Overloading pallet jack by 1000lb

Anyone have stories of using a 5500lb capacity pallet jack to successfully lift more than 5500? Need to move just 4 heavy items a few feet on smooth flat concrete. Don't wanna buy a new 8000lb jack if I can wing it.

Don't know much about it but I'll bet you come up on a pressure relief valve pretty close to the rating of the pallet jack. Must be some reason they rate them for capacity as opposed to 'one size fits all'!

Stuart

Yeah, use two! I just pulled four 5500+ items off a truck where I knew one jack would be marginal, but fortunately the pallets allowed two to go in side-by-side. A little tricky steering the two together, but it worked out well.

If you have any regular 1000lb dollies you could also try jacking one side of the pallet up, pushing a couple of the dollies under that end, then use the jack on the other end to lift and control motion. Just be careful if going over any dock plates or similar height changes.

Milland said:

Yeah, use two! I just pulled four 5500+ items off a truck where I knew one jack would be marginal, but fortunately the pallets allowed two to go in side-by-side. A little tricky steering the two together, but it worked out well.

If you have any regular 1000lb dollies you could also try jacking one side of the pallet up, pushing a couple of the dollies under that end, then use the jack on the other end to lift and control motion. Just be careful if going over any dock plates or similar height changes.

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I second that
One halfway under from the front and 1 halfway under from te back also works
But no harm in trying with just one Its not its gonna fall far Only problem might be you end up with a bend pallet jack like I have

Peter from holland

diyengineer253 said:

Anyone have stories of using a 5500lb capacity pallet jack to successfully lift more than 5500? Need to move just 4 heavy items a few feet on smooth flat concrete. Don't wanna buy a new 8000lb jack if I can wing it.

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Most 5500 lb manual pallet jacks won't pick up 5,500 lbs without some damage to the forks. What usually happens is the forks spread apart by a noticable amount and the jack is never quite the same again.

Also it's one thing to pick up 5,500 lbs but quite another to actually move it. Anything over about 3,200 lbs is pretty difficult to move by hand even over smooth level concrete. Way better is a 6,000 lb electric pallet jack, which are made waaay heavier duty and will typically pick up at least 6,500 lbs and move around with the twist of a lever effortlessly.

By the way, if scared of the battery prices on electric pallet jacks, if your use is sporatic they work perfectly fine with two standard issue marine deep cycle batteries. And unlike an electric forklift the battery weight is not needed for counterweight. In fact the lack of weight is actually an advantage....since an electric pallet jack lifts the weight of the battery with each lift, it increases your capacity even further to not have to lift so much battery weight. I've picked up (and most importantly...moved around) 7,000 lb machines with a 6,000 lb electric pallet jack running off two "trolling motor" batteries, like it was nothing.

If your use is more common, say 2 hours a day, four Trojan 6 volt golf cart batteries will work...cost, maybe $580 total. (a full size industrial 24 volt pallet jack battery cost between $2,000 and $2,850 new)

I keep preaching the charms of electric pallet jacks on PM but don't know if I have a single convert yet. All I can say is I'll keep preaching as it's night and day difference...electrics are infinitely better* than manual for loads over 1,000 lbs.

*I didn't even mention the side load casters (so it can't tip) and the brake !

Thanks for the input guys! Didn't even think of using two.. hahhaa

I'll keep searching craigslist, see if I can't find another used jack. They are so expensive new, my last was $50 bucks, handle is kinda messed up but hasn't given the ghost up yet.

Milacron said:

Also it's one thing to pick up 5,500 lbs but quite another to actually move it. Anything over about 3,200 lbs is pretty difficult to move by hand even over smooth level concrete.

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Hi Milacron,
The four pallets I mentioned above weren't that bad to move, the only one that gave us trouble was the first which had been loaded so close to the trailer wall that it was a pain to swing over towards the dock plate. After that they went smoothly. I can't even claim to be "strong like bull", just old and stubborn. An electric pallet jack would be a nice luxury, but I think an electric fork lift will eventually serve a wider role.

Milland said:

electric pallet jack would be a nice luxury,

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You can buy them dirt cheap used. I once bought 3 Clark 6,000 lb electrics at an auction for $30 each ! (yes, thirty dollars) And all three worked fine. These days I use a Jungheinrich electric 6K with 4 foot forks I bought brand spankin new (but at deep discount due to being "on sale/last years model") and a late model CAT electric 6K with 8 foot forks.

Now there is a whole 'nuther discussion... 8 foot forks.... OMG, if I had only had the sense to buy one of those a decade ago...amazingly useful...I think back on all the times where I was mucking about with toe jacks and skates because a 4 foot jack's forks were not long enough to get all the way under a machine... and pulling the mess by hand. When all I had to do is drive that jack under the machine, press "up" and go....effortlessly.... I don't even have to walk, can stand on the rear platform and ride along

diyengineer253 said:

see if I can't find another used jack. They are so expensive new

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Are you serious ?? I never cease to be amazed at how inexpensive manual pallet jacks sell for new.

Smooth concrete? There are other ways to safely move heavy things.

You could lift one end of it two or three inches with your 5500 lb jack and put some pipe under it. Then do the other end and put several more lengths under it. Keep one for exchanging while it rolls. I have moved many heavy objects this way, even with a pry bar instead of the jack.

Or just "ease" it along with a pry bar if you don't mind messing up the surface of the concrete a bit.

EPAIII said:

Or just "ease" it along with a pry bar if you don't mind messing up the surface of the concrete a bit.

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I've done that before with a 10,000 lb capacity manual pallet jack and 8,000 lb load...pretty slow go but ya do what ya gotta do sometimes.

But he's talking about overloading a manual pallet jack that probably won't even pick up it's rated capacity without bending the forks. The rating is assuming the load is evenly distributed, which it rarely is in reality. Plus if Taiwan or Chinese jack, the rating is likely overstated anyway.

Milacron said:

Are you serious ?? I never cease to be amazed at how inexpensive manual pallet jacks sell for new.

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I was talking about the new pallet jacks cost of $550 dollars for a 8000lb capacity unit. $550 is a lot considering how many used secondhand ones can be had for around $100.

diyengineer253 said:

I was talking about the new pallet jacks cost of $550 dollars for a 8000lb capacity unit. $550 is a lot considering how many used secondhand ones can be had for around $100.

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$550 for an 8K capacity manual pallet jack sounds dirt cheap to me. The Liftrite versions are two or three times that expensive new. As for used, I don't know that I've ever seen an 8K capacity manual pallet jack for sale used. Seen a few of the Liftrite 10K ones used for sale, but never an 8K.

Who has an 8K pallet jack for only $550 ?? FWIW, when they get up to that capacity, the forks need to be made of channel iron rather than formed sheet metal. Also they need all steel wheels...no poly coating. Look at the weight, if not around 300 lbs or more it probably won't really lift that much without damage to itself. The Liftrite 10K pallet jack looks nearly identical to a normal 4K one but weighs way more....over 400 lbs.

Milacron said:

I keep preaching the charms of electric pallet jacks on PM but don't know if I have a single convert yet. All I can say is I'll keep preaching as it's night and day difference...electrics are infinitely better* than manual for loads over 1,000 lbs.

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I still think a separate sub-forum for forklifts / hoisting / rigging questions would be a good addition to PM's lineup. There are 40 separate forums right now the general PM community can post a new thread (not including the 11 sub-forums that are reply only). I do not think a specific forklift sub-forum is going to be a detriment.

Also, any progress being made on the software to make a person's public location an active requirement before they can post to the forum? The user profile software has TWO areas for a person's location and this definitely confuses the new people when signing up as they fill in the first location requirement, but leave the second one that shows up in their posts blank. Lots a new members are signing up with no location displayed more and more.

Philabuster said:

Lots a new members are signing up with no location displayed more and more.

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Yeah, I know. I'm hearing that is because they are using Tapatalk to sign up which doesn't have a place to enter location on the form. I keep meaning to look into that.

Milacron said:

$550 for an 8K capacity manual pallet jack sounds dirt cheap to me. The Liftrite versions are two or three times that expensive new. As for used, I don't know that I've ever seen an 8K capacity manual pallet jack for sale used. Seen a few of the Liftrite 10K ones used for sale, but never an 8K.

Who has an 8K pallet jack for only $550 ?? FWIW, when they get up to that capacity, the forks need to be made of channel iron rather than formed sheet metal. Also they need all steel wheels...no poly coating. Look at the weight, if not around 300 lbs or more it probably won't really lift that much without damage to itself. The Liftrite 10K pallet jack looks nearly identical to a normal 4K one but weighs way more....over 400 lbs.

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See photo

Not sure if it put my location, I'm near Seattle. I use tapatalk to cross talk between here, "cnc-zone", and a few other forums related to machining and industrial things. I can't imagine using so many forums without it.

diyengineer253 said:

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Wow...that is dirt cheap for an 8K manual pallet jack. Seems a little light weight for that, but maybe it's ok. I'm still wondering where the used 8K jacks are for $100 as I've never seen one.

Wonder how that Jet is at lowering the load ? One big problem once you get above about 5,000 lbs is the lowering valve get's pretty hard to move in a smooth fashion....you pull on it harder and harder, and then it finally moves...but too much...and the load comes crashing down too fast. Like Homer Simpson at the theatre trying to shake the ice out of his drink and it won't come out so he shakes harder and harder and then the entire cup comes out on his face.... D'oh !

On my 10K p. jack, rather than use the lowering handle, I used to tap the relief valve stem with a hammer to lower it in small increments if the load was more than 6K

Well i went with a new Crown pallet jack i picked up from a fellow for a good deal of $220 bucks. 5K rating. Attempted to use two pallet jacks and it was a pain in the rear. The crown picked up and moved all 4 machines no problem. Even the release valve was very smooth and controlled while being overloaded by 1000 pounds.