Cantilever racks are strong heavy-duty storage shelving systems. Cantilever racks are specifically designed for storing long and bulky items or materials such as lumber, plywood, PVC, steel pipe and metal or bar stock pipes, and more. For this reason, a cantilever storage rack is a preferred solution for storing heavy-duty items such as furniture, boats, steel bar stock, pvc pipe, iron pipe, and a wide array of long, bulky, and/or heavy items.
What is 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.
New Cantilever Racking For Sale in our Online Store
SJF offers many sizes of structural I-beam cantilever storage racks in our online store. Also available is individual components and kits, depending upon your individual needs.
SJF offers many sizes of Meco brand roll formed cantilever in our online store. Available as individual components, you are free to custom build a system to match your individual needs.
Crank-Out Bar & Pipe Rack Cantilever allows for easy overhead accessibility when storing and retrieving heavy bar stock, tube, pipe and more. With just a turn of a crank, the fully loaded arms extend all the way into the aisle for maximum loading and unloading ease of use.
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.
Cantilever Beams & Arms
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.
Sway Braces
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!
Cantilever Rack Manufacturers, Brands & Styles
With over 20 acres of in-stock inventory of new & used storage racks, SJF Material Handling stocks several sizes of both single-sided and double-sided cantilever uprights, brace sets, and other rack accessories. SJF stocks straight arms with a capacity per arm as high as 5,000 lbs. SJF Material Handling Inc. is the go-to source for some of the most popular brands and manufacturers of cantilever racks including:
Atlas
Clymer
Cogan
Dexco
Elite
Frazier
Hannibal
Interlake
Lodi
Meco
Monarch
Palmer-Shile
Paltier
Prest
Ridg-u-Rak
Roll form cantilever rack
Ross
SJF
SpaceRak
Speedrack
Steel King
Structural cantilever rack
Unarco
Webb
Cantilever Racks Are Ideal For:
Lumber racking storage
Furniture storage racks
Auto salvage storage
Pipe rack
Steel bar
Bar grating
and more
Cantilever storage racks systems (aka lumber racks, bar storage racks and pipe storage racks) have become an increasingly popular storage solution for companies large and small. Heavy-duty structural cantilever storage rack is our specialty and has recently gained in popularity as a highly sought-after warehouse storage system.
The great demand for cantilever racks has resulted in a recent shortage of quality used cantilever racks and rack systems available for sale. Here at SJF Material Handling, our deeply discounted prices on many popular rack sizes of used cantilever racks has resulted in our used cantilever shelving selling out quickly. While SJF Material Handling carries a good stock of light and heavy-duty used cantilever racks and rack accessories (such as pipe stops, wire mesh, wire shelves, or wire shelving), supplies sell quickly so don't delay.
The cantilever arms, uprights, bases, and sway brace sets listed below represent just a sampling of the many sizes and capacities of cantilever parts and components. SJF also stocks a wide array of complete starter units and add-on units of cantilever racks in new, used and refurbished condition. Contact one of our rack specialists for sizes, pricing & storage capacity per arm.
What is Cantilever Racking and How Do I Use It?
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.
Cantilever Racking FAQ & Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
Cantilever racks are steel shelving units with long arms that extend from metal frames used to store long, bulky or awkward materials. They are used to store items such as furniture, lumber, PVC, metal pipes, steel bar stock, plywood, steel sheets, sheetrock and even cars.
Cantilever racks are configurable in countless different ways, allowing a flexible solution to fit any type of storage needs. They can be used both indoors and outdoors and are found in warehouses and storage yards across the world as an efficient storage solution.
In addition, cantilever racking can be decked to provide static storage similar to pallet racking, with the advantage that it provides easier storage and retrieval of bulky or oddly sized material than traditional pallet rack.
At SJF, you can find light duty, medium duty and heavy duty components, kits and cantilever systems in stock and ready to ship.
Cantilever racks are known by many names, such as:
Cantilever racking system
Cantilever storage racks
Cantilever shelving
Furniture cantilever rack
Menards cantilever racks
Cantilever pipe racking
Lumber storage racks
Cantilever lumber racks
Cantilever steel racks
Home Depot style racks
Commercial lumber storage racks
Lowes lumber racks
and more
The storage density with cantilever racks can be very high if you plan out how you will use it efficiently, but generally cantilever rack's flexibility makes it a very popular storage solution with near immediate return on investment.
Cantilever rack uprights are the vertical support columns and are the backbone of the cantilever rack. Cantilever bases and arms attach to the uprights to complete the cantilever rack system.
Uprights are available in single or double sided configurations. Single sided cantilever racks allow material to be stored on the front side only. With double sided uprights, material can be stored on both the front and back sides of the rack.
Cantilever rack arms extend out from the uprights to create the levels that are used for storage, similar to pallet rack beams. The arms are typically adjustable on the upright to create shelf levels of whatever height are needed. Arms can be straight or inclined to hold goods that may roll off. Some arms even come with a "lip" that attaches to the end of the arm to prevent loads from slipping off the front of the rack.
Cantilever rack braces go between uprights to stabilize the rack laterally. Braces are not intended to hold loads and should only be used to connect and brace the uprights in a row. The braces will be the same length as the spacing between uprights.
Roll-form cantilever rack is the preferred storage rack for light and medium storage due to its bolt-less design and lighter overall weight.
Structural cantilever rack is preferred for heavier loads that weigh 1,500 lbs. or more. Structural cantilever rack is made from hot rolled c-channel structural steel. It uses additional hardware (nuts and bolts) for assembly. It is inherently heavier, stronger and can hold heavier loads than roll-form rack. It is also more impact resistant than roll-form rack.
While roll-form rack is the rack of choice for light and medium storage, structural rack is often the preferred solution for higher density applications. Structural racks are thicker and the heavier construction offers improved resistance to impact from forklifts entering and exiting the racks.
You should consider using structural racks:
When heavier capacities (1,500 lbs or more per shelf) are being stored.
When storing traditionally heavy and bulky items such as plywood, lumber, pipe, bar stock, steel sheets and coils, sheetrock, etc.
Due to its heavier weight, structural cantilever rack costs more to ship than roll-form cantilever. Roll-form rack is less costly to ship because it's lighter than structural racks with the same dimensions.
Due to its heavier weight and nut and bolt connections, structural cantilever racking may take longer to install, which could affect cost. Roll form cantilever rack traditionally installs faster due to its bolt-less connection design, which allows for a fast and easy connection of the arms to the uprights.
We DO buy used cantilever racking! SJF Material Handling pays cash for many different types of used material handling equipment, including used Cantilever racking. Check out our used equipment purchasing information page for more information.
For strength and durability to store lumber and building products of practically any dimension or weight, lumber cantilever racks can't be beat. SJF's powder-coated heavy-duty structural cantilever columns, arms and structural cantilever kits provide the ideal storage for materials that are wide or bulky, such as lumber and plywood, and thus difficult to store. Cantilever can be configured as single-sided or double-sided and can easily accommodate extra shelves with adjustable arm lengths to maximize floor space while handling virtually any load.
SJF's rack-supported storage structures with roofs are designed to provide the structural foundation for high-density, covered storage rack buildings to store construction materials. These systems are typically comprised of structural steel cantilever racking, truss beams, and metal roof decking. Arm configurations are available with three, four or five levels of storage or more. SJF's powder-coated heavy-duty structural cantilever columns, arms, and structural cantilever kits provide the ideal storage for materials that are wide or bulky and difficult to store.
Cantilever racking offers space-optimizing, convenient storage solutions for automobiles and recycled materials. Having the ability to store and access inventory efficiently can be a significant factor in profitability for salvage yards and recycling centers. By designing and manufacturing a cost-effective rack system capable of storing more stock in less space, cantilever provides increased organization and inventory control.
