Pallet Mover Machine

Where a pallet jack stops

Typical pallet movers can handle smooth, concrete floors.

But on a builder’s yard, a nursery, a farm or a landscaping site, the same pallet has to cross gravel, mud, a kerb and sometimes a doorway, and a pump truck struggles with the tasks at hand.

The nylon wheels that make a pump truck so easy to push indoors are the problem outside.

Rolling resistance climbs the moment the surface turns to gravel, a potholed yard or wet grass, and its few centimetres of lift leave the fork tips catching on the first kerb.

Electric pallet jacks take the strain out of pushing, and a powered pallet stacker adds lift, but every one of them still needs a level, sealed floor.

A forklift copes with the ground and then can’t get through a gate.

Manual handling is the other limit.

A standard hand pallet truck is rated for around 2500kg on paper, but pulling even 500kg up a slope can end badly with a potential injury or a stopped job.

The models sold as heavy duty are no different on a hill.

A compact loader with pallet forks for rough terrain

A compact loader runs pallet forks on the same quick-hitch as its bucket.

The machine underneath is built to move palletised loads over the ground a pallet truck can’t handle.

Rubber tyres, hydrostatic drive and a proper lift height mean it lifts a load off a lorry, crosses a rutted yard and can sets it down on a slope.

The machine carries the weight of the load the whole way.

Lifting and moving palletised material stops being a job for two people, a sack truck and a ratchet strap.

One operator can move the load, drop the forks, pick up the bucket and get on with the next task.

A pallet truck moves pallets and does nothing else, whereas the loader you buy for the forks also clears the yard, loads the skip and sweeps the floor.

Sherpa mini loader for pallets in confined spaces

The Sherpa is our answer for sites where access decides everything, because at 76cm wide it gets through a standard single doorway.

With no boom to swing, it works right up against a wall or down a side passage that a bigger machine wouldn’t get near.

The operator stands on a platform at the back, with no cab door or seat belt, so getting on and off at every drop takes a second.

Because it’s a skid steer, it turns inside its own length and will spin a load round in an aisle.

The fully electric 2-Speed model runs indoors without fumes, so the same machine unloads a delivery in the yard and carries it onto production floors or into stockrooms.

Suit it to lighter palletised loads, and check the fork rating against your heaviest load before you order.

Other jobs a Sherpa does on the same site

Swap the forks for a bucket, and it shifts sand, gravel, bark or the sweepings from a yard clean-up.

A grab handles fencing timber and logs, an auger drills post holes, and the bucket loads a skip at a height a barrow never will.

At around 562kg for the petrol model, it also travels on a small trailer behind a car and won’t rut a lawn or mark block paving on the way to the gate.

MultiOne compact loader with a pallet fork attachment for larger industrial sites

Once the pallets weigh close to a tonne, need stacking two high, or have to travel the full length of a distribution centre yard, the Sherpa is out of its depth and you need a MultiOne.

The range starts with models that still fit through a garden gate and runs up to heavy-duty 75hp machines that lift full-weight pallets of block paving or bagged aggregate all day, and even hay bales with the correct attachment.

The telescopic boom on every series stacks pallets two high, reaches over a lorry bed and sets a load down on the far side of a wall without the machine repositioning.

Articulated steering gives a zero inside turning circle, so a machine with that lift capacity still works between racking rows and parked trailers.

For indoor warehouse use the electric EZ Series runs the same pallet fork attachment on battery power with no exhaust.

Other jobs a MultiOne does on an industrial site

The forks are one of more than 170 attachments, and on an industrial site the others get used just as hard.

Add a 4-in-1 bucket for loading and grading, a sweeper for the loading bay, and in January a snow blade or salt spreader to keep the site open.

Or for sites with limited water supply points, the high pressure hose attachment can be used to clean equipment after use.

On the groundcare side, the same machine runs a flail, a trencher for cable and drainage runs, and a log grab.

New MultiOne loaders come with a 3-year warranty.

Choosing between a pallet truck, a Sherpa and a MultiOne

Start with the floor, because if every pallet moves across sealed concrete and never meets a slope, a doorway or the weather, the right pallet truck is a hand pump truck and you’ll spend a few hundred pounds.

If pallets cross a yard, meet gravel or grass, or have to get through a door as well as across a car park, you need a loader.

Access usually settles it.

Wherever a doorway or side passage is involved, the Sherpa is the pick, and the MultiOne only comes into it once the pallets get heavy or need stacking.

Then count the other jobs, since a budget that stretches to a loader also buys a sweeper, a bucket and a grab, and the bucket will be on the machine more often than the forks.

Not sure whether to hire or buy? A week on hire with the forks fitted tells you more about which size you need than any spec sheet. Or our groundcare machine specialists are always happy to point you in the right direction.

How it works with ILH Groundcare

1. Send us the site – Ring 0141 775 9288 or use the contact form with the ground the pallets cross, the narrowest opening on the route and the heaviest load, and whether it’s for a delivery week or year-round.
2. We pick the loader and the forks – A Sherpa for doorways and side passages, a MultiOne for weight and stacking, with the fork rating checked against your heaviest pallet and a straight price to hire or buy.
3. Prepared in the workshop – The forks go on at Cumbernauld, the hydraulics and quick-hitch are checked, and the machine is serviced before it goes on the trailer.
4. Delivery and handover – We bring it to you anywhere in Scotland, run through fork height, load position and the attachment swap, and leave once you’re comfortable.
5. Support after that – Advice on the phone, parts and servicing from the same workshop, collection at the end of a hire, and a 3-year warranty on a new MultiOne.

FAQs on moving pallets

What tool is used to move pallets?

On a smooth indoor floor you’d use a manual or electric pallet truck. On rough ground, a slope or a gateway, a compact loader with pallet forks, or a telehandler if there’s room. A scissor lift table or pallet lifter raises a load to bench height but never moves it.

How do you move a heavy pallet on rough ground?

Use a machine rated for the weight rather than adding people, which on a site means a compact loader on rubber tyres. The larger MultiOne series are built to move heavy loads clear of the ground and manage full-weight pallets across a rough yard or up a ramp.

How do you move a full pallet without a pallet jack?

A compact loader with forks is the usual answer outdoors, and a Sherpa is the option when the pallet also has to go through a doorway. Breaking the load down and carrying it by hand is the slow fallback, and the one that injures people.

Can pallet trucks be used outdoors?

Only on smooth, level, sealed ground such as a concrete apron. Gravel, tarmac patched with potholes, grass and any slope defeat the small wheels and low lift height. Some models come with larger pneumatic tyres for uneven floors, but they’re still not built for a yard.

Does ILH hire loaders with pallet forks?

Yes. Both Sherpa and MultiOne loaders are available on daily, weekly and longer-term hire from our Cumbernauld workshop, with the forks fitted and the machine serviced before it leaves. Delivery across Scotland is available.

Find the pallet mover that fits your site

Tell us the ground you’re working on, the narrowest gap the machine has to pass and the heaviest pallet it has to lift, and we’ll tell you straight whether that’s a Sherpa, a MultiOne or a pump truck from somewhere else.

We’ve been supplying and servicing groundcare machinery from Cumbernauld since 2007, and we run the kit we sell.

Call 0141 775 9288 or get in touch, and we’ll match a loader and forks to your site.