Introduction: Fork width on a warehouse pallet truck comes down to whether both tines clear a pallet's bottom openings, and the 550 mm and 685 mm options differ in entry, support and aisle fit.
Two trucks can look identical in a catalogue and still fail at the first pallet, because fork width is a fit question rather than a size contest. The figure printed on a spec sheet is the outer width measured across the outside faces of both tines, and it only means something when it is compared with the openings on the underside of the pallet in front of you. A 550 mm set and a 685 mm set both appear on the CBD-15 from LINOTR, alongside a 1160 mm fork length and a 1500 kg rating that stays the same for either width. This comparison walks through how the two widths behave in entry, load support and aisle space, so the choice becomes a measurement task instead of a guess.
Pallet undersides are not flat. Deck boards sit on blocks or stringers, and the gaps between those bottom boards form two parallel slots that fork tines slide into. A tine that lands in a slot lifts the pallet; a tine that lands on a bottom board lifts the board itself, which is where cracked slats and leaning loads start. Two clearances decide whether entry works. The outside faces of both tines have to pass inside the pallet's outer bottom boards, and the space between the tines has to clear whatever sits in the middle, usually a centre board or a row of blocks. That is why the same 685 mm fork set can feel generous on one pallet and cramped on another.
A 550 mm outer width keeps both tines close to the centre line of the truck, which is what small and tightly built pallets need. The common 800 mm wide pallet with three bottom boards leaves two narrow slots and very little spare room at the outer edges, so a compact fork set enters cleanly and sits fully inside the openings. The same logic applies to pallets with extra bottom boarding, repaired pallets with added slats, and any pallet where handling damage has pushed the outer boards inwards. In those cases a wider set rides up on the bottom boards instead of dropping into the slots, and the pallet reaches the far end of the aisle with a split board and a load that wants to tip.
A 685 mm outer width earns its place on larger footprints. Industrial pallets around 1000 mm and 1200 mm wide, including the EPAL 2 and EPAL 3 patterns, spread their bottom boards further apart, and the 48 × 40 in pallets used across North American supply chains are wider again. The extra 135 mm between tines puts more of the pallet deck inside the lifting footprint, so the load rides on a broader base and the deck between the tines flexes less under a heavy, evenly stacked load. The measurement still has to be taken at the entry face, because a pallet turned 90 degrees presents a different set of slots and a different clear width.
Fork width decides where the tines land; fork length decides how far they travel. The CBD-15 uses a 1160 mm fork length with either width, which is long enough to pick up a standard 1200 mm deep pallet without the tips poking out the far side into racking, a container wall or the next pallet in line. Entry is a sequence: the tines slide in, the pallet settles onto them, and the load is carried with its weight spread along the fork length. A truck with the right width but a mismatched length either leaves the rear of the pallet hanging past the tines or pushes the tips beyond the pallet, and both outcomes make the load harder to control at every turn. In practice the two measurements are read together at the pallet. Measure the clear width of each bottom slot at the face the forks will enter, check the pallet depth along that same direction, and compare those numbers with the fork outer width and length. A pallet slightly wider than the fork set is normally fine; a pallet narrower than the outer width is the case that causes trouble. Pallet condition belongs in the same measurement, since swollen, wet or repaired boards narrow a slot by a few millimetres and can turn a comfortable fit into a scraping one. Specification sheets from electric pallet truck manufacturers usually list outer width and length as separate line items for exactly this reason, and they are meant to be read as a pair.
Fork width changes the physical envelope of the truck at the load end, and that envelope has to travel through the aisle, the container door and the gap between rack uprights. The step from 550 mm to 685 mm adds 135 mm of width at the tines, roughly the thickness of a pallet board. In an open warehouse aisle that is invisible. Inside a trailer with a pallet already sitting against the side wall, or in a rack bay where damaged protectors narrow the entry, those 135 mm decide whether the truck lines up on the first attempt or the third. Warehouse handling equipment manufacturers quote fork width for this reason: it is the dimension that meets the building, not just the pallet. Stability works in the opposite direction. A wider tine spread gives the load a wider tipping line, so a tall stack sways less when the truck turns at the end of an aisle, and the pallet is less likely to shift when one tine crosses a floor joint or a dock plate edge. Narrow forks concentrate the same load into a smaller footprint, which is fine for low, even loads on smooth concrete and less forgiving for tall or off-centre stacks. Either width carries the truck's 1500 kg rating, which is set by the machine as a whole rather than by how far apart the tines happen to sit.
Fork width is best read as a pallet measurement rather than a specification number. The 550 mm option matches pallets with tight bottom openings and little tolerance at the outer boards, while 685 mm fits wider industrial footprints and gives tall loads a steadier base. Fork length, aisle clearance and pallet condition all sit inside the same decision, and none of them can be judged from the width alone. The reliable routine stays simple: measure the slots, measure the depth, check the aisle, then confirm the numbers against the published CBD-15 specification before choosing between the two widths.
A: Measure the clear slot width at the entry face of the pallet and the outer span of the openings, then compare them with the fork outer width. Pallets around 800 mm wide with three closely spaced bottom boards generally suit the 550 mm set, while wider 1000 mm and 1200 mm industrial pallets and 48 × 40 in footprints generally suit 685 mm. Check the pallets actually in use, including repaired ones, rather than a catalogue nominal size.
A: The rating stays the same. The CBD-15 is a 1500 kg truck whether it carries 550 mm or 685 mm forks, because the rating describes the machine, its structure and its drive system rather than the tine spacing. What a wider spread changes is how steadily the load sits, since a broader base resists sway and shifting better on tall or uneven stacks.
A: Length controls how far the tines reach into the pallet and whether the tips stop short or run past the far edge. A 1160 mm fork length covers a standard pallet depth without the tips protruding into racking or a container wall. If the tines are too short, the rear of the load overhangs and the truck feels unstable, even when the outer width fits the openings perfectly.
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