How to Select the Right Attachments for Your Compact Telehandler

Over the past decade, the versatility and functionality of compact telehandlers has made them indispensable tools on an increasing number of jobsites. That’s a result of the telehandler’s ability to do everything from picking, placing and lifting material to digging holes and removing logs, branches, debris and more. That’s because these already-flexible machines have become even more versatile through the availability of attachments.

Let’s say you need to build a fence. A truck arrives in the morning to deliver your materials. You use a telehandler, like the Genie GTH-5519 compact telehandler, to unload the materials and move them to your worksite. Next, you need to dig holes for the fence posts, so you take off the telehandler’s forks and install its auger attachment. Then there’s a ditch between the location where the material is dropped off and where the fence needs to be built, but that’s not a problem because the telehandler’s boom allows you to reach across the ditch. You install the fence and, when you’re ready to clean up at the end of the day, you take off the auger attachment and install a bucket attachment and use the telehandler for cleanup.

You’ve just completed a full day’s work with one machine. It’s that versatility that makes a compact telehandler one of the first machines on a jobsite and one of the last to leave.

Picking the Equipment and Attachments for the Job

With a wide range of attachments for different tasks, compact telehandlers can do more than just lifting and moving material. This leads to the question: How does one pick the right telehandler and attachments?

Simply put, picking the right equipment starts with thinking about what a full day of work looks like. The first question to ask is how much you’ll be lifting and how high and/or far you need to lift it. Those questions will make sure you select a machine with enough capacity and reach. Every telehandler has a load chart that will tell you what the maximum capacity is based on how high and far the boom is extended. Understanding where you’ll be working on that load chart is important because selecting a machine with excessive capacity can add unnecessary costs, while a machine with insufficient capacity can reduce productivity.

Once you’ve selected a telehandler with the right capacity, you’ll be able to determine what attachments are compatible with that machine. Some common attachments are multipurpose and grapple buckets, different sizes of forks, work platforms and lifting hooks.

Multipurpose bucket attachments can be used to move loose, unpalletized material like dirt, sand, gravel or mulch. They’re also commonly used for site cleanup activities. Roofers, for example, often benefit from an accessory like a bucket or trash hopper. The ability to transport material makes the multi-purpose bucket a smart choice for safe, efficient cleanup.

Grapple buckets use hydraulically operated jaws to grip and clamp down on heaped loads or hard-to-handle materials, like tree branches, landscaping material or demolition debris.
Different types of work can also benefit from different fork and carriage sizes. Masonry work, for example, generally needs narrow forks and a narrow carriage, while framers typically are better served with a wide carriage and wider forks.

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But the options don’t stop at these common accessories. For example, Genie offers a new auger attachment for its GTH-5519 telehandler. Introduced in February at The ARA Show in New Orleans, the auger attachment is the perfect solution for drilling holes when there are obstructions, such as reaching over a ditch to drill holes for a fence or utility poles. See the sidebar for more info.

Truss boom attachments can be used to lift and place longer, bulky objects like roof trusses, beams, poles or other similar objects. This is particularly useful for positioning roof trusses during construction or renovation, for lifting and placing wall panels, beams, columns, utility poles or other components.

Accessories can also be used to make common tasks like picking and placing pallets or other loads easier on certain jobsites. Genie’s Rotate Carriage — which comes in 48-, 60- and 72-in. options — allows for up to 10 degrees of clockwise or counter-clockwise carriage rotation if you’re working on a surface that is not level.

Safety and Training

In addition to selecting the right machine and accessories, it’s critical that an operator has the training and knowledge to operate the telehandler safely. That includes understanding the telehandler’s load chart, and making sure that the operator is referencing the right load chart for any accessory they are using.

Luckily, there are various training opportunities available — particularly through compact telehandler manufacturers. For example, Genie offers high-quality training for telehandler and MEWP operators through its Lift Pro online operator training and in-person Train-the-Trainer courses.

Attachments are what make telehandlers the versatile tool that contractors love. Using genuine OEM attachments, or attachments that have been certified by the manufacturer, can provide peace of mind that comes from knowing that the accessories are compatible with the respective load charts.

Amalija Kopac is a senior global product manager at Genie.