Cantilever Racking

Cantilever racks come in various sizes to fit your unique space. For new structural I-beam cantilever racking for sale online, see our rack page in our online store for information and pricing. Cantilever racks can be purchased as a starter kit, adder kit, or as individual components. For more information on cantilever rack, check out our Cantilever Rack Buyer's Guide.

A starter cantilever storage system consists of two upright columns and bases, canted or straight arms, vertical and horizontal braces, and vertical and horizontal braces. An adder cantilever kit consists of a single column and base, canted or straight arms. It can store light-duty and medium-duty loads all the way up to heavy-duty and extra heavy-duty items. Cantilever racking can be configured for either single-sided or double-sided storage.

In a recent project for a South Dakota distribution hub, SJF designed and installed a cantilever racking system that transformed their outdoor storage yard. The result was faster access to inventory, improved worker safety, and better organization of oversized materials like PVC and steel pipe.

Cantilever can store many types of products, such as lumber, bars, boats and/or pipes. Light duty cantilever rack systems are most often utilized for furniture storage. Still others, like medium duty cantilever, are used for storing motorcycles, boats, jet skis, etc. In all, cantilever racks are used by a wide variety of industries that recognize it as a great storage solution for their particular business or product line.

Roll form cantilever is a lighter medium duty cantilever. Roll form is often used for furniture storage. It can be decked to provide static storage similar to pallet racking. It's advantage is that it provides easier storage and retrieval of bulky or oddly-sized material than traditional pallet racking systems.

Cantilever racking is a very efficient means of storing a wide range of materials. The storage density with cantilever racks can be very high if you plan out how to use it efficiently. Cantilever rack's flexibility makes it a very popular storage solution with near immediate return on investment.

Like a pallet rack, a cantilever rack system has specific components that work together to create larger bays and rows of storage. Uprights are the main structural components in any cantilever rack installation. Uprights work with bases (when referring to uprights here, we are speaking about complete upright/base combinations) to create the 'backbone' of the rack.

Uprights are available in single or double-sided configurations. The only difference between the two is that with double-sided uprights, you can store material on both sides of the rack. Like pallet racks, there are many different makes and brands that do not all work together. You must match the same make of the arm and base to build a complete unit.

Similar to pallet rack beams, cantilever beams or cantilever arms make up the levels that are used for storage. Cantilever beams have one end fixed to the upright so that the cantilever deflection is zero. The cantilever beams are typically adjustable on 1" centers along the height of the upright to create shelf levels of whatever heights are needed. Beams can be straight or inclined to hold goods that may roll off. Some beams even come with a lip that attaches to the end of the arm to prevent loads from slipping off the front of the rack.

Please be aware – NEVER put cantilever beams on the back-side of a single-sided cantilever rack. Even if the upright has holes to hold arms on both sides, this is a very dangerous practice and should be avoided at all costs.

The last component of cantilever rack is bracing. The braces go-between uprights and stabilize the rack laterally. Braces are not intended to hold loads and should only ever be used to connect and brace the uprights in a row. The braces will be the same length as the spacing between uprights.

If you'd like to read more about industrial cantilever racks, please view our complete warehouse rack guide. It contains information on determining capacities, assembly instructions and other safety information for many types of warehouse racking.

SJF Material Handling is a nationwide stocking distributor of new and used cantilever racks, commercial lumber storage racks, and other material handling equipment since 1979. SJF has stocking Quick Ship locations in both Minnesota and Pennsylvania as well as distribution and shipping locations including, but not limited to: MN, ND, SD, IL, IA, MI, OH, IN, PA, NY, SC, NC, FL, AZ, TX, CA and TN. Call (320) 485-4974 (direct sales line) or (800) 598-5532 to discuss your options with one of our sales specialist!

Eric Thovson (also known as ET) explains what cantilever racking is and why it's an excellent solution for heavy duty storage shelving in a variety of different applications.

SJF is a nationwide stocking distributor of new & used single sided and double sided cantilever metal storage racks and shelving. Now offering 72-hour quick ship from our Minnesota and Pennsylvania stocking locations. SJF offers a wide array of models, sizes and arm lengths with weight capacities to meet even the most demanding requirements.