5 t | approx. 3–6 m | Electric, cushion or solid tyres | Smooth slab, indoor |
| Reach truck | 1.4–2.5 t | approx. 6–12 m | Electric | Flat slab to a tight level tolerance |
| Diesel or LPG counterbalance | 2.5–10 t | approx. 3–6 m | Diesel or LPG, pneumatic tyres | Slab, hardstanding or firm yard |
| Heavy counterbalance | 10–25 t and above | approx. 3–6 m | Diesel, pneumatic | Hardstanding, container yard |
| Rough-terrain masted | 2.5–5 t | approx. 4–6 m | Diesel 4WD, flotation tyres | Sand, compacted fill, slope |
These are class ranges, not the specification of any particular machine. Models overlap at the edges and vary by manufacturer. Use the table to pick the class, then take the exact figures from the data plate and spec sheet of the machine you are actually offered.
A counterbalance truck carries the load ahead of its front axle and balances it with mass at the back, so the whole truck plus the load has to fit down the aisle and turn at the end of it. A reach truck extends its mast or forks forward into the racking while the truck itself stays in the aisle, which is why it works in aisles a counterbalance cannot use — but it is electric only, it needs a flat slab held to a tight tolerance, and it is a warehouse machine, not a yard machine. Choosing between them is an aisle-width question before it is a capacity question.
Ground clearance, four-wheel drive and flotation tyres let a masted truck cross compacted sand and slope. It is not a substitute for a telehandler — it still lifts vertically and has almost no forward reach — but where material has to be moved around site ground at low height, it does the job at lower cost than a boom machine. It cannot work on a finished floor.
Enclosed and food-grade environments rule out diesel. LPG is the traditional middle answer for part-indoor work but brings cylinder storage and exchange. Electric brings a charging area, ventilation for the charging bay, and — for anything beyond a single shift — either a spare battery and a change facility or a charging regime that fits the shift breaks.
This is the most misread number in the category. A truck's headline capacity assumes the load's centre of gravity sits at a standard distance from the fork face — commonly 500 mm on trucks up to about 5 t and 600 mm above that. A long, deep or awkwardly packed load pushes the centre of gravity further out and derates the truck, sometimes severely. The truck's own capacity data plate is the authority, and it gives capacity against load centre and lift height together, not as a single number. Measure your load and state its actual centre of gravity in the enquiry.
Two heights matter, not one. Maximum fork height decides whether you can reach the top beam of the racking. Collapsed mast height decides whether the truck can get through the shutter, under the sprinkler main, or inside a container at all. A free-lift mast raises the forks a useful distance before the mast starts to extend, which is what makes stacking inside a container or under a low soffit possible. Duplex and triplex masts trade collapsed height against maximum height — pick for the tighter of the two constraints.
Cushion and solid tyres for a smooth indoor slab; pneumatic for a yard with debris and joints; flotation for sand. Running a cushion-tyred warehouse truck across a yard destroys the tyres and the ride, and running a pneumatic yard truck on a finished floor marks it. The surface is a specification, not a detail.
Side shift, fork positioners, a jib, a drum clamp, a rotator or a man cage all add mass ahead of the front axle and move the load centre forward. Every one of them reduces rated capacity, and the truck has to be re-rated with the attachment fitted — the plate on the truck has to reflect the configuration you are actually using. A jib turns the truck into a crane in everything but name, and a man cage brings work-at-height rules into scope.
Measure aisle width, the turn at the end of the aisle, door and shutter openings, ramp gradients and any dock leveller the truck has to cross. Then check the truck's own width, its turning radius and its right-angle stacking aisle figure. A truck that fits the aisle but cannot turn into it is not usable.
State the shift pattern. A single-shift warehouse and a two-shift distribution operation need different battery capacity or a different fuel answer entirely, and the difference is invisible in a capacity figure.
Permit routes, certificate validity periods and working-hour rules differ by emirate, by authority and by free zone, and they change. Treat everything above as the questions to ask, not as a current legal position — confirm the requirement with the authority, the site and the equipment owner before the machine is booked.
Know the class you need?
Post the specification — class, size, dates, emirate — and the owners of the machines can contact you directly with their own rate and availability. Listing and posting are free, there is no commission, and MachineryRentalMarket is not a party to the rental contract.
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