1. Describe the load, not the attachment
What is being handled, what does it weigh, and what shape is it in when it arrives? A paper reel, a cotton bale, a drum, a stack of bricks and a bagged pallet of fertiliser all need different families, and the difference is in the product rather than in the truck.
The second half of that question is how the load has to leave. If a roll arrives lying down and is needed standing up, rotation is not optional. If bags must come off without a pallet, a pusher or a push pull is the family. Stating the start and end position of the load rules out more options than any spec sheet.
2. Decide whether the pallet is part of the process
Pallet-free handling — clamps, pushers, push pulls, block handlers — usually pays for itself twice: once in the pallets you stop buying, and again in the cubic space you stop shipping. But it commits the truck to that product. A dedicated clamp truck is not a fork truck, and swapping attachments through a shift costs more time than most operations expect.
Where the split between palletised and non-palletised work is genuinely even, a fork clamp or a fork positioner with clamping faces covers both without a changeover.
3. Check the carriage and the hydraulics
Attachments mount to ISO fork carriages — Class II, III and IV cover almost everything in service. The class sets the physical interface, so it decides fitment before anything else does. A photograph of the carriage plate and the fork bars is usually faster than looking up the truck.
Then count the hydraulic services. A side shifter needs one double-acting service; a positioner with side shift needs two; a rotating clamp needs more again. Trucks short of services can run a solenoid selector valve to share a circuit, and the mechanical families need no hydraulics at all.
4. Do the capacity arithmetic before you commit
An attachment adds mass ahead of the front axle and pushes the load centre forward. Both reduce what the truck can safely lift, sometimes substantially. This is not a detail to settle after delivery — it can be the difference between the truck being suitable and the truck being the wrong machine.
Ask for the derated capacity in writing with the quote, and have the truck re-plated for the combination once the attachment is fitted.
5. Decide how it should be paid for
If the requirement is a contract, a season or a trial, long-term rental usually beats ownership. If the attachment will be on the truck for its working life, purchase or hire purchase makes more sense. Ask for both — the technical answer does not change, only the commercial one.