What's with the 5 foot forks out West?

[Speedpup]

Looking at used Gradalls located out west and many have 5' forks. What is the advantage of that?

[curly]

So you can get to the bottom of the mud pit and push yourself out?

[544D10]

All our machines have 5' forks, mostly because our foreman's offices are 8' wide and with 5' forks we can pick them up to load them on our trucks.

It also helps with carrying lots of materials even though you aren't at capacity.

[CM1995]

My old framing contractor had 8' slide on forks that went on a standard carriage to handle both roof and floor trusses. They act like a fork extention and light material jib.

[Speedpup]

Thanks! For me they would be a PITA extending past most 4' loads I have.

[Speedpup]

I see they call them Lumber forks on JLG site but what lumber is packed up more than 4'?