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Manual Pallet Jacks

The easiest and least expensive type of pallet jack available for companies to buy is the manual pallet jack. This pallet jack is a simple designed steel machine with a hydraulic pump that is operated by pumping the handle up and down. Although they are small, these pallet jacks have the ability to carry a load around 5500lbs. The most common type of manual pallet jacket is the low lift pallet jack. It is typically used for moving palletised loads over more shorter distances. You won’t get any electrical drive assistance with this machine so there is no point in planning on walking a load across a large area with it.

Furthermore, manual pallet jacks are convenient because they are compact and light in weight. They can easily fit into the back of a box van or onto a van trailer. They are also great machines to use in tight spaces where lift height isn’t a factor such as supermarket store aisles or small back room warehouses.

Electric Walk Behind Pallet Jacks

Also referred to as a walkie pallet jack, the electric walk behind pallet jack is the battery powered version of the manual pallet jack. While it is a small machine it is typically twice the size of a manual pallet jack. Its lifting capacity is anywhere between 4500 lbs and 6000 lbs. One advantage of using an electric walkie pallet jack is the electrical assistance when lifting and driving. The user can press a button to life and lower loads and the machine has a drive wheel that assists in conveying the load. The user doesn’t need to pull the load or machine as is the case when using a manual pallet jack, nor does the user need to manually pump the handle to lift the load.

An electric pallet jack is powered by an on-board batter pack or industrial battery. As you might expect, the battery will lose its charge as it’s used and will need to be recharged on a regular basis. The walkie pallet jack has more moving parts such as lift pumps and drive motors thus requiring more maintenance than a manual pallet jack.

Electric pallet jacks are great for using when on loading docks and staging areas. Similar to the manual pallet jack, the electric walker is not the best option for moving a load over longer distances since the operator is still required to walk.

Rider Pallet Jack

The rider pallet jack is a bigger version of the electric walk behind that has an added riding platform. Instead of the using walking behind the pallet jack, they can step up onto the platform on the jack and ride with it. This makes the rider pallet jack a significantly better choice for moving loads over a long distance. This type of pallet jack is battery powered and has an on-board industrial battery.

The only disadvantage we can find with this option is that the machine itself is at an awkward stance and the user is exposed to hazards. Without including any loads, a rider pallet jack weighs a couple of thousand pounds and can quite easily break bones or do significant damage to surrounding structures. They are very popular and are used every day, but they can also be somewhat hazardous machines because of how the user is positioned and exposed on the end of the machine.

Center Rider

This particular version is very similar to the rider pallet jack with the benefit of being safer and more ergonomically designed. The center rider pallet jack allows the used to be completely facing forwards or backwards, rather than sideways on a regular rider pallet jack, and is also protected by the machine chassis on two sides.

The center rider pallet jack is a highly effective better machine over longer and straighter distances. It can, however, be a little harder to turn than a rider pallet jack so it is better used where the user stays in a straight line a majority of the time.

Counterbalanced Walkie Stacker

In this situation, the pallet jack leaves the ground and evolves into a high lifting machine. All of the other machines already mentioned in this article have low lift heights of no more than about 8 inches. The walkie stacker is able to lift loads significantly higher to over 100 inches. The counterbalanced stacker is powered by electricity and includes a heavy chassis and lifting mast. The machine keeps itself from tipping over by using the counterweight of the batter, machine components, and steel.

These machines are typically less expensive and smaller than ride-on counterbalanced forklifts. In environments such as small storerooms and machine shops, the walkie stacker is a good option to have when lifting pallets onto racking or moving machines around shops.