8th Jul 2019
Can't decide which sack truck is right for you? This guide is designed to help you choose the best parts for you from our HI1890 Heavy Duty Sack Truck ranges, seen here in our Curved Back Sack Barrow range, our Lattice Back Sack Truck range, and our Mesh Back Hand Truck range. As these sack trucks are modular, you can select from a number of different parts and mix and match the most suitable design for the job you need it for.
Sack Truck Backs
The back sack barrows are often the most overlooked, yet the most important part of the Sack Truck. Not only does it create the rigidity for the whole structure, but is the element that supports the loads that you will carry. Ensuring your sack truck frame is correct for the load will guarantee a smooth, trouble free delivery where your load will arrive to the customer without sliding around, rolling off the back, and without the driver trying to hold the weight of the load with one hand while trying to stop the load falling with the other. If your product doesn't get damaged, your driver will.
No.1 Curved Back
The Curved back fame from the curved back hand truck range is a great multi use frame where the load is varying in shape and size. The curved back helps cradle and support drums, cylinders and rolls, while the main angled iron uprights still offers up a flat face to enable safe carrying of cartons and boxes still safely and securely. Moreover this is the lightest frame in the range reducing the self weight of the full truck.
A popular sack truck that uses the curved back frame is the Traditional Sack Truck, which as the name suggests is based on a traditional sack barrow style that has been tried and tested for decades, however with our range we can simple add a bigger plate or change the handle style to suit your needs.
No.2 Keg Back
As one of the more specialised Sack Truck backs, the Keg Back is specifically used in the brewery or dray trades, pubs, clubs and restaurants. The curved frame enables the load to nestle into the back, making sure that the loads won't roll, while the keg clamp drops down onto the rim of the barrel for additional security and safety.
We offer the widest variety of keg trucks in the industry, with the Magliner Branded sack trucks, our extra heavy duty HISTB1 Beer Barrow. Along with all the keg trucks available from our Keg Truck and Trolley range, including the the heavy duty keg truck and the High Back keg and case trucks with either P handle, or High Back A handles. Combined with a large footplate, the high back sack trucks are more suitable for carrying crates and cartons, offering a one truck suits all option for the pubs, clubs, bars and restaurants rather than having a range of sack trucks for different jobs taking up potentially valuable space, and costing more both to purchase, but also to maintain.
No.3 Mesh Back
The Mesh Back used in our Mesh Back Hand Cart range is the best frame for moving a large amount of small items, with a layer of mesh placed over the frame to prevent small items falling through the back of the frame while in use.
Another popular Sack Truck that uses the Mesh Back is the Heavy Duty P Handle Sack Truck, utilising the versatile P Handle to make the trolley very easy to use.
No.4 Lattice Back
The Lattice Back used in the Industrial Sack Truck range is the strongest heavy duty frame we offer. With a strong lattice backed frame, this Sack Truck really can take a beating and offer the best support for any medium to large sized load.
A Great Sack Truck that uses a Lattice Back is the Industrial Sack Truck with High Back, combining with the flexible A Handle to create an easy and safe to use heavy duty sack truck.
Sack Barrow Footplates
As the part of the sack truck that supports the weight of the load, the footplate is a vital part of any sack truck. Many people when choosing their plate lean towards bigger believing it makes it better, however this is certainly not the case and in fact can create more problems than it solves. If the plate is too long it can be a challenge to get the full length of the plate under the load. If the load is not seated right up to the heel of the truck where the frame and the plate meet, the balance of the load shifts towards the tip of the plate. As the balance shifts, the centre of gravity of the load moves away from the centre of the sack truck, meaning that the load will take a lot more effort to lift and will seem a lot heavier. This also puts a lot more pressure on the footplate itself, potentially causing damage such as a bend or even a break in the plate. Furthermore, a longer footplate can also increase risk created when sliding the plate under the load, creating more scope for damaging the load. As a general rule of thumb the plate should be between 1/3 and 2/3 of the depth of the load, this is imperative when choosing your plate to ensure safety but also longevity to your hand truck.
220mm Open Footplate
The 220mm Open Footplate is an incredibly popular footplate to have on sack trucks being used for transporting cylindrical objects such as kegs and barrels. As the lightest footplate in the range, this footplate is also popular with couriers and van drivers as it makes for a lightweight frame without sacrificing capacity. This plate is also perfect to marry up with our folding foot plate which makes the base of a great couriers truck, light, good for most standard loads, but also fold down the plate and it will accept the uglier freight items as well.
250mm Footplate
The 250mm Footplate is our bread and butter, and is the best compact footplate. the footplate is shallow, but has the same 450mm width. Again this plate is also perfect to marry up with our folding foot plate which makes the base of a great couriers truck, light, good for most standard loads, but also fold down the plate and it will accept the uglier freight items as well.
350mm Footplate
As a brilliant all-round footplate, the 350mm footplate is the most popular footplate for general use. While still boasting a large capacity, the footplate will comfortably tip loads without support up to 600mm in depth so is perfect for white goods. Tipping back loads of 800mm, 900mm or even 1 meter are still comfortably achieved, however we always recommend that these larger loads are either assisted with a retention strap or tipping the loads with help from a colleague.
One of the best all-round sack trucks that utilises the 350mm plate is the Multi Fuel Delivery Sack Truck, which also has the addition of a chain to support taller loads.
450mm Footplate
As the heaviest and strongest footplate we offer, the 450mm Footplate is the toughest of the lot. Ideal for large loads, This truck is more specific to factory use rather than use in the backs of delivery vehicles as the self weight of the 450mm plate has to be heavy to support the weights of the loads.
450mm Open Footplate
It may not be the strongest, but the 450mm open footplate is extremely popular on sack trucks for moving large but lightweight loads while weighing half as much as the standard footplate of the same size. Because of the large plate size the loading area is increased, meaning that more product can be moved in one trip. Stacking boxes side by side or moving light furniture is a doddle with this plate.
Hand Truck Handles
There are a number of handles available for sack trucks, all with their own advantages and disadvantages. As the handle is the user-end of the trolley it's always important to get the right handle for the job. Some handles are far better suited for general day to day use and are designed to be the most ergonomic and comfortable when used regularly. Other handles are designed to offer more support for tall loads, extending the height of the frame. Another feature of some handles is to allow the user to use the trolley with only one hand while still evenly supporting the load, enabling them to safely use doors or handle items with their free hand.
H Handle
The H Handle is the original tried and tested handle of all sack trucks, designed to be firmly and comfortably held with 2 hands to support the load with ease. The H handle is the most ergonomic handle as it allows the user to easily support the sack truck with their arms while keeping their back and shoulders straight. The handle also features rubber grips, giving more support to the hands of the user and allowing them to retain a firmer grip to the trolley improving handling and safety.
U Handle
The U Handle is another common sack truck handle, however this handle features a single U-loop bent back towards the user away from the load. This handle allows use with one hand, making it easier to travel trough doorways that need to be held open, and also makes the initial tilt back towards the user easier using the horizontal bar.
P Handle
The P Handle is similar to the U Handle, but has a central bar that loops around towards the user in a P shape. This shaped handle makes handling taller loads with one hand easy, as the handle supports the top of the load while the handle stays clear and easily accessible.
N Handle
The N handle is similar to the H handle with its pair of rubber grips, however this version has a raised bar that sits level to the back of the frame giving a slightly larger surface area to lean goods. It also offers a central bar to hold when pulling the load back toward the user, or to keep the load balanced when needing to hold the sack truck with one hand.
A Handle
The A Handle is similar to the N handle, but taller. The extra height means better support at a tallest of loads. again, the rubber handle grips make the sack truck more comfortable for prolonged use.
Sack Trolley Wheels
Wheels are an essential part of any sack truck for obvious reasons, but the choice of wheel can drastically change the performance of the barrow. The quality of the industry standard has declined in recent years (which you can read about more in our "the dangers of buying cheap sack trucks" blog post), as most are mass produced to be as cheap as possible with brittle plastic rims or poor quality bearings that shatter and break after the first few weeks of use. As such, we have developed our own wheels designed to fit most standard sack trucks on 16mm and 20mm wheel hubs.
Pneumatic (PN) Wheels
To ensure a long life for our sack trucks, we use a high quality wheel built to our own specifications improving and reinforcing areas that often fail. Our bearings are high quality and smooth rolling, finished off with a durable rust and dust resistant cap. The hubs of the wheels themselves are made stronger with thicker steel and reinforced welds, meaning no more cracks, splits, and breaks that you would often have with cheap alternatives from eBay and Amazon. We offer two kinds of tyre for our standard range. The standard tyre is air-filled with a durable 4-ply tread, giving double the thickness of a traditional 2 ply tyre, and is available on a 16mm hub (the most common axle size used by the likes of Magliner), a 20mm hub (used by our HI1890 sack truck range), and is also available with a 400mm diameter for sack trucks such as the Heavy Duty PG47 Gas Bottle Trolley.
Polyurethane Puncture Proof (PU) Wheels
Utilising the same high quality bearing, our increasingly more popular option is a Polyurethane puncture proof tyre, designed as a more durable alternative to an air filled tyre. Inside the tyre is a foam-like texture filled with air bubbles, giving the sack truck more bounce and a far smoother ride than a solid tyre. This also means the tyre can’t be punctured like a conventional air filled tyre. Punctures are always a nightmare to deal with when it happens, meaning either your or your staffs time is consumed finding a replacement, however by selecting the puncture proof tyre and removing that process you can save yourself both time and money. As with the pneumatic tyres, this wheel is also available on the standard 16mm axle size, or on the uprated 20mm axle size used by our HI1890 sack barrow range
Extras
Our HI1890 Range has a variety of extras available to either improve the quality of use for the user, improve the safety of the trolley, improve the functionality of the sack truck, or give the barrow a specialised purpose.
Retaining Chain
The Chain add-on is becoming popular when paired with our curved back range to make the Multi Fuel Sack Barrow, allowing safer and easier use of the barrow to move the likes of barrels and gas bottles.
Folding Footplate
The folding footplate add-on is a useful tool for supporting bulky and large based objects, and is compatible with all options on our curved back range. The folding footplate extends to 600mm, larger than any base size footplate, and is compatible with any base footplate.
Rubber Padding Strips
One of the less common add-ons for our sack trucks are the rubber padding strips. The padding is commonly used on the lattice back frame, making it better for transporting items such as white goods, as it reduces the risk of damage to the product by giving it a soft padding against the frame.