A fork lift with retractably extendable loading prongs for lifting loads from either side of a vehicle. The fork lift includes a mechanism for displacing the prongs over and across the vehicle, which mechanism has front and rear transverse girders which can be rigidly secured to the vehicle's chassis. The mechanism further includes front and rear masts, sprocketed wheels mounted on the masts to move the front and rear masts reciprocally, and a longitudinal beam which is coupled to the masts. The longitudinal beam can move up and down. Front and rear uprights extend downwardly from the longitudinal beam. The prongs are retractably engaged to the bottom of the uprights and are moved with hydraulic pistons.