Counterbalance Forklift Trucks

Counterbalance is the umbrella. Underneath it, the real decision is how the truck is powered. Each option has its own page with live stock, capacities and hire rates.

Electric counterbalance

No exhaust, so it can work indoors all day. Quieter than an engine truck, which matters in a shared building or on a night shift. Battery charging needs floor space and a routine.

Acclaim stock includes the STILL RX range at 1,000–8,000 kg, the Hyundai B-9 range at 1,600–4,990 kg, the Hyundai BE-X range at 1,600–2,500 kg, and the Lonking CPD ESL lithium-ion range at 2,500–10,000 kg.

→ Electric forklifts for sale

Diesel counterbalance

The choice for yards, timber, construction, waste and anything heavy outdoors. Diesel is where the big capacities live: Acclaim's Hyundai D-9 range runs from 3,500 kg to 25,000 kg. The STILL RX diesel range covers 1,600–8,000 kg and the Lonking LG DT range 2,500–3,500 kg.

→ Diesel forklifts for sale

LP gas (LPG) counterbalance

Engine performance with quick bottle changes. Ranges in stock include STILL RCD/RCG at 1,500–5,000 kg, STILL RX at 1,600–8,000 kg, Hyundai L-7M at 1,500–2,000 kg, Hyundai L-9A at 2,500–3,300 kg, Hyundai L-7A at 2,500–7,000 kg and Lonking LG GLT at 2,500–3,500 kg.

→ LP gas forklifts for sale

Stock and prices move. The three category pages above carry the live figures.

A counterbalance truck's rated capacity is quoted at a stated load centre, the distance from the fork face to the centre of gravity of the load. Push the load further out, or lift it higher, and the safe capacity drops.

Before you commit to a machine, have these to hand:

• Heaviest load, including the pallet or stillage. Not the average load.
• Load dimensions, especially depth. A long or awkward load moves the centre of gravity forward.
• Maximum lift height, and the lowest headroom the truck has to pass under: shutter heights, mezzanine soffits, container doors.
• Any attachment you intend to fit. A clamp, rotator or fork positioner adds weight in front of the front axle and changes the rated capacity.
• Floor and surface. Smooth concrete, block paving, hardcore yard, or a loading bay ramp.

Send us those five things and we will tell you what will do the job and what will not. Every machine carries a capacity plate and a capacity chart; ask to see them for the exact configuration you are buying, not for the base model.

New from factory order

We are the exclusive dealer and distributor for STILL, Hyundai and Lonking, and we can also place new factory orders for Combilift and Aisle Master where a standard counterbalance is not the right answer.

→ New from factory order

Used counterbalance forklifts

Used is what Acclaim is known for, and the vast majority of our used machines come off our own hire fleet, machines we bought, ran and maintained ourselves, so we know their history rather than guessing at it.

Every used machine is inspected thoroughly against our standards before it is signed off to a customer, and every used machine is supplied with a current thorough examination certificate as standard. Refurbishment is available if you want the machine brought up further before it arrives.

→ Used equipment in stock

Hire

There is no minimum hire period. A counterbalance can go out for a single day. The minimum charge is one week at the weekly rate.

If a hired machine does not work, you get your money back on it. We will send an engineer out to fix it, and where we judge it necessary we will send a prop-up machine to keep you going. That applies to all equipment we hire, not just forklifts.

→ Forklift hire and rental

Finance

Finance is available on both new and used machines, through a third-party funder. The options are lease purchase, contract hire, operating lease and outright purchase. Tell us which suits your accounting and we will quote it.

Part exchange

We take machines in part exchange against a purchase.

→ Part exchange

A counterbalance forklift is lifting equipment. Regulation 9(3) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, as currently in force, provides that:

"Subject to paragraph (6), every employer shall ensure that lifting equipment which is exposed to conditions causing deterioration which is liable to result in dangerous situations is: (a) thoroughly examined: (i) in the case of lifting equipment for lifting persons or an accessory for lifting, at least every 6 months; (ii) in the case of other lifting equipment, at least every 12 months; or (iii) in either case, in accordance with an examination scheme; and (iv) each time that exceptional circumstances which are liable to jeopardise the safety of the lifting equipment have occurred"

Note the 6-month interval covers accessories for lifting as well as equipment for lifting persons. Regulation 9(4) provides:

"Every employer shall ensure that no lifting equipment: (a) leaves his undertaking; or (b) if obtained from the undertaking of another person, is used in his undertaking, unless it is accompanied by physical evidence that the last thorough examination required to be carried out under this regulation has been carried out."

(Source: legislation.gov.uk, LOLER 1998 reg 9, in-force text)

Acclaim is CFTS accredited, and that accreditation is current. It means one thorough examination covering LOLER and PUWER together, with one report, rather than two visits and two pieces of paperwork. We examine machines we did not supply, we examine access equipment and MEWPs as well as forklifts, and we examine lifting accessories such as slings, chains, forks and attachments.

Thorough examinations start from £135 ex VAT.

→ LOLER and thorough examinations

Acclaim runs RTITB-accredited counterbalance operator training, delivered by our own in-house instructors (nine of them at present) alongside reach, VNA, pivot steer, order picker, MEWP and pedestrian stacker courses. Certified FLT operator training is advertised from £360 per day ex VAT.

→ Equipment and operator training

• Servicing and maintenance contracts. Comprehensive and planned maintenance options. Equipment service from £90 ex VAT.
• Repairs and parts. We stock parts for STILL, Hyundai and Lonking, and supply parts for the other makes we service.
• Batteries. Supply and regeneration for electric counterbalance trucks.
• Transport. Nationwide delivery and collection, charged according to location. Third-party machines welcome. You do not have to have bought it from us.
• Callouts. We have a callout number and an engineer can attend where it is necessary. Callouts carry a callout charge plus travel.

Acclaim holds ISO 9001, ISO 45001, CFTS, UKMHA, SafeContractor, RTITB, JOSCAR and Cyber Essentials.

Eight depots cover the country: Head Office in the South East (Rainham, Essex), East Anglia, East (Pinchbeck, Spalding), Midlands, West, Southern, Liverpool and the South Coast.

→ Forklift servicing · Repairs · Parts · Battery supply and regeneration · Forklift transport · Find your nearest depot

A counterbalance needs room to turn and needs the aisle width to match. If your racking aisles are tight, or your loads are long, look at these instead:

• Reach trucks: narrower aisles, high racking.
• Articulated forklifts: Flexi and Aisle Master, for very narrow aisles.
• Side loaders and multi-directional trucks: Combilift, for long loads.
• Order pickers and VNA equipment: picking at height.

We will tell you if a counterbalance is the wrong answer.

Call 01708 861 414 or contact the team. Tell us the load, the height, the surface and whether the truck works indoors, outdoors or both, and we will come back with what fits: new, used or on hire.

All prices ex VAT.